Honda Jazz review

Introduction

The Honda Jazz is one of those cars that – like contestants on Britain’s Got Talent – are gifted in various ways but have so far not had the universal adoration they perhaps deserve.

While the Jazz has always stood out for its practical interior and reputation for excellent reliability, it has never really hit the heady sales heights of some of its more conventional small-car rivals.

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1.5 h i-MMD Advance Hatchback 5dr Petrol Hybrid eCVT Euro 6 (s/s) (122 ps)

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This fourth-generation Jazz wants to grab a bit more of the limelight, and Honda has given it some clever new tricks to wow the crowds, including the ability to juggle. No, not balls or fire sticks – it juggles between petrol and electric power to improve efficiency, in much the same way as the Toyota Yaris and other regular hybrids can.

So does the Honda Jazz deserve to do well in a popularity contest against the best small cars? That's the question we'll be answering in this review, as we compare it with the main rivals, including the Peugeot 208, Skoda Fabia, Vauxhall Corsa and Volkswagen Polo. Read on to find out how we rate it…

What’s new
- January 2022: Facelift brings exterior design refresh, revised interior trim, new trims: Elegance, Advance, Advance Sport. Engine and electric motor are now more powerful (106bhp and 120bhp), now approved for towing (up to 500kg)
- November 2021: EX Style joins range with black exterior details
- March 2020: Jazz Mk4 arrives with 96bhp 1.5-litre non-turbo petrol engine and 108bhp electric motor, front-wheel drive, continuously variable automatic gearbox with no manual option. SE, SR, EX trims. Crosstar EX has black plastic sill and wheelarch extensions plus ride height raised by 3cm

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Overview

The Honda Jazz is the small car to beat for passenger space, and its unique and incredibly flexible rear seats add to its practicality. True, some rivals are more fun to drive and plenty are cheaper to buy, but with excellent visibility and impressive fuel economy, the Jazz is a fantastic all-rounder. We’d go with Elegance trim because it represents the best value.

Our pick

1.5 h i-MMD Elegance Hatchback 5dr Petrol Hybrid eCVT Euro 6 (s/s) (122 ps) review

RRP £28,475

Pros

• Spacious interior with flexible rear seats
• Lots of standard equipment
• Efficient engine

Cons

• Very pricey by small car standards
• Not the quietest cruiser
• Some rivals are more fun

Our pick

1.5 h i-MMD Elegance Hatchback 5dr Petrol Hybrid eCVT Euro 6 (s/s) (122 ps) review

RRP £28,475

Trims available

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Advance

Mid-spec Advance introduces useful additions such as keyless entry and start, a heated leather steering wheel and sat-nav, but we're not convinced it's worth the extra outlay.

Advance Sport

Advance Sport gets all the kit that comes with Advance models but also benefits from a sportier look.

Crosstar Advance

If you fancy a Jazz that looks a little more rugged, Crosstar is the one for you. It costs around the same as the top-spec Sport trim and gets all the same kit, but adds water-resistant upholstery, roof rails and plastic wheel arches.

Elegance

Entry-level Elegance trim is our favourite as it comes absolutely packed with kit, including front and rear parking sensors, a reversing camera, an alarm, adaptive cruise control, 15in alloy wheels and touchscreen infotainment.

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Performance & drive

What it's like to drive, and how quiet it is

Engine, 0-60mph and gearbox

You don't need to worry about choosing an engine for the Honda Jazz because there’s only one: a 1.5-litre petrol-electric hybrid. With a total of 121bhp, it can officially accelerate from 0-62mph in around 9.5 seconds, which is quicker than our favourite VW Polo (the 1.0 TSI 95) and only slightly slower than more powerful versions of the Toyota Yaris.

As a regular hybrid, the Jazz can't go very far on electric power alone, and you don't need to plug it in for the best efficiency (as you do with a plug-in hybrid).

In default Hybrid mode, it does a better job of working out when to deploy the electric motor and when to fire up the petrol engine than the Yaris does. That generally means it does more electric motoring in urban environments (especially if you drive with a light right foot) and a combination of both power sources on faster roads.

Suspension and ride comfort

Overall, the Jazz is one of the best small cars for comfort, and wafts along smoothly, especially on motorways. The suspension is on the firm side, but only enough for the Jazz to deliver that waft without becoming unsettled, bettering the MG3 and Citroën C3.

It's not perfect though. If you hit a pothole or an expansion joint, you get more of a shudder through the car's body than in a Peugeot 208 or VW Polo.

Handling

The Jazz is not all that fun to drive but it’s safe and predictable, and perfectly pleasant to steer around at moderate speeds. The Renault Clio, Seat Ibiza and VW Polo are all much better options for driver enjoyment.

