The Revised Honda Jazz

The popular Honda Jazz has been given a refresh, with a range of enhancements to both looks and driving dynamics. The revised Honda Jazz range, which will include a hybrid model, goes on sale in the UK on 1st February 2011, with prices starting from £11,295 for the 1.2 S model and £15,995 for the Hybrid variant in HE trim.

The challenge for Honda's engineers was to freshen and improve the car without compromising on the characteristics that make the Honda Jazz so popular. But by enhancing the car's strongest qualities, Honda has taken the Honda Jazz on to the next stage, producing a car with greater flexibility, better looks, increased ride comfort and improved eco credentials.

While the revised car is just as cleverly packaged, fresh styling gives the Honda Jazz a new appearance. New front and rear bumpers are the main parts to have influenced the look of the car. These have also been designed to reduce drag as the airflow passes over the Honda Jazz's body and to avoid turbulence when the airflow detaches from the rear. These styling improvements aid aerodynamic efficiency on all Honda Jazz models helping the Cd figure to fall from 0.336 to 0.330.

Constantly variable transmission, more commonly known as 'CVT', first appeared in the previous Honda Jazz range and due to overwhelming customer demand Honda has brought it back along with a few clever improvements.

The CVT is an automatic transmission that keeps the engine in a rev range where the car is most efficient. As well as ensuring the whole power train of the Honda Jazz is more efficient, it also offers the driver a smooth and effortless journey.

Leather upholstery makes a very welcome appearance for the first time in the Honda Jazz range. Along with the addition of chrome rings defining the air vents, instruments and climate controls across the dashboard, the leather trim gives a whole new premium feeling to the interior of the car and is an important option for customers downsizing from larger vehicles from other sectors. Leather seats are standard on the Honda Jazz Hybrid in HX trim and available as a £1,250 option on the 1.4-litre petrol EX model.

The established 1.2-litre and best-selling 1.4-litre i-VTEC petrol engines remain in the Honda Jazz range and to compliment the launch of the Hybrid variant, these two petrol engines have benefited from some small reductions in CO2 values and improved fuel economy. The 1.4-litre manual variant with manual transmission has emissions starting at 126 g/km down from 128 g/km and uses 51.4mpg on the combined cycle. The fuel sipping 1.2 litre engine uses 53.3mpg and also drops two grams of CO2 to 123g/km.

The Honda Jazz Hybrid is an ultra-efficient car with a combined fuel consumption figure of 62.8 mpg - and with the same super-smooth electric system as the Honda Insight, even more fuel is saved around town. While a CO2 output of just 104g/km makes the Honda Jazz Hybrid the lowest of any automatic car in the B-segment.

All Honda Jazz models, including the Hybrid version, share new sleek, projector style headlights adding to the sportier look. There are four new colours available across the petrol range - Azure Blue, Polished Metal, Urban Titanium and Ionized Bronze. The Hybrid version also benefits from Azure Blue plus two new colours - a vibrant Lime Green Metallic and Taffeta White.