For your budget, out of those two, it would be the Jazz for me all day long. I'm sure if you get the right engine (such as the one Big John gives a link to), the Fabia would be fine, but there are quite a few engines i'd want to avoid. Such as early TSI's which can cause problems re the timing chain, the baisc 3 cyl models which are both very slow and, i believe, unreliable. With the Jazz of that budget, you have two engine choices, both of which are extremely reliable and even the lower powered 1.2 has 89bhp (which is more than the 1.4 in Big John's ad). Add to that, the more spacious cabin, bigger boot and the brilliant 'magic seats'.

But i'd also open up your search to include the Toyota Yaris (1.33), the Mazda 2 and the Suzuki Swift, all of which i'd have over a Fabia. The Yaris has a similar sized cabin to the Jazz, but the boot is more Fabia sized. The Mazda is slightly smaller, but fun to drive and very reliable, same goes for the Swift.

BTW, my quick Autotrader search reveals quite a few 2012 Jazz for £4.5k not to mention a couple of 2013 cars.

Bloke I know has a 1.2 Fabia with well over 300k on the clock so they seem like a good longterm bet.

Thanks for the thoughts! It seems the Jazz is the winner!

I hired a Skoda Fabia on holiday, it was n't a great car to drive. Seat were uncomfortable on long journeys and it was a car which drained me out and made me tired. Nothing special. No idea, why it gets great reviews.

We have a Fabia, bought it new May 2018, had it almost 10 months. Its the 1.0 TSi 110 PS version with SE-L trim. All I can say is so far we have found it good to drive with an excellent engine that combines power with economy, comfortable seats and low noise levels making it relaxing on longish trips.

Suppose that is why it gets great reviews.

Dad had a Honda Jazz for 5 years. It was totally reliable but the ride was very firm, the steering strangely remote, noise levels were quite high and the seats were very poor and supportive. He was not sorry to see it go.

The Jazz has always got OK reviews but is known to be reliable, dads experiences confirmed that.

He replaced it with a Nissan Micra 1.2. Other than space (which was enough - he would not have bought it otherwise) it beat the Honda on every count and was equally reliable. Shame the Micra model that replaced it was a 1/2 hearted attempt and the current one is stupidly expensive.