It doesn't give you a huge amount of grip, and with a body that's unusually tall for a small car, it leans more than many rivals through corners – but never in an alarming way.

Blasting along a twisty road isn’t the Jazz’s forte, but it's right at home in town and city centres, where the light steering makes it easy to navigate even really tight turns.

Noise and vibration

If you spend most of your time in town and drive with a delicate right foot, you’ll find that the Jazz is remarkably hushed. That’s because the electric motors have enough grunt to power it along without the assistance of the petrol engine in start-stop traffic, making progress virtually silent. Even when the engine does cut in, it's quiet enough at low revs not to disturb the peace.

The calm is interrupted if you put your foot down, because the revs are sent soaring to the stratosphere, and are held there until you back off. Sometimes it sounds as though you're stuck in first gear, which isn't a relaxing experience, but it’s still quieter than the CVT automatic in the Yaris. The Jazz’s 1.5-litre petrol engine is a bit coarse at high revs and sends some vibration through the controls.

There’s a bit of wind noise from around the wing mirrors, and tyre and suspension noise could be better suppressed. That said, the regenerative brakes are well-judged and allow you to stop gently without doing an impression of a learner driver. Only Advance Sport trim allows you to adjust the braking strength, though (via paddles on the steering wheel).

"The Honda Jazz handles in a safe and predictable manner. It's not as sharp or fun to drive as a Toyota Yaris but I find it capable enough in corners." – Oliver Young, Reviewer

Interior

The interior layout, fit and finish

Driving position and dashboard

If you like a lofty driving position, the Honda Jazz has you covered. You sit high up, which gives you the impression that you’re driving a mini MPV rather than a small hatchback. There’s a good range of adjustment to the steering wheel and the driver’s seat has height adjustment.

The steering wheel, seat and pedals line up well, so you’re not sitting skewed at an angle, and the seat is well padded and comfortable. Our only real complaint is the absence of adjustable lumbar support which you can’t even add as an option.

Like most Honda car models – including the latest Honda Civic – all the dashboard buttons are positioned thoughtfully, and we love the chunky knobs that make it so simple to adjust the climate control. They’re far easier to use than the touch-sensitive buttons and sliders you’ll find in a higher-specced VW Polo.

Visibility, parking sensors and cameras

If you’re a nervous parker, the Jazz could be the car for you. Honda has designed it specifically to have excellent visibility. Looking forwards, you’re greeted with an almost panoramic view of the road ahead. The tall windscreen, narrow front pillars and deep side windows give a much better view out at junctions than you get in a Peugeot 208 or Vauxhall Corsa.

The rear window is deep, and makes it fairly easy to judge how much room there is directly behind you when you're reversing. Making things even easier, front and rear parking sensors and a rear-view camera are standard with every Jazz. Our only sticking point is that wide rear pillars hinder the view over your shoulder (something that's true in most small cars).

All trims get bright LED headlights as standard, as well as a system that automatically dips the headlights so you don't dazzle other drivers.

Sat nav and infotainment

All versions of the Jazz get a 9in infotainment touchscreen that comes with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay smartphone mirroring. That’s good news, because it allows you to plug in your phone and avoid Honda’s operating system, which isn’t overly impressive.

One thing smartphone mirroring doesn’t fix is the resolution of the screen, which can't hold a candle to the screen in the Mini Cooper.

At least every Jazz has loads of standard infotainment features, including sat-nav, Bluetooth, DAB radio and a four-speaker stereo.

Quality

The Jazz's interior quality is mostly impressive. The centre section of the dashboard is trimmed with soft-touch materials that are a step up from the hard plastics in the Seat Ibiza and Skoda Fabia. All the buttons and dials feel impressively well-damped.

Once you start to poke around, you’ll find that the plastics lower down are a little scratchy and brittle-feeling, as they are in most small cars. The Jazz's leather-covered steering wheel gives the interior a lift, while all versions get a leather gear lever.

Overall, the Jazz isn't as classy inside as a Mini Cooper or Peugeot 208 but it feels more upmarket than the Seat Ibiza, Skoda Fabia and Toyota Yaris.

"I think it’s a shame you don’t get adjustable lumbar support, even as an option. That said, most rivals are the same and I found the Honda Jazz’s seats to offer enough lower back support to get by without." – Dan Jones, Senior Reviewer

Passenger & boot space

How it copes with people and clutter

Front space

With its boxy, MPV-like shape, the Honda Jazz is one of the most spacious small cars out there. 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 find that the seats slide back far enough.

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

There are also two small gloveboxes (one below the other), plus a cubby under the centre armrest and a tray below the air-con controls.

Rear space

The 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 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 foot space. You’ll be hard pushed to find anything in the small-car class that's as generous in the rear, with only the Dacia Sandero proving slightly larger than the Jazz.

