General First impressions - 1.2 Dynamic Eco series two

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General First impressions - 1.2 Dynamic Eco series two

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Picked up the first of two on Saturday...

Horn - hilarious, I laughed out loud 'meep meep' :)
Mirrors - as another poster has commented, wouldn't look out of place on a transit van, but safe enough!
I ordered a metallic black - so the massive mirrors are black plastic rather than truly colour coded...
No badges! - How do I know i'm actually driving a Dynamic Eco?
Plastic new car smell - not a fan...i'm sure that will pass in time.
Stereo - a bit weedy but ok if you tweak the settings.
Economy - fantastic...i'm sure it will improve still further but i'm averaging about 45mpg already.

Overall, quiet, smooth, bit 'bouncy', nippy enough...struggles a bit on hills with four adults in it but VERY impressed so far :) (y)
 
Series Two dash images attached to this...hopefully :)
 

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Dash is the same. Got a pic of the front/back of the door mirrors?

my first panda...all new to me, there is meant to be a seatbelt warning thingy but I haven't heard it yet :)

mahoosive door mirrors pics attached. it's dark out so the flash is bouncing off and making the backs of the mirrors appear shinier than they are in reality...
 

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Out for a drive earlier today and some silly little girl driving a saxo was so intent on not letting me change lanes in front of her that she accelerated to close the clear gap then she had to slam on, almost hitting the car in front...oh dear!

owned by a saxo...oh the ignominy! :)

There were three passengers in with me today though but it will take me a while to adjust to the lack of horses :)

Still seemed to punt along quite well today on the twisty hilly roads of brindle/belmont/rivington (northwest if anyone's familiar?) - just have to concentrate a little more than usual on being in the right gear (y)
 
Oh, I see what you mean about the Black door Mirrors :yuck:

yeah come on FIAT, spray up the door mirrors (n)

First motorway run today (my regular commute)...I imagined having to jam my foot to the floor to make decent progress (clarkson you idiot!) but it was absolutely fine and easily reaches 70 with minimal throttle...correct gear selection and anticipation is the key :)

Still unclear if this is a 60bhp or 69bhp 1.2...

I will put up some engine bay pics tonight (took them this morning but i'm at work now and camera is at home) and we can all play 'spot the lack of difference' again...
 
owned by a saxo...oh the ignominy! :)
Once it's run in you'll get the hang of driving round in second if you want to make quick progress.
Of course if you had an older Panda you wouldn't have seen the Saxo in the tiddly little mirrors anyway.
 
Although ridiculously large for the car, from a practical point of view the mirrors were great on the motorway this morning...I use my mirrors a lot so I really appreciated the extra viewing area...safe to say they are the largest mirrors of any car I've driven :)
 
Dash is the same. ...
Not quite. Looks like the panel bearing the graphics is completely flat and 'simpler' in its design (ie cheaper). Older versions had raised edges round the dials, or at least some fancy shading in the graphics to make it look that way. New pointers look cheaper too.

Bigger mirrors may not be pretty, but I had a few near misses joining motorways with the small ones on my 4x4 until I got used to them. The Multipla has huge two-part mirrors (exactly like a Transit!) which are definitely much, much better.

P
 
Not quite. Looks like the panel bearing the graphics is completely flat and 'simpler' in its design (ie cheaper). Older versions had raised edges round the dials, or at least some fancy shading in the graphics to make it look that way. New pointers look cheaper too.

I think the 100HP has raised edges around the dials, the others have the 3D effect print, I agree the new print doesn't look quite as good as the old one, which was more basic, but looked a lot better for it. I think the pointers are exactly the same.

Bigger mirrors may not be pretty, but I had a few near misses joining motorways with the small ones on my 4x4 until I got used to them. The Multipla has huge two-part mirrors (exactly like a Transit!) which are definitely much, much better.

Sure, bigger mirrors are definitely better, but I've had no issues with the "old style" ones on my Panda :confused:

Adjust them all the way out, and I do mean all the way out as far as they'll possibly go, you shouldn't be able to see the sides of your own car in the mirrors. No problem at all seeing everything. In fact, I would have loved for them to adjust even further out, there's still quite a large overlap between the wing mirrors and the rear view mirror.

Everyone should practice backing up using only the wing mirrors, driving a van forces you to learn quickly ;) I've had no trouble backing up in my Panda mirrors-only. Of course, bigger mirrors are always welcome, style is still secondary to safety.

Am I the only one who likes black trim, I think the black mirrors, rub strips and window frames look ace, especially if your paint is a lighter colour.
 
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I think the 100HP has raised edges around the dials, the others have the 3D effect print, I agree the new print doesn't look quite as good as the old one, which was more basic, but looked a lot better for it. I think the pointers are exactly the same.

The 100hp has a plastic (mock metal) raised surround which is bevelled around the dials. Certainly the nicest dash in a panda.
 
i loved my panda when i first got it a couple of months ago and still do!
looks great, more unusual than most basic cars, reliable, nice to drive, economical

although it was a big step up for me from a 1991 VW polo, steering from a tank and milk bottle top brakes, and only 4 gears! unfortunatly im still driving it since my dad wont let me take the shiney new car to uni! :mad:
 
more pics, panda fans...I wonder if this has been cobbled together out of any old bits and bobs they had lying around while they were switching the production line over to series two...? :)
 

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