Erm! I've just put a deposit on a Cross

Went to Parks of Hamilton in Eastkilbride to see the cross as I was up seeing familly and the bloke has done a deal on setteling the finance on the MJ and refinancing to buy the Cross.

I only went in to see it and ended up doing a deal. So if all goes well the figures will be confirmed on Monday and will be drivng it away on Wed.
Just loved it in the flesh and had to have one, problem is the dealer probably saw it on my face and kept on saying what I wanted to hear till I signed the form and paid the deposit.

It's the green (the colour doesn't look near as good on the pics as it does in the flesh) with aircon, didn't have climate and climate is not as standard. Also comes with side airbags rear sliding seats and the better dash computer.

The seats are green and off white like an old english but have a funky tough material on the mid off white part. It looks so much bigger than the standard panda.

Did I say I just loved it :worship::worship::worship::worship::worship::worship:

Wow how exciting Now you need to find somewhere to get it really dirty

JON

OMG Alan, are you ok

Great news. Whats it going to be like for towing

Blimey Alan, you are worse than me!!

Great stuff though and i'm glad you found a way to make it happen as you had me slightly worried when you said earlier about having to take a massive hit on the finance.

Right, I might just have some news if this red 100hp ever turns up at the dealer, have been promised next week.

Make sure you stick up loads of photos, will be interested to see what you think of it and what it looks like.

Well then... I'd better not go back and look at the one in Watford then, had I! Extension to house being built at the moment, and a new kitchen seems to be needed more than a new car, so I'll sit back and wait. But, do tell us all about it. The central part of the seat fabric is similar to my 4x4 -- but mine is grey. I've found it attracts dirt quickly, so keen to see how the cream fares. (Although having cleaned mine thorughly with the Vax, they seem to stay cleaner now. Maybe the pre-sales valeting left them 'sticky'?). You told us about the 'deal' but not about the drive! What was it like?
Pete

First UK Cross on the forum then and bought from my local garage. You should have popped down to mines for a mini Fiat Forum meet lol

Herts Hillhopper said:

You told us about the 'deal' but not about the drive! What was it like?
Pete

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The garage had 10 min before closing and the Cross was in the middle of the showroom floor so didn't have the opportunity. When I pop down tomorrow at about 10am I will ask for a drive but again will depend on time as we are heading back to Cumbria about 11-12ish, then will have to get driving licence ins swapped etc before being allowed to take it home.

This all depends if the figures given yesterday remain and are accepted by Fiat finance?

I will be loosing about 2K between what I owe and trade in figure then due to requiring a new finance deal the 2K will be added to the 12K so basically I will be buying a 14K Cross on Fiat Finance but will also be unable to get a 0% deal due to the -ve equity on the last package.

Did I mention I loved the thing

If all works out I should have the car on wed-thurs?

They are keeping the price at £11995 (there is no chance of discount on that as they were only issued last week) they should be charging a further £400 for the metalic paint but say I can have that for free

S-X-I said:

First UK Cross on the forum then and bought from my local garage. You should have popped down to mines for a mini Fiat Forum meet lol

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They had a look and say that I might be the first in the country to own a RHD Cross if they can sort the paperwork tomorrow.

I can't drive the Cross back home tomorrow for a couple of reasons. We had to take a trailer up to EK because of all of the kit that goes with a grand daughter....Pram, Cot etc. The Cross does not have a tow bar....I can't take the towbar off of the M-Jet because the 2 & 4wd towbars are different and we stil have to take all of the GD's gear back to Cumbria. Also they need a copy of my driving licence which is in Cumbria and a fax from the ins comp for the changeover.

So anyone want to buy a 2wd towbar

Alan.D, I come over to Carlisle from Sunderland fairly often to visit my elderly parents. If you don't live far from Carlisle I would love to come and admire your Panda Cross at some stage. I'm not sure when next I will be over but could I send you a message when I know and maybe meet up.
I promise that my name is not Barry George!!

Will let you and everyone else know tomorrow if I actually get it. I have been given a repayment price p/m that I'm happy (well maybe happy isn't the word ) to pay. They will have to confirm tomorrow wheather Fiat Finance will accept the deal, terms, credit score etc. If Fiat finance accept the payment rate then I will buy the car if not then I would be stupid to up the payment figure that they first produced £2600 more and therefor wont buy it.

