Music to the ears for Jazz buyers

Oct 7 2008 Steve Hughes

Music to the ears for Jazz buyers

THE new Honda Jazz, which is on sale from this month, will hold its value better than virtually any other small car, according to the experts.

The innovative newcomer has been awarded a seven per cent increase in its future value rating by Glass's Guide.

This means that anyone who buys one today should get back 44 per cent of their investment if they sell the car in 2011.

Glass's Guide says that this compares with 34 per cent for a Toyota Yaris 1.3 T Spirit and 38 per cent for a Volkswagen Polo.

However, whilst the lowest residual values for the Jazz will be 42 per cent for the 1.2-litre model in comparison to 44 per cent for the 1.4-litre versions, in the case of the Yaris the figure is as low as 29 per cent for the 1.3 T-Spirit and is down to 35 per cent for the Polo 1.6 Sport.

In the case of the current Honda Jazz the retained values are 34 per cent for the 1.2 S and 37 per cent for the 1.4-litre versions.

Eurotax Glass's spokesperson Jason King, says: "Every now and then a car comes along that challenges the long-established rules of depreciation.

"In this regard the Jazz has confounded many. It is a compact car with huge flexibility, decent driving dynamics and some of the best residual values in the industry.'

One of the reasons for the higher residual values is the improvement in economy and emissions.

The 1.2-litre S and SE models will achieve 53mpg with 125g/km CO2 emissions. The 1.4-litre ES model with increased power of 100bhp, achieves 52mpg and 128g/km CO2 emissions while the top EX grade manages 51mpg with emissions of 130g/km.

Fitted with the i-SHIFT automated manual transmission, emissions of the 1.4-litre models are reduced to 125g/km and 128g/km respectively, while economy becomes the same as that of the 1.2-litre model.

Manual versions of the Jazz go are sale from this month, with the i-SHIFT on sale from January.

Prices range from £9,990 for the entry-level 1.2 S to £13,590 for the 1.4-litre EX with i-SHIFT. Metallic paint adds a further £380 on all models.