tempted by new panda

I have a mk2 punto at the moment which has done 63k miles. It has had no major problems, with only the wiper linkage breaking since new. Other than that it has been utterly reliable, passing all services quite cheaply, only thing it has had done is new brake shoes/pads. I've just replaced the brake shoes, drums, and a cylinder caused by a badly fitted shoe by a fiat garage at 40k which caused the shoe to wear to the metal very quickly and damage the drum. The new brakes have travelled a whole 3 miles so far Anyway, this is not bad going at all really is it? Especially when others have had new clutches etc.

Anyway, on to the Panda. I was thinking of getting a new Panda before my Punto is completely worthless, and to buy myself another 5 years of cheap and relatively trouble free motoring. The panda catches my eye allot more than another Punto as it just looks a bit different and more fun. But I'm not sure, what do you think? Maybe I just keep my Punto and run it into the ground, but I think it's around the age that little problems will start to crop up and I can't be bothered with them to be honest, and I just fancy a new car! How much do you think I could get for my Punto?

fiatsupasaver.com has brand new panda's, Dynamic 1.3 Multijet for £6495 or Eleganza 1.2 for £6695. This seems like an amazing price, I wonder if my local main dealer could come close to matching them? If not, why would I bother with the dealer? Any comments between the two engines? On the surface I guess the diesel is better but it may be so much nicer to have all the little extras of the Eleganza (especially air con in the summer) that the better engine is still not enough to beat the better trim level. I like the look of the Ska Azure, and Easy Listening Green colours; I would probably favour the Ska Azure as it has nice blue seats while the green only has yellow seat covers (according to the fiat.co.uk website..).

Well, the Panda certainly goes better than most expect it to. I did a 400 mile day trip recently and it took it in its stride.

I'm on my second Panda and the only two things I don't like are the power steering in city "girlie" mode is too light but in normal mode is very well balanced. The screenwasher bottle is tricky to fill without pouring water over the engine bay.

Roof rails are a must I think, alloy wheels look nice but more tyre noise and the yellow trim though a little loud suits the image of the Panda

PandaUK
Dynamic Dualogic

Hello Mathew. I was in exactly the same position as yourself a month ago. I had a 2001 Punto 1.2 and although it had been 100% reliable over the two years I had owned it I decided it was time for a change. The new Panda looks great and from reviews it is better to drive. I had one as a courtesy car when my Punto was in for a service and it drove so much better, nippy and the ride was better at soaking up bumps. I found the ride quality on the Punto terrible, my main complaint. As the current Punto is due to be replaced and I prefer the pre-facelift model I didn't fancy another.
The 1.2 FIRE engine was smooth performer and in the Panda I thought it would be at least as quick.
I checked out the local dealer and they had brand new 1.1 Actives for about £5k which was very tempting but I thought it best to stick with 1.2 so swapped the Punto for a year old demonstrator 1.2 Dynamic with air-con in guacamole green. It has the roof bars also and remote locking. Only thing missing is a CD player but I think new ones have all these as standard.
The 1.1 appealed in a basic way with the black bumpers and they are a great basic car but 1.2 has a few extras.
Regarding you choice I would have a test drive and then think it over. If you don't need the extra interior space of the Punto then there is no disadvantage in choosing the Panda. It is great fun to drive, the gearchange is quick and steering sharp. It feels more 'alive' than the Punto. I decided on the green or yellow as it suits the fun image of the car.
Regarding diesel or petrol, the top engine is the diesel with more power and better economy. It also is a chain cam engine so no worries about cambelt failure in the years ahead. Only disadvantage may be excessive noise when in the car, and also on the standard 155/80 R13 tyres it may be struggling for grip. The diesel version will be heavier at the front and some roadtests say it isn't as nimble as the pertrol version. If you do go for it I would consider the alloys with 165/65 R 14 tyres giving more grip and better visual appeal. 155 are very narrow these days but cheap to replace!
They are both good cars and should remain 'current' for quite a while until any facelift by Fiat. Hope you make the choice and join the club!

Hi :wave:

When I was deciding on which Panda to buy I test-drove every engine option and in my humble opinion, the Multijet was definitely the best. It likes to go. I took mine on a trip down Ireland and managed to get an average of 70 miles to the gallon to my 800 mile trip. You definitely can't be bad to that with the price of diesel these days. Around town I'm getting about 58-60 miles to the gallon, depending upon how much speeding off from the lights I do .

I bought mine in Vanilla Yellow (or Mambo Yellow as they now call it ) with the Skydome pack which had the sunroof, roof bars, side-rubbing strips and front fogs. I think the Panda looks it's best in pastel colours. The roof bars and side-rubbing strips provide just enough black as a feature. I'm glad I bought mine with the sunroof cause I'm too short to wax the roof .

Personally I don't think there's enough extras on the Eleganza for the money...

I recommend the sliding/folding rear seat for the supermarket run... But be aware that unlike the Idea, it doesn't have an extra slidy bit on the parcel shelf to hide the extra bit of boot space. I solved that problem on mine by buying made to measure seat covers for the car with an extra flap to cover the boot space (£230).

