Hi to you all!

Have looked at this forum before, we are thinking of trading our VW up, used as a second car for a Panda 4x4.Not a cross model but standard twin air. Ideal car for around the back lanes where we live.We have a couple of deals to think over, both nearly new cars. One is orange nicely spec split rear seats, privacy DAB and love the winter pack. The other is our favourite colour Tuscany green with winter pack and that's it. The green car is newer by a couple of months, newer plate, but coming out more expensive and being only a second car and in this climate we are in at the moment the orange maybe a better bet. Both of these not that local.

Our only concern is the orange colour, the 4x4 being rare car is hard to see one, is the orange a good colour and resale time will it be ok or so? The orange hardly any miles and sat around for a while. We have not even driven the Panda but have always liked one especially when seeing what they can do and come winter time a real boom to us.We are a little unsure as all our previous UPs have been a good second car to the say the least, please convince we are doing the right thing and not buying another UP!

Many thanks, more than appreciated!

I could say 'from the inside you can't see the colour'... The winter pack is a useful addition and was an expensive option when new. Do you have a split rear seat in the Up? And have you ever carried a person with half of it folded? That might guide on whether it is useful. For a brief time I had a 4x4 with split rear seat, but the car was written off and the replacement i sourced was back to the single rear bench - which has always suited me fine. DAB - tricky. i tend not to listen to the radio in the car, but use streamed music. Both will be able to support that. Mine is Tuscany Green.. seems the 'right colour' for a car I use in the countryside. The orange is great too, but less 'subtle', more 'RAC van' perhaps? You say the orange one has sat a while? Does that mean you might need to fix things? What colour are the interiors? There are stories here about the orange or beige 'fake leather' seat trims cracking (mine did on 2013 car), and they certainly show the dirt. The green seems to be more durable for some reason.
See how the colour looks here (this was trekking but same colour) https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/fiat/panda/63795/fiat-panda-trekking-pictures or in green https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-review/fiat/panda-4x4

You will I assume be aware that the fuel economy is not that great with the TwinAir (no where near what used to be claimed). The 4x4 adds weight so will further increase fuel thirst, and the very latest of them are sold with 'summer tyres' - which makes no sense with the 4x4. Anything pre-September 2018 should have Continental 'CrossContact Winter' tyres - not only a great snow tyre but good in summer mud too, and a proper 'semi off road' tyre so more robust sidewalls. They last for ever (30k miles plus) but do sap a few mpg, which is why the newest cars are sold with standard road tyres.

Re: Thinking of buying Panda 4x4 colour advice etc

Thanks for the reply, good of you. The cars are 2019. We to live in the countryside and the Tuscany appeals to us, other half has to travel to work down some one lane back roads, and so loved the idea of a car not much bigger than an UP but would not be worried so much when pulling off road etc. but the green is a fair bit more for a second car and looks like the dealers are all out figure wise. Hardly ever use the split seat in the UP so fine and would also have to factor in cost of getting privacy done, over the orange car as other half sometimes brings work home with her handy to put on back seat and not on show so much. Other half said miss DAB but not a deal breaker. Did not realise though the newer models are fitted with summer tyres!!

Hi

I do wonder why 2wd isnt sufficient.. on 'paved lanes'..

Its more complexity..and weight with power to the rear.. and the CROSS has similar styling..

Am I missing something?

Twinairs are 'different'.. get out and drive a few

Charlie

My city cross is brilliant and of course has the better ground clearance than standard models. In fact it's a few mm more than a Discovery at the lowest point between the two.

murphyv310 said:

My city cross is brilliant and of course has the better ground clearance than standard models. In fact it's a few mm more than a Discovery at the lowest point between the two.

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The Cross is only 6mm further off the ground than the regular 4x4... not much really

(Edit - sorry, missed the point, that your Cross is 56mm higher off the ground than the non 4x4/Cross Pandas)

We have a 2016 Sicilian Orange 4x4 with the winter pack and love it. The colour makes the car easy to spot in a car park (this may sound silly but is actually very useful). The winter pack - especially the heated front screen - is so useful. It clears frosts or condensation in moments. The heated seat bases are nice - but not vital.

If you listen to the radio then I would definitely get the DAB. FM is patchy where we are in rural wales - the DAB is very good and the unit automatically flicks across to FM when necessary. I wish it had apple car play... but you can’t have everything - and the phone holder on the dash works well.

I’ve not driven a diesel 4x4 - but the twin air is a nippy little thing and the 6 gears are handy as it’s not not got the widest power band (typical turbo maybe?).

My 2p worth.

Steve

Steve67GTV said:

We have a 2016 Sicilian Orange 4x4 with the winter pack and love it. The colour makes the car easy to spot in a car park (this may sound silly but is actually very useful).

Steve

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Good point. My whitw one is a royal pain to find. I an glad I fitted red roof rails as they make things a bit better. As I have the short aerial on the roof I cant even tie a bright coloured garter to the aerial!

The automatic climate control is worth every penny I find and at the price is a reasonable cost..

