So, having now had my Mk.4 for a month, I thought that now would be a good time to compare it to my previous Mk.3 In this case we are comparing a Mk.4 EX to a Mk.3 Automatic EX Navi.
After one month I find the following:
Where the Mk.4 is better:
- Much more comfortable seats.
- Much better ride quality.
- Much quieter in the cabin at speed.
- Faster acceleration.
- About 50% better fuel economy.
- Slightly cheaper to tax and insure.
- Better sound quality from the stereo, despite it having two fewer speakers.
- Supports Apple CarPlay.
- Has radar cruise control that actually works and lane keep assist that mostly works.
- Looks nicer (though not quite as nice as a Mk.2).
- Has heated seats and steering wheel.
Where the Mk.3 is better:
- Cheaper to buy (comparing new price to new price).
- Slightly bigger boot.
- OEM SatNav had RDS traffic data.
- An RDMS system you did not have to switch off every time in winter (because it only bleeped at you; it didn't actually try to jerk the car about on icy roads).
- Had lights in the vanity mirrors.
- Had two 12v sockets, whereas the Mk.4 has only 1.
Conclusion:
The Mk.4 is a better car in almost every way; the massive difference in fuel consumption being the major advantage. Further it is a much nicer place to sit behind the wheel; much more comfortable and smoother to drive, especially over long distances.
No car is perfect, however, and there are a few black marks on the Mk.4 as compared with its predecessor. Most are forgivable (for example the slightly smaller boot is a necessary compromise for somewhere to put the hybrid's running battery). Others are easy enough to work around (an adaptor can be purchased to make two 12v sockets should this be required).
There are, however two things on the Mk.4 that Honda really should improve (fortunately both are software so can hopefully be improved in existing cars as well as later ones):
1) Not providing any traffic data, not even through RDS, in the OEM SatNav is quite a let-down, though (in fairness) the added support for Apple CarPlay does mitigate this, relegating the OEM satnav to areas with no signal which, thankfully, are not areas likely to have that much traffic.
2) The RDMS system really isn't liveable with, especially in winter or on narrow roads. It would seem to have two problems; the first being that it is paranoid about where the edge of the road is and will try to correct far too soon, the second is that it isn't quite bright enough always know when you are crossing a line deliberately and when you have genuinely drifted out of position. The version in the Mk.3 which beeped at you but did not try to correct your steering was far superior; you got the warning and then you could decide for yourself what to do about it. Fortunately, unlike many other modern cars, Honda has given us the option to turn the RDMS off; but to vastly improve the system I would suggest that the following changes be made - (a) if the car was switched off with RDMS off, then RDMS stays off next time the car is switched on and (b) provision of a "beeper only" mode to make it similar to that on the Mk.3.
Other than those issues, which are not in any way deal breakers and easy enough to work around, the Mk.4 Jazz is an excellent car and I am very happy that I upgraded.
- Pogglefish
