Some back story...I'll keep it brief.

My wife and I are archaeologists and work on road schemes and quarrys. We have a 3yr old child. I drive a 1.3 2008 500 and the other half a 2005 ford fusion 1.4 tdci. Both cars have 75k miles. We share work driving duties.

The roads were on aren't doing the cars any favours and I've spotted a few ads on gumtree for a fiat panda.

2005 1.2 61k miles eleganza £1100
2003 1.1 65k miles £625

Maybe using the panda as the work car, or maybe keeping it good and using the ford as the work car. I'm not sure. Were doing just over 100 miles a day so diesel would probably be better.

Any suggestions?

Tom

Hi there. I'd go for the Eleganza as it'll have more comfort than the Active. The 1.1 isn't as frugal as the 1.2 anyway. There were a couple of Multijets on Gumtree relatively recently.

Sell the 500 and the ford.

Put the funds together for a panda 4x4 and maybe the cheaper panda if you both need a car

Whoever's working in the quarry that day takes the 4x4, the other does child duties in the cheap panda.

I've found my 1.2 Dynamic Eco to be surprisingly good on the motorway (for a city car) but A-roads with frequent roundabouts are a bit of a pain, what with the roll and having to thrash it to get back up-to speed.

And I once had a sticky wicket on a farm going through some pig slurry -the skinny wheels lacking traction.

So I'd say it depends on the roads. In Madeira they have waterfalls landing on roads, mudslides and some ridiculous gradients; Panda 4x4s are very popular there.

I have a 1.2 ciao? from 2010, it has tracktion control, and handles nicely even on dirt-roads, and snowed over roads, and is somewhat quiet even at motorway-speeds.. it is very dependant on what type of tyres you put on it of course... but doing 100miles each day I think would get a bit much, I do 40, and most of it is motorway, if I had to go much further I would get something with a better motor to lower the rpm's and keep it quieter..

I have a 2.5 yo and a 1 year old in the back, the comfort of your ride is very dependant on your own height - I'm 180cm, and that means the long legged kid is enjoying kicking the back of my seat all the way, my wife is 160cm, and has no issues at all..

leroya500 said:

Sell the 500 and the ford.

Put the funds together for a panda 4x4 and maybe the cheaper panda if you both need a car

Whoever's working in the quarry that day takes the 4x4, the other does child duties in the cheap panda.

Click to expand...

That would be my suggestion.

As you are looking at cars around a certain age I would advise to check the rear axle very carefully on any FWD Panda you view.

While the Panda's body is pretty rust resistant and their engines robust enough, some of the attachments slung underneath are prone to a bit of rust and the rear axle around the spring seats/cups is one area that car scrap a cheap car due to the cost of a replacement axle.

New axles are £700+ and used ones tend to be in similar state as the one you took off unless you are really lucky.

It's worth getting down there and have a good poke around.
It will no doubt show some signs of corrosion already, but you should be able to see if it's rotten by the amount of chunky rust flakes that it could be shedding around the seat/cup's rim and connections with the main arms of the beam.

4x4's have a different setup at the rear and I've not heard of any problems in this area, though they can chew up the centre support bearing of the rear prop shaft, so it's worth checking for driveline clonks, bangs and knocks when test driving.

Personally I would keep the Fusion as the family bus or perhaps swap that out for a newer sprogmobile, then hunt out a decent 4x4 Panda.
Shoe that with some winter/mud/snow tyres for your rough tracks and unmade roads and it'll be a very useful tool.

Petrol "Climbing" versions are a bit leisurely in the performance stakes, but push the boat out a little with the cash and you might find a "Cross" (no, not angry cross) version with the diesel engine, they aren't a looker in my book, but the performance/economy should be better and they do have a form of electronic diff locking also found on the newer 4x4's, so should offer a bit more off road grip.

Diesel engined used cars are taking a hammering these days, so that should allow you some wriggle room on the price.

I changed the back axle on my 169 Panda for a Fiat 500 axle. It fitted straight in, came virtually new complete with brakes & suspension and cost me £130.

The wheel track is 50mm wider (25mm each side) but causes no wheel clearance problems on ordinary models. It may be a problem with the 100HP's wider wheels but works a treat with ordinary 2wd models.

Handling and ride are so much better, I'd say its worth doing for that alone.

Once I got it out, the original back axle was not in as bad a state as I'd thought.