Hi I'm a newbie here too,
I have a manual vti jazz, and I always find it interesting how many people don't believe they can do 16's. The number of ppl that doubt it makes me, in a small way, doubt it to..
So I dug up some evidence:
1) August 2004 issue of wheels as well, and yeah it stated higher up in this thread it shows 16.6sec for stock jazz.
2) Another resource which helps to confirm this time is WongKN's great Jazz article on http://asia.vtec.net/Reviews/JazzVtec/index.html where he tests a stock CVT 1.5 jazz to record a best time of 16.9.
I've driven both the CVT and the manual 1.5 vtec and the manual is definately quicker. (However I would have got CVT if budget permitted!)
Anyway for some reason, despite how much I believe its times, I won't feel completely vindicated until I time mine ;-) It feels very strong for a 1.5, especially when you put decent premium in it (caltex or bp98). It's still under warranty so it won't be seeing any quarter mile action at Adelaide Internationa; - just incase my car dealer is watching - paranoid i know!
Andy
ps: I'm looking for some 04 Vti-S rims.. pm me