Yaris, Jazz or something else?

[Trufflepuffpuff]

We're in the market for a small, affordable hybrid car and these are our two current favourites.

We live in London and don't currently own a car. Our first baby is due soon and we're anticipating using it for short journeys such as the supermarket and days out, as well as occasional longer trips to see family and for weekends away.

Our priorities are probably reliability, affordability (cheap to run) and safety over anything stylish/fancy. We'd be buying second hand and I've seen the newer Yaris at around £8k but ideally we'd rather spend a bit less.

Our pram is compact so having a large boot isn't essential (I know the Yaris is small) but I suppose it needs to be practical enough for a weekend away with the baby.

Any opinions on the above, or suggestions for others to consider? We're a bit clueless about cars and I'm a recent driver so any other advice is welcome too!

Both of these cars are prime targets for catalytic converter thieves - we've just got rid of a Civic after 2 thefts. Also in London l. Just something to be aware of!

Totally unhelpful but as I scanned down 'Active Threads' I saw this and thought it was on the Baby Names board.

SO glad it wasn't!

@JorisBonson actually a really good point, that seems to happen a lot around here. Is there anything you can do to prevent it?

@ladybee28 ha it could well be!

I just have a patrol, but I've had several Yaris cars. Great reliability, all mine have got me to 80 - 90 000 miles before anything started going wrong with the cars. At 95k, one needed a new clutch etc

The boot is expandable. So if you need a bigger boot, you can pull the back seats forward. I have even managed to get a complete adults wheelchair in mine.

All in all, they're a great, reliable little car and I love mine.

@Trufflepuffpuff I believe you can get something to protect the cat but it's expensive. DH is from a family of mechanics which kept the costs way down for us, but it would have been thousands otherwise (they managed to cut through his exhaust). Both times were from a public car park in the middle of the day!

We have an Aygo now which is less desirable to them and a great little car.

@ladybee28

Totally unhelpful but as I scanned down 'Active Threads' I saw this and thought it was on the Baby Names board.

SO glad it wasn't!

Same!

I have the Jazz and find it really good with kids. There is a lot of rear passenger space, which is great when trying to get rear facing car seats in. The boot is also a good size for a small car, and you can also squeeze stuff under the rear passenger seats when very tight for space.

I've previously had a Yaris but it was a while ago and I think they've changed the shape. If you're wanting to go for weekends away I wouldn't go for it if the boot is smaller than the Jazz - babies need an amazing amount of stuff.

The other small car I was recommended for having good boot and cabin space was a Nissan Note but we didn't get around to looking at one.

@ladybee28

Totally unhelpful but as I scanned down 'Active Threads' I saw this and thought it was on the Baby Names board.

SO glad it wasn't!

Me too and oh the relief when I cottoned on!

Haha I thought this was baby names and I was going to say they sounded like car names...
I have an all electric MG ZS EV and I absolutely LOVE it!

Hmmm, I have the Hyundai i10. Again it's not hybrid but I believe there is a hybrid version. It's great for space with more than the Aygo or Yaris but (and this is a big but) I could not have this car with kids if we didn't have a second bigger vehicle. Even a compact park will instantly fill the boot of your car. I cannot even got a weekly shop in the car without using the seats or footwell as I have a couple of things permanently stored in the boot. I would struggle to even do a weekend away in the car with me, DP and a child. A baby needs extra things like nappies, bottles, food (if weaning), high chairs and travel cots and all sorts of other nonsense. I honestly think you will struggle with a teeny car. I had a Ford Focus when the kids were small which had just that bit more space. Perhaps you can go up a little to get just that bit more space whilst still being economical?

I had a Yaris about 10 yrs ago. DH drives a Jazz now.
Unless the Yaris new shape has increased in size dramatically, the Jazz is much bigger. Both are a decent drive.
Make sure you get a 5 door version.

Honda Jazz also a target here for catalytic converter theft - outer London . Apparently you can get non branded ones (cats) which are less of a target

I have a Jazz and as a PP said, the interior space is really quite big which helps with car seats and additional storage. When we were using a travel system pram, it did take up almost all of the boot space (room to tuck a few bags around it) but as it was only the 2 of us plus baby, we just made use of the backseats/floor and easily managed to go on a week's self catering holiday transporting everything needed for a young toddler.

It's relatively cheap to run, the only issue I have with it is that it takes a while to respond to acceleration so joining motorways, taking advantage of gaps in traffic to change lanes/join roundabouts etc is a bit of a daunting task when surrounded by much bigger/more powerful cars. On the plus side, much smaller and easier to park!

I have been looking at the Yaris so following!

I’m chuckling at the idea you can’t go away with a baby in a small car though. My kids are older so the baby days are behind me but I would do weekends away on the bus/train. As a single adult. Including camping!

I've just seen yet another post on our local Facebook group about catalytic converter thefts from Hondas and Toyotas so that's making me a bit nervous.

We're also wondering if a hybrid is the way forward for us, and thinking about broadening our search to include the Skoda Fabia too. I also quite like the Ford Fiesta.

The Jazz does sound like a possible option though if we can get around the catalytic converter issue - seems to be more of a problem for hybrids, or is it just all Hondas?

I bought a yaris hybrid last year. I love it. Also looked at the jazz, but didn't like it nearly as much. My car has been really reliable so far, and economical to run. I don't find the boot space a problem.

DD described the jazz as an old lady car!

Thought for one glorious second this was a Baby Names thread

Ha @AlexaShutUp it definitely is - my DP said the same thing but we're prepared to look past that in the quest for the perfect city car. Good to hear about the Yaris, I think we'll still have a look at it too.

FWIW, OP, I did loads of research before buying my yaris. I think it was a Which best buy as well, and I'm generally never disappointed with those.

I was perfectly happy to entertain the idea of a granny car, tbh, as I've never been remotely precious about what cars look like, but when I actually went to see the jazz, I did kind of see what dd meant!

I had a jazz as a courtesy car once and thought it was nippy. Catalytic converters theft is rife in London and takes minutes.

Honestly, I steer away from a used hybrid as expensive when it goes wrong. I'd look at a small petrol engine with either £0 or £30 a year tax.

Thanks @Ducksurprise I think that's what we might do now, sounds like it could be a better option for us. Any suggestions other than the Yaris and Jazz to look at? We want something that can handle the odd motorway journey as well as shorter trips.

"I’m chuckling at the idea you can’t go away with a baby in a small car though. My kids are older so the baby days are behind me"

Me too! The Yaris is our biggest family car, so we've done all our family holidays in it, ever since the children are babies. Not quite camping, but certainly a two week caravan or cottage holiday in the UK with all our clothes, food and entertainment crammed into the boot! Even with two small children / babies and now two teenagers!

We had a Jazz for years (including when DD was a baby) and it was fine. We only replaced it with a different hybrid because at the time (A while ago now) Honda had discontinued their hybrid range while they reworked it. We used to call it the mini-tardis .

I absolutely love my Jazz - very nippy and extremely easy to park. Feels bigger on the inside. Have had it from babies to teenagers, school runs to driving to France.