Introduction
2007 'Darkwave Black' Panda 100HP
Thought I'd paste in my progress here.
This is my 2007 Panda 100HP Darkwave Black (Nero Cattivo 601).
---------------------------------------------------------------
An Intro
As a brief intro, for once this isn't a first car! I'm in my 30's and have had 50+ cars up until now; this was mainly when I was younger, as I grew up in the countryside where you could keep 3 or more cars and easily have a big empty barn as a garage. I've had quite a few hot/warm hatches before, as well as some more hum-drum things. I'm basically a petrol head that struggled to grasp the concept of car monogamy when I was younger - the usual pattern would be:
buy unloved car > spent thousands making like new > get bored and sell at a huge loss
Because of all this, I've got a bit more contrast to compare the 100HP against. I quite like cars that are a bit 'different', and so I first set out to find a Multipla. Having looked for months, and struggling to find one that was realistically priced, non-facelifted and didn't look like it had been used as a monkey cage, I gave up. This lead me to look for a Panda.
Again, on my searches, I did a LOT of research on these - common fail points, weaknesses, part costs, options etc. I then knew exactly what I was looking for, and how much I wanted to spend. The funds from my previous car are earmarked for home improvements, so I had a budget that would be beneficial to stick to.
It seems that these cars (with decent mileage) were £3k+ only 18 months or so ago, and a quick look on eBay/AutoTrader suggested that the traders and owners thought the residuals were still there. eBay auctions suggested otherwise, with very few reaching over £1500 at this time of year. The going rate for a non-abused example seemed to be between £2k and £3k, depending on how close to 90k miles you wanted to be.
From experience, I know that you can tart a car up, replace every nut and bolt, but you can't (legally!) take miles off the clock, or add to the history - so that was where my persuasions lay.
Eventually, I found a nice little example that was local (sort of) and on sale at a decent price. I'm not a tyre kicker or haggler, so having asked the seller a few key questions, then researched the risks of everything in between, I asked him for his best price so I could sort out some money. I knew from some research that he had probably owned the car for just under 2 years, and would probably be losing a lot of money, so I'm not one to kick a man when he's down.
To cut the story short, a deal was done and I bought this little example.
Some battle scars evident, but a full HPI check showed not concerns, as did the MOT history.
A further investigation led me to scrape out some very old cached images from the bowels of the internet. A few years and owners ago, she looked like this:
But then, not long after, like this:
Which is where the scratches started to appear (note missing tow eye cover). Whilst a shame, it's interesting to see. If you recognise the car, and think it was yours, get in touch - I'd be interesting to hear the history.
Anyway, initial impressions and a little summary:
Ride
This was my biggest concern. I'd previous had an R50 MINI Cooper which had 17" runflats and the 'sports' pack - it was a hoot to drive, but the suspension was horrific. Crossing the white lines in the road was like driving up a kerb. :yuck:
I'd heard similar about the Panda 100HP, with lots of people saying the ride was awful, and franticly looking for solutions to fix it. It had me worried, and I was already planning Koni Sport adjustables with a larger tyre sidewall.
The reality? Absolutely fine. The history shows the rear shocks were replaced for OE jobbies about 14 months ago, which may help, but otherwise I'm not sure why people were fussing so much. Maybe if you came from a shopping car with cloud like suspension it could seem too firm, but these people have obviously never driving a MINI like mine, or perhaps anything 2 seater and small (MX5, Boxster, Z3 etc). Or maybe I have a freak of a car...
Either way, I'd suggest that the ride is comparable to a 207 or similar car. Nothing overly smooth (it was a cheap car when new, after all), but certainly not anything I'd call "harsh". Yes, you know where the bumps are, as you can sort of feel/hear them, but they are damped out. I've yet to experience the crashing and thudding suspension that is common on many warm/hot hatches and roadsters.
Handling
I've yet to test this fully. I believe the owner-before-last had Eagle F1s fitted, but it now has ditchfinders on 3 corners. Not the previous owner's fault, but the receipts show they went to Kwik Fit and got charged Goodyear prices for Goodride tyres (or 'Arrowspeed', to be exact. £80 a corner for 15's too!). Due to this, I've not been keen to explore the immense understeer screeching and panic that come with tyres called things like 'jinling'.
Quality
As previously mentioned, this was a cheap car. Many of them were sold new for between £8,000 to £10,000, even in full 100HP guise, so it was a lot less than the Fiesta and Clio offerings.
