My partner's wanting to purchase one of these, and I have little knowledge about the vehicle, reliability, and common faults. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Cheers
thejazzpianoma,
Oct 15, 1:26am
What year are you looking at! Older CVT ones are no good, Honda didn't fit a filter to their transmission so they just swim in their own filth until they die (which doesn't take long). Pity because they were a nice little car ruined by a poor transmission.
kcf,
Oct 15, 1:31am
CVT's are very problematic in these, but they seem to be good in manual format.They seem to hold value incredibly well too.
armoured,
Oct 15, 2:15am
We're looking at 2004 or newer. Yeah they do seem to be a good little car, but I noticed people asking about "shuddering" so assumed there was a common fault in some models
thejazzpianoma,
Oct 15, 2:49am
Its not so much a "common fault" as an inevitable demise. Its just a matter of how long it takes and that can be any time from about 60'000km depending on how its used.
The first generation Jazz only has the CVT option and manual (as far as I am aware), so if its advertised as an auto its a CVT.
Basically its a case of avoid them unless its a manual one, unless you want a repair bill well in to the thousands.
BTW, the second generation Jazz starts around 2008 so is likely out of your price range.
Be prepared for lots of car dealer story's about how some last a long time and people who have owned them without trouble etc. Some transmissions get a bad name for no reason, unfortunately this is one of the few that deserves the title and even if serviced properly you are only delaying the inevitable.
I would recommend you an alternative but there are a bunch of silly trolls on here today that will just jump all over any recommendation I make and try to pretend that is why I am bagging the Jazz, or I have this or that agenda or whatever other nonsense they feel like making up.
mottly,
Oct 15, 3:14am
any honda isn't worth a penny imo.
kazbanz,
Oct 15, 3:26am
Short version---DON'T buy an auto jazz/fit.Manual is fine.
farwest,
Oct 15, 3:26am
You missed out the "h".and you really need it.
andy61,
Oct 15, 4:05am
Jazz wouldn`t tell you,but the Honda Jazz/ Fit has been voted Britain`s most reliable small car,way above VWs and Fiats.
kazbanz,
Oct 15, 4:13am
Hey andy -yep and as a new car they are fantastic. But long term that tranz is a worry
countrypete,
Oct 15, 4:18am
That's common of many cars these days.VERY good new, but servicing costs at higher km and unknown reliability of some of the clever / electronic bits is a worry.
kazbanz,
Oct 15, 4:24am
Which is why despite the local eurotroll harping on Im happy that toyota have stuck with the old 4 stage auto for so long. Funnilly enough I had a g=uy trying to trade a 2002 Audi V8 in today. He has a repair quote to fix it which equates to the national debt of a small country
thejazzpianoma,
Oct 15, 5:33am
Says the man who has sold how many of these time bomb Honda's!
Says the man who told me "oh I only sell the tiptronic one's, they have a different gearbox"
Says the man who didn't listen when I told him they did indeed have the same gearbox.
thejazzpianoma,
Oct 15, 5:35am
Probably the newer model and of course Britain is a country where they sell mostly manual ones.
Nothing wrong with a manual one.
spottie,
Oct 15, 5:46am
We have a manual 2004 Jazz, NZ new. Wife loves it, but would like a bit more power as the manual only comes in a 1300. There is plenty of room inside when you fold down the seats. The only problems that I am aware of is premature rear wheel bearing failure which should be fixed for nothing from the dealer - ours went at 57km and a wiring problem in the drivers door switch which was a factory recall.
trouser,
Oct 15, 6:31am
I owned an 04 nz new manual jazz and it was great. Rear wheel bearing aside it was very good reliability wise. I now own a 04 1.5 manual fit and it is much better power wise. If the rear wheel bearings go a replacement is $90 from repco and 20 minutes to change.
hrt,
Oct 15, 7:04am
Out of curiosity, all those saying the CVT is rubbish, is there anything behind that other than the shuddering or is it just "I've heard they're bad" and they shudder before they destroy themselves stories!
llortmt,
Oct 15, 7:13am
There you got it!
hrt,
Oct 15, 8:36am
That's is a pretty easy fix though, and to be honest it's the only thing I've ever had to do with regards to a CVT on a Fit/Jazz which is why I'm asking.
thejazzpianoma,
Oct 15, 8:50am
CVT's in general are an excellent concept, especially in a small car.
Unfortunately though many designs suffered from the marketing pressure to try and make them maintenance free and cost cutting in general.
Which is a shame because potentially they can last really well, they just need to have regular maintenance and a replaceable filter. This stops them bathing in their own filth which causes excessive wear from the increased friction in the fluid and/or blockages, clogging etc.
The cracker little unit used in the MK2 Punto and some Nissan March's is an example of such a unit. It not only makes a small engined car perform really well it gives you similar economy to a manual. Those Nissan/Fiat ones last exceptionally well if service requirements are followed. That's not the only good one either, the Audi ones for example are also exceptionally good. There are probably quite a few other good ones around too.
thejazzpianoma,
Oct 15, 8:56am
I didn't click you were a mechanic hrt, forgive the slightly patronising answer above, I was aiming it at a more general audience.
Its usually start clutches that fail on the Honda unit which I think is what you are referring to!
To fix as a one off might not be an end of the world but due to the lack of replaceable filter you would need to do absurdly regular fluid changes (perhaps 20'000km) to try and stop it happening again quite quickly. Just not worth the hassle and expense IMO.
Not when there are plenty of other capable alternatives that don't have this hassle.
hrt,
Oct 15, 9:45am
Yeah the start clutches seem to be the biggest issue, I haven't really seen them fail in any other way. 20,000kms will be a couple of years to most people driving them however. Sort of along the lines of certain cars that require a cambelt every 3 years, right ;)
I wouldn't steer clear of a Jazz with a CVT purely because of the fact it has a CVT. Just be aware that it will require servicing, and if it has a shudder on take off then you either need to put up with it or spend a bit getting it fixed. The kit isn't overly expensive, the labour to get the box out is no more than a few hours like any other FWD transmission, and the oil is actually not that expensive. And they don't hold a lot of oil either for that matter.
To the original poster, they're good little cars. Be aware the transmission can give issues such as those mentioned above. I'm yet to see one fail and leave someone at the side of the road. They are cheap to run, relatively. And reliability is certainly up there.
richardmayes,
Oct 15, 9:47am
Honda Jazzes look cute. I guess that is why they sell for the same if not more money than a Honda Stream, which is a better car in every way IMHO. (Especially if you get a 2.0 litre one - 7 seats, latest generation K-series engine & a proper conventional automatic transmission!)
lazzo,
Oct 16, 12:07am
I love the Honda Jazz and think it is the best small car on the market, I have however heard many stories of the transmissions in the 2002 - 2008 model being nasty but have never actually come across anyone that has actually had the issue. If the newer Jazz is outside your budget and you've been put off the older model Jazz but are still interested in a car of this nature, you may like to consider Mitsubishi Colt and Colt Plus, a similar vehicle with a much more reliable CVT transmission, and almost guaranteed to be within the budget and cheaper than Jazz.
armoured,
Oct 16, 12:52am
After reading the posts on here I got hold of my mate who (quite fortunately) is a transmission specialist mechanic. He basically said the same things you did in that the faults that occur with the CVT are relatively inexpensive to fix (oil changes and start clutch). My other half has pretty much set her heart on a Fit/Jazz.so given that the faults aren't that great, it's still worth going for one.but I'd suggest the extra money spent on a mechanical warrantee would give absolute piece of mind.
Thanks everyone for your comments.they were all valid and certainly gave food for thought
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