Panda 2012+ Lounge and Antartica, will they mate?

Hope not... any offspring will be pink!

The 4x4 doesn't look that much higher than the normal one.

How do they compare?

TwinAir Newbie said:

The 4x4 doesn't look that much higher than the normal one.

How do they compare?

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You notice the height when you're sat in the 4x4, even with the seat set low you do feel perched up there.
You step into the Lounge but step up into the 4x4, it's first thing you notice, the floor height.

Both seats feel a little too short under the backs of my legs for any seriously long trips.

The brakes are a lot keener on the 4x4, I know it has discs on the rear which would account for some of it, but looking at the middle pedal is enough to haul the 4x4 up.

The Lounges' 5 speed is a lot smoother gearbox than the others 6, I put this down to the bigger jump of the 4x4 between the low 1st and 2nd gear, also it's easy to bump the rev limiter on the 4x4, the first two gears are shorter and the TA's flywheel must by super light.

Engine wise they are poles apart, the 1.2 Lounge is your usual, lovable little 4 cylinder. The differance between this and the earlier 60hp or our old 54hp is noticable, it'll pull gears lower and slower than the old one and I reckon it's around 15-20% more responsive.

The TA is bonkers, I've had and driven two cylinders in the past, but nothing like this. Because of the mentioned gear ratio thing, it's a little trickier around the heavy traffic of London, slow moving first and second stuff, though I'll cope!

I've given it the beans a few times, both of a motorway and up over the Pennines and it's just makes you grin, I overtook a mate in his Jag at silly speed and he was impressed as this little "noddy car" rattled past making a "funny noise".

Hammering it up the hills, it does tend to lag a little on up changes, a slight pause before it kicks again. I'm not convinced it's turbo lag, but perhaps an ignition/fueling pause as when it does kick again, it's bang on the torque in an instant and I haven't appeared to have lost too much rpm.

I've done the M1 - Homefirth - Saddleworth Moor - Oldham trip in plenty of cars, but that was the most surprising to say the least.

Around the twisties, the 4x4 has stability control and you can provoke it to drag you around tight corners carrying butt clenching speeds, it's a leap of faith but it does reward. Gear selection makes you think on a second, but it's usually happy in one higher gear than would usually be felt ideal as the torque pulls you out.

It's sure footed even on the slush that was up Saddleworth moor the other weekend, but as I didn't take both it hard to say what the other would have felt like.

It does roll more than the Lounge but not quite as much as our old '57 plate though, you can also feel the different rear suspension setup between the two. It's hard to explain, the Lounge feels tighter on the rear on the flat, both are sprung and dampered really well for a cheapish cars, if you flick a bump on a corner with the inside rear wheel of the Lounge, then it does tend to skip or hop the back end a little as both wheels respond to the bump. With the 4x4 you can feel it hit the bump but the back axle responses better, without the feeling of a hop or skip more a sense of a twist.

Well the TA 4x4 no longer looks like the above!
Someone's smashed in the tailgate and cracked the trim/handle, also the near side rear wheel has chunks of metal missing out of it in the rim.

I am so so sorry to hear that!

Just had a quote from a mate, the paint and repair on the tailgate he'll do for £150.
The handle/trim is around £140
A new wheel £195 before fitting.

No idea how it happened, not used it myself since washing it off at the weekend.
But now it's dented and the wheel kerbed??

That's really horrible.

Nothing, nothing like as bad, I was annoyed that there is now a bad chip on the windscreen of the Panda and will be replaced next week.

However this pales into insignificance compared to what happened to you.

Well, I've done exactly 3 miles since I noticed the dent in the tailgate and the ruined alloy wheel, got home today and the N/S mirror is hanging off!
Snapped clean through the pivot.

I can't find a mark on it to suggest it's been hit by anything passing and it wasn't dangling by the wire, but propped up against the window.

In two weeks I've done 3 miles and it's going to cost me;
New wheel £198 plus swapping over the tyre.
Paint and repair to the tailgate £150
New tailgate handle £140
New mirror £156

I'm a bit sick and considering cutting my losses with it.
I'm going to see how much I'll loose selling it back to the dealer.
If my original deposit/trade in gets within a grand of covering the deprecation, it's going back!

Goodness, that's awful! What kind of sick person does that? Is there any CCTV in the area, or could you put a hidden camera in the car yourself to try to catch the vandal(s)?

I can understand why you would feel sick and not want to keep it anymore. It feels like being burgled I imagine and I know what that's like.

Unbelievable!

I am so sorry!

SuffolkBexx said:

I can understand why you would feel sick and not want to keep it anymore. It feels like being burgled I imagine and I know what that's like.

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That's not the problem, I just can't afford to keep repairing it and I just can't keep up with them either, before I've sorted one, something else has been wrecked!

I'm packing it in before there's a big one, a bus pass will get me to work, my ****ty old van takes me out to my hobby.
I've done with them, I've handed over the spare key to the Mrs's Lounge, I don't want anything to do with that one either!