Hi all,
New to the club, and new Jazz owner as of three days ago! I have a Mk2 (2012, facelift) 1.4 EX, manual, in blue. She has ~98k miles on the clock, and some minor wear, but a near-pristine MOT history and barely any rust!
My previous (and first ever) car is a 2003 Toyota Yaris, aptly named Patches, which has served me really well for a decade, and which I have loved dearly. She has been absolutely bomb-proof. After changing jobs a year ago, I now have a long motorway commute (~120 miles/day), and the journey in the Yaris has been exhausting, even on a hybrid office/home regime! Patches weighs as much as a box of tissues, so even a light breeze, or being overtaken by an SUV, required careful compensation, to avoid being blown three lanes across the carriageway. Add the teeth-dislodging suspension, wind-tunnel noise from perished window seals, and a clutch that felt like pushing on a brick (fun when sitting in start-stop traffic for two hours!), and I finally made up my mind, after years of indecision.
Oh, what an upgrade the Jazz is! She practically drives herself! So comfy, smooth, and quiet! So planted and stable! Such visibility! Acres of room! So gorgeous! Etc., etc. I am utterly besotted. My commute felt short, and that was before I even tried the cruise control! I was grinning like a loon all the way to work. Why didn’t I do this sooner?
I think the one thing I will miss about the Yaris is the kick at low speeds, which was an absolute riot. Patches had a racecar 0-30 mph time, perfect to fend off roundabout lunatics in Milton Keynes and to give lads in German cars an existential crisis at the traffic lights. Add the insane body roll, and an engine that sounds like a possessed blender at 3000 RPM, and you could get the full Monaco Grand Prix experience, without breaking that pesky 20 mph zone speed limit. Try to get from 30 to 60 mph, however, and you might as well wait for the heat death of the Universe.
The Jazz seems to have a much smoother curve, she feels more sedate at low speeds, but responds far, far better at high speeds, which feels a lot safer. The response feels quite different even from my partner’s ‘05 Civic (traditional VTEC, vs the Jazz’s i-VTEC). It’s very interesting, and I’m really looking forward to experimenting and learning what works best in every scenario!
I think my only criticisms at this point are the slightly uninspiring instrument cluster (Why is the fuel gauge so large? And I will miss having a digital speedo - I was half-tempted by the mk8 and mk9 Civics purely for that!) and the extremely loud and overcautious parking sensors, which I will blame for any future visits to the cardiologist.
If you have any quick thoughts or advice, they would be very welcome! I have already started trawling the mk2 forum, and I’m looking forward to charting my MPG, as that seems to be a favourite pastime there!
My immediate plans include new wipers and a fresh battery, and Lanoguarding my pride and joy like my life depends on it. Oh, and replacing the spark plugs, as I don’t think they have been done for a very long time, possibly ever! The last “major service” was in 2021 (oil and filters were done a week ago), but looking at the bill for that, there is no way it included those pricey iridium plugs and the many hours of disassembling half the car to reach them (yes, I learned about what’s involved - a day after purchasing the Jazz, haha!). Wish me luck!
And maybe one day I’ll win the lottery and get my dream: a JDM import Fit RS, with the IMA-boosted engine and manual transmission. In orange (or yellow).
