Honda Jazz

Honda Jazz buyers frequently pass comments on the car’s styling.  One often overlooked yet significant part of the Jazz’s look is its bonnet.

Not only does the bonnet form an important part of the overall style of the Jazz, but it gives you some other benefits, too:

1.    The steep  angle of the Honda Jazz bonnet angle allows  greater visibility of the road ahead.  This enhanced visibility adds to  driving safety (of course, if you can see a potential accident, you increase your odds of avoiding it).   The superior visibility also helps with better parking -- when you can easily  see the surrounding area, you can move the Jazz much more confidently and safely in that area.  ( A few different types of parking assistance are available for drivers who want more help for parking ).

2.    The Jazz’s steep bonnet profile lines up smoothly with the slope of the windshield.   When you are driving the Jazz, this means that air moves easily over and around the car.  This is often referred to as  a profile that is  ‘slippery’ and it means that there is less air resistance or  ‘drag’ on the car and it moves more easily.  This strategic aerodynamic design means that the Honda Jazz motor doesn’t have to labour as hard to move the car through the air.  In turn, this helps to improve the Jazz fuel economy.

3.   With the engineering of these aerodynamics, the air isn’t pushed and swirled around the car as much as a less aerodynamic car.   A car with an uneven or squarer profile (where the bonnet and windshield don’t line up in a continuous, smooth profile)  would make the air eddy and whirl more as it is pushed over and around the car and this means an increase in wind noise.  So the Honda Jazz has been designed to reduce wind noise around the vehicle.

4.    Safety is a major consideration for many Honda Jazz buyers and the bonnet has a few more tricks up its sleeve in the safety department.  In the event of a fronatl collision, the bonnet is designed to concertina or progressively ‘scrunch up’, as you can see in the crash picture below.  This has a couple of safety benefits. Firstly, it helps other parts of the front of the car to absorb impact energy, which increase deceleration times to reduce the forces on the Jazz’s occupants.  Secondly, combined with reinforced bonnet hinges, it minimises the chances of the bonnet being pushed through the windscreen in a frontal collision.

Honda Jazz (Honda Fit in USA) bonnet helps with safety

5.  A flatter, more horizontal car bonnet is more likely to reflect the sun’s light  into the car, and more concerningly, into the eyes of the driver.  The Honda Jazz has a steep angle bonnet which is designed to eliminate glare reflected by the bonnet. This reduces the likelihood of the driver being temporarily dazzled or fatigued by the sun glare, thereby making for safer driving.

6.    Less reflected sunlight, as explained in no.5 above, means that the Jazz steep bonnet angle also reduces the amount of UV light that is reflected into the car.  This helps to reduces the risk of sunburn to occupants on long drives and slows the fading effects of UV light on the car’s interior.

7.    The steep bonnet angle on the Honda Jazz also lessens the reflected heat from the sun into the car.  This can contribute to marginally cooler interior temperature when driving on hot days.  this in turn  means that air conditiong doesn’t have to work quite as hard and is a small contributor to  better fuel economy.

Enquire now about the new Honda Jazz

New car buyers often ask about the safety features on new cars, including new Hondas.  It makes a lot of sense to be aware of the safety features in your new Honda for several reasons:

1. Safety helps to protect you and your family and friends. This is probably the simplest and most obvious benefit of safety features on new Honda vehicles. New Hondas have a wide range of safety features to help the driver (you) avoid an accident, and if an accident is unavoidable, then there are more safety features designed to reduce the risks of injury from the accident.  ABS brakes fall into the first category -- they are designed too help you avoid an accident.

2. Some safety features are useless (or even detrimental) if you don’t know what they are or how to use them. The most simple example of this is your normal brakes.  If you didn’t know how to operate the brakes in any car, yet you started driving, it’s not going to be long before you forcefully meet an obstacle, other vehicle or pedestrian.  ABS is another example.  When ABS first appeared on the market, many drivers who didn’t know about their ABS, stomped on the brake pedal in an emergency and, panicked by the pulsating pedal, ,lifted their foot of the brake and had the collision they were trying to avoid!  When you visit Daniel to look at new Hondas be sure to ask him for a real-life demonstration of how to use ABS.  Don’t miss out on t the full benefits of the safety features in your new Honda.

3. You know what you are getting for your money. One of the most bewildering things for automotive sales professionals is customers who enter a dealership, demanding to buy a car for the cheapest price, and when asked why they want that particular car, they don’t know.   Occasionally, they are demanding the car at a price below what it costs to make it!  In retrospect, this situation is an accumulation of ignorance.  They have no knowledge of realistic pricing, but more importantly, they have no knowledge of what they are actually getting for their money.  In that situation of fear combined with ignorance, they are taking a scary risk by buying any car and it’s a bit like being forced to bid on a mystery box without knowing its contents.  When you know what you are getting for your money and you don’t have any fears about your decision to buy a new Honda, you make a decision that you are happy with and you don’t embarrass yourself by making ridiculous price offers.

4. Safety helps with resale values. Even if safety isn’t top of your list when buying a new Honda, it is top of many people’s lists when they are buying used Hondas.  So if your new Honda has a full array of safety features, it is one good contributor to resale values when the time comes to replace your new Honda.

So what do Honda’s ABS brakes do for you?

It’s not surprising that so few car owners know what ABS does, because, in our experience, very few salespeople who sell the vehicles know either!   I recall seeing an Australian motoring survey a few years ago in which 61% of people who drove cars with ABS had absolutely no idea what ABS did!

Here are the six benefits of Honda’s ABS braking systems:

1.    Honda ABS prevents vehicle skidding during emergency braking. In an emergency braking situation, the driver slams hard on the brakes, which often results in wheel lock and the vehicle skids. ABS prevents wheel locking during such panic braking and helps the driver keep the vehicle under control.

2.   Honda ABS maintains vehicle stability in heavy braking.  Loss of stability occurs when the rear wheels lock. Irrespective of whether the road is dry or wet, high friction or low friction, uniform surface or split surface, ABS maintains vehicle stability during braking.

3.   Honda  ABS ensures steering ability during braking.  Loss of steering ability occurs when the front wheels lock. By preventing the front wheels from locking, the driver is able to steer around obstacles and has improved ability to avoid accidents.

4.    Honda ABS enhances many drivers’ skill for safer driving.  ABS allows the driver to ‘overbrake’ without losing traction. An average driver with ABS can perform above average braking.

5.    Honda ABS improves tyre life. ABS prevents ‘flat spotting’ of tyres in an emergency braking situation.  Each time the ABS activates, it results in less tyre wear and thus improved tyre life, itself a significant factor in effective stopping and steering to avoid accidents.

6.    Honda ABS provides driver feedback on road conditions. The anti-lock brake system will indicate its operation by pulsations in the brake pedal and a noticeable sound. If the driver notices these pulsations and sounds, it is an indication that the roads are slippery.  Speed and following distance can be adjusted accordingly, thereby contributing to safer driving.

Contact Daniel now to find out more about safety on your new Honda.

Don't just get Honda ABS - get the knowledge of how to use it!