Hi All - not been posting much recently as have been rather busy.

However, this week yet-again I chose the Panda over the 330D for the long haul into London. Much as I still love the German, the Panda was just better suited for the drive:

When I hit the Wimbledon area it reminds me of driving in Malta which has quite some of the worst tarmac i've ever experienced. My BMW hates this and doesn't half tell me The little FIAT however just soaks it up and seems unfazed by the dreadful surface. The chassis / spring-rate / dampers in the 4x4 are really exceptional for such a tiny car.

There's that and the fact that it converts to a 'van' at short notice for some of the stuff I had to lug back down south. I'm really very pleased I chose the slidey/foldy seats option

Now I could have done this with the old Mk3, but it was just not a motorway car. However the feisty T/A cruises serenely at an indicated 80+ (lop 6-10 offf that for real speed) and still has the punch to get past slow traffic. Having to slot in behind the lorries going up hills was always the most shameful experience in the Mk3...

Really impressed by reports of the Panda 4x4/Trekking suspension to cope with poor surfaces. I have now decided to change my car for March 14 but the Panda is firmly on my shortlist.

Out of interest, what sort of mpg did you get from the twin air at an indicated 80mph cruise? What is the road/tyre noise like at that speed? Thanks.

4x4Panda said:

Now I could have done this with the old Mk3, but it was just not a motorway car. However the feisty T/A cruises serenely at an indicated 80+ (lop 6-10 offf that for real speed) and still has the punch to get past slow traffic. Having to slot in behind the lorries going up hills was always the most shameful experience in the Mk3...

Click to expand...

Although I would contest that the mk. 3 wasn't a motorway car. The fastest I have ever driven any car on a public road was a Panda rented from Sixt in Strasbourg - topping out at 176km/h (110mph) on the autobahn across the border near Karlsrühe. :slayer:

Once was more than enough, I'll admit, but it was fun!

Shrub said:

Really impressed by reports of the Panda 4x4/Trekking suspension to cope with poor surfaces. I have now decided to change my car for March 14 but the Panda is firmly on my shortlist.

Out of interest, what sort of mpg did you get from the twin air at an indicated 80mph cruise? What is the road/tyre noise like at that speed? Thanks.

Click to expand...

See my thread on our trip to Italy. The standard M+S tyres do rumble a bit but not excessively. I anticipate getting a set of summer tyres for the alloy wheels when this set wears and getting another set of M+S on steelies for the winter.

Notice that the difference in tyre pressures is quite large for light/heavy loads. 2.2/2.1 front/back for normal and 2.5 all round when loaded (finding this out was one reason why I was so insistent with my dealer that I was supplied with the right handbook for my model). I'm running on the higher figure for autoroute/autostrada and the tyres were really cool after a quick stretch on Italy's A1. This may have helped the fuel consumption but I suspect that I should probably reduce to more normal pressures.