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General Top Gear magazines tag line for the Panda and 100HP

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General Top Gear magazines tag line for the Panda and 100HP

FullMetalPanda

FullMetalPanda

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I finally got the new issue of Top Gear magazine yesterday. Its a complete new look and the new car guide in the back has been redesigned. I thought the tag lines for the Panda and 100HP were very funny.

"Panda:The best car in Fiats arsenal,as driven and beloved by our own Captain Slow. Its an honest, cheap city car that shows up the 500 as a tarts handbag."

"TG Choice:It rides like a park bench and isnt even that quick but we love the ridiculous and unjustifiable 100HP."
 
FullMetalPanda said:
I finally got the new issue of Top Gear magazine yesterday. Its a complete new look and the new car guide in the back has been redesigned. I thought the tag lines for the Panda and 100HP were very funny.

"Panda:The best car in Fiats arsenal,as driven and beloved by our own Captain Slow. Its an honest, cheap city car that shows up the 500 as a tarts handbag."

"TG Choice:It rides like a park bench and isnt even that quick but we love the ridiculous and unjustifiable 100HP."
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If there was anymore proof needed that Top Gear is a crap magazine. Just a season or two back which small car did they say was the one they'd all buy? :chin: I won't be cancelling my EVO subscription for Top Gear anytime soon. I only buy Top Gear when they have another set of cool wall fridge magnets.
 
306maxi said:
If there was anymore proof needed that Top Gear is a crap magazine. Just a season or two back which small car did they say was the one they'd all buy? :chin: I won't be cancelling my EVO subscription for Top Gear anytime soon. I only buy Top Gear when they have another set of cool wall fridge magnets.
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Well thats your opinion but personally I think its a great mag. They have always said the 500 is a good car but I cant remember them saying its the one they would buy. In a recent hot hatch test they were very critical of the Abarth 500 and a Renault Sport won it again. Even in the Evo group test a few years ago the 100HP itself came out on top of the Abarth 500. The Renault Sport Twingo 133 won that closely followed by the Swift and the 100HP.

That is unless you are confusing the magazine with the TV show. May likes the Panda (not sure about the 100HP) but Hammond and Clarkson dont like it. Clarksons review of the 100HP was very bad but he loves the Abarth 500.
 
FullMetalPanda said:
Well thats your opinion but personally I think its a great mag. They have always said the 500 is a good car but I cant remember them saying its the one they would buy. In a recent hot hatch test they were very critical of the Abarth 500 and a Renault Sport won it again. Even in the Evo group test a few years ago the 100HP itself came out on top of the Abarth 500. The Renault Sport Twingo 133 won that closely followed by the Swift and the 100HP.

That is unless you are confusing the magazine with the TV show. May likes the Panda (not sure about the 100HP) but Hammond and Clarkson dont like it. Clarksons review of the 100HP was very bad but he loves the Abarth 500.
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You mean that I'm confusing the show with the magazine of the same name which is based on the show and which features all three of the people in the show? no I wouldn't dreeeeeam of it.

If you'd watched the episode in question you'd see how highly they regard the 500 and you'd see that what has been written in the mag is confusing at best....
 
Clarkson does like the Panda. This review is six years old so it is out dated but reading this Clarkson certainly seems to be a bit of a fan.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/driving/jeremy_clarkson/article824036.ece

The Panda, however, breaks with tradition here. It feels much more robust than the Renault Mégane CC I wrote about two weeks ago, but then a binliner would also have felt more robust. No, the Panda feels German. It feels like bits won’t drop off. It feels good.

Of course, this is only a feeling. The car was launched just two weeks ago so it’s impossible to predict what will happen in the long run. But I will say it’s worth more of a punt than a Punto.

Put simply, I loved it. When it was here, I drove nothing else. The Mercedes SL, the Volvo XC90, all the other test cars, they all just sat on the drive as I bombed hither and thither in my new best friend.

Quite apart from being a proper, grown-up car, it has two tricks up its sleeve that are hard to ignore. It has a wonderful personality and it costs less than an Aga.
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Of course that is before May bought one!
 
There used to be a video on You Tube with Clarkson comparing the Cinquecento sporting against a Mini Cooper, he absolutely loved the Fiat, of course now the Mini is worth 10x as much as the Cinquecento.




ALAN
 
JD82 said:
Clarkson does like the Panda. This review is six years old so it is out dated but reading this Clarkson certainly seems to be a bit of a fan.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/driving/jeremy_clarkson/article824036.ece

Of course that is before May bought one!
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Hmm.
By the time he looked at the 100HP he'd rather gone off the Panda, which is apparently now dangerous to drive as it has less than 100HP. Best not to take too much notice really.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/driving/jeremy_clarkson/article1524371.ece
 
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Clarkson disliked the standard Panda for motorway driving due to the lack of power, which I think he even touched upon in his original review, but other than that, he loved it to bits.

And May did a good, if a bit short review on the show about it back in 2003/2004, I think. He loved the unpretentious nature of it and the practicality while remarking that it felt very eager to soak up mile after mile of twisty b-roads and being great fun while doing it.

In regards to the build quality, he also remarked "who do the Italians think they are? The Germans?", high praise for a Fiat, especially on Top Gear.
 
306maxi said:
You mean that I'm confusing the show with the magazine of the same name which is based on the show and which features all three of the people in the show? no I wouldn't dreeeeeam of it..
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But the magazine isn't 100% linked - don't the 3 presenters of the show just have their own columns, and that is it? The rest is made up of editorial & other staff, who have their own opinions.

