Right. I have decided to buy a car through work.
Our company GM policy no longer available so they are bringing new plans for all manufactures in.
So the 2 cars i have narrowed it down to (im keeping my Cinq for fun )
I can Get a Panda 100HP for £6999 in white with skydome and subwoofer.
Or i can get an Alfa Mito 1.4 Turismo for a very similar price per month and give it back in 3 years.
Am test driving Mito on 6th Feb at work when they have a ride and drive here.
Anyone been in one to compare?

Can't comment on the differences in drive, but the debate should be more around..

Assuming you have the £7k to buy the Panda rather than a loan/lease deal, then its more about whether the rarity and newness of the Mito is enough to forego having anything to show for your outlay after 3 years. Buy the Panda and it will be an old model within a year or so but at least worth £3k or more after 3 years.

I've heard the Mito is quite sluggish compared to the 100hp, similar power output but more weight. I suppose your test drive will tell you what you need to know on that front.

I also don't like the look of the thing, but then that's subjective.

I would have panda which i do have one the mito has the punto 95bhp 1.4 not the 100hp 99bhp FIRE Engine, and nearly everry thing on 100hp is an option on the mito

Will have to see how alfa is to drive. Interior looks like a big step up but thats the price difference i guess.
Not too keen on electric steering. Used to no pas

The MiTo looks nice, it's based on the Punto of course so expect a similar drive with better suspension! The only thing is, it's an Alfa, so it will probably go back and forth to the Dealer every month for warranty work on all the electrics! Although based on the Punto, it could be just as reliable as the Panda. Based on the fun factor, how much more is the Alfa going to offer in comparison to the Panda? And besides it's dearer and only has 3 doors!

As you can probably tell, I'm buying a 100HP in April!

DraigFlag87 said:

The only thing is, it's an Alfa, so it will probably go back and forth to the Dealer every month for warranty work on all the electrics!

Click to expand...

It take it your the kind of person that still looks at Skoda's as being bad cars?

Just remember Fiat's don't have a great reputation for reliability yet you still bought one

S-X-I said:

It take it your the kind of perosn that still looks at Skoda's as being bad cars?

Click to expand...

They *are* bad cars.

HTH

Chris

S-X-I said:

It take it your the kind of person that still looks at Skoda's as being bad cars?

Just remember Fiat's don't have a great reputation for reliability yet you still bought one

Click to expand...

I know what Fiat's reputation is for reliability, they own Alfa anyway for god's sake! But the Panda was cheap anyway, and it got good reviews and scored well in reliability tests etc (Top Gear's 16th most reliable car)
Skoda are technically Audi/VW now so i don't mind them at all, eventually people will grow out of badge snobbery, i couldn't care about the make, my first 3 cars were "Perodua Nippas" lol

DraigFlag87 said:

The MiTo looks nice, it's based on the Punto of course so expect a similar drive with better suspension! The only thing is, it's an Alfa, so it will probably go back and forth to the Dealer every month for warranty work on all the electrics! Although based on the Punto, it could be just as reliable as the Panda. Based on the fun factor, how much more is the Alfa going to offer in comparison to the Panda? And besides it's dearer and only has 3 doors!

As you can probably tell, I'm buying a 100HP in April!

Click to expand...

These are two fundamentally different cars. I've not testdriven either the 100hp or Mito but sitting in both of them they're very different. The 100hp is functional and clean inside and that's about it, it's certainly not horrible but you're also not going to get any compliments about it The Mito on the other hand is a nice place to be in and that really is it.

I'd quite like a Mito but I'm going to hang out for the Multi-air engines before I even consider it.

Of course the Mito will be slower than the 100hp but it'll also be more comfortable to drive. It's apples and oranges really, you need to see what suits you better

Just specced up a nice Mito on the configure-your-own mini site. I estimate that it came to around £17k although it was listed as £NaN by the end.

As said, two different cars, drive both, decide which you like best and whether you can afford it and go buy

Chris

ScoobyChris said:

Just specced up a nice Mito on the configure-your-own mini site. I estimate that it came to around £17k although it was listed as £NaN by the end.

As said, two different cars, drive both, decide which you like best and whether you can afford it and go buy

Chris

Click to expand...

The Mito configurator doesn't work and hasn't done so since launch Frigging idiots......

If it were me I'd get a 120bhp turbo veloce with leather interior, the standard "sports" seats are truly fugly.

The Mito is a gorgeous looker, but has one of the worlds most revolting dashboards imo. The 100HP is a cute little car with a very nice interior, I think many people would compliment a 100HP too.

Mito configurator worked ok for us when we priced up our replacement (eventually) for the Croma.

So you have to hand the Mito back at the end of 3 years, but you would keep the Panda? What's a 3 year old Panda going to be worth? 3k?

From that you can look at it from the angle of... is having a bigger, higher class of car worth £1k per year over having the 100hp? I'd say yes.

If you have a Cinq for fun, then you can afford to have a bit more of a sensible main car.

Mito configurator worked perfectly just now... mine would be £12,711 complete with melted dashboard

Hellcat said:

If you have a Cinq for fun, then you can afford to have a bit more of a sensible main car.

Click to expand...

Thats why i was just going for a 1.4, not a turbo as i imagine to run 2 turbo cars and a house would cripple my going out

I want to get Cinq Megasquirted up and Turbo'd so would like something a bit quiet but something that will handle but cruise.

N/A petrol could be a bit lethargic in a bigger car, I'd look at the multijet option.

I can't drive a diesel. I need revs.

SeiSporting said:

I can't drive a diesel. I need revs.

Click to expand...

No, you need torque.

Have a drive at least, don't be such a heathen!

I did. A Astra Sri i was supposed to get at work before car plan failed. 150hp all over quicker than virgin in the playboy mansion