The panels feel almost like plastic, but are just thin metal. This obvious contributes towards the low kerb weight (less than 975kg full laden, according to the stats). The paint sort of looks like aerosol, rather than a thick clear-over-base you might expect on a car worth more money.
Interior & Equipment
The seats do have a bit of adjustment but, rather than height, you get a lever which determines how low only your arse goes, leaving the lowest position feeling like you're squatting for a poo. I'm over 6' tall, though, and found a comfortable driving position. Unlike the Citroen Saxo, FIAT decided that the brake and accelerator don't need to be touching each other, meaning my wide feet are comfortable on the pedals.
The Dash is laid out in the same style as the 500/Ka/Multipla/Idea/Others. You get a dash-mounted gear change with an uncluttered floor - meaning you could scootch across from the passenger side without too much fuss (if you needed to).
The usual wear is common - the plastic/rubber "leather" will split and crack on the steering wheel. Mine hasn't done this, so I expect it's a reaction to either rings or a toiletry that does this over time. The gear knob does also wear and look tatty (as had mine), but I was able to fix that quite easily.
Beyond this, the interior is more spacious that you'd expect. I have plenty of head room (perhaps 2-3 inches), and the boot is enough for shopping and day to day stuff. I can just about fit a big bulky pram in, but the seats look to have ISOFix and are split/fold too.
You get built in Bluetooth for calls (independent of the radio), a trip computer, and steering mounted controls for the bluetooth/radio. There are a few options in the display that can be set, which include automatic locking when you drive off. This complements the A/C, Climate Control, Electric Front windows, Tinted rear windows and Remote locking you also get with the car.
There's no leather on offer, although I've seen on for sale with it, which is curious. The seats do have anti-submarining, with chunky bolsters offering a good level of comfort.
Controls
The gearchange isn't sloppy, but it's quite floppy! It's a bit like stirring plaster, for want of a better way of putting it. It would benefit from a shorter throw, but otherwise is quite nice and easy to use. The clutch/accelerator are also quite light, which has it's benefits and drawbacks. A nicely sprung accelerator can make long journeys easier (as you don't have to keep your foot at a high angle, more rest it lightly to cruise), so it missed out on that. The steering is also very light - pinky finger light. The sport button on the dash makes this slightly heavier (and throttle sharper), so you miss out on the feedback, but end up with a very easy-to-maneuver car.
The gearchange position is great, otherwise. The only annoyance with the controls I've found so far is that the intermittent wiper is too quick for a light drizzle, and operating a wipe manually gives a frantic sweep (unlike ever other car I've owned).
Servicing
The cheaper option can some times be a bonus. Under the bonnet is the same 1.4 engine that FIAT have used for donkey's years. This means that there's a traditional dipstick, no big plastic covers, and you can actually change a light bulb without removing panels, trim and completing a course in double-jointed contortionism. There are normal screws and everything looks like it's been put together with a certain amount of reassuring simplicity. Because of this, the servicing and parts costs look to be very low (£200 for a timing belt and water pump change from an indy in the receipts).
Performance
On paper, it's a quoted 9.5 seconds 0-62. Not exactly 'fast' by modern standards, and that is echoed by a selection of owners.
Despite this, it feels very pokey. You can feel how light the car is, and getting up to speed is very easy using the 6 speed gearbox, especially due to it's relatively close-to-the-wheel location. Regardless of what the stats say, mine feels like a very capable little car, and I have already experience some irritation from the usual Audi/VW bunch who try and undercut you at traffic lights - it's certainly no slouch.
Overall Impressions
I think based on what I have read, in both reviews and from other owners, I think there's a lot of criticism I can't recognise. The ride is perfectly fine to me (and the roads are awful round here), so I can only assume that people are blaming worn out suspension components as being 'the ride'. It was built as a cheap car, and the parts are cheap too, so it could well be a case that they need refreshing to solve the harshness? As for performance, it's such an easy and fun car to drive, I don't think I could knock it. Even wringing it's neck will return a minimum 30mpg indicated (or it has thus far), and I've not found 50mpg too hard to achieve.
Time will tell, and I've got plenty of bits to do, but these will soon be well within SOTW territory. Only around 1700 or so appear to be registered at the moment, but there are quite a lot to be found in the classifieds. I think I recorded around 50 different ones either for sale or being broken at the moment.
The plan is to keep her as a long term fun car - it will fit in the garage, so why not! Happy to keep this going on with some details of updates - have quite a bit I could put up at some point. I'm generally trying to restore her to a decent condition, whilst adding in some subtle changes to just make my one a little more individual.
I've already done some bits, as this original post was written a while ago, so I'll update in time...
