Bay Driver 29 August 2014

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Friday 29 August 2014

It’s Jazz as!

Friday 29 August 2014

Honda Jazz RS See page 4

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www.baydriver.co.nz Advertising bookings and enquiries contact Lucy Pattison on 07 578 0030 email: lucy@thesun.co.nz For editorial and news tips email: hamish@thesun.co.nz

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Bay Driver

Weekend Wheels Bay events:

August 30: Modified car display fundraiser: Mount Maunganui Motoring enthusiasts are in for a treat on Saturday with a display of at least 100 top modified, old school cars expected along Marine Parade, opposite Cutters Cove apartments, from midday. The display, organised by Hamilton Rotary and Turbo Car Club as part of its Winter Cruise to the Mount, includes a sausage sizzle fundraiser for the Cancer Society’s Lions Lodge in Hamilton. For details see www.Facebook.com and search ‘Winter Cruise to the Mount’.

September 7: Father’s Day motoring: Mount Maunganui Dads from around the Bay are being encouraged to polish up their pride and joy to prepare for the Father’s Day parade and display of classic and vintage cars in Mount’s main street on September 7. The event, which is jointly organised by the Bay of Plenty Vintage Car Club and Mount Maunganui Mainstreet, builds on the success of last year’s inaugural display. Cars gather at Tay St Café from 9.30am. For details, email vintage club president Chris Cole at chriscole1946@gmail.com September 13-14: Hillclimb challenge series Motorsport Bay of Plenty is laying down the challenge for drivers who rate their hillclimb talent, squeezing the club’s two-round hillclimb series into one weekend. The action begins on gravel at Harray Rd, Te Puke on Saturday, September 13, before concluding on the sealed Te Puke Quarry Rd the next day. For details, see www.mbop.org.nz

Beyond the Bay:

September 7: Father’s Day Drags: Meremere In a meeting American Muscle Car Club organisers are promoting as one of the top drag events of the year, American and Australian street legal V8 dragsters will go headto-head in a dial your own racing format. For details, see www.musclecar.co.nz September 14: Ford Muscle Car Club track day: Taupo Members of Tauranga’s Ford Muscle Car Club will get a chance to back up their talk by showing just how fast their beloved Fords can go when the club has its annual track day at Taupo. The day – which is open to all makes – includes dual sprints and grudge racing events and finishes off with a prizegiving for standout performances. For details, see www.fordmusclecars.org.nz or email: barrygordon@xtra.co.nz To submit an event for listing, email details to hamishcarter@thesun.co.nz at least two weeks prior to the event.

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Bay Driver Friday 29 August 2014

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Bay Driver

Spellbound by the magic of the Jazz

When I asked what I was driving for this Bay Driver review, and they told me it was a Honda Jazz, I immediately thought of my favourite radio station and how they give the lead DJ heaps about his recent choice of a Jazz.

the amazing colour choices.

My test baby was Sunset Orange – very striking. But with other colour options like Violet Pearl and Milano Red, there’s a colour of the rainbow to suit everyone.

My google research also revealed the new Jazz boasts ‘magic seats’ - wow! How cool is a small easy-to-park vehicle that zips down the open road with ease, navigates traffic I’m not a 45-plus-year-old DJ with a group at rush hour with city assist braking – and also lends itself to being stuffed with two of hecklers for workmates, so after googling full sets of golf clubs, a fortnight’s groceries, this car I was secretly quite excited. a pushbike, shrubbery or a surfboard, and I currently drive a small-ish European car stills give you room to fit the driver and a and love it. But I’ve also owned a couple of passenger?

Hondas in my lifetime – both giving me I couldn’t wait to try this out. great, reliable service – and I was sad to see I picked up the Jazz RS 1.5 on Saturday them go. morning from the very helpful and knowlThe first thing that struck me when edgeable staff at Bay of Plenty researching the new 2014 Jazz is Honda on Elizabeth St. After a quick run through on the basic operations and features of the car – if I’m honest the engine spec part went straight over my head as I’m a female after all – I was on the road.

16 valve, C H O D , nder litre, 4 Cyli ven Surprise inside Engine: 1.5 n, chain dri sion, with io ct je In t ec is ir The little Jazz struck me as a D sm , an C tr E T T V V iatic C m to u A whole lot bigger from the inside. : on Transmissi n io ct It had ample room for both t’ ra if T h h S it n ist w ‘G-Desig tability Ass S front and back passengers, and le ic eh V Handling: more.

