So I always assumed that the next car after Shifty would be back to CVT, possibly a hybrid but most likely still a Jazz. However I have been forced to feel that the 60+ MPG combined figure of the Jazz hybrid wasn't really high enough above the 58+ MPG figure of the Jazz CVT to make it worthwhile.
In fact the 80+ MPG figure of the 2012 Toyota Yaris hybrid was looking a brilliant figure. This is an almost diesel like MPG figure without being a diesel! The drivetrain on the Yaris is pretty much simply a downscaled version of the Prius and Auris hybrids so they should be easily able to cope with the typical moderate annual mileages we do. The design is very good too with an Atkinson cycle engine and superb and complex transmission which is CVT based but has an electric motor incorporated in a manner such that, unlike the current Jazz hybrid, it can solely move the car at speeds up to 30MPH. There is also the option for the driver to select EV (Electric Vehicle) mode - again not something possible in the Jazz due to the mechanical set-up of the gasoline engine, the IMA system and the CVT transmission.
However we're not considering a car change until well into the future - 2018 - five years away. So what could Honda have cooked up in that time. Possibly something that could close the MPG gap between their small hybrid Jazz and that of the Yaris? It just might happen. I came across some interesting news on Honda's World media site. I know they have a new design push going on called Earth Dreams - the latest thing in the UK is the new Civic 1.6 iDTEC - but I just found out that they're also doing something with their hybrid and transmission thinking.
The Intelligent Dual-Clutch Drive system is one new technology that may well become used in a small sized Honda like the Jazz. Honda has announced that they will be using the transmission with an Atkinson Cycle 1.5 litre petrol engine. The "iDCD" system will be a 7-gear, dual-clutch transmission with an integrated electric motor. And, it can also do EV at low speeds.
I guess this drivetrain possibility will give an automatic option to the smaller petrol engine in the current Civic range too. Currently, since the dropping of iShift on the 1.4 engine UK model, only the 1.8 litre petrol engine has an automatic transmission and a hydraulic one at that. It would also give the UK Civic a hybrid option using the same European Civic shape that is currently missing from the current UK range offering.
So the moral of the story is if you wait long enough history does repeat itself. In this case iShift, albeit improved with dual-dry plate clutch and sequential shifting and an integrated electric motor gearbox might be coming back and might just be in a Jazz! In that light, it could be that a new Shifty might just replace the old Shifty and we'll not ever have another CVT from Honda.
Painful lessons will have been learnt by Honda over the automated manual transmission (AMT) they put in the 2010 model year Jazz and which is at our Shifty's heart. I'm sure that all the naughty characteristics of iShift will have been tamed into what will become a well behaved predictable and smooth transmission. After all, they will have a whole new set of CVT experienced drivers to please and Honda already know that they expect very well behaved transmissions or, as before, they'll go elsewhere. With Toyota's open arms ready to greet them I hope the engineers at Honda will make a beautifully drivable but highly efficient (80+ MPG) petrol car and they'll offer it in the next generation Jazz.
