Okay, until I get some photos up, here's my report of the 'maiden voyage', and I'll add as much detail as possible for you lot who have the time to read through it!
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Flew from Belfast to Glasgow on Monday morning, swiftly used the 'Uber' app for the first time to get a ride from the airport to Motorpoint on the other side of the city. Handy big motorway got us there quick. Appointment for collection was at 2pm, got there for 1pm. The staff were quite good and a woman from admin came over to get us sorted out much earlier. However the complimentary coffee and really nice showroom meant I was in no rush! A nice change from the pushy dealers at Donnelly & Taggart in NI, and the machine coffee I've never been eligible for ;-). There was a beautiful little mint Fiat 500 Lounge in the showroom, too girly for me but definitely worthy of its monumental position.. Back on topic..
So, took a look at the car. Was a dull rainy day, so not ideal for a good look over it. But me and a friend took a good look at the panel gaps and for any major dents, all looked good. I don't know what they used, but it's incredibly well waxed and cleaned. Unfortunately, no mats or spare wheel.. but I've ordered some eBay tailored mats for now.
I took the car for a drive, same as my granny's 1.2 Pop! Thankfully I had the experience of that to use as a benchmark. Everything seemed all good, and decided to go for it and sign off the purchase. Bit of hassle sorting the tax with me having an NI license apparently, but got it handled by Motorpoint. They were very helpful and whilst there was definitely a little bit of 'get it done before the next appointment', they understood I wanted a good drive and time to inspect the car myself without being rushed. The car was officially mine, and we set off for Glasgow city centre.
After this I got accustomed to the car on a 2 hour trip to Cairnryan through the Scottish countryside. Here's what I thought:
The new Panda is definitely bigger feeling inside. Feels put together really well, and 'heavier duty', even the steering wheel and indicator stalks etc. Found the instrument cluster is always lit now, no more sidelights? So it's on/off lighting. Handy. Also like the new wiper controls, easier to get the right speed without engaging the fast speed accidentally as easy. The new dials are easier to read than I was expecting.
I absolutely love the steering wheel controls, bluetooth and new trip computer! Being able to answer / make calls in the car and control my phone safely was my most wanted feature in my next car. Though I'd prefer if the voice button just activated Siri rather than using a limited command Fiat system. But I'm happy! Sadly it's not a leather steering wheel, but still feels great to me. I like the shape of the wheel and the horn. The horn, from what I've tried, sounds more grown up too. My old Panda's horn suited it lol
On the motorway got the chance to push 85mph briefly, though I was, if anything, driving pretty slow that day getting used to the new clutch out of junctions and following the new gear shift indicator so I didn't over rev or 'abuse it'. The new Panda is FAR more stable, a good bit more quiet and doesn't feel like it's on the edge vs the older shape.
This car is definitely slower, and much less responsive than my 05 Panda. Though a 1.4 Corsa I drove, and a few 208's were all the same, so I suspect all 'economical small petrols' are now this way. Though if in practice, this does save fuel (especially as I'll stick to the gear shift indicator) then I'm happy with it. I'm happy to tolerate this because it's much easier to drive the new Panda properly, more cautiously and slowly. Not to a dangerous extent, thankfully.
I did the 'steer test' to confirm, and it's much better at staying up, but just enough fun to still be an Italian car at heart. In some turns as I got near the ferry in Scotland, I'd have been pushing my old Panda VERY hard and to be honest, risk crashing / understeer or similar... but this Panda handled it well. Main theme being it's better at staying upright, much more planted to the road and less 'on the edge'.
There's a definite flat spot in first, which throws you slightly forward, in want of a better worse. Handy for crawling in traffic, but (and I haven't done it yet) I doubt it would be as possible to slip out fast from a junction... I did this too much in the other Panda, and I'd say about 1-in-10 times chanced my life since, after all, beyond being nippy off the line in the city it was still a slow car and couldn't sustain it when the oncoming traffic (bigger cars) often could (and boy, they sure do fly!). In this Panda, I'll be taking more time and driving it within its limitations - something a lot of guys with bigger, faster cars would probably regard as a dealbreaker and poor performing car, but to me it's perfectly fine and I'm going to use it as a chance to slow down and be safer.
