SHOOTOUT: Kia Rio VS Honda Jazz VS Mazda2

By topgear ,

B segment shootout 2

Malaysians cannot stop talking about the new Perodua Myvi at the moment. It’s hardly surprising given its affordability, practicality, decent looks and spec sheet brimming with features normally fitted to cars thrice its price. If you’re looking for a competent B-segment hatchback, there’s really no reason to snub the best-selling car in the country for the past decade… unless you’ve already been spending the last ten years of your life behind the wheel of an old Myvi.

We get it. Your boss has finally noticed the amount of work you’ve been putting in at the office and has plumped up your pay cheque accordingly. It’s hardly a windfall, but it’s enough to get you thinking of retiring the tired old Myvi and treating yourself to something nicer. Something more upmarket, foreign in fact. Like a Honda, a Mazda or even a Kia.

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Conveniently enough, each one of these carmakers has a car for would-be brand climbers who still want to stay within B-segment borders for the sake of familiarity, manoeuvrability or driveability. The newest of the lot is the fourth-generation Kia Rio which was launched in July. But it faces stiff competition from the driver-oriented Mazda2 and the segment-leading Honda Jazz which was updated around the same time of the Rio’s local introduction.

Here’s how the three stack up against each other…
Honda Jazz 1

LOOK AND FEEL
Tubby, boxy and somewhat robotic, the third-generation Jazz was never built to win beauty pageants. But to say we didn’t expect its mid-life facelift (above) to work better would be a lie. Honda did a splendid job of updating the City, sedan counterpart to the Jazz, with new bumpers and light clusters that really did the trick. Unfortunately, the 2017 Jazz fell short of the same reinvigorating effect – with its indiscernible cosmetic changes and lack of LED headlights (which the Myvi and City have) doing little to convince fashion-conscious buyers.

Mazda2 2

Blessed with the golden touch of Kodo design, the Mazda2 is a much more fluid block of metal than the Jazz. It also looks extra chic thanks to its Mini-like proportions, but herein lies the source of its lack of presence. Measuring 4,060mm long, the Mazda is actually 71mm longer than the Jazz. But the liberated way with which its curves flow within its generous footprint makes the Mazda2 look like a strikingly smaller vehicle. The refined design cues are evident, but the end result is a compact hatch which looks better suited for the smaller A-segment.

Kia Rio 9

With 1,725mm separating the tips of its fenders, the Kia Rio is the widest and consequently the most commanding-looking car of the lot (It’s also the longest at 4,065mm end-to-end). But its presence isn’t solely the product of its girth. The lines that define its look are simple but strong, as are its light clusters which have an almost continental feel in the way their LED strips are aligned. The 17-inch alloys aid the overall look too. This cosmetic maturity extends to the Rio’s interior, which exudes a strong sense of quality through the mix of tactile materials such as soft touch plastics and aluminium trim pieces, even on the pedals.

The cabins of the Honda Jazz and Mazda2 are pretty competent too, but the Rio just feels one step ahead in terms of overall look and feel, inside and out.

FEATURES
Despite being the cheapest car here with a price tag of RM79,888, the Kia Rio continues to lead the way in terms of kit count. It is the only car here to pack a sunroof and TPMS (Tyre Pressure Monitoring System) – items you don’t normally see in this price bracket. Our only gripe about the Korean compact is its infotainment, which struggles to excite with its tiny display unit that doesn’t quite gel with the otherwise impressively laid-out dashboard.

Kia Rio 1

The Honda Jazz and Mazda2 are both endowed with wider screens with nicer, touch-sensitive displays. The head unit on the Jazz is the only one hooked up to a nifty ‘multi-angle’ reverse camera, but the MZD Connect system in the Mazda is easily the most intuitive system here thanks in part to the i-Drive like control knob on the centre console. The Mazda is also the only one with leather seats which look rather snazzy, but some buyers might consider giving them up to raise the car’s airbag count from two to six to match the Rio and V-spec Jazz.

Mazda2 7

PRACTICALITY
Unsurprisingly, the most petite-looking car here is also the least practical. Mazda’s adventurous styling isn’t achieved without sacrificing some space. And the heightened sense of cosiness is evident from every seat in the house. It’s not exactly uncomfortable, and we still maintain that the Mazda2 is the closest thing to an affordable Mini dressed with a Japanese twist. But if you’re looking for a workhorse to haul big and heavy cargo on a regular basis, you’re better off looking at the other two options.