At the end of the day, the first and only time I purchased this magazine was in Heathrow back in May - and I still didn't read it fully :eek:
 
I've had my Panda six months now and it still keeps surprising me. I cannot really explain it but I think a lot of it is due to the fact I bought it brand new and it is my first experience with anything other than bangers.
 
Stu DemonD said:
But the magazine isn't 100% linked - don't the 3 presenters of the show just have their own columns, and that is it? The rest is made up of editorial & other staff, who have their own opinions.

At the end of the day, the first and only time I purchased this magazine was in Heathrow back in May - and I still didn't read it fully :eek:
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Of course but one would expect that a car that the show loves is not going to be slagged off by the magazine. They're more or less the same car though so if you slag one off you slag the other off.

I just find it a bit silly when dipsticks go around slagging off the 500 on the Panda forum or the Panda on the 500 forum. The Panda is good at what it does which is being cheap and cheerful and the 500 does a good job of being relatively cheap whilst also attracting people based on looks.
 
JD82 said:
I've had my Panda six months now and it still keeps surprising me. I cannot really explain it but I think a lot of it is due to the fact I bought it brand new and it is my first experience with anything other than bangers.
Click to expand...

Yep it's one thing to own something that someone else has abused and another to get a brand new car of your own and maintain it properly.
 
Stu DemonD said:
That may be the case, but I would never own a 500! Unless in Abarth guise - and even then, I would prefer a Panda Abarth :D
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I think Fiat really missed an opportunity with a Panda Abarth....

I would have had one in a heartbeat. The 100hp was tempting though :)

At the end of the day not all cars are for all people. A couple of the guys at work give me stick for owning a 500 but one of them owns a Mk2 mr2 turbo and gets crap economy and is finding it not particularly winter friendly and the other guy has a mint trackday Clio 172 which he's had to put into storage for winter, he then bought a e36 318 sport which he's not liking which also didn't get him to work in the snow......

I'm happy with my choice. It might not be as cheap as the Panda or the most many of cars but it is cheap to run, looks decent enough, is going to hold its value well and it's a Panda underneath so it shouldn't be a problem owning it for 10+ years as I plan to :)
 
306maxi said:
...the other guy has a mint trackday Clio 172 which he's had to put into storage for winter, he then bought a e36 318 sport
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Off-topic, but was he at Oulton Park on 24 November?

Personally, I don't like the design and layout of Top Gear magazine, with too many bells and whistles detracting from the copy. If it's been given a make-ver, I might take a look. Evo is a firm favourite but Car is a close second. Motor Sport is fantastic for general reading with some in-depth features and the excellent Nigel Roebuck.

New car guides in the back of magazines tend to have 'witty' one-liners included. I think that the junior member of staff gets to write them!
 
LeanMeanRacing said:
Off-topic, but was he at Oulton Park on 24 November?

Personally, I don't like the design and layout of Top Gear magazine, with too many bells and whistles detracting from the copy. If it's been given a make-ver, I might take a look. Evo is a firm favourite but Car is a close second. Motor Sport is fantastic for general reading with some in-depth features and the excellent Nigel Roebuck.

New car guides in the back of magazines tend to have 'witty' one-liners included. I think that the junior member of staff gets to write them!
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nope not him :)
 
I think it can get confusing that there is a TV show and a magazine by the same name. However apart from the 3 TV show guys having their own columns the magazine is nothing like the show. The TV show can slag off a car but the magazine can rate it highly and vice versa. I started buying Top Gear last year and loved it that much that I decided to get a subscription. Personally I think Evo can be boring as it goes into driving dynamics way too much for my liking. I like my cars and I do like driving. But reading about telemetry and going into great detail about how a car corners bores me. I prefer something lighter and something with a funny side. But obviously not everybody likes the same thing.
 
306maxi said:
I think Fiat really missed an opportunity with a Panda Abarth....

I would have had one in a heartbeat.
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Yes, and I've heard a lot of others say this too. Obviously I'll be making one soon, so that's OK for me, but it could have been a real Abarth statement car for FIAT I think. It is just "extreme" enough to give Abarth some real credibility. by that I mean it is an unapologetic shopping car turned into a competent light use track car. Even then it's nothing like the Abarth of old, but it would have real echos of the old ideas.
 
blue cento hp said:
There used to be a video on You Tube with Clarkson comparing the Cinquecento sporting against a Mini Cooper, he absolutely loved the Fiat, of course now the Mini is worth 10x as much as the Cinquecento.
ALAN
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But realistically who in their right mind would want a Cinq' over a Mini, you'd need your head tested. Just because Clarkson says something does mean it has any value. Next you'll be telling me people actually take any notice of Honest John. :p
 
FullMetalPanda said:
I think it can get confusing that there is a TV show and a magazine by the same name. However apart from the 3 TV show guys having their own columns the magazine is nothing like the show. The TV show can slag off a car but the magazine can rate it highly and vice versa. I started buying Top Gear last year and loved it that much that I decided to get a subscription. Personally I think Evo can be boring as it goes into driving dynamics way too much for my liking. I like my cars and I do like driving. But reading about telemetry and going into great detail about how a car corners bores me. I prefer something lighter and something with a funny side. But obviously not everybody likes the same thing.
Click to expand...

So basically you prefer the car magazine which isn't about cars?
 
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