Morning all!
As some of you will be aware, I was due to pick up our new Panda this weekend - thankfully all went smoothly.
I have managed to take some pictures but I can't find the camera cable anywhere, so you will have to bear with me on that!
In the meantime I thought I would give my initial thoughts on the car.
We ordered a 1.2 Easy in Sweet Dreams Turquoise with the following options; heated body coloured electric mirrors, height adjustable drivers seat, passenger table, 60/40 split rear seats + 3 seat belts, Comfort kit and cargo box. Thankfully all of the options were added correctly!
First impressions are very good. The turquoise colour looks a lot different to many of the images online, it's quite dark actually if the weather is cloudy (and it certainly has been that alright!). In addition the sand coloured interior also looks good; nothing like the nasty beige/brown colours in the brochure. The overall interior feels really solid and well put together, and the interior plastics are of a superior quality to those in the 500 - one of my main criticisms of the 500 actually.
On the road I was pleasantly surprised how peppy the engine was even though it was new. I was fully expecting it to be quite pedestrian compared to our 500's 1.2, but it does feel very nice to drive - Fiat have done a good job further refining the old beast! It's also incredibly quiet compared to a 500 as well, Fiat have done a very good job insulating the cabin from general road noise.
We did a 40 mile or so trip down from Barnstaple towards Exeter and the indicated fuel consumption was 56.5 mpg. So that's pretty much bang on what I thought it would be and is very encouraging bearing in mind the engine has got plenty of loosening up to come. The suspension also feels a lot, lot smoother than the 500 and the car is much more composed when cornering above 30mph. That is a big from me anyway!
I ordered the cargo box without having a clue what it was going to look like, and overall it's not too bad. It's approx. 15cm deep and is reinforced around the edges and in the middle so that you can put the removable carpeted cover on top. You won't be able to fit loads of stuff in there, but I do think it will come in useful when taking lots of individual items. Likewise it's removable so you can just revert to a standard boot size if you like.
A quick note re the passenger table - again, a very useful feature which will come in handy if you need to transport stuff like carpets. However, a minor issue is that the split/fold hasn't been swapped over for the right-hand drive version, so instead of having the single seat behind the folding passenger table (like in the brochure) you have got the double seat instead. It's not a major issue but it means that you can only have one other person travelling if you need to carry anything long in the car.
Overall, I'm really pleased with our new car. It was a real shame to see the 500 go, but I am genuinely pleased with the fact that the new Panda feels like a very high-quality car.
As some of you will be aware, I was due to pick up our new Panda this weekend - thankfully all went smoothly.
I have managed to take some pictures but I can't find the camera cable anywhere, so you will have to bear with me on that!
In the meantime I thought I would give my initial thoughts on the car.We ordered a 1.2 Easy in Sweet Dreams Turquoise with the following options; heated body coloured electric mirrors, height adjustable drivers seat, passenger table, 60/40 split rear seats + 3 seat belts, Comfort kit and cargo box. Thankfully all of the options were added correctly!
First impressions are very good. The turquoise colour looks a lot different to many of the images online, it's quite dark actually if the weather is cloudy (and it certainly has been that alright!). In addition the sand coloured interior also looks good; nothing like the nasty beige/brown colours in the brochure. The overall interior feels really solid and well put together, and the interior plastics are of a superior quality to those in the 500 - one of my main criticisms of the 500 actually.
On the road I was pleasantly surprised how peppy the engine was even though it was new. I was fully expecting it to be quite pedestrian compared to our 500's 1.2, but it does feel very nice to drive - Fiat have done a good job further refining the old beast! It's also incredibly quiet compared to a 500 as well, Fiat have done a very good job insulating the cabin from general road noise.
We did a 40 mile or so trip down from Barnstaple towards Exeter and the indicated fuel consumption was 56.5 mpg. So that's pretty much bang on what I thought it would be and is very encouraging bearing in mind the engine has got plenty of loosening up to come. The suspension also feels a lot, lot smoother than the 500 and the car is much more composed when cornering above 30mph. That is a big
from me anyway!I ordered the cargo box without having a clue what it was going to look like, and overall it's not too bad. It's approx. 15cm deep and is reinforced around the edges and in the middle so that you can put the removable carpeted cover on top. You won't be able to fit loads of stuff in there, but I do think it will come in useful when taking lots of individual items. Likewise it's removable so you can just revert to a standard boot size if you like.
A quick note re the passenger table - again, a very useful feature which will come in handy if you need to transport stuff like carpets. However, a minor issue is that the split/fold hasn't been swapped over for the right-hand drive version, so instead of having the single seat behind the folding passenger table (like in the brochure) you have got the double seat instead. It's not a major issue but it means that you can only have one other person travelling if you need to carry anything long in the car.
Overall, I'm really pleased with our new car. It was a real shame to see the 500 go, but I am genuinely pleased with the fact that the new Panda feels like a very high-quality car.
