2005 Honda Jazz SE CVT review from UK and Ireland

No faults no reliability issues.

I've owned about five cars and this is best, we bought it to replace a 2001 VW Polo that suffered three electrical faults. We spent a weekend looking for replacements, saw the Jazz first, and then after about ten other manufacturer's dealers went back and bought the Jazz!

Very impressed with the build quality internal and external. Anyone we give a lift to finds the rear legroom very generous. The "magic" rear seats are fantastic for large loads or carrying bicycles with the front wheel off. Boot size is also very good for a small car. Audio system is good and the instruments are fine. My wife is quite short (5'0") and the driver's seat can be adjusted to suit her well which some small cars don't. She also finds the car easy to drive as it is only about 6" (15cms) longer than the Polo. Visibility is also good out of the rear and front windows.

Drive is very good, suspension is firm, CVT is very responsive (much better than a traditional torque auto box) - I only tend to use the manual override paddles on country roads, overtaking or steep hills where the manual override gives a bit more performance. I have got 58.5 miles per gallon on long motorway journeys by being frugal on the accelerator (60-65mph) but round town can easily get 40-45 mpg. I do use 98octane fuel though. Steering lock is also very good for a FW drive car.

Only slight niggle is there is no intermittent rear wipe on the SE model, either on / off.