Thank you Charlie
I noticed
AndyRKett and
Kronkron were singing the MJ's praises recently.
My parents are looking to reduce their motoring costs and I've been banging on rather tediously to them how good the Panda is - and I can't imagine there's a cheaper form of motoring to be had.
In hilly parts of the world I can't help wondering if the MJ would be the better car.
I'd argue that the Multijet is the better car in any part of the world than the petrol.
I've owned 5 different punto's 3 diesels and 2 petrol.
I had a mk1 1.2 petrol which was a nice little car light and suited the little petrol engine well.
Then I had both a 1.3 and a 1.9 mk2b diesel. I did about 80,000 miles in the 1.3 commuting sometimes 120 miles a day and doing numerous trips to the other side of the country. and the only thing that ever let me down was a broken earth lead and the water pump seal went.
The water pump is belt driven and seperate to the engine block, so it was a very cheap and easy fix. Plus it was winter and the cold running temps of the diesel meant I was able to drive it 20 miles to a garage with no problems (and no coolant) My wife an I still talk of "the trip we did to yorkshire" where the weather was so cold the wipers kept freezing and there was about 5 inches of snow fall during the journey but the little engine kept going without any problems.
I now have the 1.6 multijet in a punto Evo which is basically a van engine its ok but its not like the 1.3. Overall the multijet engines are great, but my favorite has to be the 1.3. its just such as brilliant little package.
If I were to buy a Panda (I have considered it) it would 100% be a 1.3 diesel 4x4 cross. If I could get 60mpg in a heavier punto I'm sure that any panda would do 60+mpg all day everyday.
My main car these days is either a 2.0l Golf TDI or a 2.0L Mini Cooper countryman both with 150hp. I've driven both of these abroad and at much greater speeds than allowed in the Uk and the only down side the 1.3 multijet has compared to bigger more powerful engines is when you get much above 70mph the fuel economy dips massively and it quickly runs out of puff.