Three months on, and I’m still not totally happy with the ride of my Jazz CVT. I’ve not made any mods to the car to try and solve it. I have though tried running on lower tyre pressures to gauge what effect there may be if I were to fit softer tyres.
30psi front, 28psi rear. ie. 2psi below minimum values.
Using a new digital tyre pressure gauge I picked up from Halfords, what I have observed is the wide variation in pressure readings depending on outside ambient temperature and how recently the car has been driven.
With the lower pressures, the steering a bit heavier and the ride is slightly better, but not noticably. I also think the firm ride is worse from rear suspencion when the tank is full of petrol.
I recently test drove a manual Jazz 1.4 demonstrator and I actually thought the ride was better and there was less tyre noise, but it was the shortest of test drives and it didn’t include poor roads so is not conclusive. The tank was almost empty. Unfortunately, the dealer didn’t have a Jazz auto demonstrator.
Fwiw, I’ve also recently test drove a 2007 Merc A150 SE automatic. I think it had 65 profile tyres on steel wheels. The ride was a vast improvement but then the car does cost over £15k brand new and is a bit heavier. I also didn’t realise it was a CVT auto (ZF/Ford?) until I checked the car’s specs later.
