General Hello from the North Cotswolds

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General Hello from the North Cotswolds

MaxHeadroom

2014 PANDA 4x4 TwinAir
Joined
Aug 15, 2020
Messages
552
Points
222
Location
Stow-On-The-Wold
Hi all,

I'm completely new to FIAT and have a newly acquired 2014 Panda 4x4 (petrol) with 31k on the clock.

Although this has a full service history, I'd be interested to know if there are any checks that ought to be carried out (prevention better than cure and all that) on this model/age/mileage.


Also, I'm based near Stow-On-The-Wold so any information on FIAT specialists in my area that can be recommended would be of great interest too.

As far as I can tell, my nearest FIAT main agent is in Gloucester (Wessex Garages), but if there are others, I'd be grateful hearing about them. (Gloucester isn't that easy to get to from here)
Recommendations are often the better way of finding the good guys!
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Thanks for the info on Grays - they have an interesting HISTORY

...and I like history as you'll find out!

OK - not too sure about the actual engine; how many variants are there? :confused:

FIAT is completely new territory for me - all I can tell you is that its a 2014 petrol engined 4x4.

Hopefully I'll be able to tell you more once I've picked it up after Thursday.
 
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Hi all,

I'm completely new to FIAT and have a newly acquired 2014 Panda 4x4 (petrol) with 31k on the clock.

Although this has a full service history, I'd be interested to know if there are any checks that ought to be carried out (prevention better than cure and all that) on this model/age/mileage.


Also, I'm based near Stow-On-The-Wold so any information on FIAT specialists in my area that can be recommended would be of great interest too.

As far as I can tell, my nearest FIAT main agent is in Gloucester (Wessex Garages), but if there are others, I'd be grateful hearing about them. (Gloucester isn't that easy to get to from here)
Recommendations are often the better way of finding the good guys!
.
.
.

OK then what colour is it? I think at 2014 it will be the 875cc petrol turbo Twinair. GOOOOD choice! I like mine more each time I drive it and knowing it will get you home whatever the weather throws as it, especially when passing BMW's stuck in 2" of snow is an added bonus.
 
...especially when passing BMW's stuck in 2" of snow is an added bonus.

Heheh that made me laugh! I did that in my Suzuki Jimny many times - very rewarding :devil:

I haven't picked up the car yet - that won't be until Thursday, so I'll know more about it after then
All I can tell you is that mine was parked next to this one in the photo, and the colours were identical


AETV69004487_2.jpg
 
Heheh that made me laugh! I did that in my Suzuki Jimny many times - very rewarding :devil:

I haven't picked up the car yet - that won't be until Thursday, so I'll know more about it after then
All I can tell you is that mine was parked next to this one in the photo, and the colours were identical


AETV69004487_2.jpg

Cool! Country set green is a good colour and suits Pandas well. That will be a twinair. Seeing the Bike place makes me smile. I went out a few weeks ago to pick up some veterinary supplies, and I know the Panda sounds like an angry scooter, but was surprised to see my google timeline said I went on a motorbike. That car looks very nicely polished, hope yours is at least as good. Good luck with it.

You must read the thread with the about the eco button and mpg. I think my current car has different settings to my last one as it runs well with eco on and goes like a scalded cat when I switch it off. Useful for hills. Shame there are none in Norfolk. Best mpg seems to be driven gently with the eco switched off. The only certainty is there seems to be quite large differences between cars in relation to the eco switch......
 
I like green cars - I have a pre-war MG that is a grass green - that was its original colour.

You certainly don't see many modern cars in green these days and even less, green upholstery!
(Speaking of which, tomorrow I trailer the vintage MG up to Herefordshire to have bespoke seats made by a trimmer there!)

Really looking forward to getting the Panda now.
I'm a bit of a fool for car-detailing and she'll be polished and waxed until gleaming.

I noticed there are a few wheel-rim scufs - not horrendous ones. but funds are too tight to deal with those just yet
 
I spec-ed my 4x4 in green having had a series of British racing green Rovers and MGs in years gone by. Indeed, the availability of such a green was one of the reasons I chose a Panda over other cars. Such a pity that colour has gone out of fashion. I thought Suzuki were crackers when they chose to leave it out of the options list on the new Jimny in the UK when it was the best colour for it!
 