The interior is nice and shady with the black plastics and the grey dashboard really is a little nicer than I expected, but I'd have loved red / blue / cream from the pre-16 models if it were an option. The red stitching on the seats is nice too. And I find the head restraints to be a little more comfy without the hole. I love the huge mirrors, less need to focus in! There's still no mirror on the driver sun visor, but that's fine (it's not a 500 I guess) lol
The gear change is nice and short and sharp since the car is much newer. Still adapting to the new clutch and driving of the revised 1.2, but it's going well so far. I have to wait for the car to idle for a while before putting it in reverse if I want it to slip in without a hitch. There's sometimes a bit of bite back / crunch? Sometimes the pedals when you lift your foot off quick sound like a long metal rod sliding of something. I'm sure I've experienced this in the 15 Pop too though so it must be by design.
There's a rattle coming from the back, and I can't work out where it's coming from. Sometime metallic and bouncing up and down though. That's with an empty boot too. Any ideas?
When I got the car home, spent the next evening turtle waxing it all up to see if I could get it to shine more. And washing it got a TONNE of dead insects off the front. I've always wanted to do this and get 'like new' finish, and now I can with this much newer car. Though I still took every bit of pride in my last Panda too, but it was an old and battered car.
There's signs of many small stone chips that have been fixed up with the right paint, but very much look like fresh tiny water drops that you can rub and don't disappear... There is also one dent that's been pulled out on the passenger door, but is only noticeable if you look up the side on a dry day and pay attention to the reflection. The car has never been repainted or had any panels (so not been crashed as far as we can tell), just looks like someone opened the door into a lam post or something. No cracked paint, and was repaired 'good' I would say. Wheel trims are also all perfect condition and panel gaps all good. If on the off chance it was damaged, it'd certainly have been the best repair job I've ever seen.. but it looks good. I suppose it is still two years old and not unreasonable. The 208s I considered all had a LOT of stone chips on the bonnet (un-repaired) and the Corsa I looked at was completely crashed and repaired badly unfortunately.. but all in all I'd say this is a great shape car.
The reality kicks in now though... before, I could go anywhere and park anywhere. If anybody damaged my car or had kids who opened their door into it, I'd just say 'never worry'. Not that I didn't care for the car but didn't lose sleep over it or get angry at people for it! If it was a genuine accident. I have to do my best to keep this car in as good shape as possible now, as it's in great shape today but now rests on me to keep it that way! I'm worried I'll screw it up. Hate leaving it in car parks now too, just in case! I've never had this fear before, but all the times I made fun of my friends for parking at the back of the car park is coming back to me as a sound way of thinking...
I love this car though. I'm going to degrease, clean and wax even the insides of the doors soon... and other pointless, but caring jobs to preserve it's condition as much as I can. Decided against waxoyl underneath it. Though it has a rusty exhaust pipe already, but looks very familiar and easy to work with like my last Panda. Though this time, no tampering by mechanics. So I hope that after a few years of low hassle motoring, when it does need some parts, it'll be a little easier to work with. I'm going to keep it 100% Fiat or Magnetti Marelli too. Or look on
ePer to see what factory suppliers and parts were used when necessary.
I aim to keep it until it's 10 years old. Though my family, who have now accepted that I have went and bought another Fiat, still hope that 'in a few years when you're making more money you'll have that car traded in in no time'... I think I'll still keep it, but perhaps get rid of it at 10 when I acquired my last Panda. That's if the Italian built Panda's hold up as well as our Polish 169 models. I don't see why not? Fiat claim it's one of the most advanced factories (in the world?).
Tl;dr: This Panda is simply 'an improvement' in every way compared to my old model. And I love it!
