Mk 2 v Mk 3 Jazz

[jazzyhands]

Hello Jazzland

Having been owners of the Mk1, 2 and 3 Jazz, Which one have you found the best to live with?

The Mark 1 was the longest partner of 12 years and 150K strong, sold to a friend and then Cat dismembered 
This one was the one that was lived with and took children through to near adulthood and was 17 years old when we parted. The issues were seatbelt ecu, air-con pipework, clutch and issues of water in the spare wheel well and body dings. Economy around 44 mpg.

The Mark 2 for 18 months is a manual EX with pan roof - 50k on the clock. No major issues except an annoying noise at speed from driver door seals. A spare tyre purchased as hate the tyre repair gunk! Built for economy not speed 49-52 mpg. Afrer market head unit installed. The magic seats are a great touch and used as extra boot space on occasion!

Mark 3 a year in November. Lots of gizmos from Mk 2 but chassis feels heavier and the air-cooled upper glove box lost due to safety features. 6-speed manual underutilized. Spacious. Firm ride and not too smooth over potholes. 45mpg.

My preference
1. Mark 2
2. Mark 3
3. Mark 1

The Mark 4 seems a very different car from reviews as well as being a hybrid.

If I was to get the kids a first car - would recommend a Mark 2 as easier to drive.

Does anybody else agree?

[Ozzie]

When my Mk2 failed at 256,000 miles, I had no hesitation to go for another Mk2 rather than the Mk3, even though the advertising blurb says the mpg of the Mk3 matched the Hybrid mpg.
I haven't test driven a Mk4 yet, but I am hoping the current Jazz will see me to retirement (maybe in 2 years if the numbers work out).

[John Ratsey]

I agree that the Mk. 2, particularly the hybrid version, is easier to drive than the Mk. 3 which is lacking in the low end performance due to the Atkinson cycle mode. I averaged 58.8 mpg over 4 years with the hybrid Mk. 2 compared with 57.8 mpg over 1 year of the Mk. 3 (CVT version). So why did I trade in the Mk. 2 hybrid? I wanted to reclaim some boot space which was occupied by the space saver spare wheel and also felt it needed to go to someone to clock up more miles before the vehicle suffers from old age. The Mk. 3 was traded in after 1 year in favour of an HR-V which didn't have the Atkinson cycle mode. The HR-V has, in turn been replaced by a Crosstar which is even more pleasant to drive although the boot space isn't generous and I've decided that rural mobile phone coverage has improved enough that a spare wheel is no longer essential.

[olduser1]

Best to drive & own 2011 March Jazz , with CVT best Jazz we owned out of 8 Jazz - let go for newer model.

[jaytee]

 i have also owned all 3.they all have good points. But if i had to choose,mk 2 1.4 es would be my choice. If you check the prices the mk 2 seems to hold its value pretty well,i probably wont get a mk4 for at least 3 years, when it will be half the price.

[Jeff B]

I have an 07 plate Mk1 manual Jazz. Still running very well at 120K miles. I don't think it has ever failed an MOT and in fact has just passed its MOT with no advisories.

My wife had a 55 plate Mk1 CVT which ran well with no problems (apart from wiper blades - for some reason we had to change these with great regularity!). Part exchanged for a 14 plate Mk2 CVT when the old one had 110K miles on the clock.

My wife had the 14 plate Mk2 CVT until recently. 44K on the clock. A fuel injector failed which blew up the ECU. As there was no guarantee that the same thing might not happen again we had the ECU repaired and immediately part-exchanged the car for a Mk3 CVT. This happened very recently so the Mk3 has hardly been driven at all. So far, so good.

I've since discovered that the ECU problem is a known issue with the Mk2 but a quite rare event, so maybe we were just unlucky?

In summary I would say the Mk1 was the best Jazz, maybe because there were less bells and whistles compared to the later models and hence less to go wrong?