Honda Jazz review

With its boxy, MPV-like shape, the Honda Jazz is the most spacious choice in the small car class. Even six-footers will have no trouble getting comfortable in the front, thanks to a huge amount of head room and surprisingly generous shoulder room. Unless you're really long in the leg, you'll also find that the seats slide back far enough.

Each front door has a pocket big enough to accept a 250ml bottle of water, and there's a cupholder just behind the gear selector, with a second and third positioned on the outer reaches of the dashboard.

There are also two small gloveboxes (one directly below the other), plus a cubby underneath the centre armrest and a tray below the air-con controls. We just wish more of the trays and cubbies were lined with rubber to prevent things sliding about.

The Honda Jazz’s class-leading interior space extends to the rear. Two tall adults can sit in the outer seats with their heads well away from the roof and their knees clear of the seats in front. In fact, there’s enough leg room on offer for occupants to sprawl out.

While it will become more of a squeeze if a third adult joins the party, the flat, unobstructed floor means the person in the middle won't struggle for somewhere to put their feet. In short, no other small small car – not even the Volkswagen Polo – caters for its rear passengers as well as the Jazz.

Both front seatbacks come with a map pocket and a separate pocket for your mobile phone, and each door has a small but useful bin large enough for a 250ml bottle.

As in most small cars, the rear seatbacks split and fold in a 60/40 configuration, but what makes the Honda Jazz’s rear seats unique is that you can also flip up the seat bases like those in a cinema. Doing the latter creates a huge amount of vertical space for tall items, like that plant you’ve just bought from the garden centre. It’s a brilliant piece of packaging.

The Honda Jazz has a very big boot by class standards. There’s a small lip to lift bags over, but it's nowhere near as big as the one you'll find in a Renault Clio, and the boot floor isn’t too high off the ground either.

The load bay is a usefully square shape, helping you to make the most of the available space. There’s enough room for a large pushchair or five carry-on suitcases below the parcel shelf, and folding the rear seats down turns the Jazz into what is effectively a mini van. When the seats are folded, there is a little hump in the extended floor, but a handy flap that runs the width of the boot ensures that long objects don’t get snagged as you slide them in.

We're talking fractions, but you'll fit slightly more in the boot of a Seat Ibiza, and it's also worth noting that the much larger Skoda Scala is available for similar money.