I had a test drive in a 100HP today and was quite impressed with it. There are a few things that I don't like, but it's probably the only new car that I like.

The 1.2 felt very slow, but the 1.4 seemed to be just right. I was struggling with the pedals a lot because they were so springy and sensitive compared to my one. I even managed to stall it once [], and I've never stalled my 899cc Sei! The performance wasn't as good as I was expecting, but I didn't really have many opportunities for accelerating hard. The performance was good enough though, I'm not looking for a hot-hatch. It's a shame that the 1.4 is a bit of a gass-guzzler [].

I've seen a lot of posts about these on here, are they reliable? Do these engines have the same head gasket problems that the older FIRE engines have?

One of the most annoying things is that you can't have 5 seats in 100HP. Any ideas why that is?

I'm looking to receive it next year, so I won't order it for another 6 months. I'll probably ask more questions nearer the time.

Other new cars seem to be massive, and have airbags everywhere. The windscreen screens to be at a very low angle, which makes it very hard to judge the size of the car, and also feels horrible. They don't seem to feel like a proper car, but the Panda isn't like that, possibly because it's an older design. The only thing with the driving is that I was a bit high up, but that's quite minor and I may have been able to lower it.

You can have a central seat belt fitted at extra cost in the options. Its a cheap car what do you expect?

I didn't bother tbh.

Totally agree that the driving position is way too hight. Not much you can do about it unfortunately.

trackdayqueen said:

You can have a central seat belt fitted at extra cost in the options. Its a cheap car what do you expect?

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I looked on the Fiat website and compared a 100HP and a normal one, Dymanic IIRC). On the dynamic it had 'optional' IIRC, and for the 100HP '-', if it was standard it would have said 'standard' instead. I checked with a salesman and he said it's not available on the 100HP. Sliding rear seats are the same. I can't see an obvious reason for it, the engine is at the front, so I wouldn't expect that to effect it.

Also, is it possible to get fold flat seats? The Fiat website picture shows seats folded flat, but the salesmen said they don't, and I could see for myself that they didn't.

The Ugly Duckling said:

....Sliding rear seats are the same. I can't see an obvious reason for it, the engine is at the front, so I wouldn't expect that to effect it....

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The seats in the 100hp have lumber supports and so there is less room for a middle rear one....I guess the same reason applies for a lack of slide / flat fold facility....