Jazz - much more than a town runabout

[guest1521]

1.2 GE 11,900 miles, all sorts of motoring... town, country, 70-80mph motorway for hours at a time... 4 adults with bootful of luggage for many of those miles, too. Friends or family are disbelieving at how we claim to be able to travel in reasonable comfort fully loaded - particularly the backseat passengers. As the most frequent driver and at 6'1" tall, I've sat in the back seat on occasion for hours and find it to be more than adequately comfortable (in fact, the back seat profile and firmness suits me perfectly) with plenty of head and legroom while enjoying a view which is far better than most from other cars' back seats. From many larger cars, too. Jazz's raised seating position and the panoramic windows are a distinct advantage here. Although a small car, it feels surprisingly large and airy whether from front or from back seats. Much more so than any car of equivalent size I can think of - and more so than many significantly larger cars, too. (We shopped around and test drove A LOT before buying Jazz. And very nearly overlooked it altogether based purely on our preconceived opinions.)

Power with a mere 1.2 on motorways? Better than adequate with appropriate use of the manual gearbox. Contrary to what some UK motoring journalists would have us believe, Jazz is not just a suburban runabout for retired 'oldies.' It's interesting to visit 'FitFreaks'... our American 'sister-forum' in the USA to see what diversity of motorists ENTHUSE about Jazz (badged 'Fit' in the USA.) And the diversity of motoring they use it for... note long-distance especially. Yes, they have a 1.5 (only) but, as said earlier, I find a 1.2 more than OK for all sorts of road conditions in the UK. And I don't drive slowly.

Yes, I'd like a little less road noise and the ride could be a little more refined and its B-road handling could be a little sharper... but it's an inexpensive car albeit with quality engineering. Just compare its interior accommodation and its sheer versatility alongside its most common competitor - Fiesta - and Jazz ('big-little' Honda) wins hands down. Hands down! All this from someone who owned one of the largest of Volvos for years, too!

[culzean]

I own a 1.4SE GD Jazz and agree that the Jazz is so much more than an urban runabout. Most people I speak to say the Jazz is a small car, until that is I invite them to see the interior accommodation, rear legroom, boot space and 'magic seats' they are then normally pretty gob-smacked. I have done many thousands of motorway and main road miles, and am more than happy with the way the Jazz behaves itself, not to mention the excellent fuel consumption. Going on holidays we have managed to get two full sized golf bags with folding trollies and all our suitcases and bags in the boot without folding down any seats or having anything in the cabin area.

People should realise that road noise is 90% due to the tyre tread, and with Michelin energy savers fitted the road noise on my Jazz is not a problem, it is quite easy to hold a conversation with passengers at 70mph (I changed the Pirrelli tyres on my previous Civic to Michelin and experienced a similar massive reduction in road noise).

Apart from rear nearside wheel-bearing needing replacement at around 40K I have had no other problem with my Jazz in almost 80K of driving, with only routine stuff like tyres, disc pads, auxilliary drive-belt, spark plugs, brake and clutch fluid, gearbox oil (at 60K), cleaning out the EGR valve once, and one battery change (and of course regular twice yearly engine oil and filter changes).

Being an engineer, and having owned other Honda cars, I could see no valid reason to have the tappets adjusted at 25K intervals at £300+ a pop, and am now at a mileage when they should have been done 3 times, and emissions and fuel economy are spot on.

My wife has the same model Jazz and it has done a similar mileage, and all the above things apply to her car as well, so mine is not an isolated case.

[guest1521]

Polo, Fiesta, Mazda2, Yaris, Hyundai i20, Kia Rio and their like - it bemuses me how they are almost invariably used by UK motoring journalists to compare Jazz. Inaccurately I feel. And then Jazz is judged 'expensive.' "Expensive compared to what?!" I would ask. Surely not compared to some popular larger cars against which Jazz COULD be compared...

For any of those aforementioned 'makes/models' consider how many hours you would happily volunteer to ride in the back seat. Ford's Focus, even! Particularly if you are more than 6ft tall...

P'raps the difficulty for Jazz is that, because of its innovative packaging, it is truly in a category of its own so it is difficult to compare it appropriately or accurately head to head. After all, do any of the makes/models mentioned above offer comfortable family accommodation - even for two rangy teenage boys in the back for more than a half hour, say? So that a larger car in a household is really not required. It certainly blew me away when I first sat in Jazz in a showroom... when I sat 'behind my 6'1" self' in the back seat... then later as a back seat passenger... for hours... on a trip just to see what Jazz was really like in the back! I admire Honda's innovation here - there's just too little of this kind of packaging innovation in car design. Audi tried with their A2, Mercedes with A-Class but they were/are significantly more pricey than Jazz.