I have given them a deposit of £200 so technically for now the car is mine till tomorrow then we will see.

If once I have got it you want to see it no problem although I am 45 miles away from carlisle and they have got one in the showroom.

When I was in the showroom of Parks I was with my father in law and another family member. The salesman said who is interested in the car, they replied none of us pause (silence and confused look on the salesmans face) It's my son in law that's interested but he's currently underneith it

Just been on the fiat showroom site and if you currently spec up the 4x4 with every option that the cross has minus a few that is on the cross but not on the 4x4 option list the 1.2 4x4 comes to £11600 but with a few options missing as said plus you don't quite get the rugged & chunky looks of the Cross :worship::hug::woot::slayer:. I know you can get great deals on the 1.2 4x4 but you can use this as an excuse to convince yourself to get one

Right I'm back in Cumbria. Went this morning and after some haggling and a few OK I'm walking then's we managed to agree a figure but I'm still waiting for the finance manager to call and tell me that it's been accepted by Fiat Finance.

I didn't get to drive it as it's pre PDI so not allowed on the road....then I thought I don't want to drive it as I would give it a bit of stick and as it's mine I would be ragging.....best not till I've run it in for 500-1000 miles.

SO as soon as the buisness manager calls to confirm the finance is settled and agreed I will arange a date to collect it this week (will give me time to get the towbar off of the MJ) If the finance falls through for any reason (I can't think why?) then I will have to walk.

Anyway here are some pics, I'm affraid it's from the MB and are pretty crap But gives you an idea

you are now def coming to MITcar!!!!!!

edit: i take it if all goes through fine, you will be giving precise instructions on rear number plate attachment?

Oh yes, already told them but they only use sticky pads so fine with that.

I know you're not really one for mods, but I can't help thinking those back lights would look better black on the upper plastic part and body colour around the lamps.

Still looks funky though

btw: did you figure out what that bit of plastic on the roof is for?

LittlePip... Now that Alan D has posted some detailed photos, I see what you're saying. The differential housing is different - and there's a couple of extra 'units' sticking out of the side too.

The driveshaft does indeed meet in a different way. Mine has a black 'lump' at the end of the driveshaft (that I've always assumed is a flexible coupling, rather than the viscous unit, but I'm happy to be told I'm wrong). The Cross's diff is longer and so this part is apparently not there in Alan's photos. I was under the impression that the viscous unit was inside the front part of the diff housing.
What are the two metal cans on the side? (Not the ones the driveshpaft connect to - in front of there) These coincide with where the flexible mounts are on mine (and in Alan's photo, one of these mounts can still be seen on the offside side of the casing)
Here's the similar view taken under my car (didn't have the luxury of a nice clean white floor to lie on so not so easy to take), and a side-on view too for later comparison. I could try using the ePER system to identify the parts, but it won't run under Firefox on my Mac... any PC users fancy trying it?
Pete
[oops - photos too large to upload. I'll have another go!]

The missing photos from post above...

Tis a very sad day I've had to walk

Fiat Finance will cover the cost of the Cross but would not pick up the gap and add it to the finance deal as the dealer expected. They then tried other finance to fill the gap but were unwilling as their money wasn't going to cover anything other than the gap so suppose thought they had no comeback if anything went wrong. So want 2.5K in cash to continue. I don't mind wasting a bit on finance as that is kind of expected but to throw cash in the bin is not something I can do. It's not a credit problem as Fiat are still happy to finance the Cross but only without trading in the MJ and buying as a completely seperate deal.

Unfortunately as much as I want the Cross it would be stupid at this point to have 57 & 08 panda's sitting on the drive. I could afford it, but would have to sacrifice too much else to make life comfortable and one would end up sitting in the garage unused. So for now it's just a tad out of my comfort zone although I WILL have a Cross in the near future.

The plastic bit on the roof does nothing and purely a design excersize.

Oh! just as a point raised the Cross does not have the same tax bracket as the MJ even though it's the same engine. The MJ is £35 and the Cross £121 per year.

Blimey Alan, i'm so sorry to hear that.

I could tell how excited you were about it and it seemed to be pretty much in the bag. Am absolutely gutted for you as I know how much you wanted it and so close too...

What an absolute nightmare. I wonder if i'll have the same problem?

Have a big :hug:

Sorry to hear fella, it sounded like a done deal.