So I have a question, quite I big one infact... but first some background and extra info

Me and the wife have absolutely fallen in love with the 100hp Pandas, never ever even heard of them until this year but she has her heart set on one and to be honest I'd love one too!

Hoooooooowever..... Fiat never made a 100hp Panda in auto or paddleshift/triptronic/flappypaddle etc... and this is a HUGE problem because at the grand old age of 20 I've got arthritis in my left ankle and I can't drive manual anymore (insert mega sad emoji here)

So my question is...
How difficult and expensive would it be to convert a standard 100hp Panda into automatic? Preferably the standard Panda auto box or maybe even the 595 Abarth flappy paddle if needs must; or maybe we should just get a standard auto Panda and upgrade the living daylights out of it into somewhat of a Frankenstein 100hp? But insurance costs [emoji848]

Lemme know what any of you wonderful people have to say on this pain of a matter, any advice, alternatives or just... well anything really is a huge help!

Tusen takk!

Picture stolen from Drivetribe Fb

Hi,
Whilst I can't comment on the feasibility of fitting an auto box if you you manage it and you need any help with insurance at all then please feel free to drop me a line.
I owned an electroclash grey 100HP for 6 years. Absolutely loved it.
Regards,
Dan.

Dan at Adrian Flux said:

Hi,

Whilst I can't comment on the feasibility of fitting an auto box if you you manage it and you need any help with insurance at all then please feel free to drop me a line.

I owned an electroclash grey 100HP for 6 years. Absolutely loved it.

Regards,

Dan.

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Heya! Funny actually because I was going to go with Adrian flux next time round! I’m just not sure if we did get a standard Auto panda and modded it, how much insurance would be, the modifications list would be huge! [emoji28]

Unfortunately in a modern car while swapping out the transmission is relatively easy mechanically, particularly in cars with the same floorpan, the same can not be said of integrating the gearbox electronics with the engine and body modules.

I suspect that you would need the source codes and those are something Fiat are not going to give out.

Cheers

D

I'd be 99% certain that this isn't feasible. But the 100HP is a great little car - had one for five years before my current 4x4 TA.

You could probably have the car converted to a hand clutch on the gear lever. It wont be low cost.

Thank you all for the replies, noticed the app isn’t sending me notifications at all sadly so sorry for late reply, but yeah my local go to guy for mechanical stuff has said it’s not possible due to the electronics that go with the gearbox, so we’ve decided that we’re gonna get a 100hp for the wife and something else for me [emoji28] thanks all!

That Duck clutch system looks cool, would take some getting used to though I bet!

Johannes, I'd suggest looking at the 500. They come in semi-auto (clutchless) versions, with the same engine as the 100hp. AutoTrader shows them priced around £5k so pretty reasonable

Eklipze3k said:

That Duck clutch system looks cool, would take some getting used to though I bet!

Johannes, I'd suggest looking at the 500. They come in semi-auto (clutchless) versions, with the same engine as the 100hp. AutoTrader shows them priced around £5k so pretty reasonable

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Bikes have the clutch on the left like a pushbike brake lever. It's really quite easy to learn. I imagine this gear lever clutch would be less easy for a left-had drive car.

Eklipze3k said:

That Duck clutch system looks cool, would take some getting used to though I bet!

Johannes, I'd suggest looking at the 500. They come in semi-auto (clutchless) versions, with the same engine as the 100hp. AutoTrader shows them priced around £5k so pretty reasonable

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Aahhh great idea that! I just made a post about what Car I should get instead as the wife is getting a 100hp, I’m thinking 500 also, not sure wether to fork out for an abarth though!

The 500 and current Panda use the same floorpan as the Panda 169 though the wheel track is 50mm wider.

The Abarth cars are very quick but also highly tuned and likely to be tiring to use on long drives. All that power (up to 180bhp) in a short chassis will be fun for a while but wearing to use every day. Running costs will be high.

Please can I ask - What happened to your foot to make the normal clutch unusable?

DaveMcT said:

The 500 and current Panda use the same floorpan as the Panda 169 though the wheel track is 50mm wider.



