Mr FIAT - Your #1 source for vintage car parts

General Fiat Panda 100hp Review for 17-21 Year Olds

Currently reading:
General Fiat Panda 100hp Review for 17-21 Year Olds

Booth

Booth

Banned
Parked in the garage Written a guide
Joined
Jul 6, 2010
Messages
1,604
Points
414
Location
Altrincham
Me and my mate are starting to review cars and see if it takes off really.
Let me know what you think.

[ame="http://www.streetfire.net/video/garage-2117-fiat-panda-100hp-review_2289580.htm"]Garage 2117 - Fiat Panda 100hp Review - Car Videos on StreetFire[/ame]
 
Great review of the car, most people think the 100HP does not handle or drive very well. The "Sports" button saves it from being a boring A to B drive.
 
Not bad. Thought you took way too long before getting moving in the car.

To be fair the 100hp is a bit too far on the side of cautious handling (ie understeer everywhere) for my tastes. It's fun to a point, but not enough for the serious driver IMO.
 
trackdayqueen said:
To be fair the 100hp is a bit too far on the side of cautious handling (ie understeer everywhere)...
Click to expand...

Which is not a bad thing for the [mostly] inexperienced driver that this video is aimed towards.

The review was reasonable. For the opening scene, a layby with passing vehicles is a little noisy. Perhaps use a suction mount for the camera, rather than hand-held for the in-car piece [it could then be additionally used for exterior moving shots].

To be honest, it wouldn't make me want to buy the car and more than reading a magazine feature [I bought mine on the strength of the EVO reviews]. With that in mind, perhaps you are missing the advantage of this form of media.
 
The video was ok.

I always think people expect too much from the 100HP. No its not as quick as a hot hatch and doesnt handle like a Lotus but it IS a cheap car. Put it this way its a lot better than the Cinq and Sei sporting that came before it. The handling and performance are fun but not very sporty but you arent paying a sporty price.

I also wish that when I was 17 to 21 I had as much money that 100HP's cost. All I had for my first car was £500 and I bought an original Panda Super.
 
Please don't say "torques" you're not Jeremy Clarkson and nor do you want to be. Please never ever say "torques" again......
 
The locations were awful, loved the huge, burnt out patch of ground - was that what happens to poor review vehicles? Road noise drowned out a lot of your commentary and your inability to use Bluetooth was risible - unless that was your intent? Our neighbour's son said more or less the same when invited to sit through it, although he added he thought it too long as well as being personally gutted that he shouldn't really be watching it at age 24 :D
Good luck with your project though and hopefully you'll find someone willing to pay you for doing it.
 
Last edited:
trackdayqueen said:
...I think we learnt more early on, though it was a little exciting at times. (y)
Click to expand...

I think that most 'interested in improving' drivers learn a lot with their first car. It's usually underpowered, lacking grip and has relatively poor handling. It gets thrashed to extract the available performance and as a result, a few 'exciting' incidents are collected and stored in the memory banks (y)
 
Pandablues said:
The locations were awful, loved the huge, burnt out patch of ground - was that what happens to poor review vehicles? Road noise drowned out a lot of your commentary and your inability to use Bluetooth was risible - unless that was your intent? Our neighbour's son said more or less the same when invited to sit through it, although he added he thought it too long as well as being personally gutted that he shouldn't really be watching it at age 24 :D
Good luck with your project though and hopefully you'll find someone willing to pay you for doing it.
Click to expand...

Ermm, Ill take it as constructive critisism I suppose. Considering it's the first video I don't think it's too bad.
 
Here goes:

I thought it was a very decent first attempt at a review video; well-tailored to the target audience. :)

You got across the main points that matter to most 17-21 year-olds:

• Cheap to buy new, and there’ll be some real bargains to be had now you can only buy used (mine’s now 4 ½ years old, and was bought for £5300, 2 ½ years ago, including service, 12 months’ tax and valet.)
• Cheap to insure (and run)
• Loads of kit as standard
• Very good build quality for its price range (and particularly for a small Fiat!)
• Some eye-catching styling, that makes it stand out from the bog-standard Panda

I don’t think many people appreciate just what it was Fiat was going after with the 100hp. It’s not a hot hatch (not on paper, not in a straight line, not in terms of handling) and I hate the term ‘warm hatch’ (eww). Like the Panda 4x4 range, the 100hp is a hybrid, or ‘cross’, of sorts: it’s a cross between a practical, 5 door, about-town hatchback and a hot hatch (with the tuned engine, snappy gearbox, firm suspension and ‘sporty’ styling).

The whole point of the car is that it sits between the two classes: it’s nippy and handles well (enough) to make the trip to supermarket entertaining, but its power won’t over-whelm the inexperienced driver (which is part of the reason the insurance is comparatively cheap).

True, most reviewers have had their gripes, but these are answerable:

Yes, the suspension is ‘orthopaedic’ (but I’d hate to think what the roll must be like on the standard Panda!); the power steering is absurdly light in ‘standard’ mode, and can lack precision (but, again, it’s miles better than in most small cars); the fuel tank is tiny (but, driven efficiently, you can achieve nearly 50 mpg, even off the motorway); it can get noisy at high speed (but you bought it for the exhaust note, surely?); the turning circle can rival that of an arctic and the brakes are grabby (both can be gotten used to and compensated for fairly quickly). And, of course, it is a Fiat Panda (yes, you will get laughed at by your mates, but then you did buy a Panda, so I’ll assume you have a thick skin – besides, it’ll be your turn to laugh when you mate needs help to dig his Corsa out of someone’s front garden!).

There is, to my knowledge, NOTHING on the market, neither when the 100hp was new nor today, that can rival the it in terms of value for money. Yes, you might be able to buy a 10 year-old BMW 7 series for the same price, but then you have to buy the parts, fill the tank and pay the insurance!

Most ‘sporty’ hatchbacks that I’ve looked at as potential Panda replacements (the 500, the CR-Z, the DS3) all come with a ‘life-style’ price tag, and lack the sense of fun you get when driving the 100hp. So for that reason, I’ll be hanging on to mine for a while yet.
 
PuntoBooth said:
Me and my mate are starting to review cars and see if it takes off really.
Let me know what you think.

Garage 2117 - Fiat Panda 100hp Review - Car Videos on StreetFire
Click to expand...

Enjoyed the review PuntoBooth (y).
I could feel the bumps in the road so I got a good appreciation of the suspension in the 100HP.:)
Re the Sport button there's no change in the suspension - just the steering and the throttle response.
The insurance grouping it is now 11 in the new 0-50 which like the 500 (12) has taken a jump relative to the smaller engine models in the old 0-20. So the insurance guys are 'catching' on to the 0-60 of 9.5secs.
Got the impression that the 100HP is a bargain and is a worthwhile model to buy given that they are no longer in production.
The review would sway me to buy given the 'down to earth' nature of the 'presentation'.
I would be very interested in your 'take' on the style conscious 500 - some are being picked up for at £6.5K in 1.4 Sport guise but would not have the versatility of a sizable opening bay or seating for 4 full sized adults on the 100HP.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

C
Technical Fiat Panda 100hp - bluetooth
Replies
5
Views
571
CP
C
TheGreenMachine
General Panda 100hp Rear Axle Woes
Replies
3
Views
243
porta
porta
L
Technical Panda 100hp engine mounts
Replies
4
Views
394
koalar
koalar
Y
General Fiat Panda 100hp speakers
Replies
2
Views
629
Centrino
Centrino
Little Demon
General Parts help - Panda 100hp
Replies
2
Views
626
Little Demon
Little Demon
Back
Top