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General Did the Mk1 really handle so badly?

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General Did the Mk1 really handle so badly?

Giacosa

Giacosa

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Been re-reading some of the Mk1 reviews again after being inspired by photos of Caspar and the Abarth at the NEC. Period reviews arn't exactly fulsome in their praise. Phrases like "mediocre grip, poor ride quality, unsettled over bumps, vague steering" and so on. As the title says were they really so bad? What do their current and past owners think.

Personally I only drove a Mk1 once in town. Stuarts 45 before it departed for Northern Ireland. It drove fine, gearchange fine, steering light, felt a mite insubstantial.
 

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A mk1 handles very nicely thank you, so ignore the road tests! If it's still on 135 tyres then you don't get loads of grip, but that's the same with anything on 135's - you'll get understeer, but really only if you're being a bit of a hooligan!

The steering is very light & responsive. I don't know what they did to the mk2 but it's much heavier. I can't believe it's only tyres - whatever it is, the mk1 is a delight. Gearbox is nice and precise too (the 4 speed is nicer than the 5 speed, but that might be mainly because the clutch on Charlie needed adjusting - which my nice mot chap did for me at the last mot - lucky me eh?).

The ride is definitely less settled & can have a touch of the tiggers (bounce bounce). It rides well over speed humps, but overall the mk2 rides better & feels more solid. It's not the rear suspension, as the 4x4 rides better too - more planted I guess. You'd think the mk2 is much heavier in terms of suspension and steering.

My Mum loves the mk1 to drive as it's so light - the mk2 isn't heavy to drive but I'd know which was which before I got out of a carpark.

So if the road testers slagged it, that's a load of rowlocks. Bouncy and slightly flimsy feeling, but you can hustle it around nicely - settle into the corner and "power" out like a little rally car! (y)
 
onemanmade said:
Is driving a 4x4 similar to driving a mk1 in terms of handling because of the rear leaf springs? Did they change the front suspension?
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Somewhere in between i'd say. They changed the spring rates and the steering geometry at the front.

Palio said:
A mk1 handles very nicely thank you, so ignore the road tests! If it's still on 135 tyres then you don't get loads of grip, but that's the same with anything on 135's - you'll get understeer, but really only if you're being a bit of a hooligan!

The steering is very light & responsive. I don't know what they did to the mk2 but it's much heavier. I can't believe it's only tyres - whatever it is, the mk1 is a delight. Gearbox is nice and precise too (the 4 speed is nicer than the 5 speed, but that might be mainly because the clutch on Charlie needed adjusting - which my nice mot chap did for me at the last mot - lucky me eh?).

The ride is definitely less settled & can have a touch of the tiggers (bounce bounce). It rides well over speed humps, but overall the mk2 rides better & feels more solid. It's not the rear suspension, as the 4x4 rides better too - more planted I guess. You'd think the mk2 is much heavier in terms of suspension and steering.

My Mum loves the mk1 to drive as it's so light - the mk2 isn't heavy to drive but I'd know which was which before I got out of a carpark.

So if the road testers slagged it, that's a load of rowlocks. Bouncy and slightly flimsy feeling, but you can hustle it around nicely - settle into the corner and "power" out like a little rally car! (y)
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Light is how I remember the Mk1 I drove. Light steering and gearchange. I couldn't quite reconcile my memory of a sweet little car with a vehicle guilty of crimes against humanity according to the jornalists.
 
I drove one of the press launch cars a brown 45CL registered RLX***W at Portmeirion and cannot recall that it drove particularly badly. At the time daily transport was a suicide door 500 which to be fair rode better on the poor back roads. Whether it differs all that much from a Mk2 I cannot comment but my 4x4 will have more in common with the original than the Mk2 and I have little to complain about regarding the handling and general road manners of that car.
 
Dragon Man said:
if its the same as a marbella, then i think it handles pretty good.. the downfall is grip. some nice 155 tyres makes whole car feel like its got the grip of an F1 car.
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You should experience Si's Turbo Marbella. Its got 185s I think and has huge lateral grip.

dragonwagon said:
I drove one of the press launch cars a brown 45CL registered RLX***W at Portmeirion and cannot recall that it drove particularly badly. At the time daily transport was a suicide door 500 which to be fair rode better on the poor back roads. Whether it differs all that much from a Mk2 I cannot comment but my 4x4 will have more in common with the original than the Mk2 and I have little to complain about regarding the handling and general road manners of that car.
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Press launch? Are you a motoring scribe? I didnt know the launch was at Portmeirion. That seems very appropriate.
 
Last edited:
"mediocre grip, poor ride quality, unsettled over bumps, vague steering"
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Apart from the vague steering I'd say the above was fair. Casper's steering is lovely, very light and precise, as is the gearchange. Over all he's a pleasure to drive, quite nippy too.

I must admit it is very tempting to break from originality and fit wider tyres as the 135's do offer very little grip, this was the main reason I rolled my first Panda :(, but I want to keep Casper as original as possible so have resigned myself to driving him well within his limits.

The 4x4 has stiffer suspension and 145 tyres, this helps improve the grip over the 2wd Mk1 but does little for the ride. The Mk2's coil sprung rear and better tyres are a definite improvement, the clx's feel almost modern!
 
Giacosa said:
You should experience Si's Turbo Marbella. Its got 185s I think and has huge lateral grip.



Press launch? Are you a motoring scribe? I didnt know the launch was at Portmeirion. That seems very appropriate.
Click to expand...

Used to work at Portmeirion, had a suicide door 500 as transport at the time, my mother also worked there and had an Abarthised 850 Sport to drive. This piqued the curioisity of the Fiat Uk mob, so I got to drive the vacant car.....and discuss its merits etc with none other than LJK Setright and Bill Boddy !
 
dragonwagon said:
Used to work at Portmeirion, had a suicide door 500 as transport at the time, my mother also worked there and had an Abarthised 850 Sport to drive. This piqued the curioisity of the Fiat Uk mob, so I got to drive the vacant car.....and discuss its merits etc with none other than LJK Setright and Bill Boddy !
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Wow, they're names from the past!
 
I can't comment on the mk1 2wd yet as the one I have isn't going anywhere for a while! I imagine it'll be better handling than the marbella though as the SEAT's suffer from relaxed single leaf rear springs. I cringed over every bump in the marbella when I had anything in the boot :eek: The Panda however had 2 leaf springs and they go on forever. Even my 32 year old panda 45 which has 100k on the clock has nice stiff rear springs :D

But handling I never had a huge problem with, although have spun it a couple of times but this was down to poor surface conditions (mud / ice at a building site and then there was castle combe that one time :eek: - oil on the track :()

I think as has been mentioned the 135 tyres are a touch on the small side so their reviews are probably mostly down to that. 135 and 80% profile tyres are going to make any car pretty wobbly.

But really, apart from mad hatters like me the car isn't supposed to go fast anyway! It's like judging a tractor on it's quarter mile time...(oh wait bad example that sounds awesome)...erm it's like judging a cake on how much it looks like a panda...(hmm another bad example)...well I am sure there is a good example out there :devil:
 
VmanC said:
It's like judging a Lamborghini on it's ability to carry a wardrobe. ;)
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pandamonius_maximus said:
Is it just me or does that sound like a fair judgement criterion for a Sports car? Haha
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Sounds fair enough to me, and my money's on the Panda - quickest to load a wardrobe & do the 1/4 mile at Santa Pod. :worship:
 
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