Rallye Red Jazz X comes home

Finally the Honda comes home after some wait and I could get my hands on it. The car is really very much worth for the money and let me put down my views with an experience of owning it for a couple of weeks now. My car search : I have decided to buy a car during Feb-2010 and been going through team-bhp articles and reviews as a lurker for over one and a half years. Close to all the hatchbacks except one car in the current Indian market were considered by me during this period. And the one that I never dreamt I would buy was the Jazz. And now time had its own answers. I was totally sold to the VW Polo during July this year and was about to book it. The same night i happened to see the thread 'Honda slashed jazz's price'. I had my decision on hold till the day the face lifted jazz becomes official with the new prices announced. The wait was worth and the new Jazz had the reduced price. The next day went to the nearest Honda showroom in Bangalore and found the Rallye Red Jazz select standing in the middle surrounded by Cities. I didn't ask the sales person to guide me, just checked the Jazz myself. Didn't even ask them for a test drive, Came home the next week to home town and handed over the booking amount of Rs. 15000 to TVS Sundaram Motors - Salem. Booking Experience : As mentioned above, We have booked the vehicle with a booking amount of Rs.15,000 on 2nd of September this year. The Sales person was very helpful all through the phase from booking to delivery. He even brought a test drive vehicle to my native which is about 65 kms distant from Salem for my dad to have a better look at the vehicle. We have been promised a waiting period of one and a half months. Waiting : We waited for a month. Time was going terribly slower that month than I expected. By then i had watched almost all the videos related to Jazz in youtube, I had gone through the brochure more than a dozen times, visited the Honda showroom on and on to at least look at the display vehicle (because they had a Rallye red Jazz select for display for few days). I did not see many new Jazzes on road in Bangalore; parallely learnt about Thailand floods and how it affected Honda, I was worried that my waiting period could be prolonged even more and then decided to call the sales person. Kept on calling him and had some answers from him but still he was also not quite sure about the delivery date. He then called us and informed that they have got a Jazz Base UT and asked me if I would like to go for it. But we opted to wait. And after about 15 days of follow up with both Honda and the sales person, we had a reason to smile. They have got a Rallye red Jazz X delivered to their showroom. We wasted no time, cleared all other documents and remaining payments and scheduled a delivery date with them. Delivery : It was a Friday (Nov-4th-2011). My wife and me took a train morning from Bangalore to Salem. We reached the showroom by 1:00 o' clock noon. My parents reached the showroom ahead of us and were waiting. Since the vehicle had gone for a temporary registration I could not have a glimpse of it. It was 3:00 o'clock and Hiccup came out after a water wash. That was a great moment, most of the bypassers paused a minute to get a good view of the car; It was gorgeous with its Rallye red outfit. The showroom people were very much patient enough with my father's questions about the vehicle and gave prompt answers. We did not receive the accessories (Front grill and spoiler) during our delivery due to stock unavailability. we were promised the accessories during our first service. After a brief inspection and a small pooja, We took the car to our native. An Embarrassing moment: On the way to my native (Dharmapuri) after covering 30 odd kilometers from Salem on NH7, we had a flattened tire. We were totally unaware what might have caused it. We changed to a spare tire and reached our destination. There we checked with a local puncture guy who said it can't be mended since the puncture looks like a cut at the side of the tire for about an inch. This was a total shocker. The next working day, we took the wheel to the showroom and demanded a new tire as a replacement. They took the wheel and said they would talk to the tire company. After a week they came back telling the tire company told the damage did not look like defect and denied a free replacement. I had a look at the damaged area; the rubber was very thin at the sides. I did not expect an international tire company to build tire like these. I am yet to receive a positive response from the tire company to Honda; One thing for sure is the showroom people and Honda seems to have taken the issue seriously and following them up. Hope to get a solution sooner. First Month with Hiccup : This is my first car and am just loving it every moment. My father drove the vehicle for the first 800 Kms. Left the car for the first service after 20 days from the date of delivery(My dad used the car for the first 20 days). The service did not cost me anything. The car is with me for the last 10 days; Did a long drive (Bangalore >> Madurai >> Bangalore in one day; A total distance of about 1000 kms approximately) with five occupants including me. The car behaved exceptionally well in all aspects. The overall fuel efficiency throughout the trip was between 15.5 to 16. The only thing that bothered us was the ground clearance. We had to scratch the under-body a couple of times on unrealistic speed bumps which we could not ignore even after careful driving. The following were few points I observed during our trip. - It gets huge attention on roads. - 3 occupants did not feel cramped at the rear . I am 5 ft 7" and felt leg space is abundant. - I felt driver seat height adjustment is a boon for me but still unable to see the front corners due to its aerodynamic design. - Engine was ultra smooth with great gear shift. To me the first and Reverse gears are a bit notchy. My friend who has a Vento petrol felt the gear shift to be too good comparing the two vehicles. But I feel vento has a great gear shift somehow :D. - Drove the car for a stretch of 60 kms without exceeding 80 kmph to test the fuel efficiency of the car. To our surprise we got an average fuel efficiency of 20.5 Kmpl with A/C ON all the way. The drive was on a flat road which did not require much gear shifts. - Good year tyres are good but not sure how Micheleins would be! I would plan them after doing 15K to 20K Kms. Please advise me on tyre upgradation. (both brand and upsizing them) - While coming back to Bangalore at 5:00 o'clock, the visibility was poor due fog and dust. We were travelling at a speed of 60-70 Kmph in outer ring road. My friend who was driving the car happened to see a speed bump when we neared it. There was hard braking that brought the car immediately to a speed of less than 5Kmph. Though was nervous we were really amazed to see how the car managed to slow down so quickly. - Audio system is pretty decent and delivers good amount of bass. It has earned all praises from my friends and family. Though I am not sure, I feel the volume of the audio system to be decreasing when the vehicle slows down. I feel Jazz would be complete as the best hatch-back only if it is bundled with bluetooth music system and Automatic climate control. I would have missed many points writing this article. Please post your queries and I will answer back. The Car have just clocked 2000 kilometers; Will give you more updates as I drive more. Planning to take Hiccup for a photo shoot soon; Will get back with good exterior and interior images. Few pics for you until then. Attachment 853209 Attachment 853211 Attachment 853212 Attachment 853213 Attachment 853214 Attachment 853215 Attachment 853216 Thanks, Ashok. Attached Thumbnails

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