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Just like with the Audi RS4, the Honda Jazz GE was a successful recipe right from the start, so there wasn’t much room for major improvements. The Honda Jazz GE, an Audi RS4 for women.

I don’t know what happened at Honda’s headquarters when they designed the Honda Jazz GE, but they must have conducted a survey among engineers, and instead of choosing the best answers, they basically took all of them and put them together in various editions and versions. Want Dunlop tires with odd sizes that you can’t find anywhere else? No worries. Want a version for the women who still drive out of necessity but aren’t particularly fond of driving and most of them are utmost terrified at the ideea of getting behind the wheel? Here it is. But how about a sports version for hipsters who think a Civic is too mainstream for them? Give them the 1.5 VTEC engine and supercharge it to 150 horsepower. Want to play musical chairs in your car? We’ve got seats that fold and rotate however you want, wherever you want, in whichever direction you want. Thinking about the environment and want a hybrid? We also got you covered. Bruh.

Practically, there’s no situation that the Honda Jazz GE can’t handle. I’ve never seen a car to please so many people at the same time. Honda Jazz GE, the MacGyver of the automotive world. It can run. It can turn inside out. It can be fuel-efficient. It can be both automatic and manual and automated manual at the same time. By this point I don’t know why anything else is still being sold in the market. The only major absentee would be the 4×4 system, but there must surely be a 4×4 edition of the Honda Jazz somewhere.

As for the typical Honda Jazz GE buyer, things are much simpler and more conservative there. We have the same 1.2-litre petrol engine we’re used to, a slightly updated interior, and the same comfort and plenty of windows so you can see everything happening on the street. All that’s left is to care about what’s happening outside your Jazz, but you can definitely see. The Honda Jazz has always been an easy car to drive, usually bought by husbands for their wives, and that has proven to be a successful recipe that Honda didn’t want to dillute or worse – pollute. And neither distill because it would’ve been too intense for some of the buyers. Sure, the Honda Jazz GE is still not cheap enough to replace the first Jazz, but just wait a few more years for the depreciation to do it’s work.

Honda Jazz GE Engines

Petrol

• 1.2 L12B of 90 horsepower – The same 1.2 L12A we’re used to from the previous generation, but now it’s received the VTEC treatment for an additional 13 horsepower. Now you can take on the the neighbour’s diesel Jetta and show him who’s boss. All the engine you and your Jazz will ever need.


• 1.4 L13A of 100 horsepower – The same 1.4 i-DSI from the previous generation, which didn’t get the VTEC treatment. Still comes with 8 spark plugs and 8 coil packs, but at least it doesn’t have the piston slap issue that the previous engine had so that’s a massive improvement in itself. I still wouldn’t buy it, honestly. I mean, for just 10 extra horsepower, you get some muscle fiber (not actual muscle at 10 horsepower), but also extra running costs.


• 1.5 L15A of 120 horsepower – “VTEC kicked in yo!” – said noone ever in their Honda Jazz / Honda Fit. But this was the only engine available in North America and it’s an adequate and decent engine. It’s still the old 16v V-TEC engine from the previous generation and it’s got that Honda reliability you’d expect so you can confidently buy your wife one of these. The engine will most likely outlast the rest of the car.

Hybrid

1.3 LDA-MF6 hybrid of 98 horsepower – I’ve talked more about this engine in the article about the Honda Insight, and essentially, the engine is fairly decent because it’s a derivative of the 1.4 L13A, and therefore, it also has 8 spark plugs and 8 coil packs. The issue is with the hybrid powertrain because when it fails, you’ll be tempted to set up an OnlyFans account just to cover the repair bill. On the other hand, the laughable fuel economy (official figures put it at 85 mpg) will off-set the cost of the battery refurbishment / replacement.

Honda Jazz GE Reliability Issues

• There are still transmission issues. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. If you shift gears poorly and the gearbox grinds, you can blame the gearbox and not your shifting skills. The manual gearbox still has issues with bearings and linkage, and the I-SHIFT automated manual is to be avoided. But there is a 6 speed torque converter automatic which is fine, but it’s not available everywhere.


• I mentioned earlier about the automotive community’s bizarre fetish for unusual tire sizes, and the Honda Jazz GE also has an appetite for front tires, so you can enjoy buying more tires and feeding your fetish.

Honda Jazz GE Verdict

Basically it’s a jack-of-all-trades car. A really small and space optimized jack-of-all-trades, but a jack-of-all-trades nonetheless. It just needed a 4×4 system, which would already be better than the Land Cruiser and Nissan Patrol. Or it remains a continuation of an excellent city car that can easily handle any driver, male or female. In simpler terms, no matter how bad you are at driving, the Honda Jazz GE will withstand your abuse. It’s just a matter of finding one that’s worth the money because many people think that any Honda, no matter which one, is made out of solid gold and not dented metal because you took on all the walls, poles, kerbs, potholes and whatever else the city life throws at you.

Which engines do I recommend? Well, the best engine to pick is the 1.5 L15A of 120 horsepower but that was exclusive to the Honda Fit which was designed for North America ( USA + Canada ). Elsewhere I would go with the proven L12B 1.2 petrol and it’s 90 horsepower. It’s not much, but it’s honest work.