Each front seatback has a map pocket and a pocket for your mobile phone, and each door has a small but useful bin large enough for a 250ml bottle.

Seat folding and flexibility

As in most small cars, the Jazz's rear seatbacks split and fold 60/40, but what makes the Jazz unique is that you can also flip up the seat bases, a bit like those at a cinema. Doing so creates loads of vertical space for tall items – that plant you’ve just bought from the garden centre, for example. It’s a brilliant feature.

When you fold down the rear seats to increase boot capacity, they lie flat because the base drops down into the footwell. Many rivals have a simpler mechanism that only flops the seat back on to the seat base, leaving you with an inconvenient incline that makes it harder to load longer items.

Boot space

The Jazz has a very big boot by class standards, and its floor is not too high off the ground. There’s a lip to lift bags over, but it's much smaller than the one in the Renault Clio.

The load bay is a useful square shape, and gives you enough room for a large pushchair or five carry-on suitcases below the parcel shelf. In our tests the Seat Ibiza swallowed the same amount of suitcases but with slightly more space left over (if we’re splitting hairs). For even more space, the much larger Skoda Scala is available for less money.

Folding the rear seats (the Magic Seats as Honda calls them) effectively turns the Jazz into a mini van, taking the boot from 304 litres of space to 1,205 litres. When the seats are folded, there's 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.

"The Jazz’s interior is its pièce de résistance as far as I'm concerned. There's plenty of adjustment in its driving position, plenty of soft materials on the dashboard, and it’s very spacious." – Darren Moss, Deputy Digital Editor

Buying & owning

Everyday costs, plus how reliable and safe it is

Equipment, options and extras

The Jazz is a very well-equipped small car. In fact, we'd be reluctant to call our favourite Elegance spec car "entry level" because it comes with 15in alloy wheels, automatic lights and wipers, climate control, adaptive cruise control, power-folding wing mirrors and lots of other kit.

Mid-spec Advance introduces useful additions such as keyless entry and start, rear privacy glass, a heated steering wheel and 16in wheels and part-leather upholstery but we're not convinced it's worth the extra outlay. Advance Sport brings a rear spoiler, some suede upholstery, a three-spoke steering wheel and mildly tweaked bumpers.

Those after a slightly more rugged-looking Jazz will appreciate the top-spec Crosstar Advance trim. This version is aimed at buyers with an active lifestyle and comes with plastic wheelarches, water-resistant upholstery and roof rails.

Costs, insurance groups, MPG and CO2

Price has always been a sore point for the Honda Jazz. Despite rival small cars becoming more expensive over the years, that’s still the case. Indeed, even the entry-level Jazz will set you back the same as a Toyota Yaris Excel or VW Polo Black Edition – both of which are pretty high trim levels within their ranges.

Making up the difference is the fact that the Jazz comes very well equipped as standard and is predicted to hold on to its value better over three years. Strong resale values can keep PCP payments down, making the monthly price competitive against rivals with lower list prices.

Even better, the Jazz’s efficient hybrid engine should keep running costs low. It did very well in our Real MPG test – although not quite as brilliantly as the Toyota Yaris. The Yaris emits less CO2, but the Jazz beats just about every other rival on that score and, as a result, is a relatively cheap company car.

Reliability

Honda finished an impressive fourth place out of 31 manufacturers in our 2024 What Car? Reliability Survey. The Jazz finished around the middle of a 15-strong field of small cars for reliability, above all its direct rivals except the VW Polo.

Every Honda car model comes with a three-year warranty as standard for most parts, but the hybrid system in the Jazz is covered for up to five years or 90,000 miles. That’s pretty standard within the class, but doesn’t come close to matching Toyota’s very generous 10-year, 100,000-mile service-dependent warranty.

Safety and security

The Jazz received the full five stars when it was tested for safety by Euro NCAP in 2020. It’s impossible to directly compare that with the Seat Ibiza and VW Polo because they were tested under more stringent tests in 2022, but both of those rivals also scored five stars and the Polo managed higher individual scores in all categories.

Regardless, the Jazz should still be very safe and gives you loads of safety systems as standard, including lane-keeping assistance, traffic-sign recognition, automatic emergency braking (AEB) and Isofix mounts for child seats on the outer rear seats.

Upgrading the Jazz to Advance trim adds blind-spot monitoring and rear cross-traffic monitoring, which issues a warning if you’re about to reverse into the path of another car. Strangely, top-spec Advance Crosstar doesn’t get those items.

"The Honda Jazz Advance averaged 51.6mpg in our scientific Real MPG tests, and in my experience most rivals can only dream of such fuel economy." – Steve Huntingford, Editor