A taster with this brand’s newest version of its most popular car also allowed a chance to catch with the olds.

GOSH I’d forgotten how tight this cabin, inspired by an F-16 fighter jet, is; the seat’s all the way back and as low as it’ll go, but my cranium is still brushing the lining even with my neck slightly cricked.

Discomfort is no penalty. Twenty minutes into the drive, the somnolent roads are at last in the teensy rear vision mirror that is useful only if I snuggle down.

Now the fun begins. The road ahead is climbing, twisting. Tight. Blind corners. Dips and crests. A roller coaster. Second and third gear, all the way. This is my chance. Go for it.

Speed rises. Everything sharpens. The 3.0-litre behind my left shoulder changes its note – the sound is as good as a V6 gets - and becomes much more reactive; this was the first production car with a drive-by-wire throttle, just the second from its maker with its then proprietary variable valve timing.

This one has power-assisted steering. Those I drove – in 1991 and, from memory, probably 1996 or ‘97 – lacked that. Will the purity of feel be any different? Not at all. It's beautifully clear and transparent in its communication, in a way no road car steering is today. 

Fifteens on the front, 16s on the back; such small wheels and narrow tyres. Back then, they were good enough for supercars. Grip is okay, but I’m not pushing it. I’ve seen what happens. At the Motegi circuit in Japan, a colleague planted boot too soon, before an apex; not even something Ayrton Senna would try.  

The car was beached so deep into the gravel trap they called the whole day off. The Israeli journalists, who would have driven after us, were livid. So far to come to experience a legend, so close to ticking that box. Then denied.

Rarity, the fact I’m on a public road, and value – above all value. These factors dictates pace. This car was $200k back in the day. Lord only knows how much it’s worth now.

And it’s effectively the ‘base’ model; effectively just like the one I was allowed to run for a day on roads in the lower North Island, night on 33 years ago.

 The Type R I then experienced, some years after that, at Honda’s brilliant race track and test facility – so named because it had a separate Moto GP layout and pukka Nascar oval blended into one site - is more honed; stiffer, sharper, lighter. Just 1230kg, as opposed to the regular’s 1425kg; basically as heavy as a Mazda MX-5 with two adults aboard.

Significant weight-saving arrives when most of the body and also the suspension is rendered from aluminium. Yet the engine, making 201kW – at a screaming, second stage VTEC 7100rpm - and 284Nm here, also had more fire in the Type R, just 483 built.

The road runs for 20kms. I u-turn, attack it all over. My shoulders ache by the time I get it back to the custodian; in one piece, but tyres nicely warmed, engine ticking.

Reacquainting with the first-generation Honda NSX more than quarter of a century after my last exposure has been special.

I cannot believe Honda New Zealand, which owns this beautifully-kept example, has allowed anyone to drive it. But here it is, kingpin of the firm’s heritage collection, freely available to myself and colleagues.

I wince when, soon after my drive, another journalist pulls out for his run … directly in the path of a campervan. There’s an indignant horn blast, big braking effort from a tourist driver. But he avoids T-boning the pride of Tochigi.

Honda’s reason for having its classics here to simple. There’s a new model; which has been inspired by those past masters.

 Yes, they managed that line with a straight face. Not sure I could. The Jazz is nice design, no argument, but insofar as DNA link to what I’ve spent the past hour in, the RS is in the ‘chicken and dinosaur’ category. In that, yes, there is a descendance, but birds are a distinct group of animals, so it’s a bit of a twist of facts to call them modern dinosaurs.

Compare a Jazz to a NSX and not even rhe badge stylings are the alike. The only sameness I could spot was that both are 16 inch rims (well, the NSX’ back set). Otherwise? More than a slight stretch. Still, doesn’t matter. I got to drive the NSX again. I’d swallow any amount of marketing bunkum for that.

Anyway, to nan’s car. The new RS edition is interesting. From a shorter, less intense drive than I took in Japan’s best sports car (and, yes, I’ve driven the Lexus LF-A), it seems a bit more nimble and nippy than the Luxe Sport and Crosstar editions that have been doing the business for Honda NZ for the best part of two years. But evrything is within context. It’s no samurai of speed. Type R-accredited fare has no fear.  

