Have just come back from our second UK to Hungary round trip in the Multijet - fully loaded - and driven good n' hard on Europes motorways at between 80 and 100 mph.

Our first trip was in Feb 2007;

https://www.fiatforum.com/panda-new/97627-hungary-n-back-again.html

People have said that the Panda Multijet 1.3 is too small an engine to go serious touring with - And that it could prove unreliable - but I think that she's proved them wrong.

The Panda will be 2 years old in about 6 months and she's currently done 45,000 miles. She does a lot of miles, both in town and the motorways. I can recommend the Panda 1.3 Multijet to anyone - it's smooth, relaible, very very economical, only £35 a year to tax and very cheap to insure.

In the 45,000 miles, we have been very pleased with the car and cannot fault it - other than the two rear shocks replaced under warranty as one was leaking.

Its good to know you are happy. A good reason why I want a Panda over my GP. My GP is reliable but as you say £35 a year road tax and excellent mpg is the way to go, we are already paying record amounts for our fuel in the UK and its only going up.

Nice to see the cool design of the Panda parked next to an example of nasty design from Renault, probably reincarnated as a Dacia or some other travesty.

Looks like a Lidl shop car park your in

Yes, It was a Lidl - We were topping up on supplies - Hungarian red wine for 60p a bottle ! Not in the same class as some of the French wines, but a damn sight better than the usual Tesco £3.99 bottles you get in the UK. We can recommend any of the Hungarian 'Bulls Blood' reds available in the UK. The Hungarian Pinot Grigio isnt too bad either.

As for the Dacia copy of the old Renault 12 - It's a horrific car, my Uncle had one for 18 years in Hungary - constantly needing fiddling with - but it could cope with dodgy roads much better than the western motors, and as it lasted for 18 years, you could say it was built fairly tough. All changed now though - the roads are very much improved.

The thing that really was shocking was the number of Tesco's and Macdonalds - in every town and city.....