Honda Reverts to Manual Controls for 2020 Jazz

While most leading automakers are vying with each other to offer touchscreens with more functions, Honda has chosen to take a different route with the 2020 Honda Jazz. Based on customer feedback, the Japanese car manufacturer has opted to retain a few manual controls in the model.

In an interview he gave to Autocar, the project leader for the 2020 Honda Jazz, Takeki Tanaka said that Honda decided to use manual controls for the climate system in order to minimize driver disruption. The company had received customer feedback that the climate controls were difficult to operate intuitively as motorists were forced to take their eyes off the road and fiddle with the infotainment system to adjust settings. This led Honda to switch from touchscreen to dial operation.

Honda had launched the 2020 Jazz earlier in March and according to the carmaker, the new model comes with a simplified menu interface that reduces the time needed to operate the most regularly used controls by 58 percent when compared to the previous model. Part of this difference was attributed to the reinstatement of physical controls for major functions like the climate control system.

The infotainment system does have a simplified menu, but it is technologically quite advanced as it is equipped with Honda’s artificial intelligence assistant, Honda Personal Assistant, which has the capability to understand multiple requests at one time. For example, a driver could ask the assistant to find a nearby restaurant which meets several different criteria like a specific cuisine, availability of Wifi and availability of parking. Several such suitable restaurants would then be displayed on the
infotainment system.

Another notable feature of the new Honda Jazz is its hybrid powertrain which comprises a 1.5-liter petrol engine, two electric motors and a lithium-ion battery. Using this combination, the model can deliver a combined output of 108 hp (80 kW / 109 PS) and 187 lb-ft (253 Nm) of torque.

Thus, the Jazz can go from 0-100 km/h in 9.4 seconds and reach a top speed 175 km/h while consuming only 4.5 L/100 km in the WLTP cycle.