Honda Jazz vs Renault Clio
Take the Honda Jazz for lower age-adjusted MOT risk: its index is 85.0 versus 141.5 for the Renault Clio, and the 95% confidence intervals do not overlap.
Lower is better. The index adjusts for each fleet's exact age profile; the raw failure rate below does not. The index gap is 56.5 points. Data release dvsa-2024-v1.
Side-by-side evidence
| Measure | Honda Jazz | Renault Clio |
|---|---|---|
| Age-adjusted MOT Risk Index | 85.0 (84.5–85.4) | 141.5 (141.0–141.9) |
| Raw initial failure rate | 26.60% | 41.43% |
| Dangerous defects per 100 tests | 11.56 | 17.09 |
| Initial tests | 440,547 | 473,424 |
Where their MOT failures diverge
These are component groups present in both models' published top-six failure lists, sorted by the absolute gap. A positive difference means the Honda Jazz records more failure items; a negative one means the Renault Clio does.
| Component group | Honda Jazz | Renault Clio | Difference | Lower rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Suspension | 17.1 | 34.6 | -17.5 pp | Honda Jazz |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 28.1 | 42.5 | -14.4 pp | Honda Jazz |
| Tyres | 7.4 | 13.5 | -6.1 pp | Honda Jazz |
| Brakes | 18.8 | 23.5 | -4.7 pp | Honda Jazz |
| Visibility | 11.1 | 15.7 | -4.6 pp | Honda Jazz |
Counts are defect items, not the share of cars: one failed test can contain several items. A group absent from a model's top six is not treated as zero.
What the six-year test history says
The longitudinal layer follows the same vehicles between MOTs from 2019 to 2024. It separates a one-day retest from the harder question of what returns next year, and puts failures against miles actually driven.
| Component | Honda Jazz | Renault Clio | Difference | Tracked advisories |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Suspension | 19.2% | 31.2% | -11.9 pp | 179,453 / 214,959 |
| Steering | 13.3% | 24.7% | -11.4 pp | 2,659 / 58,501 |
| Lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment | 31.7% | 36.6% | -4.9 pp | 39,553 / 65,427 |
| Body, chassis, structure | 10.5% | 14.5% | -4.0 pp | 45,174 / 56,481 |
| Visibility | 11.3% | 15.3% | -4.0 pp | 1,122 / 1,996 |
| Seat belts and supplementary restraint systems | 5.0% | 8.6% | -3.6 pp | 6,802 / 6,804 |
| Tyres | 7.6% | 11.2% | -3.5 pp | 335,128 / 440,451 |
| Noise, emissions and leaks | 9.0% | 6.7% | +2.4 pp | 15,804 / 86,984 |
| Identification of the vehicle | 3.0% | 4.6% | -1.6 pp | 32,245 / 29,550 |
| Brakes | 15.6% | 17.2% | -1.5 pp | 354,560 / 373,062 |
| Measure | Honda Jazz | Renault Clio |
|---|---|---|
| Repaired and passed the same day | 50.7% | 43.2% |
| Passed 1–10 days later | 47.0% | 54.0% |
| Median retest delay | 0.0 days | 1.0 days |
| Failures per 10,000 miles | 0.559 | 0.814 |
| Three-test clean streak | 42.5% | 28.8% |
| Same advisory repeated 3+ times | 33.4% | 36.2% |
Care proxy is descriptive, not a claim about an owner's character: a clean streak means three or more consecutive tests with nothing recorded; the repeat measure means the same advisory appeared at least three times.
Safety recalls
| Model | Campaigns listed | Per 10,000 licensed |
|---|---|---|
| Honda Jazz | — | — |
| Renault Clio | 24 | 0.76 |
More campaigns do not by themselves mean a less reliable car: recalls are manufacturer remedies, and the licensed-fleet denominator is unavailable for some families. Check a registration for outstanding work before buying.
Do other countries see the same thing?
Both models appear in the same independent national inspection datasets below. Compare each model with that country's own average; absolute pass rates are not portable between rulebooks.
| Country / test | Model | Model fails | National average | Position | Inspections |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Finland · Katsastus | Honda Jazz | 24.3% | 26.3% | -2.0 pp | 4,345 |
| Finland · Katsastus | Renault Clio | 36.4% | 26.3% | +10.1 pp | 9,865 |
| Netherlands · APK | Honda Jazz | 48.9% | 50.9% | -2.0 pp | 17,720 |
| Netherlands · APK | Renault Clio | 55.1% | 50.9% | +4.2 pp | 102,834 |
| Norway · PKK | Honda Jazz | 33.4% | 33.5% | -0.1 pp | 888 |
| Norway · PKK | Renault Clio | 42.4% | 33.5% | +8.9 pp | 595 |
Sources are the national PKK, Katsastus and APK datasets recorded in each family artifact. Position is model failure rate minus that country's national rate.
Quick answers
- Is the Honda Jazz or the Renault Clio more reliable?
- The Honda Jazz has the stronger age-adjusted MOT result: index 85.0 against 141.5 for the Renault Clio, with non-overlapping 95% confidence intervals.
- Does the Honda Jazz or the Renault Clio fail more MOTs?
- 26.60% of Honda Jazz initial tests and 41.43% of Renault Clio initial tests found a failing defect in 2024. The lower raw rate belongs to the Honda Jazz, but the age-adjusted index is the fairer model comparison because the fleets can be different ages.
- What are the main MOT problem areas on the Honda Jazz and Renault Clio?
- The leading published failure group for the Honda Jazz is lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment at 28.1 items per 100 tests; for the Renault Clio it is lamps, reflectors and electrical equipment at 42.5 per 100.
- Should I buy a Honda Jazz or a Renault Clio?
- If MOT reliability is the deciding factor, the Honda Jazz is the evidence-led choice. Still check the individual car's MOT history and condition: these figures describe whole model populations, not a particular vehicle.
Model pages and nearby comparisons
See the Honda Jazz and MINI Hatch comparisonSee the Honda Jazz and Toyota Yaris comparisonSee the Honda Civic and Volkswagen Golf comparison
Browse all car reliability comparisons.
How to read and cite this comparison
Scope: class-4 vehicles, initial tests only, Great Britain 2024. PRS fixed-on-the-spot results count as failures because a defect was present on arrival. Index = observed initial failures ÷ age-profile-expected failures × 100; intervals are 95% confidence intervals. Every model family combines all generations and engines. Full method: methodology.
Cite: MOT Risk Index (2026). Honda Jazz vs Renault Clio: MOT reliability comparison, 2024 (dvsa-2024-v1). https://motriskindex.co.uk/compare/honda-jazz-vs-renault-clio/