What Car Jazz vs Yaris vs Polo group test

[equaliser]

Drivers sometimes briefly fall asleep at the wheel.  This is why I am glad to have warning if I am drifting out of lane without signalling, and why it is mandatory on new cars.  Dipping the mirror simply involves moving the left hand a few inches to flick the lever.

The lane keeping system on the Jazz is next to useless, it continually triggers false positives on all the worn out roads in my area, it thinks the two worn tracks on the surface are white lines! I've turned it off until I can find some pristine road surfaces - not many around I think!

[John Ratsey]

The lane keeping system on the Jazz is next to useless, it continually triggers false positives on all the worn out roads in my area, it thinks the two worn tracks on the surface are white lines! I've turned it off until I can find some pristine road surfaces - not many around I think!

I agree that the system is a PITA on normal roads. It's the RDMS (road departure mitigation system) which struggles with normal British road conditions while the LKS (lane keeping system) is for motorways or similar. I'm forever turning RDMS off as it doesn't agree that the most comfortable way to drive along wiggly roads is to smooth out the bends (other traffic permitting). However, I think that turning off RDMS also disables LKS.

[ndavey1]

Drivers sometimes briefly fall asleep at the wheel.  This is why I am glad to have warning if I am drifting out of lane without signalling, and why it is mandatory on new cars.  Dipping the mirror simply involves moving the left hand a few inches to flick the lever.

I agree. I could of done with the rdms system 20 years ago when I regularly used to find myself on the hard shoulder of the A13 after nodding off late at night. Mirror dipping is not something that’s important. Just turn it so it’s not in your view. I haven’t needed to look in my rear view since my test.

[Expatman]

I haven’t needed to look in my rear view since my test.

As a fellow road user that statement scares me more than I can say.

[Jazzik]

I haven’t needed to look in my rear view since my test.

I can't believe what I'm reading... 
Are you serious?

Please, do NOT come to the continent!

[Westy36]

I haven’t needed to look in my rear view since my test.

Surely that is tongue in cheek? You can't be serious, right?

Only the other day on the A14, I witnessed a van driver fail to get out of the way of a police BMW 5 series for 1/4 mile because he failed to see it coming up behind with all his lights and sirens. It was a shocking case of bad driving and slowed the emergency response time by some margin.

Come on man, you've got to use your mirrors. 

[ndavey1]

I’m exaggerating obviously, but I used to do a lot of van driving and not having a rear view, you get used to not looking, and not needing in normal car driving. I of course do use my door mirrors before making any manoeuvre. And yes, I am always aware of emergency vehicles, they tend to be quite loud and have flashing lights that you can see in the door mirrors funnily enough.

[RichardA]

I think some of these safety features - when not mandated by law - are required to get a five star EuroNCAP rating.

[RichardA]

Interesting though that What Car? placed the Jazz first in this test. I remember when the Mk1 came out, I think they were the only publication that didn't really like it. Even Autocar - an uncompromising enthusiasts' title no less - was much more more positive about the car.

[Jocko]

I, too, use the door mirrors more often than the interior mirror, though I am always aware of it. This comes from a history of bus, coach and van driving. I still check for "tail swing" as I corner in my Jazz!
I can never get over how many drivers fail to hear emergency vehicles. I put it down to listening to their music so loud that no exterior noise permeates the vehicle. I tend not to play music when driving.

[alfaomega]

I can’t remember the last car I had which didn’t have an auto dipping rear view mirror. Can you?

That’ll be every car I’ve ever owned. I’ve always found the manual system works pretty well.

You have to remember that manufacturers and dealers are not a social service, they are in business to maximise their profits by selling cars. Withholding gizmos on their base models nudges customers towards more expensive models on which their profit margin is greater. “You want a dipping mirror and height adjustable seat? Sorry sir, not on the Jazz, now come and have a look at this Civic/CR-V/HR-V/whatever over here which does have those ...”

This is due to the fact that Honda Europe predefined some packages/ trims in order to stock them in advance here. So to get your Jazz you have to wait only few days, given the colour is available.
Otherwise it would get 8/9 months to get your car.
The same applies for Yaris, on Toyota side.

All the few optionals you can choose are directly mounted by the dealer

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[alfaomega]

The 17” tyres on the Yaris are 205/45 R17. As for the suspension set-up, the 17in alloys are combined with 'sports' suspension.
The Jazz Executive has 185/55 R16 tyres and nothing like  'sports' suspension. 

Someone who has driven both cars can probably tell if there is a difference and how big that difference (if any) is between the two.

We test drove both, and decided to go for Jazz because of larger internal space and negligible drive experience differences. We have a 3years old daughter (read: with baby seat) so the larger rear space and the 90° opening rear door are definitely a plus.
We convinced also my parents-in-law to buy a Crosstar...
Yaris was way smaller in the backseats and less comfortable when "loading/unloading" a baby

Driving experience: to me and my wife they were quite similar, yes the Yaris is a bit lower and with a larger wheelbase but I can't define it a sportscar. Still a nice commuting car.
Acceleration is similar to Jazz, and rolling when steering is similar. Keep in mind that EX setup compared to other trims (or Crosstar) is a bit stiffer given the /55 sidewall.

