Road Test: Honda Jazz 1.3 IMA HE Hybrid 5dr CVT

You could fit four full-grown adults and comfortably swing a load of cats around inside the new Honda Jazz. It's a Tardis, bigger than some overpriced central London apartments. The new version has a fresh platform that squeezes an extra 50mm into the wheelbase, to the point where it's virtually a small hatch limo. It's a USP.

But it's also still a Honda Jazz which means, as a ‘lifestyle' accoutrement, it's up there with bifocals and a Zimmer frame. But wait. When it lands in the UK in 2015, it will likely be powered by Honda's new 1.0-litre, three-cylinder turbo, whose 105bhp is fizzingly deployed. The car we tried in Japan featured an all-new 7spd dual-clutch transmission, which is smooth and swift enough without making a truly compelling case for itself. We also sampled - sampled being the operative word - a 1.5 hybrid, which musters 133bhp and can run at speeds up
to 50mph on pure electric power.

This is a Honda that feels tightly engineered and there is some evidence of interior and exterior flair. We got the chance to watch the Jazz being manufactured at Honda's remarkable hi-tech Yorii factory. It's moot which has the greater personality: the car, or the robots that build it.