Honda Jazz hatchback (2007-2015) - Reliability & safety

The Honda Jazz has proved to be a reliable supermini, with owners praising their cars for fuss-free running.

Practicality has always been the key selling point of the Honda Jazz, and this is what clearly stands out to the owners submitting their user reviews to the Carbuyer website. While they all acknowledge that this supermini isn’t the most exciting car to drive, they all commend it on its ability to swallow larger loads than its compact dimensions suggest it should. Many users praise the usefulness of the rear-seat folding mechanism and claim their car has more carrying capacity than models in the class above.

Reliability

If there's one thing Jazz owners are unanimously impressed with, it's the car's reliability. It topped our table for reliability, which is a staggering feat for a car that's been on sale for such a long time. It wasn't such a good tale in other areas, where the Jazz didn't perform as well as rivals and slipped to 47th out of 150 cars overall.

Owners are consistent in their praise of the Jazz’s reliability and build quality, with most reporting that problems have been few and far between – although those who have encountered faults say they can be expensive to repair.

Running costs have also come in for criticism, especially among owners using their Jazz for longer journeys. The sluggish performance seems to be another gripe among, while ride comfort is a common cause for complaint. Still, the vast majority of user reviews give the Jazz a rating of four or five stars out of five.

Safety

The Honda Jazz was tested by Euro NCAP in 2009, when it earned a five-star rating. However, the safety body’s testing criteria is tougher now than it was in 2009, so newer rivals have had to pass a tougher test to earn a five-star score.

That doesn’t mean the Jazz is unsafe, though, as it comes with six airbags, two sets of ISOFIX child-seat mounts in the back, electronic stability control and braking assistance systems.