Jazz RS is important, though, because the model has been a massive seller, not least in Luxe Sport, by virtue of that car having the clever e:HEV powertrain that technically classifies as a hybrid but in reality is much more, given that the petrol engine basically acts for the most part as a generator of electric power in a battery than in turn feeds two motors, one driving the wheels.

This set-up brings superb efficiency; optimal economy of 3.8 litres per 100km is eyebrow-raising, even for a small car, and emissions are low; just 91 grams per kilometre.

 That effort allows the engine to achieve a $3930 Clean Car rebate. But you need to buy the now $37,000 Luxe Sport and $300 cheaper RS to achieve this payback. The $30,700 Crosstar, which is now the entry model with the cheaper Life having been dropped, misses out because it has an orthodox 1.5-litre petrol that, though not as eco-friendly, is still clean-living enough to be fee-neutral. 

The RS stands for? Well, if the second letter is ‘sporty’, the first might really struggle to stand for even ‘reasonably’. It’s an exercise in the visual much more than the visceral.

It does have a Sport driving mode that, fair due, does make it feel a bit friskier. Though you’d never say it was a speed demon. Or a corner rascal.  

The RS has larger than standard 16-inch alloys all round. It also achieves a specific suspension tune with new dampers, roll bars, spring rates (reduced in the front, stiffer in the rear) and RS-specific bushings. If this jazzes up the handling, it’s not by much, however.

The e:HEV powertrain is as per that in the Luxe Sport, but with additional zest from both the drive motor, which is outputting 90kW and 253Nm, and the engine, which packs 78kW and 127Nm. Since the latter is basically a generator of electricity for the former, there’s no need for it to be muscle-packed. How about those paddle shifters? Erm, no. They’re actually deceleration devices; e:HEV models are gearless. The ‘shifters’ alter the level of brake regeneration.

The styling plays along a bit more, though it’s not as Tonka tough as though Jazz turbos of … gosh, was it REALLY last century?  

The front end has additional air ducts in the front bumper to smooth the airflow, perhaps to the still standard breakes, and a honeycomb black grille. RS delivers slightly fatter side sills, a different rear bumper and, yes, a tail spoiler, albeit in the ‘look twice to notice it’ category. 

Inside? No calling on the services of the house of Recaro. The wildness basically restricts to yellow stitching on the wheel and seats, the latter featuring a perforated suede like trim. 

Apart from the excellent economy, the pluses are the fastidious build quality and, presumably, decent crash worthiness. However, there’s no stamp of authority from the national ratings agency, the Australasian New Car Assessment Programme. But because Jazz doesn’t sell in Australia, ANCAP hasn’t tested it. It’s times like these when it’s worth pondering why NZ puts so much funding into the Melbourne operation. It does have a five-star Vehicle Safety Risk Rating, to ensure rebate eligibility, but that’s not the same thing, really.   

 You’d think it’d do okay, because as per Luxe Sport it achieves full Honda Sensing Suite, including AEB, lane keeping, adaptive cruise and auto high beams.

Honda has scored some decent fleet deals with Jazz – one plus they report with e:HEV, says chief operating officer Peter Ashley, is that there’s a big beneficial of electric-optimised operability, but without the faff of having to plug-in. He says some drivers are needing the refuel once a month.

With RS, private buyers are the primary buyers. Honda NZ reckons it can beat biggest rival Suzuki to dominate the light car sector, which isn’t as well-stocked as it once was. The Ford Fiesta, Suzuki Baleno and Volkswagen Polo have departed and conjecture is Kia’s Rio is also soon to go. 

The other aim is to achieve 2000 Jazz registrations this year; a target that’s about 400 units above the 2022 count. Either way, it’s been way more prolific in a single year than the car whose name is shorthand for  ‘New Sportscar eXperimental’ was in a decade. But you know which is the more memorable.