Nice! Welcome.

I also kinda like the Cactus.

I get what you mean about salesmen one can easily put you off. I was in a Skoda dealer once asking about a Fabia (few years ago) I was moaning the equipment seemed mean compared to my current Fiat. The dealer got up from his seat and walked to the near by car, he opened and slammed the door and told me the sound the door made was worth paying for quality. :yuck:

Is your Panda a factory order? When did you order it?


I'm waiting for a Sicilian Orange Trekking ordered 14th July, not expected until 2nd week Oct .

Welcome to the club! I was drawn to the Panda for the exact same reason. Everything else was just a bit... meh.

I agree about the Cactus. Not a lot for the money, but Citroen have a knack for making a good looking car.

Well, it seems if you want anything ordered from the factory then there is a bit of a wait. I wanted the spare wheel kit, but that would have meant a factory order and a delay of an extra month or longer, by which time the dealer's special offer would have ended and my monthly payments would have been higher! So, by choosing a standard spec Easy in white, ( I think it looks good in white anyway) I'm able to take advantage of the special offer, £99 deposit and £100 a month, because the car was already on group order from the factory anyway. I'll sort out a spare wheel when I get it. They said car should be ready to take delivery very early September. Yep, everything else is definitely a bit 'meh'!

Pandas are incredibly good value for money at the moment. I think that white also makes the already chunk shape look bigger.At £100 a month you can't really go wrong. Enjoy.

Thanks!

Yes, chunky is a good word for the looks. I've seen some black Pandas and they don't look as good, but maybe I'm biased. I'm not sure if I like the chunky side mouldings, they do look good but my car will come without them, I found a website selling a new full set for £45. So I could get some, but the Panda looks okay without them I reckon. I'll decide when I get the car.


Thanks for the welcome guys!

Hi and welcome. I'm sure you'll enjoy your new panda. I also think the panda in black looks less good than other colours, I thought the same of the MkII.

I agree that the Panda looks good in white. I favoured that colour myself, but my wife wanted Cancan Red and it's her car, so who am I to argue? My one regret is not having the side mouldings. I think the Panda looks much better with them. Hey-ho, will have to make sure we have them if we get another one in the future. £100 a month for an Easy is a good deal, you've done well there.

We ordered the spare wheel kit, but unfortunately our purchase was handled by the dealership's resident imbecile, so it was omitted from the order. It took them about 6 weeks to source one and hand it over to me. When I finally picked it up, the salesman just stood there and watched me fit it myself outside in the rain. Got a free tank of fuel for the resulting complaint though

Thanks, it's quite an amazing deal really! I'm not bothered about the spare wheel kit now, because I read another post that says the Punto Mk2 spare wheel kit will fit the Panda. If so then I don't need to buy an overpriced Fiat extra!

Enjoy your new Panda!
I also like the Cactus (rely on Citroen to produce something innovative), but for us, we needed a town and school run car, so the Panda's smaller dimensions were desirable.
I also considered the new Renault Twingo (liked the super-tight turning circle afforded by the rear-engine layout), but, with two under-4yrs kids, we're glad we went for the Panda and it's larger boot! I've said it before, but I think Easy spec is a sweet-spot in the 2wd range and the white will look great - a bargain at that price.
I may be selling a Punto space saver spare wheel kit, as our 4x4 was delivered with one and the wheel and jack are unsuitable for the higher ground clearance and larger diameter wheels of the 4x4! Will let you know if it's up for grabs!

Thanks for that, would certainly be interested. It's been 2 weeks since I ordered the car. got to wait another week, I can't wait till I go to collect it! The car arrived at the dealers this week and they asked if I wanted to wait until September to pick it up, so it would be on a 65 plate. I said I'd wait. So I could have got it sooner, but would be daft to be this close to Sept and not get the new reg, as it will affect the cars future value. So worth waiting I guess. My only concern is that if I'm collecting it on 1st September, I'll bet the dealership is going to be very busy handing over a lot of cars on that day!

You could also not bother with a spare wheel kit from factory. But instead there's a seller on ebay doing the kits.

Enjoy. Im on my second Panda. Had the twinair lounge first, and now got the 4x4 multijet version which ive driven on the beach and through rivers!

Been to the dealers and signed the final paperwork today. Also got to see my new Panda and sit in it, it's lovely! Shame I couldn't drive it home, got to wait another week for that, but it's already wearing it's new '65' number plates!! Just a quick question, how long do you need to 'run in' the new engine for? It has zero miles on the clock at present. Don't know if taking it down the motorway on the way home from collecting it is a good idea or not. Want to take care of it once I get it.

I asked the dealer and he advised to try and keep the revs below 4k rpm and to avoid really long journeys for the first 1000 miles. I would also recommend you let the engine warm up a bit before starting any journey during that time.

Paul A H said:

I asked the dealer and he advised to try and keep the revs below 4k rpm and to avoid really long journeys for the first 1000 miles. I would also recommend you let the engine warm up a bit before starting any journey during that time.

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That's good advice, thanks! Will take it easy and look after it. Was thinking of a long trip later in September though. Will check with the dealer before I drive away. One other thing I can't work out it how it has zero miles on the clock. Surely it must have been driven a few miles at the factory, the ports, on and off transporters etc. When I bought my Smart Forfour new it had 65 miles on it which was a lot for a new car. Do they start the mileage counter when the car arrives at the dealers or something.

When the car leaves the factory, it is set up so the dealer can reset the delivery miles on the odometer. I have a feeling there is a fairly modest upper limit (to stop them driving the car to Inverness and back before handing it over).

I think running in nowadays is less of an art than it once was, but it seems generally accepted that it's not a good idea to rev the whatsits off a new engine, nor chug-along at large throttle openings in high gears/very low revs as both approaches could potentially cause issues. Drive 'normally' with moderate throttle, using the middle portion of your rev range for the first couple of thousand miles and you should be fine. Allowing the engine to rev freely on lighter throttle is what you're aiming for. Certainly no harm in keeping sub-4000rpm-or-so if that's your preference.
There isn't as much 'bedding-in' of components required in modern motors.

Oh, and keep an eye on both coolant and oil levels (measured when cold) - just in case you do have any higher-than-usual consumption.
Enjoy your new Panda - you will LOVE it! :0)

Panda 4x4 TA Antarctica said:

I think running in nowadays is less of an art than it once was, but it seems generally accepted that it's not a good idea to rev the whatsits off a new engine, nor chug-along at large throttle openings in high gears/very low revs as both approaches could potentially cause issues. Drive 'normally' with moderate throttle, using the middle portion of your rev range for the first couple of thousand miles and you should be fine. Allowing the engine to rev freely on lighter throttle is what you're aiming for. Certainly no harm in keeping sub-4000rpm-or-so if that's your preference.
There isn't as much 'bedding-in' of components required in modern motors.

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I'll take it easy and drive normally then. If you look after the car it will look after you. I certainly don't intend to drive it like I stole it!