Jazz/Yaris/Colt - which is better?

The One Doctor

We're buying a replacement second car for around €4 - €5k. Must be auto, 1.5L max and petrol. There's a fairly large import dealer in North Co Dublin (Choice Cars) who has a load of Jap import autos, all Grade 4s. They have the the Yaris/Vitz, Jazz, Colt, a few Suzukis etc. All run of the mill.

They're all around the same price for the 2010 Jazz and Colt, although that price only gets you a 2008 Vitz/Yaris.

Thing is, which to go for? My wife has left the choice of car to me, and personally I'd pick the Yaris, but the most reliable seems to be the Colt. Honestjohn reccomends avoiding the Yaris due to lots of autobox failures, however the guy in Choice says it's usually only a bearing failure which is fairly cheap to fix.

Our criteria are:

Reliable
Efficient
Reasonable bootspace (enough to get in a biggish buggy and a bit of shopping. Bigger than a Corsa C boot).
5 star NCAP (not really necessary)


Any ideas?

colm_mcm

Far as I know the Yaris/Vitz has a much better gearbox than the European version, but I’d have my reservations about insurance on any of them. Some companies don’t cover JDM cars and it could be the next thing that comes in to crucify motorists. Of those the Jazz/Fit is probably the best overall.

Hyundai i20 or Kia Soul might be worth a look too.

projectgtr

It would be the Jazz/Fit for me i just think they are a great all round car, they look very well when spec`ed well too. They made a mess of the newer colts tbh and the newer Yaris/Vitz isnt supposed to be nearly as reliable as the Mk1. Also id be asking to see the auction sheets if possible, the amount of bad jap cars ive seen that have passed through auction only to magically be grade 4-5 when they land in Ireland

Killer K

I bought a honda fit three years ago for the same purposes you are describing and it is an excellent car. Like you, i was looking at a number of small automatics and with the overall rep for reliability, the honda magic seats and that they are an ok in appearance that is what did it for me. Was between the ix20 and the jazz/fit.

No harm doing the research with your insurance co or broker before taking the plunge though as may be more expensive to insure (jdm)as pointed out by previous poster.

The One Doctor

Went for the 2008 1L Yaris in the end, lovely car if a bit noisy. Got 4 new tyres thrown in.

Killer K

The One Doctor wrote: »

Went for the 2008 1L Yaris in the end, lovely car if a bit noisy. Got 4 new tyres thrown in.

Decent cars. It should do the job nicely. Best of luck with it.

biko

Looking at http://www.reliabilityindex.com/top-100 Jazz is slightly more reliable than the other two but they are all in the top 40