Thought I'd paste in my progress here.
This is my 2007 Panda 100HP Darkwave Black (Nero Cattivo 601).
---------------------------------------------------------------
An Intro
As a brief intro, for once this isn't a first car! I'm in my 30's and have had 50+ cars up until now; this was mainly when I was younger, as I grew up in the countryside where you could keep 3 or more cars and easily have a big empty barn as a garage. I've had quite a few hot/warm hatches before, as well as some more hum-drum things. I'm basically a petrol head that struggled to grasp the concept of car monogamy when I was younger - the usual pattern would be:
buy unloved car > spent thousands making like new > get bored and sell at a huge loss
Because of all this, I've got a bit more contrast to compare the 100HP against. I quite like cars that are a bit 'different', and so I first set out to find a Multipla. Having looked for months, and struggling to find one that was realistically priced, non-facelifted and didn't look like it had been used as a monkey cage, I gave up. This lead me to look for a Panda.
Again, on my searches, I did a LOT of research on these - common fail points, weaknesses, part costs, options etc. I then knew exactly what I was looking for, and how much I wanted to spend. The funds from my previous car are earmarked for home improvements, so I had a budget that would be beneficial to stick to.
It seems that these cars (with decent mileage) were £3k+ only 18 months or so ago, and a quick look on eBay/AutoTrader suggested that the traders and owners thought the residuals were still there. eBay auctions suggested otherwise, with very few reaching over £1500 at this time of year. The going rate for a non-abused example seemed to be between £2k and £3k, depending on how close to 90k miles you wanted to be.
From experience, I know that you can tart a car up, replace every nut and bolt, but you can't (legally!) take miles off the clock, or add to the history - so that was where my persuasions lay.
Eventually, I found a nice little example that was local (sort of) and on sale at a decent price. I'm not a tyre kicker or haggler, so having asked the seller a few key questions, then researched the risks of everything in between, I asked him for his best price so I could sort out some money. I knew from some research that he had probably owned the car for just under 2 years, and would probably be losing a lot of money, so I'm not one to kick a man when he's down.
To cut the story short, a deal was done and I bought this little example.
Some battle scars evident, but a full HPI check showed not concerns, as did the MOT history.
A further investigation led me to scrape out some very old cached images from the bowels of the internet. A few years and owners ago, she looked like this:
But then, not long after, like this:
Which is where the scratches started to appear (note missing tow eye cover). Whilst a shame, it's interesting to see. If you recognise the car, and think it was yours, get in touch - I'd be interesting to hear the history.
Anyway, initial impressions and a little summary:
Ride
This was my biggest concern. I'd previous had an R50 MINI Cooper which had 17" runflats and the 'sports' pack - it was a hoot to drive, but the suspension was horrific. Crossing the white lines in the road was like driving up a kerb. :yuck:
I'd heard similar about the Panda 100HP, with lots of people saying the ride was awful, and franticly looking for solutions to fix it. It had me worried, and I was already planning Koni Sport adjustables with a larger tyre sidewall.
The reality? Absolutely fine. The history shows the rear shocks were replaced for OE jobbies about 14 months ago, which may help, but otherwise I'm not sure why people were fussing so much. Maybe if you came from a shopping car with cloud like suspension it could seem too firm, but these people have obviously never driving a MINI like mine, or perhaps anything 2 seater and small (MX5, Boxster, Z3 etc). Or maybe I have a freak of a car...
Either way, I'd suggest that the ride is comparable to a 207 or similar car. Nothing overly smooth (it was a cheap car when new, after all), but certainly not anything I'd call "harsh". Yes, you know where the bumps are, as you can sort of feel/hear them, but they are damped out. I've yet to experience the crashing and thudding suspension that is common on many warm/hot hatches and roadsters.
Handling
I've yet to test this fully. I believe the owner-before-last had Eagle F1s fitted, but it now has ditchfinders on 3 corners. Not the previous owner's fault, but the receipts show they went to Kwik Fit and got charged Goodyear prices for Goodride tyres (or 'Arrowspeed', to be exact. £80 a corner for 15's too!). Due to this, I've not been keen to explore the immense understeer screeching and panic that come with tyres called things like 'jinling'.
Quality
As previously mentioned, this was a cheap car. Many of them were sold new for between £8,000 to £10,000, even in full 100HP guise, so it was a lot less than the Fiesta and Clio offerings.
The panels feel almost like plastic, but are just thin metal. This obvious contributes towards the low kerb weight (less than 975kg full laden, according to the stats). The paint sort of looks like aerosol, rather than a thick clear-over-base you might expect on a car worth more money.
