Hello, I have had my 2012 panda 1.2 lounge from 2014, and have covered 25k miles so far. It has a problem that I wondered if anyone else has seen before.
When It first starts in the morning / after being left for more than a few hours, if I then immediately blip the throttle once, it makes it misfire quite badly for about 4 or 5 seconds before settling down. If I wait for 5 seconds or so, it won't misfire at all if revved. It's almost like one of the coil packs needs longer to wake up.


I am due to buy a code reader to see if anything is logged but has anyone seen this before?

All cars need time to 'settle' immediately after a start and indeed my TA is occasionally no different. Let it idle for a few seconds whilse you put your belt on, plug in phone, switch on heated seats (!) and then you'll be good to go. Little to worry about as far as I can see yet.

If when you start the car the clock occasionally resets itself, then your battery is getting weak, but with a car less than 2 years old, you should be fine for now.

That is totally normal, every 1.2 with VVT does that. It over fuels in a bid to heat up quicker and reduce overall emissions. Just leave it settle 10-15 seconds and it should be okay

Changing the plugs,preferably for something better than OEM, should help a lot. NGK DCPR7EIX are a close match for the original fit ones and will both work much better and last a lot longer.

Been there, done that, and can vouch for their effectiveness. Over 50k now on the new plugs & still going strong.

AAB1992 said:

That is totally normal, every 1.2 with VVT does that. It over fuels in a bid to heat up quicker and reduce overall emissions. Just leave it settle 10-15 seconds and it should be okay

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I would agree with you. Our old 12 plate 1.2 Easy used to do this too. Almost sounds like the engine is flooding ever so slightly, then it would settle down pretty quickly.

Only ever happened a couple of times, but if you pulled away too quickly with too much throttle after starting up (and I mean literally a second after starting) then it would nearly flood and cut out. Used to have to dip the clutch, pull the handbrake up and let it settle down!

As you say though, let the car start up, wait for 10 seconds and then apply throttle or pull away. Also gives the oil a few seconds to work its way round the motor too I guess.

New spark plugs may also help out too, I agree with that point as well. The OP doesn't say whether the car has been serviced in that time, if not then certainly the spark plugs will need doing after 25k.

jrkitching said:

Changing the plugs,preferably for something better than OEM, should help a lot. NGK DCPR7EIX are a close match for the original fit ones and will both work much better and last a lot longer.

Been there, done that, and can vouch for their effectiveness. Over 50k now on the new plugs & still going strong.

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From experience, the original NGK plugs do not last the full 18k service interval. Mine began to fail at 16k with a few driveability problems.

Hello again,
I got the car at 7k miles, and have changed the oil myself about every 6k miles, I did the plugs (NGK) at 18k along with filters etc as per the service schedule in the handbook, but it has been like this for ages.
I'm not too worried about it as I suspected it is just a quirk of the ignition system waking up. Blipping the throttle immediately after starting the engine comes from riding carbed bikes, and is a habit I am trying to stop!

Thanks for your input!

AC