Car review: Honda Jazz Hybrid EX is an extremely fine piece of engineering

You know when you’re getting “to a certain age” when certain things start happening. You’ve never heard of Boosie Badazz. You can’t see the point of beef burger flavour Monster Munch. Or any Monster Munch, sadly. Your hair stops falling out, but only because there’s nothing left up there. Well, I speak for myself, and I have got used to such phenomena. But I never really expected to start thinking that a HondaJazz “could do me quite nicely”. It’s a bit of a shock, but I’m getting used to it.

I always knew, from common observation that Jazz drivers, and Honda owners generally, were on the more mature side, and so it still is. Despite wacky designs like the last generation Civic and the rare super car NSX, they just didn’t get the youth vote. The average age of a Honda Jazz buyers is around 61, in fact, which bears out the popular conception about Hondas. (I leave aside those “slammed” customised old Civics with scaffold pipes for exhausts, abused by the nation’s grandchildren. Actually they must push the average age of a Honda owner down quite a bit, suggesting the actual demographic running a Jazz or a Civic must be up there with the Duke of Edinburgh.

Well, a Honda Jazz will suit me fine, I’ve decided, and not just because the glove box is big enough for a large tin of fruit pastilles. It is an extremely fine piece of engineering for a start, and just studying how it operates could occupy many days of retirement time. All Jazz models are petrol-electric hybrids these days, which is not so unusual. What is more innovative is the way the battery power and the petrol engine are combined in this model. Normally a hybrid works on the (relatively) simple principle that the battery gets charged up with energy otherwise wasted by the engine, and the engine and electric motor work smoothly in tandem – so the engine, for example, shuts off when you’re tootling around town, and both electric motor and engine work together at high (motorway) speeds.

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The Honda is a bit different. The smallish petrol engine also runs even when the car is moving only in electric power as it is quietly creating new electrical charge via an extra generator, which is then stored as need be in the batteries. But at high speeds only the petrol engine powers the car, switching directly to drive the front wheels, the electric motor disengaging. In order that the internal combustion engine works most effectively, and cleanly, it is tuned for economy rather than for maximising power output. That means it uses the “Atkinson cycle”, which is not a diet but an alternative way of ordering the combustion cycle in a four cylinder engine. (The usual version is called an Otto cycle (named after a German engineer, Nicolaus Otto. And that’s just the start of the engineering course you’ll enjoy just by watching the way the power moves around the car via the Jazz’s graphic display.

Even so, be sure to understand, as Which? recently pointed out, that hybrid cars’ fuel consumption might not be as low as claimed, and your own pattern of usage might not be be ideal for hybrid motoring – urban use is best, motorways less so. Indeed, the grumbly noises from the one-speed constant velocity transmission (CVT) make lively driving rather a chore. Honda’s traditionally high revving engines are not well suited to the CVT treatment. Using the cruise control helps, but this mostly very refined car is much less happy at the hands of the enthusiastic driver. On the plus side, visibility is excellent and the top spec models get a parking camera too, to protect your investment.

Then there’s the seats. These fold every which way, and Honda is inordinately proud of the way the rear seat squabs fold up and back, like in a cinema. This means you can move bug rubber plants or vacuum cleaners around really easily, if that’s what you do.

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It looks smart enough, in an inoffensive way, though they might have made a bit more of an effort with the styling around the rear window line, which just sort of peters out. More than anything, though, find yourself in the Jazz club and you’ll experience a certain vibe. It’s a solid little thing with a big car feel, a compact car but, with its slightly high roof and efficient use of space, roomy enough. It is mostly a smooth operator, the fit and finish is of a high standard, and the build quality is solid. It shouldn’t let you down and expose you to being dangerously stuck on one of our new “smart” motorways. It’s a car that should see you out, frankly, and it won’t swallow your pension. Think of it as a sort of annuity on four wheels – predictable and secure. There’s a “Crosstar” version that sits a bit higher and has some plastic cladding, but is mostly pointless. You may as well go for the poshest version of the standard Jazz, with the 9in satnav display and heated steering wheel and front seats included. You only retire once, eh?