Anyway, my parents just end up buying the Yaris with 17" wheels and we're going to collect it from the dealer on Thursday, the dealer it's 100km from here so I could give you an additional comparison also at highway speeds, in terms of noise and fuel consumption

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[E27006]

The late Alex Moulton, a world-class designer of vehicle suspension systems was very critical of the car makers and  their  stealthy imposition upon the motorist of car suspension  configured  for aggressive driving at the expense of ride comfort. 
He oversaw the evolution of transport  as wheelsize shrank such as railway locomotives and cars, the replacement of crude live axles and leaf springs and swing axles  by independent wheel suspension such as McPherson strut then  double wishbone, even the  interlinking of front to rear wheel suspension  to give a wheel bogie long wheelbase ride comfort effect (Citroen and BMC).
Cars were quite satisfactory with 12 or 13 inch wheels and with double wishbone setups gave high levels of grip with narrow tyres. the car makers have stealthily reversed the evolution, the modern car with escalating sizes of  wheels/wide tyres requiring big volumes of space for the wheelarches  which intrude into the passenger cabin footwells,  the relatively crude "econobox" McPherson strut is found on expensive cars which in the past would have double wishbone setups,  the motorist rides on expensive low profile tyres with poor levels of parasitic suspension  and  wheels prone to damage from kerbing and impact damage.
Honda are guilty too, they dropped double wishbone on the Civic and followed the herd mentality of the other makers.
The comments and criticisms  I read on the forum by owners seem to echo the Moulton opinion of current car suspension

[Jazzik]

Anyway, my parents just end up buying the Yaris with 17" wheels and we're going to collect it from the dealer on Thursday, the dealer it's 100km from here so I could you give an additional comparison also at highway speeds, in terms of noise and fuel consumption

Thanks! Would be great!

[alfaomega]

Anyway, my parents just end up buying the Yaris with 17" wheels and we're going to collect it from the dealer on Thursday, the dealer it's 100km from here so I could you give an additional comparison also at highway speeds, in terms of noise and fuel consumption

Thanks! Would be great!

So, here are my impressions.

First of all, we took advantage of a very good promo from Toyota Italy so you can get the combo of original roof bars (actually made by Thule) and a Thule Motion 800 XL carbox with 50% discount: this means 425 EUR (actually even little less ) instead of 850 EUR.
It's a real bargain.
In reality my parents would use the car box on top of their VW Passat Estate for skitrips, honestly it's a bit large for the Yaris.
Anyway I wanted to highlight this fact because the trip I recorded (around 100km on highway from the dealer to Rome) is obviously affected by the car box aerodynamics, even though it was empty.

The car is a Yaris 1.5 Hybrid Lounge with 16" alloy wheels.

Screenshot is taken from Toyota app connected to their car, so these are the actual figures coming from the trip computer.
5liters/100km (20km/liter) on the highway and 4.1 l/100km (almost 25km/l) on packed urban highway and within within city is very good to me, definitely better than Jazz in my perception.
Honestly if I hadn't the car box on top I would drive at 130km/h and maybe fuel consumption would be less positive.

I drove at around 100km/h with top speed of 115km/h

Noise on the highway is slightly better than Jazz as well, mostly tyre roar rather than wind noise , with a couple of explanations here:
1) the Thule roof box is very aerodynamic and quiet, I have a similar one on my Audi Q5 and it's not noticeable up to 120km/h
2) at 100km/h it's the perfect "retired man speed" so engine is not under pressure, as you can see I got almost 5stars from the App because I had constant speed through the segment... and Yaris has definitely a smaller frontal area than Jazz.
Anyway I was positively impressed.

Driving in the countryside to reach highway and in the city was a similar experience than with Jazz.

Again, the huge difference is behind first seat row: with Jazz you have another car (rear passengers have maybe even more space than in my Q5) instead with Yaris you're pretty squeezed.
Also the rear doors play a big role here. With Jazz they open at 90°, with Yaris it's around 60° and you have to sneak into the seat instead of accessing with ease.
Obviously magic seats are only for Jazz.

Trunk: with Jazz you have only a small compartment under the floor.
With Yaris we were able to order the spare wheel, which lies under inside its compartment under the floor mat without impacting trunk space.

Also another difference, if it's meaningful for you: with Yaris you can mount a towbar, with Jazz you can't (the batteries are under the trunk, where in Yaris they're under rear seats).

For non Italian speaking folks, the six gauges in the picture show
Time in EV (% of total time)
Distance in EV (% of total time)
Fuel consumption (liters per 100km)
Trip duration
Trip distance
Avg speed in km/h

The bottom line: for our scope (2nd car for city commute and having a 3yrs old daughter, with baby seat etc), I was happy and I'm happy with Jazz eHEV also after this trip.
I would buy it again and again.
For longer trips we have the Q5 TFSIe PHEV.

For my parents' scope (2nd car, less than 4 meters long, for city commute which could be later their single car when they'll dismiss the passat in 5/7 yrs from now, not carrying the granddaughter and with very occasional occupation of rear seats) I think Yaris is the perfect choice and happily guided them to this purchase




1st part: highway



2nd part: urban highway and city streets