Honda Jazz ES 2013 - Jazz, 3 months later. | Motoring discussion | Back Room Forum

Fri 27 Apr 2018 10:48

Honda Jazz ES 2013 - Jazz, 3 months later. - argybargy

Regrettably, I’ve not been on this excellent forum much over the last few weeks. Stuff going on elsewhere has taken up a lot of my time. However, I thought I’d give a progress report on my first three months with the Honda Jazz, 2013 vintage.

I’ve employed the magic seat facility on many occasions. Some garden redesign over the last month or so has necessitated the removal of a lot of bags of earth, and rather than having to drop the back seats forward to open up the rear luggage area and shove it in the boot as I did with previous cars, I merely lift the back seats to reveal the floor space and I can take several bags of earth to the local recycling centre on each trip.

The engine is sweet as a nut. Someone actually asked me whether it was an electric vehicle, so quiet is this unit at idle. On the road, the drive isn’t anywhere near as poor as I was led to believe by some comments on this forum. Ok, the steering doesn’t have the directness of a Ford, and there is some body roll, but certainly no worse than the roll I experienced in the B Max. There’s plenty of power for round town, despite the limitations of a 99bhp 1.3 engine, and on the motorway the Jazz will cruise comfortably all day long. Road noise is there, as it is with any car, but it’s not intrusive as it has been in one or two Fords that I’ve owned. Visibility is excellent.

I’m glad we went for the manual because the stick shift does give the best opportunity to exploit the limited power of this engine, the only downside of that being that there are just five forward gears, so cruising at 70 costs over 3000 rpm, unlike the more relaxed progress with the six speed auto.

One odd quirk of the Jazz is that there’s a massive margin of error in the fuel gauge. At the point when the on board computer and analogue gauge tell you the car is empty of fuel, you still have over 60 miles left. Takes a bit of getting used to, but most Jazz owners, I believe, get round that by topping up regularly. This is easy to manage because fuel economy is the best I’ve had in any vehicle for years.

Best of all, after an initial burst of complaint from 'er indoors about the low position of the passenger seat, “its all gone quiet over there”.

One small complaint, being that the rear pads stick to the discs when the vehicle is left on the handbrake overnight, particularly if its been raining or the car has been washed. This is exacerbated by our parking on a steep hill, but the "bang" you sometimes get when you go to drive off as the pads release is something I never get used to. It helps if you hold the car in gear as well as on the handbrake, of course.

Very impressed so far, particularly with the feeling that the car beneath and around me is solid and well built. I mean, you can literally close the doors with one finger. Still early days, but I would certainly consider another Honda when the time comes, perhaps a larger model with a bit more oomph. Unless, of course they give the Jazz a bigger engine, in which case it would be the perfect vehicle for us. I believe there is a 1.5 petrol in the latest model, but not heard any reports of how that engine compares to the current 1.3.

Hope someone finds the above useful.

Edited by argybargy on 27/04/2018 at 10:51

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Fri 27 Apr 2018 11:09

Honda Jazz ES 2013 - Jazz, 3 months later. - madf

I echo all teh above with my 2012 Jazz ES,

Regarding the rear pads sticking, ours is garaged overnight so only suffers when it has been washed and not driven. I replaced teh rear (and fron( Pads at 30k miles last year, greased everything and they still stick. They also used to stick on My Rover 800s, Mercedes E class, and old XJ6.. Blame alloy wheels for exposing pads/disks to rain...

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Fri 27 Apr 2018 12:21

Honda Jazz ES 2013 - Jazz, 3 months later. - badbusdriver

Glad to hear you are liking the jazz Argy.

I have the opposite opinion on the gearbox though. I know yours is the old engine, i think it is actually badged as a 1.4 despite being 1339cc (ours being 1318cc), which does have slightly more torque at slightly lower revs, but not enough to make a meaningful difference. Our CVT does have paddles so you can shift manually through the 7 (artificial) gears, but to be honest, i really couldn't be bothered with it. It does come in handy on ice or snow covered roads, but otherwise i just leave the box to get on with it. Because the power band is so narrow, i much prefer knowing that when i go to overtake and put my foot down, i will end up exactly where i need to be for maximum response (which was not always the case in our last car, a hyundai i30 turbo diesel with a T/C auto). Short burst up to the top of the rev counter to pass, then back down to under 2000rpm (if doing 60mph)!. I know they are not to everyones taste, but having had ours for just under a year now, i wouldn't have a manual version.

Regarding the rear pads, ours does this too. I do also live on a hill, but not a very steep one, but, and i think this would probably exacerbate the problem, i also have the North Sea at the bottom of the road (about 200 meters away).

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Fri 27 Apr 2018 12:28

Honda Jazz ES 2013 - Jazz, 3 months later. - mcintosh

I can also echo the above with my Jazz ES 2011, bought six months ago as my first car.