Are culzean and I really the only people who would ENTHUSE about our 'great big-little' Honda here?

[dogbiscuit]

"Expensive compared to what?!" I would ask.

Compared to the Jazz GD. The significant price rises has made the Jazz GE expensive given that Honda has cheapened the interior with regard to plastics, rear parcel shelf and the loss of the spare wheel. Someone has reported that their door trim fabric shows sign of early wear. So yes I feel it's expensive and that's possibly why Honda's sales are falling and why my supplying Honda dealer has gone into receivership.

[culzean]

Polo, Fiesta, Mazda2, Yaris, Hyundai i20, Kia Rio and their like - it bemuses me how they are almost invariably used by UK motoring journalists to compare Jazz. Inaccurately I feel. And then Jazz is judged 'expensive.' "Expensive compared to what?!" I would ask. Surely not compared to some popular larger cars against which Jazz COULD be compared...

For any of those aforementioned 'makes/models' consider how many hours you would happily volunteer to ride in the back seat. Ford's Focus, even! Particularly if you are more than 6ft tall...

Are culzean and I really the only people who would ENTHUSE about our 'great big-little' Honda here?

IHMO the Jazz / Fit is as groundbreaking as the original Mini, in that it has truly remarkable interior space and versatility for its exterior dimensions, is easy to drive and park, in addition the Jazz obviously got a lot more space, has great all-round visibility and the accommodation for rear seat passengers is excellent with nice big windows giving it a light and airy feel. Boot space is astounding for such a compact car, and the magic seats are a joy to use.  The build quality and amount of thought that went into the Jazz are a world apart from the Mini.  Reliability of the Mini was at best patchy and at worst abysmal, but people forgave it because it was cheap and quirky. 

I think Honda need to look closely at its pricing if they are to keep or improve market share and the styling doesn't appeal to everyone, although having said that most French cars can be called stylish but the less said about the rest of the car the better!

[Downsizer]

No, IvyTek, you are not alone.  I said in my first post that I chose the Jazz rather than a Golf because of the flat-fold rear seats, and also of course it is cheaper to buy, insure and run.  I was not in the market for a super-mini, which is where the Jazz seems to be placed by reviewers.  This is perhaps partly because of the limited range of engines.

[dogbiscuit]

IHMO the Jazz / Fit is as groundbreaking as the original Mini...

Agreed, the Jazz GD was a groundbreaking car. When I downsized 7 years ago and was looking at smaller cars I knew the Jazz was the car I wanted as soon as I saw it. As such it was always going to be a hard act to follow and I wonder why Honda thought they needed to change it. I would have happily bought another. I guess I got the Jazz GE on the strengths of my previous two Jazz GDs but unfortunately I've been disappointed. Yes the Jazz remains the versatile car it has always been but I don't think the new is as good as the old.

[guest1521]

Dogbiscuit... I hear your disappointment in the GE and, in your previous post, your concern about price. Others might differ but you wouldn't be the only one to hold those views. Not having had a GD, I can't really comment on how they compare. Although I would say that I much prefer the interior and exterior style of the GE - but that's a personal thing and so you might well disagree. Also, I have seen owners comment on how they think the GD is a little better round town, while the GE is better on motorway. Which is a move in the right direction for me as I do a fair amount of long distance motorway several times a year.

My disappointment for GE Jazz is that it doesn't seem to attract a wider and younger audience given it is such a versatile car - economically and groundbreakingly so IMO. For me it's a concern, too, because I admire its innovative use of space and would like to see Jazz endure with healthy sales for years. For one thing, I'm sure I have never seen one in my locality on the 'school-run.' I can't think of a small car more suited to that. For me personally, Jazz represents superb value for all-round family use. But, on personal observation, that's not what most buyers use Jazz for. Perhaps Honda don't want it to capture Civic sales. In the face of Jazz being much roomier and more versatile. Oh well...

[RichardA]

The Jazz - even the GD model - always appeared expensive because you didn't get a base model with wind-up windows and 60bhp as you do or at least did with the Fiesta, etc. Like-for-like the Jazz usually is cheaper or at least better equipped then the Fiesta.

[culzean]

My disappointment for GE Jazz is that it doesn't seem to attract a wider and younger audience given it is such a versatile car - economically and groundbreakingly so IMO.

Young people have never been comfortable with taking advice from 'old geezers' (their parents) and will continue to waste their (or more likely their parents) money on flashy, fashionable but badly built and unreliable French and Italian cars. Taking a badly built car and spending loads of money on alloy wheels, body kits etc. etc. appears to be compulsory for anyone under 25. You will never get them into a well built, versatile, reliable Jazz until they grow out of that phase, and as for good fuel consumption - who cares when you are young - I work with a young bloke who drives a Mazda RX-8 that does 18 mpg on a good day - he can barely afford to keep it in petrol and tyres, but what a status symbol with his mates!

