General What did you do with your Panda today?

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General What did you do with your Panda today?

There are KIA's i like, but the Picanto is not one of them.
KIA's i like are the Stonic and stinger, and this new KIA Proceed Concept.

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The Stinger (although daft name - it sounds like one of those scooters boys use on the pavement) is a great car but it's the same size and price as a Maserati Ghibli. I would be surprised if it's on his shopping list (mind you blagging a cheeky test drive wouldn't hurt).
 
We went a motoring. Bombing along the Norwich by pass was amused to see Alfa Giulia QF parked in the near side lane and this coned off by several of Norfolk's finest

Broken down? Insert you favourite Alfa lemon joke here...

It was interesting to find that running the TA at full chat had no adverse effect on the mpg. In fact it was doing 55mpg at true 75mph. I will never - I think- understand what makes this car tick. There is no discernable connection between fuel consumption and driving style that I can identify. I am going to ignore the economy and just drive the thing. Faster is not less economical so stuff it lets just go!

Well, I ran my TA at full chat yesterday evening, on the way back to Cambridge after a thoroughly miserable afternoon at Carrow Road, and it averaged 32mpg. On the way there, driven more sedately (steadyish 60-65) it averaged 44mpg. Even allowing for the fact that it's a 4x4, faster is less economical, in my experience (although stop-start driving, and not driving smoothly, also kills the TA's economy :( )
 
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i spent that last 2 days putting almost 500 miles on my new 2015 easy + taking it home from London to Northern Ireland

Really nice car and even though its slightly lower spec, a much nicer car than my 2012 lounge that was written off.
 
i spent that last 2 days putting almost 500 miles on my new 2015 easy + taking it home from London to Northern Ireland

Really nice car and even though its slightly lower spec, a much nicer car than my 2012 lounge that was written off.

Congratulations. You can live with manual mirrors I should think. The interiors are a good colour.

Now all you need to do is disconnect the clutch switch to get rid of the annoying rev-rise weirdness when you set off from junctions...
 
Remember back two weeks (Monday 15th) when I took my panda in for a service and 1st MOT. Well they still have it !
I've just recieved a call, the hard to find trekking shocks on order from Italy with a 10 day delivery, have now been put back another week, nobody at the dealers knows why. Argh:mad:
 
Remember back two weeks (Monday 15th) when I took my panda in for a service and 1st MOT. Well they still have it !
I've just recieved a call, the hard to find trekking shocks on order from Italy with a 10 day delivery, have now been put back another week, nobody at the dealers knows why. Argh:mad:

That's truly shocking. Service items like shockers should be available off the shelf, as a matter of routine, for all current/recent models, surely?
 
That's truly shocking. Service items like shockers should be available off the shelf, as a matter of routine, for all current/recent models, surely?
Perhaps it's because the trekking is not that common in the UK? The shocks are not the standard ones.
 
Allegedly 750-800 in the UK so Fiat wasn't too bothered. 4x4 over 2000 maybe. The FWD Easy spec 10000.
 
They did say that the Panda trekking doesn't share shocks with any other model, like that's going to make me feel better.
 
Sorry, that's a poor excuse. It doesn't take a great deal of forethought to appreciate that shock absorbers are likely to need replacing at some point, and to ensure that there are at least some available off the shelf in the UK, even for a relatively 'exclusive' model like the Trekking. I'd be sympathetic if they were struggling to get hold of some esoteric part that isn't a routine wear-and-tear item, but shockers don't fall into that category.

Oh, and this is 2018. You can get stuff couriered from just about anywhere on Earth in just a few days. It should be possible to get parts to the UK from Italy in 48 hours, max. Anything longer than that and they just aren't trying hard enough.
 
Sorry, that's a poor excuse. It doesn't take a great deal of forethought to appreciate that shock absorbers are likely to need replacing at some point, and to ensure that there are at least some available off the shelf in the UK, even for a relatively 'exclusive' model like the Trekking. I'd be sympathetic if they were struggling to get hold of some esoteric part that isn't a routine wear-and-tear item, but shockers don't fall into that category.

Oh, and this is 2018. You can get stuff couriered from just about anywhere on Earth in just a few days. It should be possible to get parts to the UK from Italy in 48 hours, max. Anything longer than that and they just aren't trying hard enough.



This is the one thing I envy of all my Ford and VW owning friends.. they can pretty much get any part for their cars the same day from local motor factors?! Argh.
 
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