Honda Jazz

On sale early next year with a price of around £10,000, the supermini is set to challenge the likes of the Ford Fiesta, Peugeot 206 and Toyota Yaris. And Auto Express has exclusively driven the car to give you a preview of what's in store.

With a simple but uniquely Honda grille, bulbous headlights inspired by the S2000 roadster and a side view reminiscent of the Stream mini-MPV, the Jazz offers class-topping interior space, sports car-like performance and economy of 65mpg on the open road.

There's a brand new platform, too, plus plenty of technical highlights, including a centrally located fuel tank. Positioned under the front seats, between reinforced side members, the 42-litre tank has given the Japanese company's engineers the chance to have a flat floor, opening up leg and headroom in the process.

At 3,830mm long, 1,675mm wide and 1,525mm high, the 990kg Jazz has similar dimensions to a Fiesta, yet it feels as spacious as a people carrier from the class above. Not only does it seat four adults in comfort, it actually offers MPV-like cabin height, too, as well as excellent luggage space of 382 litres. So, thanks to its numerous seat arrangements, drivers can carry three adults and a 2.2-metre long surfboard at the same time!

Powered by the latest in Honda's new generation of i-series engines, a 1.4-litre, four-cylinder i-DSI unit, the Jazz offers 84bhp at 5,700rpm and 119Nm of torque at 2,800rpm. It has two spark plugs per cylinder, improving output and fuel consumption. Emissions from the engine are also reduced by as much as 50 per cent thanks to this technology. And married to the new Multimatic S CVT gearbox, the front-wheel-drive machine delivers strong power and torque response from low down in the rev range.

But the surprises don't end there. That's because the quantum leap in chassis rigidity and suspension settings takes the Jazz into a league of its own in the handling department.

The end result is that you can throw the Honda into corners at speeds way above other superminis. Enter a bend at 50mph, choose your line and the car remains perfectly balanced, with only the slightest hint of understeer. The flip side is that the Jazz's on-road feel may be too hard for some buyers, but Honda will revise this for the UK.

With all the effort invested in the driving experience, the engine and the interior space, it would be easy to think that Honda may have overlooked other key areas. Try as we did, though, we simply couldn't find them.

On the safety front, the Euro NCAP crash test results set by the impressive Civic earlier this year will be matched, thanks to the Jazz's robust chassis, energy-absorbing bodywork and dual airbags. Anti-lock brakes are supported by brake assist as standard, which makes for a car which has few problems stopping in an emergency.

What is clear is that Honda has built a vehicle capable of mixing it with the very best in the highly competitive supermini sector. We are quite sure that the Jazz will stir things up when it arrives here early next year.

Honda's new Jazz blends the style of the Civic and the practicality of the Stream in a Fiesta-sized body to create a car that's equally at home on open country roads as it is in the city centre. Supported by the fantastic new 1.4-litre i-DSI engine and a choice of CVT and five-speed manual gearboxes, the Jazz looks set to be a great success when it arrives here in the new year.

At a glance

* New Honda Jazz goes on sale in Britain in early 2002nPower comes from a 1.3-litre i-DSI engine, offering 89bhp

* Flat floor and hugely versatile seating arrangement

* Responsive chassis and impressive safety equipment

* Priced from £10,000