Seamaster - I was at a huge Jimny meeting last year and lo-and-behold, there was a green (New) Jimny there!


...But the owner had had it 'wrapped' - it really looked the biz.
I'm totally with you on green and seriously don't get why Suzuki left that out for the UK - wadda mistaka to make.

I like my Green Panda - or I will... (I pick it up tomorrow, ye-harr) I think its a nice 'moss green' - there is no doubt a proper name for the colour, but I'm still learning the ropes with Fiat at the moment.

As mentioned in my introduction post on the Newbie section, my lad refers to it as 'Cow-Pat green' much to my irritation. He's a teenager, so I suppose I should expect it :rolleyes:
 
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Heheh - thaks for that - I'll have to make a mental note not to do that again.
I tried to delete the first one but it wouldnt allow me to do that - possibly due to the second post being made (which was supposed to be an edited version of the first one! DOH! )

[embarrassed icon needed here]
 
I like my Green Panda - or I will... (I pick it up tomorrow, ye-harr) I think its a nice 'moss green' - there is no doubt a proper name for the colour, but I'm still learning the ropes with Fiat at the moment.

That's officially Tuscany Green or 'Verde Toscana' in Italian - a very popular colour in the 4x4 version.

I'm in West Oxfordshire around 20 minutes from Stow and would say dealer wise, although there's a few around (not as many as there were a couple of years ago, mind) I'd probably pick between Grays of Warwick or Pewsham Garage near Chippenham. I imagine Grays is closer for you.

My Parents ordered a new 500 TwinAir from Grays in 2012 and had it serviced there and they were absolutely fine. Proper old school garage, just honest service without any of the superficial stuff.

I've used Pewsham Garage for multiple services and repairs on my Fiat Stilo from 2010-2014 and then again for servicing with my new Tipo in 2019 and it's booked in currently with them. I've not experienced their sales but they, like Grays, seem very highly regarded. They renovated their showroom a couple of years ago and have just further invested as they now have the Jeep franchise too (Jeep are now owned by Fiat).

I personally have more experience of Pewsham Garage but have no reason to disuade anyone from either of the two. Given your location I'd say it's only really those two worth looking at - Wessex Gloucester doesn't have the Fiat franchise anymore and didn't have a brilliant reputation, so I wouldn't have suggested you go there anyway.

Anyway enjoy the new Panda - the TwinAir is a gem. Don't expect anywhere near the official MPG claims from that engine, but it really suits the cheeky character of Fiat's smallest cars, so I suspect you'll be smiling too much to even care about the fuel!
 
Liam thank you for your excellent and very very useful reply! All that information is the kind of stuff I was hoping to hear.
I like the idea of proper old-school garages and agree they're often better than main dealers. You're quite right about Grays being the nearer option to me; Google says it's 28 miles whereas Chippenham is 41. I quite enjoy the drive up to Warwick too.

I've made a note of that colour - thank you for the info on that and I did note that all three 4x4s that I looked at were indeed this same green - Verde Toscana. Unfortunately my son still refers to it as cow-pat green but hopefully he will grow out of it when he finds dads cow-pat green taxi isn't taking him to somwhere he wants/needs to go until he refers to it properly as Verde Toscana, or just simply, green :D

I picked the car up today with no dramas; a smooth final transaction from start to finish, from Cheltenham (Completely Motoring) a pleasant family run-business that came across as very straight forward and easy-to-deal-with.

In contrast I'd looked at an immaculate diesel (yep - same colour!) but in 20k miles it had had four owners and a cat C repair. The sales team were fine but when I checked out their feedback it was either glowingly good or seriously abysmal; with nothing in between. The absymal feedback was all saying similar things about the warranty 'not turning up' or 'not being worth the paper it was printed on'. I was also a little concerned about the Cat C thing potentially causing insurance concerns so I left that one alone. This seems an honest little car - there are a few small dings which is a pity but it's generally in very good shape.
I need to get underneath it and have a good look at the points I've read about in the forums - a mud -trap somewhere around the front wheel-arch and the rear spring housings - Ive got a lot to do about getting familiar with the car. My last vehicle was a Suzuki Jimny and that was REALLY simple to work on - there is lots of modern wizardry in this FIAT and I find things like that quite daunting.
 

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