The steering doesn't feel as sharp as the Fiesta in which I learned to drive but this doesn't bother me. I bought the car for its practicality and reliability more than its driver engagement.

Not really noticed a problem with the brake pads.

I sometimes wonder what the CVT transmission would be like. Also curious to know what the 1.5L engine in the new Sport model is like. Most of the reviews complain that it's too noisy when revved hard but HJ in his review seems to like it:

https://www.honestjohn.co.uk/road-tests/honda/honda-jazz-15ivtec-sport-2018-road-test/

I get the impression it gives the Jazz a bit of useful extra poke while not exactly making it a hot hatch.

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Fri 27 Apr 2018 13:19

Honda Jazz ES 2013 - Jazz, 3 months later. - SteVee

Excellent timing on the posts - thanks.
I am currently looking to buy a Jazz from around 2012-2015. I had previously discounted the CVT, but I will now take a look. I'm also considering a Civic 8th/9th gen, and would consider the TC auto or manual. The Jazz appears to be lighter inside - the Civic can be a bit gloomy, and the Jazz is less wide, also in its favour.

Did anyone else look at the Civic alongside the Jazz ?

I note the point about sticking pads - my car can be left for many days in the driveway and I always leave it with the handbrake off (and in gear).

I'm impressed that my Honda dealer has Hondas that may be up to 10 years old on their forecourt and are selling them with decent warranties - and no glass palace mentaility.

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Fri 27 Apr 2018 14:15

Honda Jazz ES 2013 - Jazz, 3 months later. - badbusdriver

'Our' jazz is actualy my wifes Motability car. To a degree, what car we end up with is determined by what offers there are at the time of ordering (we keep the car 3 years, but usually order its replacement 2-3 months before the actual date, and the Motability pricelist changes quarterly). At the time we ordered, we could have got a civic estate with the 1.8 petrol and T/C auto, but we don't really need the extra space and having moved to a particularly narrow street, i wanted as slim a car as possible (within our requirements) to try and minimise any scrapes.At the end of the day, the choice came down to the Jazz or Yaris (both CVT), the Jazz coming out on top due to having more interior space, bigger boot, plus the magic seats.

I must say i'm not all that keen on the looks of the new civic, but the thing that would put me off it most is simply that it is too big. I'm not saying it wouldn't fit down our street (after all the bin lorry does, just!), but i don't like how big, and particularly, wide, most new cars are relative to their predecessor. Also, in a bid to appease motoring journalists complaining of 'too high' seats, honda have ditched the brilliant magic seats from the new civic by moving the fuel tank back under the rear seats, where it is in most cars, in order to allow the front seats to be mounted lower.

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Fri 27 Apr 2018 14:09

Honda Jazz ES 2013 - Jazz, 3 months later. - TheGentlemanThug

Good stuff there argybargy. My wife bought a 2006 CVT Jazz from a Honda dealer four years ago and whilst she had to get a new coil pack fitted recently, it's been flawlessly reliable; not even so much as a rattle from the dash, so fingers crossed for you.

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Fri 27 Apr 2018 15:05

Honda Jazz ES 2013 - Jazz, 3 months later. - SteVee

I think car width is going to be the decider in my case; I originally said that the replacement must not be wider than my Primera P11-144. The civic is about 1 inch wider, the Jazz is 2 inches more narow.

While I would consider a new Jazz, the new Civic doesn't appeal. The seats were borderline too low on the 8thGen - if they're lower on the 10th Gen then that's another reason.

Just got to avoid the Jazz EX - with its panaromic roof & unusual tyre sizes.

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Fri 27 Apr 2018 15:42

Honda Jazz ES 2013 - Jazz, 3 months later. - TheGentlemanThug

I think car width is going to be the decider in my case; I originally said that the replacement must not be wider than my Primera P11-144. The civic is about 1 inch wider, the Jazz is 2 inches more narow.

While I would consider a new Jazz, the new Civic doesn't appeal. The seats were borderline too low on the 8thGen - if they're lower on the 10th Gen then that's another reason.

Just got to avoid the Jazz EX - with its panaromic roof & unusual tyre sizes.

I was very tempted by a Jazz Si but wasn't sure I could live with the performance of the 1.4, so I opted for a Civic 1.8. To me, it doesn't feel any wider than my last two cars, an Accord and a Focus, but to each their own.

Is width such an important factor that you'd sacrifice other things, like performance and space?

Edited by Bicycle_Repair_Man on 27/04/2018 at 15:42

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Fri 27 Apr 2018 16:46

Honda Jazz ES 2013 - Jazz, 3 months later. - badbusdriver

I think car width is going to be the decider in my case; I originally said that the replacement must not be wider than my Primera P11-144. The civic is about 1 inch wider, the Jazz is 2 inches more narow.

