Tag Archive for 'Honda Jazz'

Thinking about upgrading - and downsizing

Published by wjl on January 21, 2009 in Thoughts, cars and family. 0 Comments

As written here already, we have a problem with our car. And the problem got worse:

Since almost two weeks (it happened on the 9th of January after work, half way to Cologne from Frankfurt (which means: Limburg), to be precise), I don’t have a 5th gear on our old workhorse, the Toyota Carina anymore. It happened all of a sudden, and since then, I drove using the 4th, with lorry speed, which means 100 km/h on the speedo, or 90 km/h in real life.

That would be ok for me, but three things concern me: first, you really have to find some lorries on the German motorway behind which you can “hide” (or else you’d be overrun by other cars approaching you with 200+ km/h from behind), second, a colleague predicted that using the 4th for long distance would be a sub-optimal approach (he gave me 4.000 kms before the gearbox would be finished for good), and last but not least, the noises from that gearbox really increase, and they’re scary - of the 900 kms I drive each week, 800 are driven on the motorways, between nowhere and nowhere, and I think that chances are high that it will finally break down *there*, and not while I’m in Freising or in Frankfurt.

Finding a gearbox for our car seems next to impossible, because cars that age (between 14 and 15 years now) seem to have started a second life on another continent already (read: they were shipped to Africa).

So while the engine (some 140.000 kms now) and most other parts are perfectly fine, we have to face the fact that repairing our old and trustworthy car could become more than what it’s worth (some 2.500 Euros in a perfect shape and condition, which it hasn’t, both not).

Which means: we have to think about letting it go, which is hard both for me and for our small one. It really served us well, it’s roomy and comfortable and reliable, and Zuleikha loves it. In a former post, I had pictures of it (with winter wheels, the summer ones are on aluminium), and we all would let it go with bleeding hearts I think.

Mitchie wants to downsize, because of two reasons, mostly: first, I insist of getting a valid German driver’s license for her, and want her to drive the car as well (and she happens to like to drive smaller cars), second, we are about to move to Frankfurt, where parking space is a luxury which you won’t find everywhere. Good reasons IMHO. So first we looked at this (don’t take the color too serious, it was more or less a joke).

But while the new Honda Jazz is definitely a dream car in its size, its prize (about 17.500 Euros in a usable configuration for us) is way too high, even with the newly invented “Cash for Clunkers” by the EU, which means you’d still get 2.500 Euros for your old car if you buy a new one (see also: the article “Umweltprämie” in German).

All things considered, I started looking for upgrades. The successor of our Toyota Carina would be the Toyota Avensis. But Mitchie wants a smaller one, so I also looked for the Toyota Corolla (which isn’t offered in the EU with that name anymore, now it’s called “Auris”).

And so on Friday, I will test-drive this one:
Toyota Corolla E12

That’s the Toyota Corolla E12 (2002-2006), in our case it’s the one with the smallest gasoline engine (1.4l with around 71 kwh or 97 hp), which is more than enough. It can do 185 km/h if needed, but we seldom go more than 130 or so. I took a short look already, and it should be big enough as well, I’ll have a closer look on Friday.

Let’s see if that could be the successor of our red one… I’m really excited to find out, and to report back to my girls in Bavaria. Too bad they can’t join me for this…

My girls’ dream car

Published by wjl on November 16, 2008 in cars, family and fun. 0 Comments

This weekend - like any other weekend also - I was home in Freising. There were several things to do there, and one of the most important ones was to fix the rear tyre of Zuleikha’s bicycle.

I did however insist on going to the local Honda dealer first, because I wanted to see the FR-V (all links here are to Honda Germany, so the language is German. However, most of the models are sold world-wide, so you should find them in your local language as well).

