Well the Panda Multijet has done it;

Over 100,000 Miles of serious driving in this little car for the last 4 years and 7 months !

Purchased new on 30th Sept 2006. With 3 miles on the clock.

Mileage today (1st Feb 2011) 100,754 miles.

Average miles driven per month; 1831.89 miles.

And, very roughly thats just under 500 miles a week.

This little car has been used mainly for a long commute involving about 80% motorways, it has also been used for all the day to day stuff,and has even been well into Europe on 6 occasions - Please see my earlier posts for the travel details.

It has always been serviced at 10,000 miles using genuine Fiat Oil Filters and Selinia WR Oil. It has never been blasted / used in anger until the Temp gauge shows half way along the scale. Except for the initial 'Running In' period when new, this car has never used any Oil or Coolant between services.

It is still on the original Clutch, Exhaust, Glow Plugs and Water Pump. Even though my dealer told me the Clutch was on the way out at approx 60,000 miles - It still feels perfect at 100,754 miles - famous last words.

Issues during ownership;

40,579 miles - Rear Shock Absorbers replaced as leaking. (Warranty).

46,678 miles - Front drivers side suspension unit replaced as leaking. (Warranty).

50,000 miles - Steering motor replaced. (Warranty).

99,478 miles - Passenger side front ball joint replaced.

100,387 miles - Steering motor replaced - luckily covered under AA Breakdown Repair Cover.

Numerous headlight and front sidelight bulbs - these seem to blow at about 4 to 6 month intervals. Oh, it's also had 3 sets of front brake pads and 1 set of front discs - the rear shoes and drums are still original.

And thats about it. I have found the Panda Multijet to be a very reliable, economical and fun car to drive. Suited to the usual day to day motoring and also the longer distance journeys.

Nice going, whats the economy over that time?

The only disappointing bit is the steering motors failing.

We havent had a bulb go yet and they are always on.

Have just checked the picture and seen you are getting 62mpg.

Also you have the dash with temperature on it, our car is slightly earlier and doesnt. was it extra?

Yes, sorry, should of mentioned the fuel economy.....

As can be seen in the picture of the display unit, I have averaged around the 55 - 60 mpg mark, it has never dipped below 50 mpg average for a full tank even when driven really hard - and have also seen it at 68 mpg Average Consumption for a full tank.

The only extras I specified were, Climate Control, Metallic Silver Paint and Full size spare wheel.

Out of interest are you planning in keeping it for the next 100k?

Would you have saidthat overall even with the few issues the cars original purchase vs miles etc has been good value for money?

How has the interior taken that sort of mileage?

Jon.

That's great praise for the Panda and a nice, concise write-up of your experience with it

My October 2007/57 car is on 82k and very little of that is motorway use. Stangely, I've not changed any bulbs [touch wood] apart from the never-used rear fog light.

Oh how I wish that Fiat had produced a TD 100HP.

Currently I have no intention of selling it as I am very impressed with the lack of 'issues' v the 'mileage' travelled - I think it has certainly outperformed all my initial expectations in terms of reliability, mileage, comfort, economy and general useabilty.

I think of it as a small car to do a big cars job.....

I know it wont carry the same weight or ever be as comfortable as a larger car (have owned a number or Merc's and BMW's) but it will do the mileage and if you want to travel at 100mph across Europe then it's also capable of doing this. And all this with double the fuel economy of my previous cars, leass than half the insurance cost and only £30 a year to tax.

Mr Fiat, I am most impressed and staggered at how good this car is !

The interior has fared very well, I have used cheap seat covers to protect the seats as they are a light blue colour. And will take some pic's later to upload.

Panda is best fiat model. And 1.3 liter is top fiat engine. So your story is what it have to be.

Can't knock the economy with this engine, didn't do many miles last year. But 1852 miles covered for only 25 gallons of derv.

Z11, good going on the mileage, if looked after well diesels go on forever.

Heres to the next 100k.

Alan

I bought one with 110k on it last November. Approaching 2000 miles in it so far and very satisfied.

