Just been reading through the "Are they all this awful" thread and noticed a lot of people saying things similar to or the same as this:

30111987 said:

it performs fine for the town and occasional motorway trips.

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As some of you know I bought one of these and pick it up Friday night (well happy about that ) but the "occasional motorway trips" comment has just made me wonder, as I drive on the motorway at least twice per day, it isn't likely to be irritating on the motorway going from a MkI Punto to a GP is it? Or will I still see the massive improvement I saw driving it round a town for 10 mins on the test drive? Probably just me panicking but may as well ask!

I've hammered GP's up & down the M6 (300+ miles) many times with no problems with hills and easly held the legal speed limit also short motorway trips (26miles) daily for weeks on end no issues.

I'll tell you tomorrow after doing a quarter of the M25 in rush hour. The gearing / power comfort should be up to it though.

The only area which i could see as an issue is getting on M'ways with short slip roads and heavy fast traffic.

The engines cope as i regularly thrash my 1.1 at 4,000rpm (75mph on the GPS) for 50 miles and occasionally goes up from London to Manchester and back.

Just don't expect to sit in the middle lane at 60 and floor it to over take lane hoggers.

My main concerns with the car is lack of FIAT characteristics in design touches and finishing.

Performance wise the 1.1/2 FIAT FIRE engines are excellent, bar the electronics that have been bolted on to some of them

Will be fine just dont race anyone.

I've got the 1.2 Panda and it does fine on the motorway, if you need to accelerate drop it a cog

But if you cruise enjoy the thought on how cheap your run is

But if you really hate it, i'll swap - well it's worth a try

Hi I've got an 1.2 actice gp (for about a year). About three months ago i was on a trip with it. It was great on motorway 130km/h it handled it. (with packeges and four people in it!)

Good stuff, don't think I need to worry about racing to be honest as the car I have now isn't the nippiest of all motors really haha! GP was quicker than my MkI round the towns the other day so would expect it to be on M/Way too

Yeah don't worry about motorway trips. I have a 1.4 8v and I only do about 10 miles a day on the motorway but I do a 100 mile round trip to Manchester every fortnight and it is absolutely fine. If anything it is better as I don't get the annoying rattling noises I get when I drive on normal bumpy roads!

'Twas fine on the M25 this morning. Steady 40mph. Calm and composed, although i did have to change out out first gear. Second gear coped well though.

Serious review would be that it's fine at legal speeds. Start pushing it or playing in the outside lane with the big boys and you need to plan well in advance.

If you're trying to make progress, as in lane changing, not all out speed, it's good to keep it in fourth to keep it nippy.

5th gear is fine if you've found a steady pace and are happy to motor along.

Oh, and 4gear indicates 100mph which is 90mph on the GPS.

70-80 (indicated) roll on in 5th is ~10 seconds.
70-80 (indicated) roll on in 4th is ~7 seconds.

Not bad for a 1.2, but response slightly lacking.

I'd be happy on the motorway each day in one of these for 25-50 mile stints.

Oh, and did they ever make a 1.2 16V version?

Nope. 1.4 8v and 1.4 16v.

I agree with everyone else

its my first car but you just need to have a nice gap and do as the other said, and drop into forth if you want the acceleration. I've been up to Norwich in it, absolutely no problems really...

Good stuff, I'm not all that fussed about speed to be honest, I'd rather stick to a decent 65-70 to save on petrol really! With me going 30 miles to work and 30 miles back Monday to Friday 5 days a week, then to visit grandparents 40 miles there and back every Saturday bombing it about at 95 would cost me a ton!

B

P.S:

Italian Coke Can said:

Oh, and 4gear indicates 100mph which is 90mph on the GPS.

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Just a quick note, I've never seen a GPS be exactly the same as the speedo in the car (out of 4 different units, tomtom, garmin, nokia built-in and another tomtom, and also in at least 4 different cars) and the accuracy always gets worse the higher the speed is. Don't know if its an inaccuracy that rings true with every speedo i have seen, or an inherent thing with GPS in general.

mines fine, i still rag it

Italian Coke Can said:

5th gear is fine if you've found a steady pace and are happy to motor along.

Oh, and 4gear indicates 100mph which is 90mph on the GPS.

70-80 (indicated) roll on in 5th is ~10 seconds.
70-80 (indicated) roll on in 4th is ~7 seconds.

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What do you mean in that statement? GPS under reads? And whats 4gear?

Some nice stats there, I've done the odd one or two found out its 13 seconds 60-80 in 4th. So that means its 6 seconds 60-70 and 70-80 in 8s as you said.

I do some dual carriage-way driving and find its fine in 5th unless there are hills, the other day I wanted to over take someone I pulled out, still in 5th and just breezed by a vectra pushing some speed I dont think 4th would have been much better tbh.

In 4th gear it showed 100mph on the limiter.

On the GPS (Global positioning system - more accurate than a speedo) it was showing 90mph.

thought M25 had 70mph speed limit

it subjective
ideally you would want something a bit more refined for motorways but the 1.2 can handle it fine
I did about 20 miles each way each day at 70 on dual carriageways for a year in my 1.2 and it was fine. As you get used to it would learn to adjust your driving style and look further ahead so you can avoid losing momentum. Ultimately that probably makes you a safer driver as well

T14086 said:

thought M25 had 70mph speed limit

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and who follows limits

even i dont and i havent even passed yet

Vimto Rolf said:

and who follows limits

even i dont and i havent even passed yet

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Is that why you haven't passed?

Vimto Rolf said:

and who follows limits

even i dont and i havent even passed yet

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Quit whilst your ahead rolf


my 1.2 is fine on the motor way as 30111987 you alter your driving to keep momentum (tows a trailer well on the motorway too)