It’s time to get shot of my old Mazda 626 and get something much more economical. Still need to lug a bike in it so I’m interested to know
peoples experiences. Any recommendations on the best model would be useful too. Coming from a mid size family car with a bit of ooomph is the Jazz going to be a bit disappointing to drive? Slow, noisy, like jelly on wheels?

Second hand, they all smell of worthers originals. But space for bikes is massive.

You can get a couple of bikes in easily. The rear seats also fold down flat. This is handy if you are under 5″ 10 and push the passenger seat as far forward as it will go, you can reasonably comfortably sleep in the back.

Got one of the original 1.4DSi ones. It has been trouble free for the 10 years it has been in the family.

It is quite amusing to drive round town as it is quite firmly sprung and has a very flexible engine. Great fun for punting around like a little skateboard. Gets a bit wearing on longer trips and bumpy commute though.

Loads of space in the back with seats down. Magic seats are a bit of a waste of time for bikes though.

Can you get a bike in with one back seat still up? Do this in my Civic to avoid using an external rack (have to remove both wheels to do this).

When I worked as a camper-van interior maker, we fitted a bed and cooker setup in the back of a Jazz!
Epic.

We get two kids a bike and me and the missus inside our jazz. Brilliant cars. Can fold one seat down and get a bike in without the front wheel on.

We have a 1.2 and its fine but if I had had the money I’d have got a 1.4.

We just to an Octavia estate as we needed a second car and I don’t think it’s as well made as the jazz or as good to drive. Faster like, but not as good.

The jazz is the best car I’ve ever had. You can tell I like it 🙂

The Mrs. has one in the UK. Great little car. Load of space inside for its size. With her driving she can fit her bike in with both wheels on. Have to take one of mine off though. With both wheels off they will go in sideways, leaving the entire boot free.

Got close to buying one myself “for the kids to drive /take kit to/from Uni” but with a very strong eye on bike carrying ability the rest of the year, with seats flat into the floor there is loads of room for such a small car. I was looking at 1.4 manuals, a lot of them are auto. Other alternative is A-Class, better image but not as reliable.

We’ve had a couple. Great, economical and reliable. As already said, seats fold easily and form a flat load space – seats also lift up cinema style and with the flat floor in the back can be quite handy. Great vehicle for hauling bikes as well as trips to the tip. The space inside considering the size of the car is quite outstanding.

The 1.2 is OK but the 1.4 is a better engine, the smaller unit can run out of puff on inclines when fully loaded. Not much in it in terms of economy between the two. It’s difficult not to do 40+ MPG no matter how you drive them.

Early 1.4s can have problems with the EGR valve. This can be cleaned with carb cleaner but is probably best replaced (costs around £120). The did something to improve it as later cars don’t suffer and when replaced the problem went away and didn’t return. Nothing else has gone with either car. Totally reliable.

Downsides? Image, image and image. Honestly, I don’t give a shit. Also, it’s not e most comfortable thing on long journeys. Anything up to around 70 miles is fine. Further and it starts to get tiring but other people’s endurance might be different. That said we’ve travelled down to Devon from Manchester several times. Even the 1.2 will sit at a steady 80 all day long.

Other than that I agree with all the points above. Although only one of ours smelt of Werthers! We’ve started to look at one of the new generation ones as a replacement.

I really like them. I’d be tempted to take the ‘Jazz’ badge off though as the name is a killer. In Japan its the ‘Fit’? Much better.

Would you be considering the newshape or the old shape OP?

Just to follow up on @hora and @furious – as hora says in Asia the car is called the Fit, it’s also a young persons car, you see them with shiny alloys, spoilers and recaro seats. I lived in Singapore and there were many such examples (and they cost £50k !). Image is a strange thing …

Image is a strange thing

In the UK (and possibly America? etc) if you are male you can’t have a small car.

Bizarrely here in the UK its ‘cool’/ok though to drive round in hatchback family cars that have 2.0T or 2.5T engines. Weird.

BHP is linked it virility/fighting prowess?

Mrs Danny has the 1.4 petrol (on an 04 plate) and hates it. But, only because she thinks its an old persons car.

She does however have to grudgingly admit it is a fantastic car in terms of layout, baby carrying capabilities plus all the associated paraphernalia that babybgoode takes with him etc.

Not only do the back seats fold flat very easily but the bench but that you actually sit on can be lifted up so you can put very tall things on the floor in the back. Genius.

Economical, reasonably nippy, handles ok, can fit a vast amount of stuff into it and will be there with the cockroches after a nuclear war there’s not much against them really.

As a couple of others have said I wouldn’t *choose* to do a long drive in it as it would get a little tiring I think but its more than capable of eating the miles if you are.

Cheers

Danny B

Thanks for all the info. I’m going to look at a 59 plate 1.4 se at the local dealer. Up for £8000 with 20,000
on the clock. Comes with a tow bar fitted which will be useful, I can use a Thule rack for the ‘cross season. I recently drove from Kent to Cumbria in a 1.2 polo and that was fine so hopefully the Jazz will be too.

Well you can get a tandem in a Jazz Tandem in Jazz

My wife has a 2007 1.4 auto and my daughter a 2005 1.2 manual. No issues with either and both really like their cars. The space inside is amazing – I can get my road bike inside without even taking a wheel off, with the seats folded.

We have had an 04 plate one (1.4 manual) from new. Done 120,000 miles so far and aside from the usual wear and tear parts, the only thing that has failed recently is the exhaust rotted through. Amazing build quality and I can’t see us getting rid any time soon.

The new ones look a lot nicer I think, but it does suffer from an image problem. Get past that though and they are fabulously reliable. Honda were even offering a free front wheel bearing replacement on cars with less than 100k on the clock and under 7 years old in a recent service bulleten!

And you can fit a LOT in this car (although a tiny amount compared to my Honda FRV 🙂 )

Image problem = generally un-thrashed examples with Honda FSH can be had for 3.5-4.5k, with 50-80k on the clock. Chain cam engine, mpg in low 40’s, no diesel stop/start issues, drives like a much bigger car and inside is surprisingly big! Go for the 1.4!