Lets face it though people, the 500 aint no luxury cruiser, not is it a high performance sports car or a family saloon - its a fun, funky, retro city car like no other! I for one aint bovvered what it rides like. I'm just going to enjoy it

Mt Fiat Coupe 20vt has a pretty harsh ride, but does that mean i dont like the car, umm, no way!

Hey, MrH, you driven Simonstones car yet, I had a go last night.

No! The cheeky gits! They told me i couldnt until the 21st.

MrH said:

No! The cheeky gits! They told me i couldnt until the 21st.

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That's what they told me too, until I used my "powers of perssuasion"

Give them a bell, when I was in there they were offering a guy a test drive who is looking to buy, so you should get to drive one.

Emailed him to ask when i can drive, lets see what they say!

You enjoy it?

The first thing that struck me is the brakes, very, very direct, which is a nice change.

The steering whilst being very light, was not devoid of feel & when it came to parking felt unbelivably easy, lord nows how light it must be with Dualtronic in girly mode.

The ride, whilst pretty firm, was good, damping rates fely OK, slightly more crashing through potholes than I expected, but that'll be due to the 16" wheels, mine's on 15's.

The quality of the interior & all of the driver interfaces was 1st class, although it's going to take me some time to get used to the 'dial in a dial" rev counter & speedometer.

Overall I was very impressed buy the car as a pakage, it felt very much like a Mini, but with lighter steering & a slightly higher seating position.

My only crtisism would be that the rear 3/4 visability when reversing is non existant, but that's something I'll get used to.

So at last, the nightmare customer is happy, he has a letter detailing the car & has driven one, so all boxes ticked.

Thanks to Andy C at Simonstone for putting up with me (I know you read this), not an easy customer I know, but I wanted the car exactly right.

Just have to sit tight know

MrH said:

No! The cheeky gits! They told me i couldnt until the 21st.

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Some dealers are daft Can't see the problem of letting people test drive it, even before the Official launch, my local (Stoneacre) dealer just gave me the keys and left me to it on my own, I must look trusting :devil:

Ive found a problem for anyone over 6 feet 2"... although I could get comfy in the seat and legroom is good, for the life of me I cant get a decent driving position, theres not enough adjustment on the steering column So when I get in and out its really not easy. Never had that problem with a new Panda so I can only assume the seat is set too high or column too low. Dealer said hes found this himself as hes the same height.

nuovapanda said:

Ive found a problem for anyone over 6 feet 2"...

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I'm 6 feet 3". I don't fit in the back too well due to lack of headroom but the front is fine for me.

I must be deformed then I will try a different model when they become available.

We've got the equivalent of 600 miles up on our 1.2 sport on 15 polici now, the ride is excellent if you compare it to the nodding dog feeling you get in a Mini, on the steep hills around turin the torque of the SDE would be welcome though, it steers well and a bit of body roll IMHO is a good safety aid

Just test driven 1.4 Sport - car felt very solid and despite the 16'' wheels, ride was no worse than my GP Sporting. Difficult to get a genuine idea of how it drives at the mo as the engine was so tight but it was the quality of it that struck me, definitely felt screwed together better than my GP.

However, it has a terrible driving position, the seat is set far too high and all the height adjuster does is tilt the base cushion making the seats v. uncomfortable. Unfortunately, this was enough to put me off considering I do a fair bit of commuting and long distances. Maybe they'll fix things for the Abarth?