Evening everybody, just a quick few lines about my excellent trip yesterday to germany I had with my 4year old son.
We left at 3am uk time on the shuttle had a clear run to Brussels where we hit traffic but ploughed through,arrived at Frankfurt at around 11:30. Wow there where some nice new cars there, the new mercedes b class and c class coupe looked fantatic, as did the glk.we saw a couple of veyrons, a few ferraris, and the new panda. I sat in it and it feels very similar to the current model, but a bit more grown up. It seamed bigger maybe fiat have tried moving it up a class.
My lad loved climbing over the insides the cars, often help by the friendly staff who where very chatty and polite towards him.(only saw1other small child)

So after about 3-4 hours we left frankfurt and headed for home but took a very slight but nessasary detour to nurburg, And to nordschleife,unfortunately that was closed for private track time so we went to the nurburgring instead and paid the €38 for twenty minutes of track time on the grand prix circuit. We had a excellent time and put in a few fast laps, most importantly my lad loved it. Then we left for home, getting my ring sticker first, arriving at the shuttle just in time for the 23:50 that I'd booked us on. Got in around midnight put him to bed then printed off some pics for his show and tell that he did at school today. All of his teachers and little mates where very excited to heard his stories.
A great day out in my excellent little 100hp.

A few stats. Top speed via speedo hd on iPhone 4 was 127mph. Over 886.5 miles I averaged 36.4mpg @59 mph average and total drive time was 15 hrs dead.

I think that the cars front pads are now spent.

How do I put pictures up.easy way please.

Nice report, I'm thinking of taking my 100HP on a drive round the nurburgring sometime next year, how did yours cope with the track..?

What have u done to make ur's do 127mph as the top speed is only 115, have u added a Turbo like everyone else.?

There are some very very long down hill sections in Germany, plus I filled up a few times on 102 octain fuel.

I was the slowest car on the track and probably pissed off the hardcore drivers but I did indicate to let them know to pass, had a great time the car handled very well but the brake pads do need changing now, got a sneaky video as well.

gtidriver said:

There are some very very long down hill sections in Germany, plus I filled up a few times on 102 octain fuel.

Click to expand...

You do know that you will get absolutely no benefit from 102 RON fuel in a roadcar unless it's been remapped right?

It was only 2 cents more than 95 Ron. At arral stations
So thought why not try it. Petrol at motorway petrol stations is around £1.45 for normal petrol ouch, diesel around £1.20

306maxi said:

You do know that you will get absolutely no benefit from 102 RON fuel in a roadcar unless it's been remapped right?

Click to expand...

It's more for protection when you're thrashing it really.

All that in one day - wow! I would have been completely cream crackered just walking around the show!

Yep, up at 1.45am back in bed at 1.40am. Yes I was knackered.

It so much easier driving in Europe a lot less stressful.

gtidriver said:

.....and the new panda. I sat in it and it feels very similar to the current model, but a bit more grown up. It seamed bigger maybe fiat have tried moving it up a class.

Click to expand...

It's no bigger. I sat in it at the show. My shoulder still brushes against the B-Pillar as it did on a nouva panda and with the seat pushed back to the point where I'd normally be comfortable in a nouva panda I still had no kneeroom for myself in the rear seat on the latest one.
The only place that appears to be larger is the boot which I'd guess is 30 or so litres larger.
When I opened the doors, bonnet and boot lid the interior surfaces looked really similiar to the nouva panda.
I also thought the interior looked tackier and busier in the flesh than the nouva panda.
There was no 65bhp twinair on display which is the model I was interested in.
If you are thinking about the 1.2 litre 69bhp version then I'd seriously advise negotiating hard on a new nouva panda instead unless you really want the GPS, steering wheel controls, usb/aux port and ecodrive.
Only real positive plus points I could see were the folding passenger seat which cuts in to rear passenger knee room and the strings on the parcel shelf.
I also checked out the Ypsilon and that has no more space in the back but looks larger because the seat base is shorter and with the glass sliding roof I had to bend my neck to fit in. I doubt the standard roof version is better.

If the Polish built Panda is heavily discounted in the coming months then that is the one to go for.

I won't know about refinement until a test drive but I doubt it will be any more refined than a nouva panda.

I looked at all the Kleinwagens while in the show and none of them in that class have decent rear legroom. It appears to be a point on which none of them compete although i10 appeared to be slightly better. If you want some legroom on a budget then you need to get a Sandero which is cheaper but a class size higher.
The Up was a disappointment and that rear glass hatch over a steel skeleton is bound to break.

apart from that, there was one exceptionally pretty girl on the FIAT stand with eyes like black pearls.

Interview with the Fiat designer:

Interesting, really think that the interior, particularly so, the dash, is a huge improvement and looks quite funky.

Exterior wise, well it's pretty pedestrian (not unlike the current model), will be interesting to see how much they can funk it up with a hotter model.