Interior
Moving on towards the interior, both these cars serve the premium class of mortals and these are the most nit-picky bunch and it seems that Hyundai have kept that in mind. The stylish and contemporary cabin of the Elite proclaims classiness. Graceful design of the dashboard, a two-tone theme, a neatly laid-out centre console combined with soft-touch plastics, excellent fit-and-finish and a perfect balance of leather and textile give the i20 the appearance of belonging to a class above.
The Jazz, however, brings with it a familiar design already witnessed in the City. Black is the dominant theme and the centre console from the City, with its touch-operated air-conditioner controls, a first in the segment, do add a bit of class but the overall appeal is very generic and plain.
The Honda Jazz has one redeeming feature, though, and that is space. Cabin space was always the Jazz’s strong point and the new one is no exception. At the front, it is on a par with the Hyundai but the rear seats have more than ample knee-room. Better head-room in the Jazz lends the cabin an airy and roomy feel. Its 354 litres of boot volume is 69 litres more than the i20’s and, with the seats folded, this volume goes up by a huge margin. This makes the Jazz a clear winner when it comes to space, but the Elite i20’s cabin looks and feels classier than that of the Jazz.
Features
The Elite i20 has been ruling the roost in this particular respect for a long time. Now, however, it is time for the Jazz to take over. Yes, with just a few extra features such as a multi-view camera for parking, the Jazz has managed to overtake the i20. The exhaustive list of features is common in both the cars, though these features are mostly limited to only the top-end variants. One feature that the i20 has, and the Jazz does not, are rear air-con vents, which is a big plus for the i20. In addition, by the time you are reading this, the Elite i20 would already be available with a seven-inch touchscreen infotainment system with sat-nav, bringing it very close to the Jazz in terms of features.
Safety-wise, the Jazz is ahead of the Elite i20 as three of the five trims are available with dual airbags whereas the Elite i20 only has one variant that comes with dual airbags.
At the time of doing this comparison, Hyundai did not offer a touchscreen infotainment system in the Elite i20. Subsequently they have introduced this feature, which puts the Elite i20
