Well, as some may know, and others may have guessed by a few threads over the last week or so that I've made, I was looking at getting a 2nd hand Panda Active.
Well on Monday amid all of the snow, I went down to Diss, and had a look at the old girl, and managed to knock the seller down a tad and walked, rather drove, away in a 2004 Panda Active, with 41,250 miles on the clock for only £1525!
As some will know, it was for sale as a repaired insurance write off. So this possed the risk of possibly getting a cut and shut. But after a tad of invistigation, inc a HPI check, and examination of the car the conclusion is as followed. The car was stolen and recovered on 29th Feb 08. Stolen with the key (no damage to steering column) the car was taken in a lovers tiff, and damaged in spite. This can be seen in a slight dent on the roof, and similar on the nearside rear pannel. It would also appear to have had both headlights kicked in, that have got snapped mounting brackets that have been glued at somepoint, so they're to be changed eventually.
The car isn't, and hasn't been without fault since I've had it, with me discovering that on the Monday evening the car had a brake light out (was simply a blown bulb which I changed). I also had the strange accourance of a headlight bulb exploding in the offside headlight unit after I'd driven through a puddle
Not sure if this was coincodence or not.
All I now know is that its alot easier to change the bulbs in a mk2 compaired to a mk3 https://www.fiatforum.com/panda-new/179326-flippin-headlights.html
The car also only came with one key, so I've been looking around to get another done. Knowing they'd be expensive I was prepaired for a £80 bill, but how wrong I've been. Desira Fiat of Norwich - £125 all in, Desira Fiat of Gt Yarmouth - £120 all in . So after looking around I've found someone who recons they can do it for £80 all in, all they'd need it the key code. So when in Yarmoutb Desira I asked the very nice people (and I want to state here that they were very helpful! and that it's not them I'm about to bitch about) about this 'code'. The informed me that I can indeed get a copy of it, but at a cost of £15+ VAT . They said that they'd have to get it anyway if they were to do me a key and that it is Fiat themself's that are charging. So I double checked to see if I'd be paying twice if I were to come back and get the key done and they said no. If I supplied the code it would mean the bill would be £125 munis the £15+ VAT. So I went for it, and I now have in my posetion the most expensive bit of A4 Paper that I've ever brought!
As we've all beeen having poor weather this week I decided to change the rear wiper blade that had torn itself. Expecting this to be no differenent to the unit on mum's 2001 Yaris, I expected to go into Desira of Norwich and Pay somewhere around £5 for a rubber to fit onto the current arm. But it would appear that Fiat don't have an eco friendly stance on business, and stung me £19 for a compleate rear arm with rubber meaning I have a spare compleate arm with duff blade that has a bigger carbon foot print due to the re-production of another arm to replace it.
Back to the car though, It would seem to be a really nice driver. I can see exactly what other members were on about when they said the 1108cc unit was slightly underpowered, needed thrashing, and was juicy, but for a group 1 car, it will be more than powerful enough for my sister, whos car it will ultimatly be when she passes sometime this year. The City Power Steering button is a god send around Norwich and when parking in our now outgrown (to many Panda's) driveway.
As visable in most of the pic's below that mk3 is currently wearing my mk2 Sisley 4x4 rims and shoes. This is due to the fact that one tyre on the mk3 was illegal and below tread level, and another had a bit of a flapping chunk taken out of it. So to save my sisters money (did I mention that I'm running this car with no expense to myself but fuel at the mo) I decided to fit the hybrid tyres that were taken off of the mk2 4x4 because they were to big for it (brought by previous owner and wore a hole in the filler neck!).
I'm going to get around to servicing the car soon, but have a few questions. Number one, what oil do these mk3's take. I mean ultimatly the 1108cc unit in this is no difference from the 1108cc units in our two Automatic mk2 Panda's which we run with 10W40. Having absoloutly loads of this stuff, is it the correct oil? Also what is the service interval for the 1.1 (is it a year or 10K, or a year and 12K?), and what the age/mileage rating for the timing belt?
The only other fault with the car, not mentioned, it the Horn. It's would seem that the mk3 isn't at all hornie like the mk2's, and the horn would seem to fail to function. Has anyone else had horn failiure? I spent 4 hours yesterday (2 working out how to remove the drivers airbag) removing the airbag and checking the horn switches under it, and checking all visible wiring around the horn and fuse box. All fuses have been checked and it would still seem that something is wrong. I even connected the horn dirrectly, only to deafen myself, so that works. Any idea's would be greatly recieved!
Oh, and I nearly forgot, this Active has a power point on the center console (didn't think Actives had them) and a locking fuel cap, so save a few bob there .
Another queery I have, can someone confirm that the Active only has a door lock on the drivers side like higher spec'ed mk3's with remote locking? I found it a bit strange on a car with key'ed operation. Does anyone know if Fiat still do that remote locking thing for £70 iirc, where you get 2 remotes and a relay to plug in somewhere to make it remote? Think they done something like this when they first came out.
