With DREAMS Magazine Vol.4 - Honda Malaysia

If the
Jazz shoe Fits...
Designed to be a perfect little urban runabout, the Honda Jazz – as it's known in Malaysia – is just
as fun to drive as it is to look at. Only in its first generation of manufacture, it's already won so
many happy admirers. Find out how right here.
The little car with the big heart may cause
some confusion – it is known by two different
names around the world – but there is
nothing confusing about the popularity of
the Honda Jazz. Worldwide sales of the
stunning supermini reached two million units
at the end of June 2007. And its worldwide
popularity is matched by its popularity in
Malaysia – more than 10,000 Jazz vehicles
have left the showrooms here since its launch
in 2003.
In case you were wondering, the car is
known as the Fit in Japan, North America,
South America and China, while Jazz is the
vehicle name used in Europe and Asia/
Oceania. As William Shakespeare put it; “a
rose by any other name would smell as
sweet,” and whether it is known as Fit or
Jazz, the vehicle packs an incredible amount
of innovation into its compact body.
In developing the Jazz, Honda succeeded
in meeting a number of performance
goals; it boasts the world’s highest levels of
safety and environmental friendliness while
delivering superb handling, fuel economy,
distinctive styling and driving pleasure.
Honda has raised the bar on the kind of
performance expected in a subcompact
car, doing its utmost to answer all of its
customers’ requirements in a single vehicle.
So how did Honda achieve these goals?
Some of the secrets lie in the engine bay.
In Malaysia the vehicle is available with
either the 1.5L VTEC engine, offering
sporty performance, or the popular 1.5L
i-DSI engine, which still offers spirited
performance, in addition to unheralded
frugality with fuel – the 1.5L i-DSI model
tested in Thailand registered an amazing
15.2km/L fuel-economy figure by TISI
(the Thailand Industry Standard Institute)
signaling Honda’s success in meeting its
environmental friendliness target.
The i-DSI signifies intelligent Dual &
Sequential Ignition, meaning the 88 horsepower
engine available here is equipped
with two spark plugs in each compact
combustion chamber. The sparks are
activated in a different order depending
upon engine rpm and load, resulting in
intelligent, dual-point sequential ignition
control to achieve intensive fuel combustion
at any rpm.
The two spark plugs are arranged
diagonally to accelerate flame propagation
in the combustion chamber, thus achieving
rapid combustion of the air-fuel
mixture and obtaining high output from
a minimum amount of petrol. Furthermore,
harmful exhaust emissions have been
greatly reduced.
For the powerful 110 horsepower VTECe
q u i p p e d J a z z , H o n d a ’s e n g i n e e r s
developed a light, compact engine equipped
with a roller coaxial VTEC mechanism and
aluminum rocker arms, that also utilises fuel
economy technology from the i-DSI engine.
With this new 1.5L VTEC engine Honda has
achieved a superb balance of high power
output, high fuel efficiency, and ultra-low
emissions. Despite the extra power, the 1.5L
VTEC Jazz still returned 15km/L according to
TISI test figures.
The fuel efficiency is helped further
thanks to the automatic continuously-variable
transmission with seven-speed mode. With
this Steermatic system the driver can shift
manually without removing his or her hands
from the steering wheel. Alternately the driver
may choose seven-speed automatic mode,
or leave the clever belt-driven automatic
16 I w i t h d r e a m s