Lots of people on here seem to have a long history of Fiats, others just have acquired one through time as maybe a second car it seems.

Wondering how loyal you all are to the cars and if you see yourself buying another in the future? And if so, why? And if not, also... why?

I certainly plan to! But no time soon. I think it'd be hard to replace the 2003-12 model with anything really! Therefore even the latest model with its debated down sides compared to the 2003-12 seems my first choice

Bought my 5th fiat 2 weeks ago which is my 2nd panda. Bought a 1.2 petrol this time for it's simple cheap to fix design and no timing chain to fail like my last panda did to me last Xmas. I think my next car will be a fiat but maybe another punto t-jet next time or a new shape panda as I like the interiors on the new shape.

I have no immediate intentions like yourself to be changing my Panda, despite it now being 11.5 years with 118K miles on the clock. It'll be 3 years this Christmas since I had my timing chain issues. I've already done another 35K miles since then! I will admit that I've changed a right few things under the bonnet in my car but hey-ho, we're still running! Dez is busier now in his old age than ever.

I'll stick with what I've said before about my next car. I'll most likely opt for the updated Panda. I'll probably go for a 4x4 version or maybe Cross, most likely with a Twinair engine as I don't think that I'll be wanting a Euro 6 or beyond Multijet. Colour-wise I'll choose either yellow or orange. I'm not so keen on the grown-up choice of colours for the new style Panda. I've configured one a few times now and the colour choice has always been a stumbling block for me. Well that and the price which appears at the end when I put on all the options I added to Dez back in 2005, which is almost double the original price I paid for mine. I'd even consider a plug-in version if Fiat ever get around to it! I find it strange that Fiat still don't have electric in their range (other than the 500 that they sell in one state in America but ask people not to buy).

Probably. It's on my 'searches' and my preferences are:


1. A primary colour
2. Heated screen
3. Twinair

My household's current fleet is a Fiat 500 Twinair and a BMW 1 Series.

I've grown really attached to my BMW because it has character beyond its mechanical engineering, unusual IMHO for a German car. But if I was replacing it, I'd quite happily take a Twinair Panda Cross even with my reservations about the dash and handbrake on the new shape Panda. I test drove the Cross when it was launched and my face was sore from smiling, but couldn't get any discounts at that time and it didn't stack up for me.

I like the Cross in green but, annoyingly, Fiat use a white undercoat and seem to have a miserly applied paint thickness. This is a nuisance when the inevitable damage happens, making small scratches and stonechips look way worse than they actually are.

Mrs Bee will probably keep buying 500's until Fiat stop making them so no chance of there ever being a two panda household.

SB1500 said:

Wondering how loyal you all are to the cars and if you see yourself buying another in the future?

Click to expand...

When I need to replace mine, I'll buy whatever I feel offers best value for purpose at the time.

Brand loyalty would only serve to limit my ability to make an objective, rational and informed decision about what that might be and will have no place in my decision making process.

IMO it's as outdated a concept as customer loyalty seems to be in the mind of manufacturers and dealers.

The Panda will always have a place in my heart, but any decision regarding its replacement will be strictly for the head.

Very true. Especially when the brand could well be something other than what it says on the tin (badge?), i.e. based on a common platform between 2 or more manufacturers, and using engines and gearboxes from yet another company altogether.
For instance, I get puzzled when I hear people say they love their 1.2 500, but hate the way the Ford Ka drives. Or vice-versa. Especially the bit about how the engine is much better in one or the other.
I personally think the 169 Panda is a great example of a simple Italian small car, capable of more than most people expect, cheap to run, fun to drive, and fairly long lasting, with amazingly good parts availability, probably for quite a long time to come. (Perhaps with the exception of the rear beam...). It has faults, but none that are showstoppers for me.
Haven't really seen a good new alternative. Yet.
It is getting very difficult to find "simple" new cars. Not just the emissions gear, but ones without things like self-opening boot lids, self-parking aids, and bizarrely complex in-car entertainment which is usually only turned on and off (even though it could plan a route to Mexico, book the tickets, apply for a visa and set an out-of-office auto reply, if only you could remember how to access the menu)
I will probably keep the current Panda until it breaks terminally and then buy another one. And another....

jrkitching said:

When I need to replace mine, I'll buy whatever I feel offers best value for purpose at the time.

Brand loyalty would only serve to limit my ability to make an objective, rational and informed decision about what that might be and will have no place in my decision making process.

IMO it's as outdated a concept as customer loyalty seems to be in the mind of manufacturers and dealers.

The Panda will always have a place in my heart, but any decision regarding its replacement will be strictly for the head.

Click to expand...

Point. My decision would be predicated on the assumption that they're still cheap (i.e. I'm not buying a new one).


It's not like there's a wild amount of choice in that size (which I prefer) with 4 doors (dealbreaker). On paper the Korean built Vauxhall Viva looks good value, but I guess it's just another exhumed Hyundai Atoz.

Very fair and rational points here.

I was recently on a Dacia forum as I also quite like them and one guy seemed to fully be aware of the 169 Panda and its merits and underrated-ness. He was keen to make the point that the Sandero is a 'spiritual successor' to the 169 Panda Moreso than the current 2012 Model. He reckons it's the closest you'll get to how the 169 was cheap to buy, basic but well built and bound to offer the same parts/reliability over time due to the simple technologies at hand.