Mazda2 3

The Kia Rio is noticeably more spacious right off the bat. There’s more room for your shoulders and head to move about in the Rio, and the boot will readily swallow more bags too. It does feel like the biggest car of the three. However, the Rio’s space isn’t maximised as intelligently as that of the slightly stubbier Honda Jazz. After all, Honda isn’t one to campaign a “Man Maximum, Machine Minimum” philosophy without substance.

Kia Rio 8

Sure, the Rio has foldable rear seats with a 60:40 split, but the stowage flexibility it offers doesn’t quite match the scalability of the Jazz thanks to Honda’s clever Ultra seats which fold in a variety of ways to accommodate everything between a potted plant to a surfboard, or so the brochures claim. The Jazz’s unfashionably tall stature – it measures 1,525mm tall against the 1,460mm Rio – also adds to the cabin’s overall roominess. So while we aren’t particularly fond of the way Honda’s B-segment entry looks, we’re willing to live with it for the sake of the class-leading practicality it packs in a compact frame.

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PERFORMANCE
Some of you would have tagged the Rio as the dark horse heading into this race, to which it has responded with exceptional refinement and impressive kit count for its price. But Malaysians have a saying about the wittiest of squirrels stumbling eventually. And the Rio’s stumbling block is its outdated powertrain made up of a torque-starved naturally-aspirated 1.4-litre engine and a four-speed automatic. In truth, we don’t even think an extra gear would have helped the 99hp Kappa engine’s weak low-end performance. You’d really have to keep the revs up in the Rio to enjoy it, in which case fuel economy is bound to take a hit.

Honda Jazz 7

On the flipside, the Mazda2 which was exposed for its severe lack of space and practicality jumps to the top of the performance charts thanks to the stellar combination of its 1.5-litre engine and six-speed auto. With 114hp at its disposal, the direct-injected SkyActiv-G mill is 4hp short of the Jazz’s output but the Mazda2 is the torque-iest with 148Nm – 3Nm more than the i-VTEC rival. These differences are minimal, but the lighter Mazda (1,084kg versus the 1,099-kg Jazz) is the nimblest of the lot. However, the real star here is the six-speeder, which is easily the most refined and engaging gearbox you can get for under RM90k. It may look small, but the Mazda2 is big on driving pleasure.

Honda Jazz 4

As much of a standout driver’s hatch the Mazda2 is, the Honda Jazz doesn’t lag far behind. It takes off effortlessly and will hold its own against the Mazda in a straight line, with the only thing holding it back being its CVT. Sure, it’s the only transmission here wired to a pair of paddle shifters, but even they are no match for the Mazda’s torque converter in terms of natural power delivery. The Jazz is also surprisingly agile on the turn despite its tall-ish proportions. But the squatter Mazda2 still has an edge in terms of overall dynamics, and our tester isn’t even equipped with the brand’s G-Vectoring Control (GVC) which will undoubtedly make it a stronger proposition to enthusiastic drivers.

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AND THE WINNER IS…
The plaudits have been quite evenly shared thus far, with each car excelling in its own way. But in terms of overall performance, the Honda Jazz takes the cake as the best all-round B-segment hatchback available in the market today. It may be the most drab-looking car of the lot, but the Jazz redeems itself with unrivalled practicality and impressive performance for a CVT-driven vehicle capable of giving the driver-oriented Mazda2 a run for its money. It is also sufficiently-packed with features and creature comforts to render the Rio’s novel features redundant in a head-to-head situation.

Honda Jazz 11

Second place is a more tightly-contested spot, and we honestly cannot decide who gets silver given the contrasting natures of the remaining contestants. From a driving perspective, the Mazda2 is easily the better of the two – the one we’d want to drive every day. But when you’re stuck in traffic with a bunch of office mates on the way to lunch, the Kia Rio is a much nicer car to be in, one which boasts many conversation starters to boot. Ultimately, they’re both great left-field alternatives to the dominant Honda. And depending on a buyer’s priorities, deciding on one over the other should be relatively straightforward.

- Photography: Raja Mokhzairi