Hi everyone, funnily enough, I've just bought a Jazz (beware, LOOOOOOONG rambling post ahead
).
I would be going from this:
which is coming on 15yo now and starting to fall apart a bit. I recently serviced it last month with my bro (new sparks, air filter, battery, radiator bits, oil change and filter etc etc) but this week there are new strange noises coming from the drivers front wheel. It seems that it's getting to that age where it needs to be put out to pasture (worsened by all these bleedin' potholes that STILL haven't been filled in ages after it snowed
).
Anyway, it's a 1.5 (1496cc) non-VTEC model that is quite peppy around town but is getting worse with recent mpg's being 27ish range despite doing basics like correct tire pressures/driving sensibly etc.
It had (when new) 89bhp? and about the same torque? (from memory), insurance group 11 or something ridiculous.
Anyway, I had a few options up my sleeve that would be decent alternatives for a reliable runaround for when I can't drive my other car.....here were some on my shortlist:
Vauxhall Astra/Corsa: I want a reliable car
. Every vauxhall my family has ever owned has been a steaming pile of poo. Poor reliability, poor build quality etc etc (bar one - the Omega was nice imho) and we've owned a few. There's a reason Vauxhall's tend to come near the bottom of the JD power surveys year on year. Terrible cars that I wouldn't touch with a bargepole now.
Peugot 207/308 or Citroen C3/C4. I said I wanted reliability
.
VW Polo 1.2 TSI:
Too expensive for what it is, starting price for a decent spec is about £15500 .....for a Polo.....
OK, what about the Golf equivalent? What about a 1.4? Again, starting price similar for a slower car but I like VW and think they make reliable well built stuff so I hadn't entirely ruled it out. Still quite pricey for what I'd be getting though imho.
What about Audi 2nd hand? Good residuals mean that even though I think they're also great cars, they were a tad on the dear side for any px on mine.
Ford Focus 1.6 Zetec:
Lovely handling....too bleeding expensive again
. According to the dealer, to get an equivalent spec to the other shortlistee's, I'd be neigh on the £17000 mark
.
But having said that, the dynamics are meant to be quite good on the other ranges too as well as being reliable and cheap to insure and repair and run etc etc.....
....so I looked at a decent spec Ford Fiesta and it comes out at a MUCH more reasonable £13000ish.....that's more like it, that stayed on my "compare" list.
BMW 1 series: v expensive and they weren't offering any deals. Plus, with all the extra costs for a decent spec meant that if I wanted R/L turn indicators (which appear to be an option on most beemers I see driving around nowadays
) that'd have bumped the price up way too high
.
Others:
I also looked at the mini (cramped inside c.f. the jazz, but fantastic handling although at a hefty premium in comparison) and the Yaris (smaller inside in comparison and I also want the option of stopping at things like traffic lights and junctions if possible
)
....but all that went out the window when I moved on to the Honda. First car? A Honda Civic. Second car? That Civic from above.So I KNOW they're built well and damn reliable. I've lost count how many times colleagues in their clio's/corsas/c5's etc would be late for work 'cos their car wouldn't start, whereas mine would start up first time every time even in the depths of winter. Sweet as a nut.
Saying that, I sauntered over to the Honda expecting to find a deal on a used 1.6 Honda Civic.
Sat inside one of the newer ones instead.
Erm......
Where's the rear visibilty? Not only is there a ruddy great (un-needed) spoiler halfway across the rear window
, but the pillars obstruct most rear 3/4 vision so you have to rely on the wing mirrors pretty much solely
. Looking in front is nice with a cool ubersleek dash and it's a nice place to be, certainly, but I like decent all round awareness when driving and that's mighty difficult with the very poor rear visibility on the Civic.
So I then jumped into a Jazz sitting next to it. Niiiice
. I could now get a great all round view including the rear and I swear it seems like there's MORE space in here than the bigger civic has .......it's like a tardis .
Even though the UK ones are called 1.2 and 1.4l, the actual spec of the 1.4 is 1339cc so it's actually a 1.3l (which is what the rest of the world correctly call it) isn't it? Despite this, it has more torque (127) and more bhp (99) than my current civic.....so I'd be going down on engine size but hopefully keeping performance about the same (slightly heavier car I think c.f. mine).
Fuel consumption also almost doubles (60 mway, 52 combined).
Insurance group halves to 5E.
So I started looking quite hard at the ES model but with a couple of additions:
Jazz 1.4 iVtec ES + metallic paint + front spots + 5yr servicing - scrappage scheme = £12178, of which I pay 35% up front and the rest off
interest free over two years.......brilliant deal imho for a brand new ('10' plate) car with honda reliability, cheap to run, cheap to insure and comparable performance (but double the fuel economy).
I was tempted by the EX but it had many things I didn't want:
don't need moonroof, climate control not needed in such a small car imho - I'm fine with manual A/c, I have an iPod but don't care about adding USB to a factory unit (if I needed I'd go whole hog and replace the audio myself), I'm happy with 15" alloys - neither of my prior civics had alloys so going up to 16" wasn't going to be "missed" and i'd risk it worsening ride quality a tad too (less rubber), it's heavier than the ES? because performance and fuel consumption is worse than the ES), and on and on...
but 1 thing I did want:
Front spots
so I simply added them as options into the ES spec
.
So yes, in the end I plumped for the Jazz as I think they're great vfm with the current honda servicing deals, keep their value well (looking on autotrader) and i'll get 2 grand for mine with the scrappage scheme (which would probably only get a couple of hundred tops otherwise).
The only thing I found it difficult deciding on was the colour. They're all OK but I had a few reservations with black (marks show up easily and it wasn't pearlescent like Honda's old (great looking) Pirate's Black) and I like dark grey / slate grey, so I plumped for the Storm Grey. I would have liked a darker version but after having a look in the showroom I think I've made the right choice.
Need to pay the rest of my deposit this weekend and then should take delivery next week......can't wait....I'm hopping up and down like an excited school kid in a sweetshop
.
Anyway, that's enough rambling from me. Be prepared to answer some pretty dumb Q's from me over the coming months as I get to grips with it
.