I certainly agree with the person who said about the price. I hope the Panda stays cheap ish. Especially as it's functional values are it's strongest gene. Though as with any greedy business strategy the more they sell the more they'll charge us I presume

I started a thread a few weeks ago on similar lines but am more than happy to slip into this updated one.
I have a 54 plate multijet which I have had for nine years. I love it, ok last year I paid a lot for a gearbox rebuild and if I was sensible, I would keep it at least another year.
But, I have seen a 500 Sport with a 95hp multijet at the local Fiat dealer. I like the Panda for its size and the higher seat height as I am tall and arthritic, I did my back in the other week getting in and out of a normal seat height car.
I asked the salesman if I could try getting in the 500 and I could with no problem other than the low roof. After adjusting the seat, the roof was less of a problem.
I'm still thinking about having a test drive to see how it goes and what the low profile tyres do to the ride comfort.
I like the power characteristics of diesel engines, petrol is so gutless.
Having nine years with the Panda, I feel that the change to a closely related car will not be too traumatic.

Maybe.

I think the 319 Panda has lost something of the simplicity of the 169 model, but I still like it to look at. I will be interested, though, to know how it drives. I hired a new 1.2 500 a couple of weeks ago and hated the way that it revved itself as I lifted the clutch, and that it seemed to get bogged down as it set off and when I changed from 1st to 2nd. There was a horrid flat spot in the revs. That said, it was more economical than my Panda (claimed 60mpg on mixed driving) and the higher speed acceleration was good.

I'm also not that enamoured of the local Fiat dealer experience.

Other than a Panda I would consider a new Twingo (but they are expensive), or an Aygo (in part for the Toyota service, but they are smaller and more obviously built to a price than the Panda), or a Citigo (a bit bland but solid). If there is ever a small Dacia (the Kwid), I would consider that too. I don't need something as big as a Sandero.

I hope, however, to keep the Panda (10 plate) for a good few years yet!

Had my eco active since new for 6.5 years now. The dealers really let me down but now my car is older I no longer have to use the FIAT dealer with their over priced servicing and parts.

The car itself is great though, a few niggles but they turned out to be a combination of a dying battery and dirt in the ECU connectors. A very cheap fix but took a lot of replies on here to get to the bottom of it!

I love my current Panda and will probably keep it a lot longer, but with all the aggression from the Audi drivers round here I sometimes feel a little vulnerable. My dad has an i10 and the car is in some ways very similar but also very different. The i10 has been a great car to own as the dealers are simply wonderful everything just gets replaced under warranty, 30k and 5 years in the only job that wasn't covered was the front pads. Bushes and everything else has.

Not sure what I would replace my Panda with, I like the new Panda but unless I can get a massive discount it is too expensive, the Dacia Sandero is probably the car I would replace it with. Those Renault 1.2 16V engines are bullet proof (assuming you change the cam belt!).

There is a new Ford Ka out now (not based on a FIAT platform) and that looks very interesting, is essentially the same idea as the Panda as it has 5 doors but the interior looks very classy sadly though I think it will be too pricey.

Update to my fancying a 500 sport 95hp multijet.
I had a test drive yesterday, about half an hour, the car went very well, handled well, comfortable, gripped the road, everything far better than my Panda, but, what spoiled everything was the noise.
Not the engine, I think but the tyres, my ears were ringing after only half an hour in fairly dense traffic on A roads.
The instruments would have taken a bit of getting used to and the black leather seats and black interior plus dark tinted windows made the car claustrophobic.
Only the noise killed the deal.
The buying in price for my 54 plate multijet was £750.

That's the thing. My car is worth nothing really now so I don't see the point in changing as it's still going fine. I'm raking through the miles too. I'm reckoning on soon needing a new exhaust. I'm still on the original but then again the car is 11.5 years old and has 118.5K miles on the clock so things like that are just wear and tear and to be expected.

So long as nothing major happens, I think that me and Dez will keep one another company for another good while.

Wee Smurf said:

That's the thing. My car is worth nothing really now so I don't see the point in changing as it's still going fine. I'm raking through the miles too. I'm reckoning on soon needing a new exhaust. I'm still on the original but then again the car is 11.5 years old and has 118.5K miles on the clock so things like that are just wear and tear and to be expected.

So long as nothing major happens, I think that me and Dez will keep one another company for another good while.

Click to expand...

200,000 is easily achievable from a diesel surely?!

I believe it has been done. But I'll keep going and see how far we get. I added almost 200 miles on today. So if I keep going at this pace, it could be sooner rather than later!!!

The wife's Sporting is only on 71,000 so far, but I have seen a vauxhall van with the same 1.3 mj engine still going strong with 210,000+.
I know it has been owner-serviced since about 90,000 and it gets oil changes at about 9000 miles.
Still sounds pretty good, although I know the starter was getting a bit ropey last time I saw it.
So I'm hoping the Sporting will get somewhere near that, as long as I can keep the bodywork from decaying too much.
My 1.2 is only on 80,000 but it is a dualogic, so it may expire unexpectedly with gearbox robot failure sometime in the future. As I only bought it as a spares car I can't really complain if/when it does go, but it will yield lots of good parts for the Sporting (or my next one.)

Probably not. There's loads of cars I still want to sample, but I tend to keep cars 3 years minimum. I've wanted a 100hp since they came out, and finally had the opportunity to buy one. Ideally, I'll get another car in a few years and drop the 100 to weekend duties, in the six months I've owned it I've almost clocked 7k!

Asa James said:

Probably not. There's loads of cars I still want to sample, but I tend to keep cars 3 years minimum. I've wanted a 100hp since they came out, and finally had the opportunity to buy one. Ideally, I'll get another car in a few years and drop the 100 to weekend duties, in the six months I've owned it I've almost clocked 7k!

Click to expand...

Fiat forgot to put the "WARNING: ADDICTIVE DRIVING HABITS MAY DEVELOP" on the 169's, but us owners always figure it out ;-)

I've been seriously looking at 500's. Either with the trusted 1,4 100HP or a chipped twinair.
But I think I'm too attached to my Bellezza Nera.

gr J