fiataccompli
Member
- Joined
- Sep 28, 2010
- Messages
- 28
- Points
- 60
In July I was unfortunately involved in a collision which caused my beloved little 100HP to be written off. We had together covered over 60,000 miles without a missed beat. I was, as the saying is, gutted.
So almost immediately I had another 100HP in my sights, but Mrs Pete said “oh, you don’t want to be driving around in a 9-year-old car. You want to get something newer. We can afford it.”
Said I “but I love the Panda. Everything about it is ideal”.
Quoth she: “Aah, it’s really old. You’ll find a newer car is so much better. I guarantee it. Here’s my business card - call me”. Well, no, she didn’t say the bit about the business card, but otherwise she did as good a job as any pointy-shoed car salesman.
Come to a rub, I have replaced it - since I needed something immediately to get to work in - with a Seat Mii, which is broadly a rebadged Volkswagen Up! which has been soundly beaten with the ugly stick by Seat, and which is supposedly the “class-leading small modern town car” and probably the closest modern thing to a Panda.
You know what? I think - gulp - I have made a mistake here. The Seat can't hold a candle to the ten-year old Panda. Seriously. After, granted, only a few months' experience, I admit there is nothing fatally wrong with the Seat, and the ride is excellent. But, if you're familiar with the ergonomic concept of FLOW, you'll know what I mean. Everything in the Fiat was where it should be, and is Just So. The Seat reminds me, by comparison, of driving an early eighties hatchback. Why it gets such good reviews is a mystery to me.
Whereas the 100HP was a car that I found difficult to fault in any way, from the big stuff like the enthusiastic engine, the rock-solid brakes and the general fine build quality, right down to the small details - the incredibly ergonomic dashboard, the awesome heater and the fact that it doesn’t buzz and beep at you. Complaints I have are incredibly minimal - err, the top of the back bumper is horizontal and collects dirt. The speed-limit warning is unnecessarily fiddly to activate. That's about it.
The Seat, by comparison (and despite being the 'iTech' version, which is a name that is as irritatingly faux-moderne as it is dishonest) as it has about as much technology as a teaspoon. Where are the electrically adjustable mirrors; the height-adjustable seat (currently I am driving round propped up by a horrid foam squab which looks as though it has been lifted from a retirement home); the four wheel disc brakes, the get-you-home headlights; the space-saver spare wheel; the radio that gets louder at higher speeds; the winding-down back windows; the door pockets that don’t rattle like a castanet salesman when you put something in them; the self-closing windows (still active after ignition off
) or the heater vent for each hand, so one hand doesn’t end up frozen while the other is chargrilled?
Bloddy nowhere, that's where.
So I'm seriously thinking about moving back to the Panda fold. Thing is, though, how would I work it financially? Normally you go to a dealer with a clapped out car and they give you a reasonable something, because they want to shift a newer and more expensive car. Would any dealer give a worthwhile price when taking in a used-but-newer-and-more-expensive car against an older model?
If I do it privately, how do I avoid getting ripped off during either or both ends of the trade?
Bear in mind also that I need to swing the whole thing past Mrs Pete, who will not be in favour.
Another question - dearly though I loved the performance side of the 100HP, I thought the Mk2 Panda was such a brilliant package that I could be tempted by a non-100HP model. But which one? Which is the 100HP's closest kin in terms of spirit, and also generosity of kit?
Well, there you go. Tomorrow brings another boring trip to work in the horrid boring Seat. What to do… what to do…
Pete
So almost immediately I had another 100HP in my sights, but Mrs Pete said “oh, you don’t want to be driving around in a 9-year-old car. You want to get something newer. We can afford it.”
Said I “but I love the Panda. Everything about it is ideal”.
Quoth she: “Aah, it’s really old. You’ll find a newer car is so much better. I guarantee it. Here’s my business card - call me”. Well, no, she didn’t say the bit about the business card, but otherwise she did as good a job as any pointy-shoed car salesman.
Come to a rub, I have replaced it - since I needed something immediately to get to work in - with a Seat Mii, which is broadly a rebadged Volkswagen Up! which has been soundly beaten with the ugly stick by Seat, and which is supposedly the “class-leading small modern town car” and probably the closest modern thing to a Panda.
You know what? I think - gulp - I have made a mistake here. The Seat can't hold a candle to the ten-year old Panda. Seriously. After, granted, only a few months' experience, I admit there is nothing fatally wrong with the Seat, and the ride is excellent. But, if you're familiar with the ergonomic concept of FLOW, you'll know what I mean. Everything in the Fiat was where it should be, and is Just So. The Seat reminds me, by comparison, of driving an early eighties hatchback. Why it gets such good reviews is a mystery to me.
Whereas the 100HP was a car that I found difficult to fault in any way, from the big stuff like the enthusiastic engine, the rock-solid brakes and the general fine build quality, right down to the small details - the incredibly ergonomic dashboard, the awesome heater and the fact that it doesn’t buzz and beep at you. Complaints I have are incredibly minimal - err, the top of the back bumper is horizontal and collects dirt. The speed-limit warning is unnecessarily fiddly to activate. That's about it.
The Seat, by comparison (and despite being the 'iTech' version, which is a name that is as irritatingly faux-moderne as it is dishonest) as it has about as much technology as a teaspoon. Where are the electrically adjustable mirrors; the height-adjustable seat (currently I am driving round propped up by a horrid foam squab which looks as though it has been lifted from a retirement home); the four wheel disc brakes, the get-you-home headlights; the space-saver spare wheel; the radio that gets louder at higher speeds; the winding-down back windows; the door pockets that don’t rattle like a castanet salesman when you put something in them; the self-closing windows (still active after ignition off
) or the heater vent for each hand, so one hand doesn’t end up frozen while the other is chargrilled?Bloddy nowhere, that's where.
So I'm seriously thinking about moving back to the Panda fold. Thing is, though, how would I work it financially? Normally you go to a dealer with a clapped out car and they give you a reasonable something, because they want to shift a newer and more expensive car. Would any dealer give a worthwhile price when taking in a used-but-newer-and-more-expensive car against an older model?
If I do it privately, how do I avoid getting ripped off during either or both ends of the trade?
Bear in mind also that I need to swing the whole thing past Mrs Pete, who will not be in favour.
Another question - dearly though I loved the performance side of the 100HP, I thought the Mk2 Panda was such a brilliant package that I could be tempted by a non-100HP model. But which one? Which is the 100HP's closest kin in terms of spirit, and also generosity of kit?
Well, there you go. Tomorrow brings another boring trip to work in the horrid boring Seat. What to do… what to do…
Pete