Interior & Equipment
The seats do have a bit of adjustment but, rather than height, you get a lever which determines how low only your arse goes, leaving the lowest position feeling like you're squatting for a poo. I'm over 6' tall, though, and found a comfortable driving position. Unlike the Citroen Saxo, FIAT decided that the brake and accelerator don't need to be touching each other, meaning my wide feet are comfortable on the pedals.
The Dash is laid out in the same style as the 500/Ka/Multipla/Idea/Others. You get a dash-mounted gear change with an uncluttered floor - meaning you could scootch across from the passenger side without too much fuss (if you needed to).
The usual wear is common - the plastic/rubber "leather" will split and crack on the steering wheel. Mine hasn't done this, so I expect it's a reaction to either rings or a toiletry that does this over time. The gear knob does also wear and look tatty (as had mine), but I was able to fix that quite easily.
Beyond this, the interior is more spacious that you'd expect. I have plenty of head room (perhaps 2-3 inches), and the boot is enough for shopping and day to day stuff. I can just about fit a big bulky pram in, but the seats look to have ISOFix and are split/fold too.
You get built in Bluetooth for calls (independent of the radio), a trip computer, and steering mounted controls for the bluetooth/radio. There are a few options in the display that can be set, which include automatic locking when you drive off. This complements the A/C, Climate Control, Electric Front windows, Tinted rear windows and Remote locking you also get with the car.
There's no leather on offer, although I've seen on for sale with it, which is curious. The seats do have anti-submarining, with chunky bolsters offering a good level of comfort.
Controls
The gearchange isn't sloppy, but it's quite floppy! It's a bit like stirring plaster, for want of a better way of putting it. It would benefit from a shorter throw, but otherwise is quite nice and easy to use. The clutch/accelerator are also quite light, which has it's benefits and drawbacks. A nicely sprung accelerator can make long journeys easier (as you don't have to keep your foot at a high angle, more rest it lightly to cruise), so it missed out on that. The steering is also very light - pinky finger light. The sport button on the dash makes this slightly heavier (and throttle sharper), so you miss out on the feedback, but end up with a very easy-to-maneuver car.
The gearchange position is great, otherwise. The only annoyance with the controls I've found so far is that the intermittent wiper is too quick for a light drizzle, and operating a wipe manually gives a frantic sweep (unlike ever other car I've owned).
Servicing
The cheaper option can some times be a bonus. Under the bonnet is the same 1.4 engine that FIAT have used for donkey's years. This means that there's a traditional dipstick, no big plastic covers, and you can actually change a light bulb without removing panels, trim and completing a course in double-jointed contortionism. There are normal screws and everything looks like it's been put together with a certain amount of reassuring simplicity. Because of this, the servicing and parts costs look to be very low (£200 for a timing belt and water pump change from an indy in the receipts).
Performance
On paper, it's a quoted 9.5 seconds 0-62. Not exactly 'fast' by modern standards, and that is echoed by a selection of owners.
Despite this, it feels very pokey. You can feel how light the car is, and getting up to speed is very easy using the 6 speed gearbox, especially due to it's relatively close-to-the-wheel location. Regardless of what the stats say, mine feels like a very capable little car, and I have already experience some irritation from the usual Audi/VW bunch who try and undercut you at traffic lights - it's certainly no slouch.
Overall Impressions
I think based on what I have read, in both reviews and from other owners, I think there's a lot of criticism I can't recognise. The ride is perfectly fine to me (and the roads are awful round here), so I can only assume that people are blaming worn out suspension components as being 'the ride'. It was built as a cheap car, and the parts are cheap too, so it could well be a case that they need refreshing to solve the harshness? As for performance, it's such an easy and fun car to drive, I don't think I could knock it. Even wringing it's neck will return a minimum 30mpg indicated (or it has thus far), and I've not found 50mpg too hard to achieve.
Time will tell, and I've got plenty of bits to do, but these will soon be well within SOTW territory. Only around 1700 or so appear to be registered at the moment, but there are quite a lot to be found in the classifieds. I think I recorded around 50 different ones either for sale or being broken at the moment.
The plan is to keep her as a long term fun car - it will fit in the garage, so why not! Happy to keep this going on with some details of updates - have quite a bit I could put up at some point. I'm generally trying to restore her to a decent condition, whilst adding in some subtle changes to just make my one a little more individual.
I've already done some bits, as this original post was written a while ago, so I'll update in time...