[guest1521]

Culzean... thanks for your post. Young people taking advice from 'old geezers'... yep, don't I know it! Don't think I heeded enough from my parents, either, and how I wish my young 20's offspring would listen. It's the way of the world, isn't it? Much of the western world, anyway.

In your earlier post you interestingly referred to the original Mini. Now... that was a car that cut across all age and social groups! Despite its innovation it turned out that it was foolishly underpriced and you might recall that BMC and its government-supported successors lost money on every one sold... for years. Something like £30/unit loss whereas its much less fashionable, less popular but much more reliable Ford Anglia made a profit of around £50/unit. Ford dismantled a Mini wondering how it could be sold so cheaply and concluded that BMC must be losing money on it. Long before it was public knowledge. While Mini's customers enjoyed a great little car that was fun in every respect till its chronic unreliability and poor build spoilt the party. I had one... for a short time. The original VW Golf GTi cut across all age groups and social groups, too... and that was not a 'cheap' car. But it had performance, handled well, had image, great build and was reliable. It offered great 'value for money' - at least to its target market.

However marketers know that people 'buy on emotion and justify with logic.' Jazz is a car I bought from the outset with my head - at least I like to think so! And because of preconceptions - false as many turned out - I totally dismissed it. Till I was in a Honda showroom helping a friend to assess a used Honda. And there was a new Jazz GE... and I sat in it...

I wonder whether Jazz presents a marketing problem for Honda - at least in the UK. It appears to cut somewhat more across age groups in other markets... a squiz at the USA 'FitFreaks' site confirms that. And in 'Far East' markets young people appear to be enthusiasts. I personally wonder if 'Jazz' is not an attractive name for Euro/UK young people. I also wonder what a 'fast, sporty' 1.5 as an addition to the model line-up would do for image. Jazz/Fit looks great in racing guise in other markets. Whereas the launch of pricey hybrids...   

[culzean]

While we are talking about the original BMC Mini, how about the latest BMW Mini - quite a large car really compared with the old BMC one, but it's use of interior space is abysmal - it is basically a two seater with the two rear seats and legroom only suitable for children, and don't mention the boot - it hasn't really got one. Having said that, however impractical it is, it is a well built car and seems to appeal to all age groups and social classes just like the original.  Appeal is a very illusive thing when it comes to car design because if you make a car practical for everyday use it seems to turn off the people who want a fashionable car however impractical it is.  For me the Jazz is practical car (I can get a huge amount of stuff in it for visits to the tip etc.) it is easy and enjoyable to drive every day, and it uses fuel in a manner that is becoming increasingly important.

I guess we will just have to keep spreading the word and wait for the others to eventually realise what they are missing!

By the way, in my opinion it is no bad thing that 17 to 25 year olds find the Jazz unappealing and unfashionable because it means my car is safer from their unwanted attentions when I leave it parked .

[guest2034]

I bought last summer my Jazz 1.2 iVTEC. I make about 18.000km average per year.
This car is intended and designed for family use, trips, journeys, town....you can say with confidence : "much more than a town runabout". I live in Croatia, and in this small country 90HP engine is satisfactory.  In my opinion 1.2 and 1.4 engines are too similar in performance and 1.4modell  is extremely expensive Croatia.

[guest1953]

I totally agree with the comments on how the Jazz is much more than it is reviewed as - a "supermini".

As for young/old issue, I bought my first Jazz (GD) at 27... that's not so old is it? I've often been told I'm old before my time though!    It just seemed to be most of what I wanted a car to be. It certainly ticked my higher priority boxes. We've recently moved to a GE as the old one had a lot of miles on it, and it's been pretty good so far. A lot of improvements, especially in electronics sophistication, a few small backwards steps. Parcel shelf with silly flappy bits is the one that is getting to me most at the moment.

[guest1521]

18 days, 2300 miles touring France and Germany... 1.2 GE Jazz... one great big little car! Adequate performance, adequate comfort... great economy, great space for 2 adults and luggage, great viewing platform for taking in town and country sights - not to forget early warning of black, dark grey and silver uberwagens glinting in the late afternoon sun (lights on) in the fast lane 'racing' from Lake Constance home to Munich in good time for Saturday evening pre-dinner drinks, I'm sure. Not as fast as an unrestricted autobahn but... whoomph! Whoomph... whoomph!! And they're past, Herman with the hammer down... going, going... Gone! Admiration - but somewhat qualified - in their wake.