Cars comparable to the Honda Jazz 1.4

daveyjp

My dad has a 7 or 8 year old Jazz. Reliability is as you would expect, but the ride is truly terrible, especially on potholed roads and he agrees.

He is looking at changing and wants a new Jazz, but it has become so bloated it doesn't fit in his garage, unless he gets out and pushes the car in, then pulls it out again! An alternative is being sought, however if unsuccessful he will probably get an end of line old model and live with the crashy ride.

Moneycoach

This^ or Toyota Yaris, Nissan Note or Micra, Suzuki Swift and Mazda Mazda2 are some other small reliable Japanese cars to consider.

weeowens

Stick with a Honda Jazz. I am on my sixth in 14 years. The only one I had any issues with was the long keeper(5years & nearly 100,000 miles). Then it was just the radio glitching & locks sticking. All the others were just service items, tyres & brakes. I currently have the new shape SE model.

reeac

We've had a Jazz 1.4SE from new for over 10 years now with nothing other than consumables renewed. As it's used as an everyday workhorse including carrying mucky boating stuff and the dog we intend to keep it for a long time yet but if it was written off for some reason I'd get another. We have a Jag. for posh occasions, holidays etc.

Grouchy

My first Jazz 1.2 I bought from new and is 18 months, no problems at all and happy with it. Good in town and motorway.

I haven't owned other contemporary cars similar to it so can't say on long term ownership, but when I was looking around I test drove a fair few before chosing the Jazz. It's flexibility is far superior to anything else I considered for my needs - seats fair sized adults front and back (others have very restricted rear seat room, e.g. Kia Rio), cinema seats in the rear are very handy, good sized boot, the magic seats are great for plenty of carrying room. Dash is nice and simple. Interior fine and sensibly laid out. Milage is good, 50+ for me 80/20 MotorwayAroad/urban.
Rio - very poor visibility especially rear and feeble acceleration.
i10 - nice but not enough boot for me, felt a little cramped inside
Fabia - was a strong possibility but I didn't like the feel of the gearbox and the 3 cylinder one is a bit sluggish and noisy.
Swift - smallish boot.
Yaris- a fair bit pricier for comperable car.
I wanted to try the Seat Ibiza but the nearest dealer is far away.

Not that I care but I think it being an oldies car is a bit of a myth, see plenty of people of all ages driving them.

Geoff777

I have a 2010 EX Jazz - 90% is brilliant! Very reliable etc
I have 2 basic gripes - the lesser being its a bit Bumpy on rough roads and around town
The HUGE issue I find is its awful lack of low down pull often meaning I need 3rd (yes 3rd) gear to maintain 70 mph on the motorway when I reach a hill. In the Yorkshire dales changing to 2nd on a hill required nearly 6000rpm in first in order to have enough follow on torque in 2nd to pick up and not die
Its a HUGE issue I have slightly improved it with a K&N filter - but its a marginal improvement - all too often I get caught out in 2nd joining roundabouts and finding someone bearing down on me- I have to change to 1st to get the pull. I love the car but will look at alternatives such as the Skoda Fabia estate next time around

bigisi

Geoff777 wrote: »

I have a 2010 EX Jazz - 90% is brilliant! Very reliable etc
I have 2 basic gripes - the lesser being its a bit Bumpy on rough roads and around town
The HUGE issue I find is its awful lack of low down pull often meaning I need 3rd (yes 3rd) gear to maintain 70 mph on the motorway when I reach a hill. In the Yorkshire dales changing to 2nd on a hill required nearly 6000rpm in first in order to have enough follow on torque in 2nd to pick up and not die
Its a HUGE issue I have slightly improved it with a K&N filter - but its a marginal improvement - all too often I get caught out in 2nd joining roundabouts and finding someone bearing down on me- I have to change to 1st to get the pull. I love the car but will look at alternatives such as the Skoda Fabia estate next time around

Thanks SO much for dragging up a nearly two year old thread to tell us that - so helpful :T

elsien

bigisi wrote: »

Thanks SO much for dragging up a nearly two year old thread to tell us that - so helpful :T

And what happened to being nice to new posters? Mistakes happen, no need to be quite so sarcastic.

reeac

Geoff777 wrote: »

I have a 2010 EX Jazz - 90% is brilliant! Very reliable etc
I have 2 basic gripes - the lesser being its a bit Bumpy on rough roads and around town
The HUGE issue I find is its awful lack of low down pull often meaning I need 3rd (yes 3rd) gear to maintain 70 mph on the motorway when I reach a hill. In the Yorkshire dales changing to 2nd on a hill required nearly 6000rpm in first in order to have enough follow on torque in 2nd to pick up and not die
Its a HUGE issue I have slightly improved it with a K&N filter - but its a marginal improvement - all too often I get caught out in 2nd joining roundabouts and finding someone bearing down on me- I have to change to 1st to get the pull. I love the car but will look at alternatives such as the Skoda Fabia estate next time around

I just can't understand this report. In the 12plus years that I've had our Jazz I've never felt the need to go beyond 5000rpm and that was only when accelerating away from bunched traffic when the lights turned green. I can't recall dropping below 4th on a. Motorway. Are you sure that you haven't left the caravan on the back by mistake?

David_Aston

Cracking post reeac. I remain fond of our Jazz, but would swap it for a little red Corvette, in a shot!