Our local car dealer didn’t have it. But once we were there, we looked at other models as well. Mitchie didn’t like the Civic - too futuristic for her taste. But she instantly fell in love with the new Honda Jazz. And I have to admit: it’s an exceptional great and small little car. Letting the doors fall into the closed position for instance gives you that low-tuned “thumb!”, which you would expect with much bigger (and more expensive) cars, like a Mercedes or so. No - this one has it also, and starting at around 12.5k, this is real quality what you’d get for your money.

Plus, the interior concept is just astonishing. I’ve never seen such a clever layout on any car I saw so far. It’s a van, it’s a sub-compact, it’s really really roomy inside, this is an engineer’s master piece IMHO. Smarter than a Smart, if I may say so.

Mitchie tried it, because I said she had to, and it fits. She didn’t even try to move the wheel (you can, both in height and distance), or move up and down the front seat (you can do that as well). She just felt good in it, and that’s the point. I’m looking for a car which is meant mostly for my girls, and the intended usage is the city. So this seems to be the best we found so far.

Of course, Mitchie wants an automatic - that’s ok with me. I drove a (Mercedes) automatic gear box while having 12-hour-nightshifts on/in a taxi cab while I studied - and I have to admit that in-town, you just cannot beat a good automatic gear-box. You can have a cup of coffee in your right hand while rolling from the gas station to the taxi waiting area for instance - just not thinkable with a manual shifted car. Automatics are great; the top line of Toyota’s Avensis for instance (the 2.4l gasoline engine) comes *only* with automatic, just like other brands with over 200 or 300hp as well. With so many power, it just seems silly to change gears manually. And even the Formula-1 cars have at least a semi-automatic; means they shift gears with small levers on the wheel.

Ok. So far so good.

Being girls (should I say: “girlies”? ;-) ), they have their favorite color schemes of course. At the moment, this means: pink (ewww!, hehe - well, you just can’t discuss about taste, you could only struggle over it - and struggling is not what wjls do best, like Tigger would say).

And while “phoning” (in fact that means IP-phoning ATM) with our small one, I promised to send a pic of that car in her favorite color: in pink (don’t tell her, but Honda calls that one “cool rose”). So here it is, dedicated to our small one (and to some point also to Mitchie):

Honda Jazz in “Cool Rose”

At least, from the inside, you wouldn’t see much of that:

Interior of Honda Jazz “Exclusive”As I said: a very nice and small and cute little car.

The costs? Well I just calculated the most expensive “line”, which has everything - the biggest engine (1.4l), automatic gearbox, even a sun-roof over most of the car’s length. Plus every other thing you could think of. And that would sum up to some 22k. Lots of money for a small car, yes, but still cheaper than our friend Peter’s VW Polo “Blue Line” Diesel, which is about the same size than this one. Plus these 22k include *everything*, even the kid’s seat, sun shades, navigation, cruise control; everything. To see the actual configuration, download the pdf which was generated from the Honda site here. If you can do without all the gimmicks, and prefer a manual gear box to an automatic one, you could have more or less the same car from about 16k. Which is an exceptional value for the money IMHO.

Almost forgot to tell: the Honda site also has some very cool product videos; the first one I saw seems to be rendered, and if it is, it’s one of the best quality art works I’ve ever seen. The link to that one is here (wmv/mov, ca. 18MB). And the normal full-length product video is also very impressive; see it here (wmv/mov, ca. 42MB). Plus they have a more or less silly “Punk” TV spot for the targeted young German audience, only online here.

So.

Would I drive around in a pink car (not even a pink Cadillac)? Yes, definitely. As long as my Fireblade comes in black… ;-)

I think the future, at least in metropolitan / urban areas belongs to public transport, to something like scooters (maybe electric) and bicycles, and to small vehicles with a clever layout like this one. First hybrid, later electric, or so (Honda plans to use hybrid engines in all of their coming product lines; a Jazz with a hybrid engine *is* on the drawing board already. So what they bring in their new “Insight” next spring may be available in the Jazz until we could afford one). Companies like Toyota and Honda are definitely on the right way, and will generate lots of money. And hey, who would need all the 100hp this little thing offers - in town?