The trip meter shows an average of 61 mpg but my measuring from low light on - full - low light on again shows about 58mpg. This is about 5% out. I wonder if it calculates from the instantaneous readings, so all the consumption when you are idling / stationary isn't considered.

Only grumble is the lack of torque (to be expected with only 1248cc despite being a diesel). It won't pull below 1500 rpm so I don't use 5th gear unless I reach 40 mph.

tommo1 said:

I bought one with 110k on it last November. Approaching 2000 miles in it so far and very satisfied.

The trip meter shows an average of 61 mpg but my measuring from low light on - full - low light on again shows about 58mpg. This is about 5% out. I wonder if it calculates from the instantaneous readings, so all the consumption when you are idling / stationary isn't considered.

Only grumble is the lack of torque (to be expected with only 1248cc despite being a diesel). It won't pull below 1500 rpm so I don't use 5th gear unless I reach 40 mph.

Click to expand...

Mpg is calculated using all fuel used, rpm speed etc, and if calculating manually you need to use the brim to brim filling method or your calculations won't be accurate.

I've only got coming up on 50K miles on mine after 5 years... Will take me another few years to hit the 100K mark, but I intend to still have the car at that stage.

tommo, you may have a partially blocked egr or a dirty maf sensor. depends what you expect but ours pulls cleanly from 1000rpm.

Our mpg gauge is also only out by 2 maximum, sometimes above and sometimes below.

Most Easterly Pandas said:

Mpg is calculated using all fuel used, rpm speed etc, and if calculating manually you need to use the brim to brim filling method or your calculations won't be accurate.

Click to expand...

As long as you zero the trip when the light comes on, but only on a straight and flat bit of road, I think it's just as accurate. Brimming a tank is notoriously difficult to be the same every time, especially if you use different forecourts, or even different pumps on the same forecourt.

I did this over a period of 3 weeks, covering 674 miles, using 52.21 litres, that's 58.7mpg. The trip-meter read 61.3mpg. Any slight errors are minimized if you do a check over a long period. Consumption is 4.25% more than the trip-meter is reading. I would normally put this down to the odometer over-reading as well but the speedometer only seems to over-read by 1mph.

I've repeated this over 462 miles, average this time was 57.2mpg. Still very good!

Thanks for the tip above, the MAF seems easy to get to and clean but the EGR is a different issue.

Edited for maths.

The amount the mpg gauge is out will vary from fill up to fill up. Sometimes will be over, others under from experience.

My MJ now has 78k so just a bit behind yours its had typical panda issues tailgate handle micro switch 2x EGR vaves 1 battery just changed discs a drop link another duefor mot time & a set of glow plugs. Broke down twice once for the battery second for rear drum locked on at xmas turns out a big piece of brake shoe came awat & jammed between the shoe & drum. Just had a new fault code P0106 something to do with MAF sensor I think, will be attended to with MOT/service. Economy pretty good 55mpg over fast roads much better when able to bimble I think MAF has been problematic for awhile as a loaned sporting was appreciably more economical over xmas. I did have the power steering light come on and assistance was lost a couple of times but I reckon it was down to low battery performance when it was really cold, ok at the moment.
Overall bearing in mind the cost its a very good small car but I am looking at a Fabia 1.6 Diesel ( just not sure the engine will give the promised fuel consumption) as Fiat have under developed the Panda range and too few of the dealers are good.

Mine's just done over 71K so far (2005) and the only real faults I've had are the tailgate issue (still outstanding) and the paint keeps coming off the wiper arms due to corrosion underneath...first one replaced free whilst the warranty was valid, now both are going.
I've changed the brakes a few times and now have Brembo discs on the front with EBC pads
Very good little car.

Ive had my 08 MJ remapped by Angel Tune and now it has bags of torque right through the rev range. Gives bigger cars a bit of a fright at traffic lghts too. Fuel consumption seems a bit better with 72 or 73 mpg normal on a motorway run. Id recommend it.

Like wise, 80k in my MJ and still reckon it's good value. SGM at Swanwick took in a 1.1 with 160K on it so it seems the petrols engines will also do some good mileages.