I'll agree that the washer bottle is in a tight awkward space, but I've got a funnel and it's easy enough to fill with it.

Don't forget to demand a locking fuel cap when you're ordering your car! I'll work out some way some time how to get a fuel cap with a lock to match the ignition key soon (hopefully):chin:. I refuse to be beaten on this one, but I'm sure not going to pay £100 for a set of barrels when I only need one:tosser: ...

Never felt tempted by air-con... It uses up extra fuel and it's not that necessary in Northern Ireland... It doesn't really be warm enough on enough days in the year to warrant the extra cost. And then again you need to use it and clean it or else it starts to smell :yuck:.

Don't know anything about the value of Puntos...

It will depend on the age of your Punto as to what it's worth. 2.5 months ago I traded mine in and got offers from £1200 to £1500 with 70k on the clock. If yours is a 5 year old basic model then I'd think that's what dealers would offer you as a P/X. So it comes down to taking a chance with the Punto, or a Panda (or something else). My Punto was just coming into the problems at this age (head gasket at 65k, gearbox lost 2nd 3 days before I swapped). I had advance warning of changing, and so left the old tyres that needed replacing on the back and didn't get a service done (the next one was 2 weeks away).

I would have tried a Panda except my wife doesn't like the styling, and it looks a bit small for us. Plus our local dealer couldn't do a test drive of a dualogic as they told me they sell them within hours of getting hold of any.

If you can afford it get one with ABS & hill holder(very useful) as mentioned multijet engine.Not keen on the dual logic...oh a budget for a plastic funnel for washer bottle

Thanks allot for the replies guys, very helpful! I didn't expect so many!

Sorry for being brief after all your lengthy replies, would like to just say before heading to bed that I've read them all fully and they are very helpful!

I will let you all know what I end up doing, I will probably do some testdrives, get different dealers offers on PX for the punto, barter a bit, think it over, then do something say mid december-ish.

mathew.

Go for the Eleganza, its just so much nicer to look at and sit in. There are little things that make it stand apart from the Dynamic. Youll get peanuts for your Punto, best sell it private and then knock the dealers down. Dont forget Fiats 0% finance, and if the dealer says no discount because of that say rubbish, Fiat pay for that!

nuovapanda said:

Go for the Eleganza, its just so much nicer to look at and sit in. There are little things that make it stand apart from the Dynamic.

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eleganza is the way forward! pretty much everything thrown in, and the climate control is great all year round, but esp in summer (those big windows will turn the inside of your panda into a nuclear microwave)

and haggle, make the salesman cry, or find one who'll give you the deal you want!

thanks again for the replies, as you say.. the dealer is likely to offer peanuts so I'm probably better off selling privately then bartering.

is eBay a good place to get a good price? If not can you recommend a good car-ad-mag?

sent my main dealer an email and they replied as you suggested they would, nuovapanda.. i.e. they said they can't do a price but can offer 0%. will have to go down there for a test drive and see what happens. if they won't get close to it I might as well order from aforementioned website!

cheers

What is the hill holder? Surely that's what the handbrake is for?

Are the petrols prone to head gasket failures like the Punto/Cinq/Sei FIRE engines?

I think the hill holder is an automatic brake assitance for hill starts, it detects when your on a hill, and puts the brakes on when you put the handbrake down, and gently lifts them off as you accelerate, so you don't have to worry about clutch control on hills.

the only application i could imagine with this is beginner drivers, and/or difficult hill parallel parking.

Yes holds the car for 3 seconds if on incline,superb in traffic jams on a hill as you dont roll back & good for easy parking on hills,trust me it's neat

Hillholder costs an extra £200... I can think of lots of better things to spend my money on, and use my handbrake instead

what do you think of the new panda sporting with the twin white stripes???
is it worth getting as it is diesel?

the sporting i saw at desira hayes was nice, but i cant see the point, the stripes are stuck on, and the equipment is not that special for the price, the stand out feature i thought was the interior which looked very good.

with the hill holder, i have to agree with the above, with good hand/feet co-ordination you shouldnt need it, save the £200

petebarchetta said:

what do you think of the new panda sporting with the twin white stripes???
is it worth getting as it is diesel?

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Agree with the above from Turboned...

Although the seat colours are nicer, as in the 4x4, the stripes on the car look stupid and there simply aren't enough extras on it for the money, and if you want any other options, they're not available for it.

Buy the diesel - It's definitely the best engine!

Wee Smurf said:

Buy the diesel - It's definitely the best engine!

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:yuck: If you like the smell, and the noise...

The Ugly Duckling said:

:yuck: If you like the smell, and the noise...

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smell? yeah ok diesel honks a bit, but noise? i drove one a short while ago, and have to say was very impressed by it, wether it was the soundproofing, inherent quiteness of the engine or both, it was fine.

turboned said:

smell? yeah ok diesel honks a bit, but noise? i drove one a short while ago, and have to say was very impressed by it, wether it was the soundproofing, inherent quiteness of the engine or both, it was fine.

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Ok, maybe the sound will be bearable, but the smell isn't. I believe the noise is worse on cold days too, although I've never heard these 1.3's.