1.4 SE Sport

Awful reliability and a company that doesn't care about it reputation.

Honda. Reliable and dependable. A company that prides itself on it's quality and reputation. Not a hope.

I bought in to the dream. When I was looking for a new small family car I drifted towards a Honda Jazz. I did my due diligence: Picked a solid car from a solid brand. Bought from a main dealer with a full service history. Serviced it at a main dealer. Sat back and looked forward to years of care-free motoring. I paid a huge premium for that piece of mind.

That was 2 1/2 years ago. The car has now been off the road for 3 months after a conrod snapped and ripped a hole in the engine. 49,000 miles on the clock and only 2.5k after it's last dealer service. A new Honda engine will cost £8.5k fitted apparently.

I've approached Honda. You would think they would be interested in finding out why this happened (as apparently this DOESN'T happen to the Honda Jazz... ever). But no. Customer service have been useless, even their head office couldn't care less. You would think, with all the extra money they make marking up their new an used vehicles based on their reputation, they would keep some aside for when things go badly wrong. Apparently not. They now want me to pay £1120 for a strip down and inspection before they will even consider doing anything. Like I have £1120 spare to buy a lottery ticket. I gave it all to one of their dealers in 2012.

£5.5k down the drain. I can't afford to fix it. I paid a premium to buy Honda, when I should have bought cheap and saved for repairs. I bought a cheap Hyundai for a grand to keep me on the road and I'll be peeved if that doesn't last me 2 1/2 years. I'll be back to review that when it hits 49K so I can gloat at Honda's expense.

In the past I've owned an Austin, a few Vauxhalls, Ford, MG, Nissan and Renault. All have outlived the Honda in both age and mileage, and none cost anywhere near as much to buy.

A reputation is only worth something if I company is prepared to back it up. Honda, unfortunately are undeserving. File under H for hype.

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