Honda Jazz

Designed by the Japanese car maker to fit into their subcompact range, the Jazz entered the European market as far back as 2001. Known as the Fit in Japan, the United States and China, the Jazz has sold getting on for 4 million times since it first ran off the production lines. The Jazz has gone through a number of minor redesigns over the years, but it was in 2007 when the second generation was launched at the Tokyo Motor Show that it won many plaudits, including the Car of The Year Award in Japan for the second time.

One of the major selling points for the Jazz, particularly when you consider that it is a subcompact car, is the amount of space that it has for loading. The back seats can be folded right down or configured in several other ways to provide plenty of storage room. This is primarily down to the fact that Honda engineers located the car’s fuel tank under the front seats rather than at the rear.

The Jazz was first launched into the competitive UK market in February 2002, where it has continued to thrive ever since. The first model had only one engine variant – a 1.4 version. By October 2004, the UK Jazz was available with a slightly smaller engine at 1247 ccs. The five door hatchback run-around is often to be seen on the school run or in the supermarket car park and it remains a popular work horse. All of the Jazz models sold in the UK come with front wheel disc brakes and ABS.