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).

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.

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 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.

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.

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

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. :)