While I would consider a new Jazz, the new Civic doesn't appeal. The seats were borderline too low on the 8thGen - if they're lower on the 10th Gen then that's another reason.

Just got to avoid the Jazz EX - with its panaromic roof & unusual tyre sizes.

I was very tempted by a Jazz Si but wasn't sure I could live with the performance of the 1.4, so I opted for a Civic 1.8. To me, it doesn't feel any wider than my last two cars, an Accord and a Focus, but to each their own.

Is width such an important factor that you'd sacrifice other things, like performance and space?

I may well have chosen the Jazz because of it's relative narrowness, but i don't feel i have sacrificed anything and i find it an odd question. The only area in which our previous car, a Hyundai i30, would score over the jazz would be if carrying 3 adults in the rear seat. If i needed that ability i probably wouldn't have gone for the Jazz. But we didn't, so there is no benefit to be had in us having a wider car. Four up, the jazz is more spacious than the i30 and it's boot is of around the same capacity. The extra flexibility of the magic seats means it is also more versatile than the i30.

As for the issue of performance, this is a particularly irritating issue for me, the obsession with having more and more power and that somehow if you don't have at least whatever amount of it, you will feel vulnerable and unable to overtake. Utter rubbish!. One of our previous cars was a Daihatsu Sirion 1.0. We had that for 3 years and at no point did i ever feel it was particularly lacking in performance. I never had any problems overtaking and it proved itself perfectly capable of long journeys when on two consecutive years we took it (from our home in North East Scotland) to visit relatives in North West England and the Midlands. It was more than capable of maintaining the legal limit on the motorway (indeed i spent quite a bit of the journey doing 80mph+ quite comfortably). And the only time it lost any speed (other than when i wanted to) was heading North up Beattock on the way home.

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Fri 27 Apr 2018 17:13

Honda Jazz ES 2013 - Jazz, 3 months later. - TheGentlemanThug

Ah, so you've bought the Jazz already?

I'm not being critical, just wondering if the extra space and performance of the Civic were worth considering? Obviously not.

The Jazz is a great car, no doubt. Like I said, I almost bought one and my wife already has one.

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Fri 27 Apr 2018 18:33

Honda Jazz ES 2013 - Jazz, 3 months later. - argybargy

Thanks for responding so positively to my post, folks.

A few weeks back, friends of ours test drove a brand new Jazz with the auto box and reported that the noise, both from engine and tyres, was simply awful. Something must have gone badly wrong since that new model was introduced, because the engine in our Mk 2 is little more than a distant hum until you reach between 65 and 70, when it does start to become intrusive. I believe the salesman blamed the problem on the car having "the wrong tyres." They went for a Captur in the end.

I may also have mentioned that I've had to replace all the original tyres on ours because the sidewalls had cracked due to lack of use (its five years old this year and has just passed 15k miles). All new Michelins certainly suit this car, which is just as well because the roads around here are deteriorating by the day as the potholes get deeper, and the stretches of flat road between them get shorter.

Got a longish run coming up soon (about 600 miles) so will report how that goes.

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Fri 27 Apr 2018 23:41

Honda Jazz ES 2013 - Jazz, 3 months later. - SLO76

Funny timing but I've been using the 59 plate Jazz my mother dear has had from new for the day as my wee Polo was in for a service and Mot.

I often recommend these wee cars, I pointed my parents to this one in 2009 which was a good buy with the £2,000 scrappage scheme at the time and I knew it would never be any trouble and aside from a rather expensive (£875!!!) replacement drivers seat base when the adjuster mechanism failed it has been a very dependable and cheap to run car.

I have however never enjoyed driving it. On paper it should be great, small vtec petrol motors, low weight, front wheel drive. But somehow Honda just never got the balance right in my opinion with both ride, steering and handling just not up to the standard of rivals. But it was interesting to revisit it after a while to directly compare it to my Polo now the two of them have more years and miles under their belts.

The Polo is undeniably a better car to drive, the steering has much more feel and the car feels more composed through the bends yet despite this the ride is also far superior. But the Honda is definitely standing up to life on the road far better with no signs of aging aside from a few scuffs and scrapes added by my mother. It feels and drives exactly as it did when it left the showroom 9 years ago while the Polo is getting a little tatty round the edges with worn rubbers and creaky front suspension.

The performance is flat compared to the diesel Polo despite it apparently having an extra 14bhp but the economy matches the diesel easily day to day without all the long term reliability risks involved with the DPF equipped diesel.

I'm hard on the Jazz sometimes because of the missed opportunity it represents, it should be nicer to drive but as a totally reliable, practical small family hatch I'll often recommend it as a used buy. For the 90% of drivers who don't care about how it feels on a twisty B road my opinions are irrelevant anyway. I just like a small car to feel a bit more alive.

