No, not that sort of camp. 4x4 in field, with its new friend the camping trailer. Enough space for tent, chair, mattress, kitchen, food, wine, sleeping bags, port-a-loo, dishwasher, sofa, comfy chairs.

(I lied about the dishwasher).

I forgot - if you get a trailer with 8" wheels like mine it tows with the trailer hitch slightly higher than the rear of the trailer. A Small 'drop-plate' cures this - order one with your tow bar. A jockey wheel is useful for camping - keeps the nose up while you load/unload. A couple of rear stabilisers - little posts that you drop down when parked at the rear keep the trailer stable and stop it running away downhill when you take it off the car.

Tows at the legal speed limit (60 MPH) with no fuss, towed at 75 mph for a little way , until I remembered I had the trailer on and slowed down.
1.2 engine copes with no fuss, aircon on all the way, two people and a packed trailer.

The perfect car?

Nice one.

My tow bar is being fitted next week. We are going away camping in August, and i will post a pic of what we take with us . It's nothing short of amazing.

pandissimo said:

No, not that sort of camp. 4x4 in field, with its new friend the camping trailer. Enough space for tent, chair, mattress, kitchen, food, wine, sleeping bags, port-a-loo, dishwasher, sofa, comfy chairs.

(I lied about the dishwasher).

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That's a great setup, in my view a trailer is the ideal way to take extra luggage on a journey

For a few years I fell into the trap of running a big car (Mitsubishi Delica) so that I could transport the family on camping holidays with all the usual paraphenalia; however the 20mpg fuel consumption meant we travelled everywhere at 60mpg just to avoid signing over my entire earnings to HM Treasury and BP We now go in our Punto 75SX towing a 6'x4' trailer; travel at the same speed and use less than half the fuel

I'm definitely going to replace the Punto with a Panda multijet when the used ones drop into my price bracket, if for no other reason than I want aircon

That's right, with a big car you are putting up with crippling fuel bills all year around. It's like people that buy a huge motor to tow the caravan once a year. I mean just hire a car for the week you go on holiday, it's a lot cheaper.

kipster said:

That's right, with a big car you are putting up with crippling fuel bills all year around. It's like people that buy a huge motor to tow the caravan once a year. I mean just hire a car for the week you go on holiday, it's a lot cheaper.

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Tell me about it. All you need is a Panda, a trailer for weekends and for taking trash down to the dump and a folding bike to fit in the boot. Here's my Towsure folding bike - weighs 11.6 kilos and fits straight in the Panda's boot. Six speeds too, one more than the car. Alloy rims too....

Hi all,

I have been on the road these past few months hence no chance to join in the discussions. I have a medium trailer (6' x 4') for use with my Multijet. I don't fill it with heavy stuff, just some bits of furniture for our daughter's house - some trips to the local recycling / refuse centre, that sort of thing. I too sometimes forget that the trailer is there - overtaking is effortless and cruising on B class road at the legal 60 MPH (or 100 KPH) is a doodle.

Being on the road this past few months has let me check out the mpg over a longer trip - my usual trip to work is 84 miles round trip averaging about 65 mpg. This time I had to go to the border counties and each trip was at a steady 60 MPH with some overtaking at slightly higher speeds. I was nicely surprised to see that I was getting 78.2 mpg most of the journeys.

On the flip side, I was on the motorway yesterday and a 03 BMW 320 TDi was "stretching it's legs" a bit. IF I had decided to see what speed he was doing & stayed with him for a few miles I believe that my Speedo would have been reading 185 KPH = 115 MPH - IF this had happened, I think the BMW driver would have been somewhat astounded to see this little machine staying up with him comfortably - for all the gentlemen of the Constabulary reading this, I am only kidding - never cross the speed limits!

All in all, a great wee car, 52 000 kilometres (32500 Miles) on the clock in 17 months and not a problem.

BJ

BJ20 said:

Hi all,

I have been on the road these past few months hence no chance to join in the discussions. I have a medium trailer (6' x 4') for use with my Multijet. I don't fill it with heavy stuff, just some bits of furniture for our daughter's house - some trips to the local recycling / refuse centre, that sort of thing. I too sometimes forget that the trailer is there - overtaking is effortless and cruising on B class road at the legal 60 MPH (or 100 KPH) is a doodle.
torway yesterday and a 03 BMW 320 TDi was "stretching it's legs" a bit.

IF I I am only kidding - never cross the speed limits!

All in all, a great wee car, 52 000 kilometres (32500 Miles) on the clock in 17 months and not a problem.

BJ

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I can't imagine Panda owners would ever break the law

I'm pretty pleased with my trailer too, off camping next week again while the warm weather lasts. Sure beats having a big car to find parking for in towns and I can chuck trash in the trailer for visits to the dump.

I would really like the mileage you're getting tho' . :worship:

Pandissimo
BTW, meant to ask where did you get the fold away bicycle - looks cool, is there one in the boot of every new Panda

The mpg bit is not unexpected with the Multijet - a heavy right foot will always play havoc with the juice - I try for consistency, but have to admit that I don't always stick to it!

The amount of big cars that sweep past my little buzz box only to have us both arrive at the next town together is really satisfying - Advance driving course helps.

Good luck on the holidays

BJ

BJ20 said:

Pandissimo
BTW, meant to ask where did you get the fold away bicycle - looks cool, is there one in the boot of every new Panda


BJ

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There should be, mine came from Towsure. Six gears - a buzz to ride - chuck it in the back of the car for those city visits! £125.00

http://www.towsure.com/default.asp?t=6696

They ship them mail order too.

BJ20 said:

Being on the road this past few months has let me check out the mpg over a longer trip - my usual trip to work is 84 miles round trip averaging about 65 mpg. This time I had to go to the border counties and each trip was at a steady 60 MPH with some overtaking at slightly higher speeds. I was nicely surprised to see that I was getting 78.2 mpg most of the journeys.



BJ

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I too am pleased with the mpg of my multijet, and also use it for towing. Both a trailer and a 250kg trailer tent. It does a genuine 60mpg when towing the tent, and 65 overall. It does however have 1 fault, Optimism. Its speedo reads over 5% fast, mileometer 2% over, and trip computer 10% high on its mpg. ( This is calculated over 3500 miles) I should be interested to know if other people have found the trip computer to be so inaccurate.
I towed the tent from Norfolk to W. Wales, and only needed to put my foot flat on the floor a handful of times going up steep hills. This car is therefore obviously overpowered! At no time did I feel unable to keep up with the traffic flow.
Now, its rated as being capable of towing 900kg, thats a fair sized caravan! Has anybody tried towing something bigger?

Great Panda camping pics. i want one.

Re: Camp Panda towing with a panda

I used to tow a Freedom Jetstream caravan(750kg mpw) with an 09 1.3 diesel Panda did many miles thru france and UK, brilliant super little car. I replaced it 2014 with Panda 1.2 petrol as no longer have the van. New car OK bur not as good as previous Panda

Fiat Panda and F off motorbike sorts out all my transport needs.

The car gets there eventually but the bike is about the journey, cuts through traffic and doesn't have to sit for miles behind Mr Brake-as-every-bird-flies-by.