General Fiat Panda 312/319

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General Fiat Panda 312/319

Do any of you feel like you'll be walking away from Fiat when car replacement time comes around? I hate the thought of it, but the image of no dealers..

Some excellent discussion and perspectives here!!!

Fiat realy needs to fill the gaps in there model range.
You can't realy upgrade to something a bit bigger and slightly more expensive as the Punto is realy outdated and more or less in it's dieing days. The only upgrade path now is to a car that costs almost twice as much.
If you don't need something bigger, the Panda is stil a realistic option. The offerings of the competition are just as outdated for the biggest part so if I had to choose today I would still pick the Panda above the 500, Aygo(and it's clones), Up(and it's clones), Picanto, I10 and Ka. Those are the cars I realy see as the competition and most of them lack the space or the performance of the Panda. Also I think that the Panda is nicer to drive and offers more character then all these others.
 
If I'm not mistaken, the previous Panda was the first Fiat Small Car platform vehicle. Small tweaks to the platform birthed the 500, then tweaks to that (wheelbase, width) birthed the 500X and 500L, which then led to the Jeep Renegade, while the current Panda is based on the modified 500 architecture (which was originally based on the previous Panda) so the ancestry all leads back to the Panda. It's really a shame, as FCA has been running on fumes regarding R&D, and all the platforms are now long in the tooth. The new Tipo/Egea is an appropriation of the Dodge Dart, which has already been all but discontinued in the U.S. so unless they get their act together and push some new modular architecture through development they'll be falling behind other manufacturers in all segments.

You're right that the previous (2003) Panda platform underpins the 500. It also underpins the current Panda and Lancia/Chrysler Ypsilon, in modified form.

However the 500L, 500X and Jeep Renegade are all on the SCCS platform, which underpins the Grande Punto, Alfa MiTo, GM Corsa etc. The new Tipo is also built on this platform, presumably to help keep manufacturing and list prices lower. The platform has had alterations along the way though, for example in the case of the 500X/Renegade it's adapted for 4x4 running. Whilst it's a pretty old platform, the 500X & Renegade, plus GM Corsa, all seem competitive enough to suggest that it's not the platform which is to blame for the poorer sales of other models.

The Dodge Dart shares its Compact Wide platform with the Alfa Giulietta and 2014 Jeep Cherokee, plus the Fiat Ottimo (China) and Chrysler 200. Whilst this platform uses a central part of the floor from the old Fiat Stilo, 2007 Fiat Bravo/Lancia Delta platform, it was otherwise all-new in 2010.

I think if anything, Fiat could do with investing in a new or heavily altered platform for the next 500 & Panda, as it's these models that have been at the heart of Fiat's sales in recent years and I don't know if the platform is now good enough to put the cars at the top of the tree like the 2003 Panda was. However in the case of other models, the fact that GM are still using the SCCS platform for recent launches suggests there's enough life in that for it not to need replacement quite so urgently as the smallest platform.
 
He is talking about roughly 19.600-21.200 Euro's.
So, no new Hyundai Tuscon or Mazda CX-3 for that kind of money. ;

That may be starting prices that look more interesting but realisticly they are all gonna cost you around 25000 euro's ( just like the 500x) with a bit of kit out the door over here.
Personally I would never buy anything that the VAG group has to offer unless I win the lotery ;)
 
That may be starting prices that look more interesting but realisticly they are all gonna cost you around 25000 euro's ( just like the 500x) with a bit of kit out the door over here.
Personally I would never buy anything that the VAG group has to offer unless I win the lottery ;)

Even then i doubt i will buy anything VAG related. :D
 
Hahaha, I know what you mean. Can't help myself though, I'm a sucker for the Porsche 911 ;) . It's a boxer thing (own an old airhead BMW motorbike and had a couple of oil cooled ones in the past).

Subaru has Boxer engines. :D

The only interesting with-in VAG for me is the 5 cylinder engine.
Except they use it in the wrong models and direction.
 
CX-3 starts at 115k lira, Tucson starts at 125k. These are base petrol vehicles.

I think I'll be sticking to the Panda for a while.

As I said before I'm only looking at out the door prices over here in my country and they are all around the same price with similar kit.
Personally I have no need for a bigger car then the Panda so I will also be holding on to mine for a long time.
Loved this car since day one and it's only getting better the more I drive it.
I hope there will be a worthy succesor that offers just as much fun for the buck as this one does.
 
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