The ride was comfortl, o ontr e Volume C reen v Control ti si able and she zipped along the en S d chsc : Spee ” LCD Tou Multimedia expressway with ease. .0 7 a, e, er re F am s and ng C I had to get somewhere to Bluetooth H audio system, Reversi sage, and stant fuel u in play with those ‘magic seats’ h it w navigation y ation displa and explore all the modern Multi inform e consumption erag techie gizmos on the touch range and av 25,500 plus orc $ screen, so headed to my m a, d ro n Ho Price: F ay of Plenty ne 578 9083 B daughter’s house. : om fr le ho Availab Tauranga. P She was equally excited to t, S h et b za 158 Eli see the Jazz.

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The magic seats are exactly that…magic!

We re-enacted every possible combination I could recall from my internet research and we weren’t disappointed.

You really can fold the seats up, down and in every other combination imaginable.

You can use the entire floor to roof space to carry a menagerie of tall items – and I can also attest to the fact it does indeed fit two full sets of gold clubs, plus trundlers and a whole lot more.

The ‘magic seats’ are definitely magical – and the person who designed them deserves a knighthood.

They are easy to operate and a breeze to manoeuvre. In fact, I would say that, fully utilised, the storage area in the back of the Jazz would equal that of most double-cab utes.

Onto the techie bits – push-button start, smart proximity key, bluetooth, hands-free, iPod, WIFI etc etc plus reversing camera and a G5 navigation system!

All the things you get in top-of-the-line vehicles, but rarely do you get so many in a smaller car. Very impressive.

After what must have been a good hour of marvelling at the wondrous ‘magic seats’ and techie gadgets, we figured we better take the car for a decent drive and see how it handled on the road instead of the driveway.

The drive

The Jazz is a pleasure to drive. It glided along the road, both city and country, with ease.

Winding country roads were no hassle for the vehicle stability assist with traction control – and in the city any stops and starts weren’t a problem for the super-safe braking system.

Our test drive vehicle had auto CVT transmission with ‘G Design shift’ with steering wheel-mounted shift paddles. Gear changing on the road was seamless and the

drive was smooth.

The overall look and feel of the body of the Jazz is very sporty, both exterior and interior.

From the jazzy alloy-patterned pedal surfaces right down to the detail of matching body colour stitching on what can only be described as extremely comfortable seats.

It also offers a steering wheel that not only adjusts up and down, but in and out, for the not-so-tall and lengthy-limbed like myself.

Fuel reading

One of the things I liked on the dash is the petrol gauge that also tells you how far you can travel on the petrol you have in the tank.

This wee gauge also demonstrated to me that I tend to be a little heavy-footed on the accelerator – and I’ll be forever thankful to that little gauge when I visit the pumps in future.

My own car may not have the amazing fuel economics of the Jazz but at least when I put my foot down I’ll be more aware of how much fuel I’m using.

If I had to find any faults with the Jazz it would be the high gloss surface of the touch screen display panel; in bright sunlight it’s not easily readable.

I’d also say that personally, being used to a higher cc rated vehicle, I tended to find the immediate pick-up of the Jazz from a stationary position a little slow at first.

But once up and going it does rocket along – my daughter did point out I was obliviously going over the speed limit a couple of times.

All in all, we were spellbound by the magic of the Jazz.

If you’re looking for a great-looking car with amazing storage capacity, high tech gadgets, safety, economy and driveability – then look no further, as this car is definitely

By Kym Johnson ‘Jazz As’.

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FLEXIBLE ARRANGEMENT FLEXIBLE ARRANGEMENT Centred Centred

MARQUE OF EXCELLENCE MARQUE OF EXCELLENCE

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MARQUE OF EXCELLENCE MARQUE OF EXCELLENCE

MARQUE OF EXCELLENCE MARQUE OF EXCELLENCE

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Bay Driver

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First impressions count

Weekend Sun Friday 29 AugustThe 2014

Bay Driver

Throttling the competition

2004 Nissan Bluebird 20M A good mid-size family car. Clean pleasant lines and in my opinion a much better looking car than the earlier models.

Sitting in the car for the first time, I was impressed by the comfort of the seating and the general layout of the controls and instruments. Again an improvement on earlier models.

I’ve found the seating on previous models to be quite hard, but not in this case; you feel really cosseted and well-supported in this car.

Sitting in the driver’s seat for the first time I was struck by the layout

By Adrian and Jane Allen of the instruments and the general controls.

The main controls are all where you’d expect them to be, but the instrument panel is reasonably complex and it took me a little bit of experimentation to discover where everything was.

But this is not a negative, as it always takes time to get used to where everything is in a different car.

A big plus for this model is the great amount of leg room in the back seats.

I’m six foot tall – and even with the driver’s seat fully back I had plenty of room for my legs in the back seat. A great feature for families with growing teenagers.

Also in the back seat you have a folding central armrest with bottle holders.

Looking around the car, the boot space is quite spacious and one feature we liked is the access to the boot from the back seat.

This makes it much easier for carrying long items, for example fishing rods or skis.