Herts Hillhopper said:

The Cross is only 6mm further off the ground than the regular 4x4... not much really

(Edit - sorry, missed the point, that your Cross is 56mm higher off the ground than the non 4x4/Cross Pandas)

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If you buy a Waze Cross, you get the hill descent control but the ground clearance is the same as standard 4x4 it has the 175/65 tyres. The Cross rides higher only by virtue of tyre size. This does not factor in tyre pressures though.

Re: Thinking of buying Panda 4x4 colour advice etc

718cay said:

Thanks for the reply, good of you. The cars are 2019. We to live in the countryside and the Tuscany appeals to us, other half has to travel to work down some one lane back roads, and so loved the idea of a car not much bigger than an UP but would not be worried so much when pulling off road etc. but the green is a fair bit more for a second car and looks like the dealers are all out figure wise. Hardly ever use the split seat in the UP so fine and would also have to factor in cost of getting privacy done, over the orange car as other half sometimes brings work home with her handy to put on back seat and not on show so much. Other half said miss DAB but not a deal breaker. Did not realise though the newer models are fitted with summer tyres!!

Click to expand...

Fiat charge 175 for privacy glass. My local specialist quoted me 176 for the job using the best available material. For once they are charging a reasonable price.

718cay said:

Hi to you all!

Have looked at this forum before, we are thinking of trading our VW up, used as a second car for a Panda 4x4.Not a cross model but standard twin air. Ideal car for around the back lanes where we live.We have a couple of deals to think over, both nearly new cars. One is orange nicely spec split rear seats, privacy DAB and love the winter pack. The other is our favourite colour Tuscany green with winter pack and that's it. The green car is newer by a couple of months, newer plate, but coming out more expensive and being only a second car and in this climate we are in at the moment the orange maybe a better bet. Both of these not that local.

Our only concern is the orange colour, the 4x4 being rare car is hard to see one, is the orange a good colour and resale time will it be ok or so? The orange hardly any miles and sat around for a while. We have not even driven the Panda but have always liked one especially when seeing what they can do and come winter time a real boom to us.We are a little unsure as all our previous UPs have been a good second car to the say the least, please convince we are doing the right thing and not buying another UP!

Many thanks, more than appreciated!

Click to expand...

I too love the green Its however a sad fact that you will kill more wildlife in a green car, they just don't seem to see them coming. I had a beautiful bottle green Citroen BX and was shocked how bad it was in this respect.

We have the Panda 4x4 0.9 Twinair Antarctica, they come in white with the Sicilian orange mirror covers, ours were white though when we bought it 2nd hand, low miles, full service history and mint condition, it has the black and silver dash with the garish orange panels in the interior, that gets a bit of getting used to but it definitely brightens up the cabin!!
Ours has the slit rear seat and has been a big plus when carrying a large load but need a seat for a back seat passenger as well. Our has privacy glass in the rear as standard but no winter pack, I'd say that is one thing I wish it had, I was apprehensive about the white colour but it has a lot of black including a black roof, black tinted rear windows, black side mouldings and trim around wheel arches and sills so it's broken up a lot, the bits that tend to get dirty are mostly the black plastic trims around the edges, rear boot lid gets dirty after a drive on wet roads but on the whole the white paintwork remains quite clean, I wash it weekly so keep on top of it.
I think the Panda 4x4 suits bright colours, especially the orange, from a safety point of view you're more likely to see a bright orange Panda driving down a dark lane than a dark green one!
We did look at a green one and I didn't like the bronze/brown interior panels on the dash, doors and seats, plus I just didn't like the green colour!
As for the Twinair engine, I was again apprehensive, would it have enough power, would it pull up hills etc with passengers, how would it cope on a long trip, loaded up going on holiday! etc etc I can assure you it is a nippy little thing and a lot of fun to drive, think of it as a performance motorbike engine in a very light car and you won't be far off, it is a revvy little engine that I would say feels like a tuned 1.2 to drive and you soon forget it only has 2 cylinders! You just have to keep in at the right revs for the road speed and terrain etc the 6 speed box helps a lot because the gears are very close ratio, first being very low for crawling on tracks etc
Fuel economy! Well you'll never see the quoted figures but with very careful driving and a light foot on the gas you will easily achieve +50mpg even on all season tyres, but I can get that figure down to mid 30s mpg with a brisk driving style!!
Me and the wife took it on holiday, loaded up, 2 small passengers in the back, it didn't feel cramped or heavy , it drove fine, made good fuel economy cruising in 6th gear at 50-60mph, overtaking slower cars was a breeze, the ride was a little 'bouncy' on undulating roads but fine on smooth roads, you expect that on a taller car though but the offset is you get much better visibility all around, the front pillars do seem a little thicker than other cars but you quickly become accustomed to that. Driving in strong winds or past HGVs on the motorways, sometimes makes the car 'feel' like it's catching the wind but again you expect that on a taller car and drive accordingly! Being a tall car it has headroom in abundance and is much easier to get in and out.
DAB radio must be a bonus? I don't have one, just play CDs and listen to my music through my phone etc the Blue and Me is really good.
Hope some of that helps?