Honda Jazz makes sweet music

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And if that's not enough they have also added a sportier EX-S version, kitted out so well that it could easily compete with classier, more expensive vehicles.

Pitched sort of midway between MPV and hot hatch, the Jazz shot to the top of the international hit parade almost overnight. Launched in 2001 it became Japan's Car of the Year within months and has since then won more than 30 prestigious international awards.

With such a sound reputation the Japanese white coats in Honda's design and development department faced an extremely difficult task - how to make the Second Generation Jazz even better.

Already the Jazz was setting such superior standards for cabin space, economy, build quality, flexible seating and nimble handling that it was almost impossible to improve on.

But improve on it they did, and what's more, they did the job so well that the latest Jazz has been the top-selling car in Japan since it was launched in October last year - and it also won the coveted title of Car of the Year there in 2007.

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And now the six-model range is here, offering a choice of a 1.4-litre manual (R145,000) or Automatic (R156,000), a 1.5-litre manual (R162,000) and automatic (R173,000), the sporty 1.5-litre EX-S manual (R172,000) and the automatic (R183,000).

Much of improvements have been made under the bonnet and this was particularly noticeable in the 1.4-litre manual which I drove along some pleasantly winding Boland roads when it was shown to the local media for the first time.

The white coats back at Honda's head office fed the 1.4-litre a good dose of testosterone to bump it up from 61kW to 73kW and from 116Nm to 127Nm, with much of the credit going to its i-TEC variable valve timing system.

Although we didn't drive it long enough to measure fuel consumption, Honda says it will sip only 5.8-litres per 100 kilometres in the combined cycle which, for a car as spacious as the Jazz, is quite amazing.

Obviously that will depend on what sort of passenger load and playthings you take aboard and how enthusiastic the South Easter blows in the Cape or how much energy the Reef's high altitude will sap.

On our drive it was bucketing down with rain and storm-strength winds were buffeting the Mother City and yet the Jazz handled it well.

The clever technicians have done some tweaking to the suspension to cope with increased length, shoulder space, wheelbase and tread, and they have also improved the steering set-up.

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Now not only does the new Jazz look lower and wider, it feels better balanced and more planted.

Of course it's never going to compete with a hot hatch when it comes to cling and sting, but for what it was designed for the Jazz does it better than most others in its class.

I also spent some time at the wheel of the 1.5-litre auto which is now equipped with a conventional 5-speed automatic gearbox with torque converter in place of the CVT set-up it had before.

I have never really been a fan of continuously variable transmission in small cars and the new auto box in the 1.5-litre feels much better and sounds much better than the eerie clutch-slipping sound of the CVT.

The 1.5-litre motor has also been boosted from 81kW/143Nm to 88kW/145Nm.

We didn't get a chance to drive the sportier EX-S models as they are only due to arrive in local dealer show rooms just before Christmas.

Given the choice between the two models I drove at the launch, my preference would be the zippy 1.4-manual. For the price, and considering the exalted company it competes with, I reckon the Jazz is just as good, if not even a tad better, than the likes of VW Polo, Toyota Yaris, Opel Corsa, Renault Clio and Mazda2.

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I think the toughest fight in this market segment is going to be fought between the recently launched Ford Fiesta and this new Honda Jazz. Both are seriously impressive vehicles with excellent brand reputations and a strong and loyal owner-base.

But back to the Jazz. Out on the road the Jazz is amazingly quiet, even at high speed, so some work has obviously been done on insulation, which has been a mutter from Honda owners, in general, in the past.

The suspension is nicely balanced between taut and comfortable and the steering has a good, not too light feel about it.

I found the brakes on both cars a little lacking in feel, but that might be because the cars were virtually brand new.

In terms of looks the improvements are mainly cosmetic. The A-pillars have been slimmed down, the silly little windows next to the windscreen have been enlarged so that you can now actually see through them, the roof now tapers quite sexily towards the back, the wheel arches have been flared a little more and both the nose and bum of the Jazz have benefitted from the scalpel.

A number of small changes they might well be, but so cleverly executed that together they give the new Jazz an air of cheeky freshness.

Overall the Jazz now looks a little cockier than the previous model and this might well do the job of attracting slightly younger buyers.

The cabin of the Jazz has always been almost implausibly spacious and now it's even better and even more flexible, thanks to what Honda calls Magic Seats.

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With the new design, just one simple tug of a handle makes the back seats fold up or down, changing from comfortable long-distance chairs to a space generous enough to take a surf board or a mountain bike.

The back seats have a 60/40 split and the doors open all the way to 80 degrees to help with getting items in and out of the back. With the seats in normal position, luggage space is 337 litres. Change it as you like and you could even squeeze a 2.4-metre long object into the car!

The cabin lay-out and trim has a quality look and feel about it, from the sporty trim steering wheel (straight from the Civic's parts bin), to the large red on black gauges, metallic silver trim, to the blue skies all round vision and comfortable contoured seats.

And when it comes to bells and whistles, its Christmas all-year round for Jazz owners with a long list which includes, on the entry-level LX, fancies such as alloy wheels, trip computer, MP3/WMA front loading CD RDS audio system with four speakers, auxiliary audio MP3 connection, glove box with adjustable refrigeration vent, fold flat rear seats, electric windows and side mirrors, fully adjustable steering wheel, ABS brakes with EBD, ISOFix child seat anchors, immobiliser, front and side airbags and more.

The top of the range EX-S comes with all of this, plus panoramic electric roof, fog lights, curtain airbags, alarm and 16-inch alloy rims and a few things more.

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With the new Jazz, Honda has taken the best from the past and built on that for the future, not in the way that Duke Ellington described jazz as: “By and large, jazz has always been like the kind of man you wouldn't want you daughter to associate with...”, but rather like music legend Ella Fitzgerald, who said of jazz: “It's not only where you came from that's important; it's where you're going that counts.”

So, strike up the band Honda because with new Jazz you are certainly moving in the right direction....