General Fiat Panda - a great family car!

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General Fiat Panda - a great family car!

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Afternoon all!

As some of you will know, we have owned our 1.2 Easy for the best part of 18 months now, and are just about to go past the 20,000 mile mark in the next week or so.

I thought about writing this thread as I overheard a few people talking about what car they were hoping to get now that they were expecting their first child. I can't remember the exact conversation but the Focus and Qashqai were both mentioned (I quite like the Focus but the Qashqai? No thanks!:yuck:).

In my opinion, the Panda is a really great little car for many young families with up to two children (in theory you could fit three kids on the back seat if they were a bit older, but it's not likely to happen on a regular basis!:D). Yet I don't think many people would ever really consider a Panda as being such a car?

Here are my main reasons behind this:

1. Space - in my opinion, the boot in the Panda offers plenty of usable space for a pushchair, travel cot and the other gubbins you have to haul along with you. Obviously there needs to be a bit of consideration as to how well your pushchair folds up, but we have found that you can squeeze a whole load into the back, not to mention the floors in the back too (if your kids are still small enough and are in car seats). And the bin in the front is always, always full of stuff!(y)

2. Accessibility - really can't rate the Panda highly enough in this regard. The boot lip is at a really nice height low down, making it a doddle to chuck things in. In addition the doors are nice and small, and very light too which is really handy when getting our son out of the back.

3. Easy to drive - whether you have kids or not, what's not to love about the driving experience in a Panda? You're nice and high up, the gearstick is positioned perfectly, and there is good all-round visibility. Also, it's a doddle to park and you can nip in and out all small spaces that a Qashqai owner could only ever dream of!:D

4. Cheap to run - raising a family at this moment in time is hard going with the cost of living etc, and to be honest I am grateful for the fact that vehicle duty is £30 a year and fuel consumption is generally around the 45-50 mpg mark.

So there you go. Hopefully someone has found this of use!:D
 
I bought a Panda back in 2009 as a cheap second car runaround.
Ended up using it for _everything_ and stopped buying big cars....
 
yep, its easy to love driving the Panda as a general runabout. I've even started using it for the long fast motorway run to see my folks in London :eek:. Our 330d has actually seen very little use now since the Panda showed up and is starting to make me feel rather guilty :(
 
yep, its easy to love driving the Panda as a general runabout. I've even started using it for the long fast motorway run to see my folks in London :eek:. Our 330d has actually seen very little use now since the Panda showed up and is starting to make me feel rather guilty :(

It's good to hear that the Panda is a good all rounder. How do you find it on the motorway? One of my concerns is that it will get blown around and buffeted on motorway trips. I used to own a Smart Fortwo and it was horrendous on motorways whenever there was anything more than a breeze and whenever I went past a lorry. My fear is that if I go for a Panda Trekking or 4x4 I'll have more of those bottom clenching steering wheel gripping moments. I'm sure it won't be anywhere near as bad as the Smart though, partly because the engine is in the front of the Panda.
 
Hi Shrub

The T/A 4x4 is remarkably motorway friendly. It has no problem reaching an indicated 80 (that's probably 70 and a bit...) and in my experience thus far is actually a very stable little car.

The only real comparatives i have from recent driving of small cars are:

Citroen C1 Automatic, driven for a week in Greece (nasty floaty-feeling at speed, appallingly noisy and inconsistent ride quality, rough sounding engine, poor visibility but at least it only 'sipped fuel')

FIAT Punto Evo, two weeks in Portugal (creamy smooth, but 'gutless' engine, slick gear change, also very floaty feeling at speed - not planted like the Panda - generally ok ride quality but inconsistent, steering needs more feel, however a decent size car inside and quite economical)

Certainly the Panda is my favourite small car of the moment and a genuine ali-rounder. The fact you can flatten the front seat and it sort of opens up a bit like a small van is also really handy for trips to DIY stores and garden centres - it reminds me a bit of the old Mercedes A class which I also thought was a very versatile car.

So yes, I'm certainly happy with the Panda on fast roads and I do believe this has something to do with the decent steering and really rather excellent work that FIAT has done with the spring rates and damping.

The longer journeys i do are mainly on the M3 / A303 / A3.

Good luck (y)

PS note that the 4x4 has a bespoke spring/damper set up - unfortunately i've not tried a regular Panda to see if they cope the same
 
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Thanks 4x4 Panda, that is good to hear.

I will be able to make my mind up on a test drive but sometimes you need to hear from those with lots of experience, especially when the conditions you want to try the car in don't happen on the test!

It will be a 4x4 or Trekking that I might go for and so the regular Panda set up doesn't bother me too much. The 4x4/Trekking seem to get a lot of praise for ride quality and from what I understand the 4x4 and Trekking set ups are the same?
 
Well I'm very happy with the way my Trekking TA goes on motorways- I believe the Trekking's
suspension is virtually the same as the 4x4, I've no complaints about the ride quality.

My only reservation is the slightly imprecise handling, but given that my previous car was
an Alfa Mito, I couldn't have expected quite the same! The Trekking's ability to cope with
poor road surfaces and traffic-calming certainly compensates...

I don't do any serious off-roading, so the 4x4 would be wasted on me!



Chris
 
I bought a 1.3MJ 4x4 earlier this year for my commute/weekend surfing (live in coastal Cornwall). We've ended up using it as the family car on weekends (wife+3 kids) as everyone loves it!

I'm adding a bike rack/rook rack on the next week or so too!
 
I bought a 1.3MJ 4x4 earlier this year for my commute/weekend surfing (live in coastal Cornwall). We've ended up using it as the family car on weekends (wife+3 kids) as everyone loves it!

I'm adding a bike rack/rook rack on the next week or so too!

Just for your info, the thule roof bars are much quiter than the fiat ones.
They are nigh on silent, compared to the roar of the fiat ones.
They do cost more though. I paid £175
 
Just for your info, the thule roof bars are much quiter than the fiat ones.
They are nigh on silent, compared to the roar of the fiat ones.
They do cost more though. I paid £175

Cheers for that, will likely go with the Thule.
 
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Thule rack. Practical? Yes. Noisy? With 4 pairs of skis- yes. Fun? Yes. Family of 4 with skis and gear in a Panda is no problem. Helmets on!
 
They're a bit close- wearing my Scarpa 'Helium' walking shoes (sole 12cm wide)
I have to be careful to miss the brake pedal when depressing the clutch!

On the odd occasion I've hit both, there's a bit of a jolt...


Narrower shoes are advised :)


Chris
 
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