what is your first letter on your vin

[monkeydave]

anyone with mk3 jazz do you have a J for japanese built jazz or another letter

i am assuming all uk jazzes are now made in japan, well i hope so 

[orcadian]

Our very early Mk3 SE, Registered late September 2015 has initial letter J, so Japanese but it still has no body colour paint in the engine bay, petrol flap and interior under boot floor.  Also exterior paint is VERY thin, otherwise seems well built.

Ian

[Kenneve]

My Mk3 Reg Sept 16 is also 'J'. No problems at all, so far.

[monkeydave]

thanks guys thats good to know

[culzean]

Our very early Mk3 SE, Registered late September 2015 has initial letter J, so Japanese but it still has no body colour paint in the engine bay, petrol flap and interior under boot floor.  Also exterior paint is VERY thin, otherwise seems well built.

Ian

There was a time when the paint was the solitary protection for the bare steel body. Then zintec / zincote electroplated steel sheet was introduced into car bodies. The zinc coating means that if paint gets chipped the corrosion will no longer  travel under the paint and bubble up into a large patch. Car bodies used to last less than 5 years before major rust set in ( sills needed replacing, bottom of doors gone ). Some cars had rust in as little as three years. Now car bodies last up to 20 years no drama... that thin paint may be better than it appears.  Chassis and suspension part as get a multi-stage electrophoretic coating that protects them really well.

Maybe the paint spraying robots at Honda Japan factory need re-programming though, there is no excuse for leaving areas unpainted,  maybe Honda should make more cars in UK 

[Jocko]

The areas Honda leave unpainted are left that way through choice. When you build 5 million units a few pence saved here and there soon mount up.

[culzean]

The areas Honda leave unpainted are left that way through choice. When you build 5 million units a few pence saved here and there soon mount up.

When I was involved in body-in-white assembly my old boss ( who had moved on and was working for a robot manufacturing company then ) went to visit Honda in Swindon, who were using their robots,  ( this was about 10 years ago). I spoke to him on the phone after he came back and he commented how badly the spraying robots were programmed and were missing bits of the car. If Honda do miss bits on purpose to save a few pennies in paint it gives a very bad impression to potential customers looking at their products, cars are expensive and the least your can expect is to have them painted all over.   Car companies normally scrimp on things that cannot easily be seen if they are saving money,  and the inside of fuel filler is seen often.  Honda are priced as an above average brand,  and they are in the reliability department, but leaving visible areas unpainted is not good practice.

Perceived 'thin' paint is one thing, no paint is another..

[jazzaro]

anyone with mk3 jazz do you have a J for japanese built jazz or another letter

i am assuming all uk jazzes are now made in japan, well i hope so 

All GK3 and GK5 Jazz sold in Europe come from Japan.

[MicktheMonster]

Both my 2003 and 2018 are J's , only problem was rear wheel bearings and water in wheel well on the older one (known problems, easy fix), otherwise both have been trouble free.