|
I haven’t been on this forum much over the last year or so, and this is probably because most of my posts prior to purchasing our Honda Jazz were complaints about our previous cars. But I’ve now done 10k miles in the Jazz , and in case anyone is interested I’ll give my impressions.
We bought this 13 plate car with just 13k on the clock, and its a really good car, although no Jazz owner would be surprised to hear me say that. .It soon became obvious that the car had spent much of its life standing still, because the tyre walls were cracked from lack of use. So we replaced all four with new Michelins, and I had the car serviced.
First, performance: perhaps the least impressive aspect of this car. The 99bhp 1.3 version is adequate, but nothing more. OK, you can push the revs, give it a hard time and say there's nothing sluggish about it, but I’ve never done that with my cars, and never will. Sedate progress, with just enough oomph for those inevitable overtaking opportunities. On with the flat cap, and easy on the gas.
Next, space. Absolutely brilliant for a small hatch, though don’t try to squeeze three largeish people into the rear unless they know each other REALLY well. The tilt and drop rear seats are excellent, and I’ve transported bag after bag of soil, leaves, broken up old concrete paths and everything else that someone with a reasonable sized, non maintenance free garden has to carry occasionally, along with several significant items of furniture.
Economy is superb: over 50mpg is easily attainable in all circumstances, IF you don’t try to flog it. Equipment levels in this car are modest, being the base ES model, but perfectly adequate for someone like me who isn’t interested in toys. Road noise is intrusive, and ride ain’t brilliant, but I consider those disadvantages acceptable in exchange for the positive aspects of this excellent car.
We’ve done a number of long trips in the Jazz, and its never missed a beat or an opportunity to crawl sedately up a steep hill. I wouldn’t want to shoehorn a family of four plus luggage into this car and expect smooth progress on anything but dead level roads, but all expectations are manageable if realistic.
I’ve had the front discs and pads replaced, having bought the parts intending to do the job myself but being unable to remove the disc securing screws, embarrassingly enough. Other than servicing, nothing else has yet required attention. Its had a Honda recall for the passenger airbag, but that’s about the size of it.
I like this little car so much that I was hoping to exchange it for a 1.5 in the new shape, but I’m told that the bigger engine is only available in the Sport, and that model is being discontinued. Likelihood is that residuals will be too high for me to justify purchasing one of those second hand. So come 2021 I’ll probably be looking elsewhere, but as things stand I’ll remember this car, charisma-free old fogeywagon as it is, with significant affection.
Edited by argybargy on 19/06/2019 at 01:12
|