The Abarth cars are very quick but also highly tuned and likely to be tiring to use on long drives. All that power (up to 180bhp) in a short chassis will be fun for a while but wearing to use every day. Running costs will be high.



Please can I ask - What happened to your foot to make the normal clutch unusable?

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Yeah? I didn’t know that

And yeah that’s the trouble, as she will have manual and me Auto, it makes more sense for me to hæ the more long distance Car [emoji28]

And Ofcourse, basically had many many problems with my right foot after I broke a bone right in the centre of my foot on the side, so imagine the little toe and the bone right on the side of your foot, this caused me to walk funny and rely on my left foot too much which has caused long term damage, doctors aren’t 100% sure what’s wrong with my ankle but my left ankle gets fatigued easily and really hurts, walking is fine but running and stuff like climbing stairs as you’re normally tiptoeing huts a lot, also obviously manual cars kill because of all the pressure going through the ankle constantly, they seem to think it’s akin to arthritis as it seems like bone grinding is happening

I prefer Auto anyway to be honest, but I much prefer semi Auto/triptronic or whatever, where you have the option to override and change gear yourself

The foot sounds bad but also get your low back checked out. Nerve impingement at L4 or L5 can feel like a sprained ankle. I'm a chiropractor (used to be an engineer) and see such things from time to time. Snake oil? Some say but the GP surgery where I have my office is happy to have me.

If you are doing long distances the Panda or 500 will soon annoy you. Its not what they are built for. A larger car will give more transmission options.

DaveMcT said:

The foot sounds bad but also get your low back checked out. Nerve impingement at L4 or L5 can feel like a sprained ankle. I'm a chiropractor (used to be an engineer) and see such things from time to time. Snake oil? Some say but the GP surgery where I have my office is happy to have me.

If you are doing long distances the Panda or 500 will soon annoy you. Its not what they are built for. A larger car will give more transmission options.

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Oh aye yeah, gonna have to look into that, cheers!

Oh no definitely not long distance but I imagine if we even needed to, it would do my head in being in such a small car [emoji28] I borrow my dad’s C class at the moment but to insure it for a weekend costs a months insurance on a standard car [emoji23]

I have no idea about your budget but this looks nice
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Abarth-50...804084?hash=item1a35fb3074:g:dOsAAOSwdPBZxlD1

And if you like rag tops
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2011-Abar...609340?hash=item2a8f59207c:g:jXEAAOSwHsBZoGEp

This one will polish out
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FIAT-500-...145564&hash=item43e0b77223:g:-NoAAOSwyQtVwxu6

Considering that an Abarth 500 Auto will be from £10,000, a Panda 100HP even with special clutch conversion could be less than half the price. It's worth checking up on costs.

DaveMcT said:

I have no idea about your budget but this looks nice

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Abarth-50...804084?hash=item1a35fb3074:g:dOsAAOSwdPBZxlD1



And if you like rag tops

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2011-Abar...609340?hash=item2a8f59207c:g:jXEAAOSwHsBZoGEp



This one will polish out

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FIAT-500-...145564&hash=item43e0b77223:g:-NoAAOSwyQtVwxu6

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Bookmarked

DaveMcT said:

Considering that an Abarth 500 Auto will be from £10,000, a Panda 100HP even with special clutch conversion could be less than half the price. It's worth checking up on costs.

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Indeed, with abarth it’s more about the styling and sound, the money isn’t all that worth it for what I want to be honest

I really like the 500 Abarth and with 170bhp it has to be quick. Low cost it's not, but after the initial depreciation, used cars seem to hold their value better than some.

DaveMcT said:

I really like the 500 Abarth and with 170bhp it has to be quick. Low cost it's not, but after the initial depreciation, used cars seem to hold their value better than some.

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Same here, I’m just worried it’ll be a money pit [emoji28]

Dan at Adrian Flux said:

Hi,

Whilst I can't comment on the feasibility of fitting an auto box if you you manage it and you need any help with insurance at all then please feel free to drop me a line.

I owned an electroclash grey 100HP for 6 years. Absolutely loved it.

Regards,

Dan.

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Hey bro, wanted to drop you a line about insurance but can’t seem to [emoji30]