Logo CVT - Easy Driver (Honda Logo)

Member Name: r_welfare

Product:	Honda Logo
Date:	22/07/03 (1987 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: JD Power Survey winner, so should be reliable , cheap to insure and run, lots of equipment

Disadvantages: Pricey, very narrow inside, expensive dealer service costs

I wouldn't be surprised if many people don't know what a Honda Logo is. Honda's smallest car for many years was the Civic, which started out Fiesta-sized in the early 70's but, since the mid-80's, has become larger to fit the "Golf class". This left Honda with a gap for many years which it didn't fill properly until the launch of the Jazz in 2001, which is apparently one of the best cars in the supermini class.

However, between 2000 and 2001 Honda sold a very limited number of Logos in this country to "test the water" for the Jazz. The Logo (which was actually the previous-model Jazz) was one of the best-selling cars in Japan for many years, available in a variety of engines, transmissions and body configurations.

Here in the UK the Logo was initially introduced as just one model - the SE, with a 1.3-litre 8-valve engine and three doors. The car was "fully optioned", with air conditioning, ABS, power steering, electric windows and mirrors, twin airbags and remote central locking. The only optional extra was an automatic gearbox, using the CVT "gearless" principle (that DAF were famous for in the 60's and 70's). Price at launch was a stiff £9,500 for the manual, £10,350 for the auto. In time this was brought down to £6,995 for the last of the manual cars at the end of 2001.

The Logo is generally a forgotten little car, high in quality and equipment but low in driving dynamics (just like Japanese cars used to be!), but made the headlines again recently when it won the JD Power Customer Satisfaction Survey 2003 (a survey of three-year old cars of all makes and models). With a satisfaction rating of 91% it even beat all the Lexus models.

My mum bought a Logo three months ago to replace her ageing Rover Metro, which was beginning to disintegrate after 11 years and 50,000 miles, and she got muggins here to help her do the deal. Her requirements made finding a car s
eem like Mission Impossible - it had to be as small or smaller than the Metro, have power steering, air conditioning and automatic transmission, and cost no more than £7,000. Small automatics with aircon are notoriously difficult to get hold of for that price, and the other cars I suggested (VW Lupo, Vauxhall Corsa, Toyota Yaris) just couldn't be found with the right combination of equipment. However, a local Honda dealer had a blue 2000/W Logo CVT with just 7,000 miles on the clock for £6,995. This was probably slightly overpriced (especially as the Metro only got £250 on trade-in and he wouldn't knock anything off) but my mum was happy, and still is.

So what's it like? Not half bad actually. It's a funny-looking thing - think VW Lupo but with a Honda Civic front end - which is narrow but high. It is rather plain, with tiny wheels and no stripes or rubbing strips down the side, but still looks like a Honda. Inside, it's just like an Accord to 3/4 scale. Headroom and legroom is quite decent, but the narrow width means you might bump elbows with your passenger if you're both on the generous side. There were some comments by journalists of low-quality interior trim, but I don't think that's the case. The dashboard is solid, there are no rattles, and the JD Power survey results obviously mean the thing is built to last. And you do get a lot of goodies. The air conditioning is a welcome bonus at this time of year, but aside from this you get neat touches like the typical Japanese remote boot and fuel filler release, and heating for the electric mirrors.

Driving is a strange experience, and it's all due to that CVT auto transmission. Basically it's design means it can generate an infinite number of "gears", as opposed to the four or five fixed gears in a conventional automatic transmission. Put your foot on the accelerator and the engine will hold the revs until you reach the road speed you want, and bac
k off the throttle. And it doesn't "creep" forward at rest like a conventional auto. Clever, eh? Well, I hope so. I was concerned about this (having heard numerous "horror stories" concerning the reliability of similar DAF and Volvo transmissions) but then I thought - Honda sell cars mainly to old people. Old people like automatics. So a large number of Logos will be autos. And they did well in the JD Power test, so they must be OK. My mum will be keeping the car for at least 10 years, so fingers crossed it won't go bang in an expensive way (not that Hondas are renowned for unreliability, so I hope my concern will be unfounded).

As a result of all this mechanical and computer trickery, it's not very fast. The 1.3 engine only has 8 valves and none of Honda's legendary VTEC wizardry so it only puts out 65bhp. In automatic guise it will do 0-60 in 14.5 seconds and 90mph flat out. More than fast enough for my mum around town though, and it returns 40mpg all day every day. Despite the narrow tyres and high body, it actually handles pretty well too, the suspension isn't too bouncy as it is in some Japanese cars, all the controls are light and progressive, and it's generally an easy drive. Oh, and it's even got buttons on the steering wheel to control the mode of the gearbox (overdrive or low gear). Just like Michael Schumacher's F1 Ferrari - well, sort of.

So it's small, well-built, ram-packed with goodies, cheap to insure (group 3), easy to drive, and should be one of the most reliable cars on the road. Should you buy one? Well, they are quite overpriced at the moment due to their rarity and the fact most are still in the dealer network (particularly the automatic ones), they are strictly four-seaters and they have absolutely no street cred. They're not the obvious choice but, if you're in it for the long term, I think a Logo would be a pretty good alternative to a Polo.

Summary: