The pros & cons of Panda ownership?
Other than a couple of issues that my bought used 2014 1.2 has had I can assure you I have little to moan about.
The 1.2 is one of Fiats finest, an old design now but these Fire engines are strong, free revving, quiet and economical. Don't expect Porsche performance or masses of torque, mine is a Euro 6 version but kept in tip top condition, with regular services, decent plugs and an oil catch tank then she will pull fine use the gears, keep the revs up and you'll find the car great.
Drive below 65 mph and be rewarded by excellent economy, just remember if you drive like your on the Mobil economy run to give it a thrashing every now and again, just don't get Basil Fawlty to do it.
I concur. I run a 2015 Euro 6 Panda 1.2, I also have regular access to a Twinair 2014 Panda which I drive normally a few times a month.
The twin air is a nice engine but it's just not for me. The off gearing and constant thrum of the engine doesn't personally work for me. While is is more powerful than my fire engine, I find it somewhat less flexible especially in 4x4 guise where setting off and the redline are about 0.8 second apart and while it's quoted MPG is awesome, getting it requires driving like a my nan.....in normal driving the figures are more than a little fanciful especially if you like a decent B Road jaunt.
In comparison the 1.2 is free revving, smooth and consistent in its power delivery and getting close to the quoted MPG is more achievable. (Early Euro 6 cars had a crappy fuelling/Timing map from the factory which hobbled their driving performance, Fiat released a new map a while later that was uploaded to the car when serviced at a main dealer as a software update map. Once this was done the car is a totally different beast.)
They are also very hardy units, precious little goes wrong and if it does it's normally fairly easy to fix, while the Twinair has been more reliable then most expected, it's more fragile by design and as some on here can confirm, when it does fail or eat its DMF its repair costs can seriously sting.
For me the Pros of the fire engine are the best balance for me, I get very good economy, I've driven my Panda over the continent and would sit at 80-90mph all day where the law allows and it's quiet enough that it doesn't grate on me, whereas when I did the same in the Twinair I wanted a set of ear defenders and a new left leg as it had been vibrated to discomfort after 1000k in a day.
The pro's of the Twinair are that it is more powerful, it's acceleration is better and in theory it's more flexible. This is balanced out by being louder, more vibrations, a reputation for lack of decent fuel consumption and very careful maintenance needed to avoid future headaches.
As Murphyv said, proper maintenance is key. The 1.2 is more forgiving to abuse without biting you for lack of a better term, but needs a good thrashing once in a while to keep it loose and limber. The Twinair is a fairly stressed engine so needs careful oversight and a proactive mindset.
As for the Timing belt, there appears to be a point of confusion. I've seen some with 60k-6 year intervals which was the case with my 2012 Panda 1.2 but my 2015 has in the service book 8 years. I'm not sure if this is a error or a change in spec, I'd personally change between 48-60k depending on how intensively used it has been.
Try both and see how you feel about them, only you can feel what suits your driving style [emoji106]
