Buying a Second Hand Jazz

[guest3193]

Hi, I am currently looking to buy a second hand jazz privately and would be grateful if you anyone could let me know of common faults to look out for. Thanks alot.

[guest2765]

um from my one if you can get under the car - check brake lines arent leaking, cv boot isnt ripped, exhaust has been welded on properly (these are things which i had fixed within 3 months of owning the car under a 2nd hand car warranty). Um, apart from that i would say just the usual stuff - knocking sounds, tyres on the car, brakes, that theres no sound coming from hubs, fluid levels, lights on dashboard etc oh and the boot lid dont forget to check it incase its seized (mines needs some WD40 sprayed on it to stop it seizing up not a major thing).

really i cant think of anything else...

Remember the cold light will be on for a bit when the car is running until the engine has heated up usually less than 5mins of driving in a village

[caseyjones]

You don't say the age of the Jazz you're intending to buy; the following comments apply to the 2003 SE CVT that I recently sold after owning for 8 years. I don't have enough long-term experience of my new Jazz (2010 EX i-Shift) to comment.

Honda are very mean with their paint; check very carefully for rust, especially the floor pan, front of rear wheel arches, around the doors and boot lid hinges, and the front crossmember (in front of the radiator). It was corrosion that finally made me decide to sell my last Jazz.

Check the rear hubs for wear; they're quite expensive to replace (what isn't on a Honda.....)

Be aware that because of the steering and front suspension design they corner like they're on rails but this means they tend to wear the edges of the front tyres.

[guest1521]

caseyjones "... this means they tend to wear the edges of the front tyres." My GE Jazz excessively wore the inside inch of the front tyres though my Honda dealer twice asserted alignment was OK.

Uneven tyre wear - the edges - comes up quite often on this forum (and people assert similar problems with other cars) so I thought I should add my 2-pennorth.
 
My front Dunlop SP31s would not have made 18,000 miles. The inside inch would have been worn PAST SMOOTH though the rest of the tread would have had lots of life.  So at 13,000 miles I had them aligned at an independent tyre fitter and swapped the evenly worn rears to the front £26.50 inc vat.
I watched the whole job and the technician showed me the extent of incorrect alignment - albeit not that great - and told me that it was probably the cause of the wear.

At 23,000 miles those Dunlops (swapped from rear to front) are perfectly evenly worn and will likely do 30,000 - perhaps more.

Reducing/eliminating the 'toe-out' almost totally eliminated the slight steering wander at straight-ahead on motorway, too. Still corners on rails, though turn-in maybe a tiny tad less quick. Difference so slight, it's imperceptible.

[caseyjones]

Thanks for your interesting comments. Yes, the subject of uneven front tyre wear does crop up quite frequently among Jazz owners, which is one of the reasons I tend to come to the conclusion that it's likely due to the steering / suspension design rather than misalignment. My old 2003 Jazz used to wear both edges of the front tyres rather than just the inside or outside edge, and there was none of the feathering on the sides of the tread blocks that normally points to misalignment. I concluded that the suspension / steering were designed such that the car cornered on the edges of the tyres, leading to the disproportionate wear. A tyre dealer once told me that the Yokohama Aspecs that were the standard fit didn't have much rubber on the corners, which maybe didn't help matters. Like yourself, I used to swap the wheels between front and rear to try and get more life from the tyres.

Interestingly (and fortunately for me) the 2010 EX that I've got now doesn't show any unevenness on the front tyres after 8000 miles. Maybe Honda have rethought their front suspension design.

[guest3193]

Thanks alot for all the help 

[guest2662]

my 2010 ex 13000 mls no uneven wear so far.

[guest1372]

Check spare wheel well for signs of dampness, due to some cars (02 - 08) having a leaking roof seam mostly on rear offside.

If auto gearbox, then service history on fluid changes is important.

Brake pipes near wheels subject to corrosion & mot failure, one corner more than others but can't remember which.

Front suspension bushes can split, but are thick enough that surface cracks are OK.

Rear wheel bearings on old models have worn prematurely, that part is now common and third party replacements are available at £50 each instead of Honda's £150.

Tyres on the 15" alloy are more expensive than on the 14" steel wheels.

Mostly, the Jazz is a sweet well made car.


TG