Jon.
Well on Monday amid all of the snow, I went down to Diss, and had a look at the old girl, and managed to knock the seller down a tad and walked, rather drove, away in a 2004 Panda Active, with 41,250 miles on the clock for only £1525!
As some will know, it was for sale as a repaired insurance write off. So this possed the risk of possibly getting a cut and shut. But after a tad of invistigation, inc a HPI check, and examination of the car the conclusion is as followed. The car was stolen and recovered on 29th Feb 08. Stolen with the key (no damage to steering column) the car was taken in a lovers tiff, and damaged in spite. This can be seen in a slight dent on the roof, and similar on the nearside rear pannel. It would also appear to have had both headlights kicked in, that have got snapped mounting brackets that have been glued at somepoint, so they're to be changed eventually.
The car isn't, and hasn't been without fault since I've had it, with me discovering that on the Monday evening the car had a brake light out (was simply a blown bulb which I changed). I also had the strange accourance of a headlight bulb exploding in the offside headlight unit after I'd driven through a puddle
Not sure if this was coincodence or not.
All I now know is that its alot easier to change the bulbs in a mk2 compaired to a mk3
https://www.fiatforum.com/panda-new/179326-flippin-headlights.htmlThe car also only came with one key, so I've been looking around to get another done. Knowing they'd be expensive I was prepaired for a £80 bill, but how wrong I've been. Desira Fiat of Norwich - £125 all in
, Desira Fiat of Gt Yarmouth - £120 all in . So after looking around I've found someone who recons they can do it for £80 all in, all they'd need it the key code. So when in Yarmoutb Desira I asked the very nice people (and I want to state here that they were very helpful! and that it's not them I'm about to bitch about) about this 'code'. The informed me that I can indeed get a copy of it, but at a cost of £15+ VAT . They said that they'd have to get it anyway if they were to do me a key and that it is Fiat themself's that are charging. So I double checked to see if I'd be paying twice if I were to come back and get the key done and they said no. If I supplied the code it would mean the bill would be £125 munis the £15+ VAT. So I went for it, and I now have in my posetion the most expensive bit of A4 Paper that I've ever brought! As we've all beeen having poor weather this week I decided to change the rear wiper blade that had torn itself. Expecting this to be no differenent to the unit on mum's 2001 Yaris, I expected to go into Desira of Norwich and Pay somewhere around £5 for a rubber to fit onto the current arm. But it would appear that Fiat don't have an eco friendly stance on business, and stung me £19 for a compleate rear arm with rubber meaning I have a spare compleate arm with duff blade that has a bigger carbon foot print due to the re-production of another arm to replace it.
Back to the car though, It would seem to be a really nice driver. I can see exactly what other members were on about when they said the 1108cc unit was slightly underpowered, needed thrashing, and was juicy, but for a group 1 car, it will be more than powerful enough for my sister, whos car it will ultimatly be when she passes sometime this year. The City Power Steering button is a god send around Norwich and when parking in our now outgrown (to many Panda's
) driveway.As visable in most of the pic's below that mk3 is currently wearing my mk2 Sisley 4x4 rims and shoes. This is due to the fact that one tyre on the mk3 was illegal and below tread level, and another had a bit of a flapping chunk taken out of it. So to save my sisters money (did I mention that I'm running this car with no expense to myself but fuel at the mo
) I decided to fit the hybrid tyres that were taken off of the mk2 4x4 because they were to big for it (brought by previous owner and wore a hole in the filler neck!).I'm going to get around to servicing the car soon, but have a few questions. Number one, what oil do these mk3's take. I mean ultimatly the 1108cc unit in this is no difference from the 1108cc units in our two Automatic mk2 Panda's which we run with 10W40. Having absoloutly loads of this stuff, is it the correct oil? Also what is the service interval for the 1.1 (is it a year or 10K, or a year and 12K?), and what the age/mileage rating for the timing belt?
The only other fault with the car, not mentioned, it the Horn. It's would seem that the mk3 isn't at all hornie like the mk2's, and the horn would seem to fail to function. Has anyone else had horn failiure? I spent 4 hours yesterday (2 working out how to remove the drivers airbag
) removing the airbag and checking the horn switches under it, and checking all visible wiring around the horn and fuse box. All fuses have been checked and it would still seem that something is wrong. I even connected the horn dirrectly, only to deafen myself, so that works. Any idea's would be greatly recieved!Oh, and I nearly forgot, this Active has a power point on the center console (didn't think Actives had them
) and a locking fuel cap, so save a few bob there .Another queery I have, can someone confirm that the Active only has a door lock on the drivers side like higher spec'ed mk3's with remote locking? I found it a bit strange on a car with key'ed operation. Does anyone know if Fiat still do that remote locking thing for £70 iirc, where you get 2 remotes and a relay to plug in somewhere to make it remote? Think they done something like this when they first came out.
Jon.
