Panda My New 2009 100HP

A bit of background:

I was looking to replace my VW Golf 1.8T after 13 years of ownership. It has been recently hit up the backside and consequently written off. I was offered a paltry amount of £800 for it which gave me a bit of a reality check - why was I paying £450 a year insurance for a heavily modified car to only be offered that?

Also I have been in the modified car scene for quite a while now in various cars ranging from an Escort RS Turbo, a Fiesta XR2 (both of which I bitterly regret selling considering market prices nowadays) to my current Mk4 Golf GTI and have realised I'm spending more and more over the years and not really getting anything back. Plus I'm getting old now (40)

So the decision was made to buy the Golf back and it is now waiting to be broken for parts which when sold should be more than enough to cover a new car. Which brings me to the Panda...

I know what the Panda is like as a car as my wife owns a 1.2 Dynamic ECO which has been absolutely good as gold over the past few years. So the hunt was on.

EBay turned up what I think is a lovely example of a Panda 100HP from Newcastle. It was a bit of a trek bearing in mind I live 350 miles and a stretch of water away from the sellers address so I was really hoping it lived up to expectations when I went to view the car yesterday.

The seller was very honest and pointed out the very few faults it had and what he has fixed over the last year as the owner. He'd spent a fair bit sorting out the main niggles that come with the 100HP; a Bilstien B12 kit had been fitted along with a Coupe bumpstops, new top mounts, ARB bushes, track rod ends, drop links and an Ulter backbox as the old one had rotted out. He also fitted a set of Abarth 500 seats as the standard ones didn't agree with him.

This and the 4 fairly new Goodyear tyres, FSH and only 56k on the clocks swayed it for me and made the 350 mile catamaran, bus, train, plane, car and ferry journey (in that order, all in 12 hours) worth it.

The car is currently parked on my brothers driveway as I am waiting for everything to be sorted out with my Golf and while it's there he is going to give it a good machine polish and a nice wax as he's into all that where I am not

I do have a few plans for it but nothing too serious; I have already bought a Fiat 500 Abarth steering wheel and airbag to replace the worn standard wheel, I will get some 3D gel number plates made up when I transfer my private plate over with some surrounds, a new interior mirror as the one in there is a bit scabby, a Euro drivers rear light, paint the calipers red and some silver bulbs all round for the indicators. My Kenwood headunit will also make an appearance at some point.

Anyways enough of my waffling, attached are some pics from the eBay listing.

More pics

Very tidy looking,
but looking at the photo of the rear shock, the bottom bolt looks like it's not tight, maybe just the photo?

Thanks mate

It looks like the picture may be an optical illusion but I will give it a closer inspection when I head over there next

Hopefully it is an optical illusion, offer of £800 is a piss take but then, that is every insurance company for you, £450 per year is a lot to insure a vw golf, my CL500 is nowhere near that, what merc do you have?(I see a merc key in one of the pics)

It was £450 to insure it due to the modifications which is why I've drawn a line under it. The insurance for the Panda will be a shade under £200 so I'm saving over half the cost.

It's not my Merc unfortunately it was the guy who I bought the panda from. He picked me up from the airport in it, a C63 AMG Estate. What a car

A quick update.

The Panda is now on the road and the Golf has gone to the scrapyard. It took us 5 days to completely strip it down and I have nearly made enough to pay my dad back the money he lent me for the purchase.

While I've been selling parts I've also been buying them...

I found a Euro rear light cluster for the drivers side and fitted that along with a red LED bulb. I get moaned at by the dash when the rear fog is on but I can live with that.

I also fitted an RGM rear bumper cover which hides a flaky bit of paint so that's a win for me. Osram Diadem bulbs fitted along with some plate surrounds and 3D gel plates with my personal reg.

A Fiat 500 Abarth steering wheel now sits up front. I went for a standard airbag as the Abarth badged items were nearly twice the price!

The standard headunit is out and will be replaced with my Kenwood DAB unit once I get the Autoleads surround to fit properly. I'm amazed at how badly these "fit"

I contacted Eibach a few weeks ago asking them if my rear springs were fitted correctly as the logos were upside down. Their response...

"Hello Wes, you are correct in questioning the fitment. All of our products are stamped to be read correctly when installed. Yours looks to be upside down."

Needless to say I will be swapping these over once it's dry.

I'm undecided whether to change the standard rear aerial for a Shark fin DAB which was due to be fitted to the Golf or use the traditional bee sting style...

Next up is taking the front bumper off and tinting the fogs yellow while replacing the passenger headlight which has split and lets a lot of water in.

I also need to work out how to bolt the 595 rear bench in to complete the interior. One other part that is proving difficult is trying to source some interior plastics; namely the parts that run along the rear sills as mine are smashed on both sides for some reason

All in all I'm really happy with the purchase, it's an ideal car to be using over here on the Island and a lot more economical than anything else I've owned for a long time. For once I don't have any future plans to modify a car other than to drive it and maybe fit some roof bars for trips away with the family

Lovely panda
Needs more photos!!!

Thanks mate. I've completed a few more mods over the last week so I will get some more photos once the rain stops...

Rear fog lights are the work of the devil causing dazzle making wet motorways far more dangerous than they need to be. They should be required to switch off above 30mph. If you can see to go that fast you don't need the fogs.

The reversing light is hopeless. Get stuck needing to reverse on a dark back lane and you are royally screwed. Maybe its possible to fit a super bright LED bulb.

Rear fog lights being on when not needed are one of my pet hates too.


I've found the reverse light is the only bulb that doesn't flag up the warning on the dash when you fit an LED so yes a super bright version is doable

Sweet 100HP! And well done going so far to pick it up. It's always a gamble, but it's hard to beat the feeling when you go out of your way, and then succeed. It looks really sorted, and with those nice dampers and springs (once they are the right way round that is ) - Great color too!
I'm looking forward to seeing some more photos, and your 500 wheel fitted. I thought about 500 seats as well, as they apparently sit lower than the 100HP ones, but I am pretty comfy in the HP seats, so I will try and see if I can lower those first.

Very true about the radio surround. Worst fitting aftermarket piece I have experienced. I gave up trying to make it sit well, as I just couldn't
Maybe we should have a group but of Fiat surrounds

Thanks for the comments

No pics as yet unfortunately as the weather has been abysmal...

I have however found breaks in the deluge of rain to fit a set of longitudinal roof rails which I picked up for an absolute steal (£30 delivered) and I also found a set of genuine Fiat cross roof bars to fit on the rails for £20 delivered.


I've currently got the interior in bits as both rear threshold plastics are out pending replacement and I have run the wiring to the DAB shark fin aerial. The door speakers are in the process of being replaced with Vibe Slick 6C and one of the micro amps Vibe have just released.

The rear springs are now the right way round and I asked my mate to give it a complete MOT type check over while he was there. All four wheels are slightly buckled as you would expect but nothing too serious and I can't feel it when driving.

I have a noisy rear wheel bearing which I knew about but it wasn't a deal breaker for me and it's something I can do myself. The brake pads and discs are a similar story and will need replacing soon.


The only other item to look at was a very slight oil leak from the gearbox/driveshaft seal. Not sure on how to rectify this as yet but I'll have a look once the MOT is out of the way in June.

Other than that he said it's in good mechanical condition and he really liked it

I'll definitely get some pics at the weekend

Both the toys together at the weekend

Sorry just testing that these pics work

A back end pic with the RGM bumper protector fitted