Honda Cars : Honda Sports up the Jazz with a New Si Limited Edition in Geneva | 2013 New Honda Car Reviews 0

Honda quietly revealed a new special edition version of its Jazz supermini at this week's 2012 Geneva Motor Show. It's called the Si and it has been designed exclusively for the European market combining a sportier look inside and out with an uprated chassis.

The first thing you'll notice on the Jazz Si is the new aero package that consists of new front and rear bumpers, with deep valances and prominent side skirts, along with a set of 16-inch alloy wheels fitted with low profile sport tires.

In the cabin, you'll find new sport seats plus a leather-trimmed three-spoke steering wheel and gearshift lever, all of which feature silver stitching.

Unlike other special editions of the sort, the Jazz Si validates its sportier looks with an uprated chassis. Among other things, Honda's engineers combined new dampers with a larger front anti-roll bar to improve straight-line stability and body control, while the electric power-steering system was also modified for improved feel and response.

Power comes from Honda's familiar 1.4-litre i-VTEC 100PS (99bhp) engine matched to a five-speed manual gearbox that offers a top speed of 113mph (182km/h).

The new Si model will be available for order in Europe at the end of August.

Source;
http://www.carscoop.blogspot.com/2012/03/honda-sports-up-jazz-with-new-si.html

Honda Cars : Honda Jazz (FIT) EV | 2013 New Honda Car Reviews 0

by Graham Hope
The Honda Jazz has always been a pioneer, and now it’s blazing a new trail in all-electric guise. It was one of the first supermini-MPVs when it was introduced a decade ago, and now finds itself at the cutting edge of technology, with an electric version to be launched in Japan and America next year. This will be badged the Fit, and will initially arrive in California and Oregon before being rolled out to six east coast US states in 2013.

The blanked-off nose distinguishes the model from the standard Jazz, plus our car features Fit EV livery. It also gets new five-spoke alloys, while a unique blue paintjob is available in the US.
Under the floor is a lithium-ion battery pack with a capacity of 20 kilowatt-hours (less than the Nissan Leaf’s 24kWh). The maximum output is 100 kilowatts. The 92kW coaxial electric motor, meanwhile, is derived from the hydrogen-powered FCX Clarity.

Inside, the most obvious additions are the buttons which let you choose which mode to drive in: Normal, Econ and Sport, as seen on the CR-Z.

As with all EVs, what stands out most is the silence at start-up. And with all the power available from a standstill, the car gets off the mark quickly.

Econ, as the name suggests, offers the most energy-efficient driving, with Sport optimistically claiming to deliver “exhilarating performance”. That’s pushing things somewhat, but there is a tangible difference between the modes: in Sport the drive is surprisingly fun, and claimed performance is on par with that of a 2.0-litre engine.

At low city speeds, the EV is very nippy and guaranteed to cause a few surprises when pulling away from the lights. Ride quality is similar to that of the standard model, though, so it doesn’t take much for the little Honda to get unsettled.

Do the numbers stack up? The US version of the Jazz claims a range of 76 miles in combined city and motorway use, or 123 miles in town alone, with the battery taking three hours to fully recharge when connected to a standard 240V socket.

Will the car come here? Honda bosses remain tight-lipped, but if this happens it won’t be for another three years at least. They do recognise, though, that one thing an electric Jazz would have in its favour is a familiar badge – they believe this would encourage sales.

Source;
http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/carreviews/firstdrives/276067/honda_jazz_ev.html

Honda Cars : Honda’s Mugen Euro wants to do high-performance Fit | 2013 New Honda Car Reviews 0

Honda’s UK-based performance tuning division Mugen Euro has admitted to wanting to develop a high-performance version of the Jazz/Fit. The brand, which is responsible for the upcoming supercharged CR-Z hybrid said they’ve been yearning to do a hot version of the Fit.

Currently, Mugen offers styling packages for the Jazz in Japan, where the car is known as the Fit. However, performance increases are small.

Mugen Euro’s management says that to achieve a nice performance gain, it could tap into the CR-Z’s supercharged hybrid powerplant – or a normally aspirated 2.0L VTEC unit used in the last Civic Type R.

“Always in the back of our mind as a car that we’d like to do is the Jazz,” said Mugen Euro’s general manager Colin Whittamore.

- By: Omar Rana
Source: AutoCar
http://www.egmcartech.com/2011/05/26/hondas-mugen-euro-wants-to-do-high-performance-fit/

Honda Cars : Honda puts Honda FIT Shuttle intro on hold | 2013 New Honda Car Reviews 0

Not for the North American market....
The devastating earthquake and its aftermath in Japan have forced Honda to postpone the market launch of its new Fit Shuttle. The introduction of the car in Japan was scheduled to take place this month. Honda said it has not yet decided on a new release date and that the company will follow up with an announcement with more details soon.

The new Fit Shuttle is approximately 510mm longer than the hatchback, which is also known as the Jazz in Europe and other international markets. In Japan, it will be offered with a similar engine lineup to the hatchback model including a conventional 1.5-liter four-cylinder gasoline engine and a hybrid variant featuring a 1.3-liter gasoline unit and a 10 KW electric motor.

Suggested retail prices in Japan will start from 1.61 million Yen (about US$13,900) for the gasoline engine only model and from 1.81 million Yen (US$15,800) for the hybrid variant.

Source;

http://carscoop.blogspot.com/2011/03/honda-postpones-launch-of-fit-shuttle.html

Honda Cars : 2012 Honda FIT Minor Model Change? | 2013 New Honda Car Reviews 0

It would only make sense that this 'facelift' comes here to North America....
Japanese manufacturer Honda Motors is all set to launch a facelifted version of their hatchback Jazz (also known as Fit in the international market) according to a Chinese website auto.sohu.com. Thanks to the Auto.Sohu.com, we have the first spy images of the facelfted Honda Jazz/Fit hatchback.

As you can see in the images, there are no major changes, as this is a mid-life facelift for Jazz, no changes under the hood too as the engine specs remains the same. Slight modifications to the rear and front bumper gives the new Honda Jazz a sharper look. There are also some modifications to the front and rear lights along with the touch of chrome to the car’s exterior. The new Jazz is expected to arrive in India by late 2011.

Source;
http://www.rushlane.com/spy-shots-honda-jazz-facelift-128788.html