The current model is a huge step up for driver appeal and I'm surprised to hear someone suggesting the noise levels were too high, I found the manual 1.3 I drove to be quite refined, in fact It's a car I liked so much it's certainly in the running to replace our Polo when it starts causing trouble. It's finally the car the previous generations should have been and it will no doubt be better yet when Honda sees fit to install their excellent new 1.0 turbo. The only grievance is the prices of the thing which are bordering on obscene for a supermini according to the sticker prices in our local dealer.

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Fri 27 Apr 2018 18:43

Honda Jazz ES 2013 - Jazz, 3 months later. - SteVee

For me, my Mazda6 - which preceeded the Primera - was too wide. The Civic would probably be OK, but the Jazz would probably be better. I wish there was a bit more colour in the Civic cabin. I wouldn't use the extra space in the Civic, I'm not sure it actually has more than the Jazz.

As for performance, I wish there was a bit more opportiunity to use it, I occasionally have my wife's 1.2 8V Clio at full throttle, but it doesn't actually need to go any faster at that point, none of these are in the Fireblade class anyway (I think the Honda NV700 has half a Jazz engine, but I've not ridden one)

I will definitelly get a drive in the CVT Jazz based on comments above - so thanks.. I'll be looking at a Yaris and Mazda2 also; although my Mazda6 was fragile - I think it was built too light compared with other cars.

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Tue 1 May 2018 23:32

Honda Jazz ES 2013 - Jazz, 3 months later. - Leif

As for the issue of performance, this is a particularly irritating issue for me, the obsession with having more and more power and that somehow if you don't have at least whatever amount of it, you will feel vulnerable and unable to overtake. Utter rubbish!.

You are not alone. I am mystified when a journalist says that a modern city car is not powerful enough for motorway use. Several have said the VW Up struggles on the motorway and when overtaking. What? No it doesn’t. I suspect the truth is that if you are the kind of person who changes lanes rapidly, in a dangerous manner, without enough space between you and other cars, then yes the Up is not ideal. And if you don’t know how to,use the gears, then yes the Up is underpowered. But if you drive safely, only overtake when there is a good safety margin,and drop down to third gear when doing so, then it’s more than powerful enough. My experience is that more power can be dangerous as it gives a false sense of security, and leads to risk taking. Maybe that’s why insurance premiums go up with engine power?

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Fri 27 Apr 2018 21:09

Honda Jazz ES 2013 - Jazz, 3 months later. - SteveLee

The reason for the conservative nature of the Jazz fuel guage is to allow the Jazz's target audience lap the M25 a couple of times after taking a "wrong turn" when nipping out to buy their Daily Mirror.

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Tue 1 May 2018 18:59

Honda Jazz ES 2013 - Jazz, 3 months later. - pyruse

Our current Jazz (2014 model) is a CVT, and replaced an older 2005 vintage CVT.

Both excellent cars, nice to drive, very practical, and very economical.

The newer one is quieter and has better fuel economy (60 mpg on a run, the old one used to get around 50).The ride is also a bit better than th eold one. It's just a nice car to own and to drive.

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Tue 1 May 2018 22:12

Honda Jazz ES 2013 - Jazz, 3 months later. - argybargy

The reason for the conservative nature of the Jazz fuel guage is to allow the Jazz's target audience lap the M25 a couple of times after taking a "wrong turn" when nipping out to buy their Daily Mirror.

ROFL...a thing of beauty: an almost totally original ageist joke aimed at Jazz drivers. Oh, and its the "i" newspaper I take wrong turns for, not the Mirror. Lost interest in the latter after Cap'n Bob got his hands on it.

Did our 600 mile round trip over the long weekend and the Jazz was brilliant. When you hit a decent gradient it needs third rather than struggling in fourth and floundering in fifth, but once you realise the shortcomings and match the gear to the conditions there's no need to be bimbling along in Sloth mode with your chin resting on the wheel and annoying the Hell out of everyone behind you. Just the two of us in the car, the back seats up and all our stuff neatly stowed on the floor rather than crammed in the boot. I saw far more Jazz's in the South West than I've ever seen up here in North Wales, but maybe thats more about ageing populations than different regional preferences.

Must admit, I do like the look of the newest Jazz, so I hope you're right, SLO, and that the noise problems reported by our friends are untypical.

Edited by argybargy on 01/05/2018 at 22:14

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Tue 1 May 2018 23:39

Honda Jazz ES 2013 - Jazz, 3 months later. - Leif

The reason for the conservative nature of the Jazz fuel guage is to allow the Jazz's target audience lap the M25 a couple of times after taking a "wrong turn" when nipping out to buy their Daily Mirror.

Classic. :)

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