jamescharlesworth
New member
- Joined
- Jan 11, 2007
- Messages
- 13
- Points
- 8
...hi everyone. My girlfriend and I just spent a long (very) weekend in scotland, and guess what we had as our hire car.... very useful actually as it formed a kind of extended test drive for me given my plans to buy one of these things. So i thought i would go on about it for a bit.
car was a 1.2 dynamic. Previously i have only driven a multijet for a week in italy, and the difference was to me, massive, purely in terms of handling. I think i would find it hard to go for the diesel now. I can only guess that the petrol engine being lighter in the nose, made it feel so much more neutral. I also found i could get over the slightly odd initial steering feel, quite quickly, in this car. I just found that it needed a very big initial input, so you put on half a turn at least, and then it becomes very adjustable. Worked a treat along the a82 by the side of loch ness! the steering feel when you go for it is great, and the way the car flows from one bend off into another is lovely; the body control and damping are 100% brilliant. I started playing about with it on wet roundabouts for a bit (until louise b*ll*cked me from the passenger seat) and i found i could make it do some neat understeer / oversteer tricks; and the suspension semed to be quite stiff too, with limited and progressive roll - is this a thing to do with the dynamic or is it all standard? anyone?
in fact really the only thing i really disliked was the engine. The car had 7k miles on it so i would assume it was reasonably loosened up, but it felt leaden and unwilling to rev, and gutless across the range - it really needed an extra 8 valves. The stuff i really did like was the overall quality, the really tight mechanical feel - the gear change action and the feel of downshifting were the best i have ever felt. the car had that nice thunking feel like the best german cars.
the car was superb in the snow and sleet too, it clung on brilliantly and i didnt feel like i had to tiptoe it. When in italy, in the mountains, i saw the locals booting these things through the snow with abandon at full chat, and i can see why they felt confident enough to do so. By the way, around inverness, i saw a fair few 4x4's, especially once we were touring some of the more outlying areas.
the dilemma i now face is, do i actually NEED a 100hp to replace my bloody awful old punto, when the basic car is so good (barring the engine which i am sure can be tuned...). For example i test drove a 100hp and am sure the steering feel was nowhere near as good on those big fat tires. Its a good dilemma to have mind you - am sold on getting a panda as have been for ages, but just.... which one...
car was a 1.2 dynamic. Previously i have only driven a multijet for a week in italy, and the difference was to me, massive, purely in terms of handling. I think i would find it hard to go for the diesel now. I can only guess that the petrol engine being lighter in the nose, made it feel so much more neutral. I also found i could get over the slightly odd initial steering feel, quite quickly, in this car. I just found that it needed a very big initial input, so you put on half a turn at least, and then it becomes very adjustable. Worked a treat along the a82 by the side of loch ness! the steering feel when you go for it is great, and the way the car flows from one bend off into another is lovely; the body control and damping are 100% brilliant. I started playing about with it on wet roundabouts for a bit (until louise b*ll*cked me from the passenger seat) and i found i could make it do some neat understeer / oversteer tricks; and the suspension semed to be quite stiff too, with limited and progressive roll - is this a thing to do with the dynamic or is it all standard? anyone?
in fact really the only thing i really disliked was the engine. The car had 7k miles on it so i would assume it was reasonably loosened up, but it felt leaden and unwilling to rev, and gutless across the range - it really needed an extra 8 valves. The stuff i really did like was the overall quality, the really tight mechanical feel - the gear change action and the feel of downshifting were the best i have ever felt. the car had that nice thunking feel like the best german cars.
the car was superb in the snow and sleet too, it clung on brilliantly and i didnt feel like i had to tiptoe it. When in italy, in the mountains, i saw the locals booting these things through the snow with abandon at full chat, and i can see why they felt confident enough to do so. By the way, around inverness, i saw a fair few 4x4's, especially once we were touring some of the more outlying areas.
the dilemma i now face is, do i actually NEED a 100hp to replace my bloody awful old punto, when the basic car is so good (barring the engine which i am sure can be tuned...). For example i test drove a 100hp and am sure the steering feel was nowhere near as good on those big fat tires. Its a good dilemma to have mind you - am sold on getting a panda as have been for ages, but just.... which one...