My wife was also particularly impressed by the design of the interior upholstery and the comfort of the seats.

She is only 5ft 2” and found that the driver’s seat, which is very adjustable, gave her an excellent driving position with great visibility.

Our test vehicle was also fitted with reversing and Side Blind cameras. A great feature for those tight parking spaces and safety when backing out of driveways.

On the road

The car is fitted with a 1990cc engine, which proved perfectly adequate as you’d expect from a car of this size and capacity.

The transmission also boasts a Sport feature, just in case you need to make a quick getaway.

Handling is excellent and the car sits nice and flat on corners with negligible body roll. Turning circle is also good for when you need to make those inevitable u-turns.

The level of road noise was good. I found the car to be very quiet on the road.

Overall impressions

Excellent. Would I buy one? If I was in the market for a two litre five-seater family car, then this car would be a serious contender. A big thumbs up from me.

This vehicle can be viewed at Car Connexxion.

Top Bay of Plenty driver Michael Young, pictured in action on the recent Malaysian Rally where he claimed the Junior Cup.

Bay of Plenty rally driver Michael Young is on track for a strong finish in the Asia Pacific Rally Championship – extending his lead in the two-wheel-drive cup and claiming its Junior Cup with two rounds to go.

This follows a solid performance at the recent Malaysian Rally where he held onto his fourth place overall in the Asia Pacific series despite an engine scare costing him and co-driver Malcolm Read four minutes on the last stage after water got into the vehicle’s throttle sensor.

Michael’s very happy to win the round’s two-wheel-drive and Junior

Brian Roderick Motors

Cup classes, saying luck also played a small part in allowing them to get back to service, to repair the throttle issue.

“Even though we didn’t get a recordbreaking win, like last year, I’m still very happy with the weekend’s haul of points,” says Michael, who credits his consistent performance in seven rallies to his focused driving enabling him to keep up the pace without making mistakes.

The pair now turns their attention to Rally Hokkaido in Japan on September 26-28.

But in the meantime they’ve headed to Germany, to soak up the World Rally Championship while scoping out opportunities for next year.

By Hamish Carter

SINCE 1978

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Bay Driver Friday 29 August 2014

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Digging deep for gold in Coromandel Tauranga rally driver Phil Campbell continued his return to form on Saturday, taking second place in the inaugural VINZ Goldrush Rally of Coromandel.

Phil’s top performance, which saw him finish 1:03.9 behind Palmerston North-based winner Geof Argyle, meant he was the first New Zealand Rally Championship driver over the line –his best result to date in the Brian Green Property Group New Zealand Rally Championships 4WD series.

Phil’s second-placing comes only a month after he claimed his first rally win, when he took the Tauranga Clubman’s Rally title and reversed a spell of mixed results earlier in the season.

“It was also great to be able to do it with Venita [Fabbro] in the car because she was co-driving for someone else when I won in Tauranga,” says Phil, who paid tribute to his long-standing team partner.

“I had my sponsors from the Roofing Store there, showing them what rallying’s about, so it’s good to get a great result with them.”

After starting slowly Phil wasn’t expecting to do so well, but he puts the top performance down to steady and careful driving, which helped him avoid many obstacles the Coromandel roads served up.

“They were all new roads that nobody had raced on before, so we were all getting used to that,” says Phil, who was one of the few drivers to avoid a puncture on the rocky roads.

The secondplacing takes Phil’s

team’s season points to 43, narrowing the gap with the next three drivers – Graham Featherstone with 48, Lance Williams on 51 and Matt Summerfield holding 57 – with one round remaining, Manawatu’s Daybreaker Rally.

But Phil says he knows he can only go so far at the Daybreaker due to course changes.

“The better we do obviously the better overall – but even though we’ve done well on the Daybreaker before they’ve changed it to include some night sections, which is going to make it more challenging because it’s not my strength.”

Meanwhile, Mount driver Dave Holder had a more frustrating weekend of rallying on the Coromandel.

Getting off to a bad start, by nudging into a bank a bit tight just three corners into the first stage, prompted Dave to “drive like a nana” for the rest of the stage as he was concerned he’d damaged his car.

While the car turned out to be fine, his challenges continued during the next five stages with sick co-driver Ben Hawkins unable to guide Dave from their race notes.

Despite finishing of the pace in fifth, it still earned Dave enough points to rise to second place for the series, just ahead of Ben Hunt who didn’t compete.

The peninsula event also earned Dave the 2014 Junior New Zealand Rally Champion title with one round still to go.

The series concludes with the Daybreaker Rally on SeptemBy Hamish ber 27.

Carter

Tauranga rallying team Phil Campbell and co-driver Venita Fabbro celebrate a return to form, with their second placing in Saturday’s Rally of Coromandel. Photo by Euan Cameron.

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