50 quid for a height adjustable drivers seat! Even mk1 Puntos had them as standard. Extra for side air bags.
I agree, both of these should be standard on at least the Lounge model, possibly across the range. Putting something worth £50 (retail) on the options list is just tight tbh. It probably costs Fiat about a tenner. Just a way of building-in profitability i'd imagine.
I see no issues with keeping it all together in one sticky - saves having umpteen threads all over the forum all saying the same thing
After all, this is the Mk3 Panda section, once the new model is released then it will get a new section - but at this stage, it isn't such a priority. I will speak to admin though, better than having more snidey comments eh
If it's gonna be kept in the Mk3 Panda section then i agree, but as the launch of the new model is just around the corner and some posts have been different enough to warrant seperate threads, it's a shame a section isn't aleady in place to accomodate them.
I agree with you to a certain extent. However I think Fiat have decided to take a gamble on the fact that the new shape Panda will appeal to a much broader customer base, and so have priced it directly in relation to the 500.
The 500 has helped Fiat to attract customers who would never in a million years have bought one of their cars. But it does have its limitations which the new Panda should address whilst also retaining its small car character.
The big question remains as to whether Fiat is going to keep the existing Panda customer base happy. I am not sure the Pop offers enough value for money for what you get, so this might need a bit more work IMO.
As for the plethora of circa £50 options, I think some of them are pretty ridiculous as well, however I do believe that there will be room to negotiate some free ones. I would be very surprised if not.
Totally agree (again, lol). I think non-Fiat customers
might see the new Panda as good value compared to the 500, and if a 1.0 VW Up! is gonna be around £8400 for the entry level 5door model, which doesn't even get electric windows, then the new Panda does still look to be priced fairly. It appears more capable as an all-rounder than several of its rivals (like the Aygo & Up! clans) so people could buy a Panda even if they intend to go on the Motorway regularly - i wouldn't want to do the same journey in a tinny little Aygo.
I do think £8495 for the Pop model might've been a wiser move, rather than £8900, though. And as i said before, some of those £50 options should be standard.
Why would the very slightly bigger, slightly heavier, slightly slower, slightly less economical new Panda appeal to a much wider group of potential customers than the outgoing one? I can't see why it would, though I can see that it would have less appeal to some existing Panda owners. The existing Panda does have some notable limitations - harsh ride and highish noise levels, for instance; the new model seems significantly better in these respects but I'm not sure how much evidence there is that these shortcomings reduced sales. Potential buyers are demanding higher standards, of course, and these improvements were necessary to keep pace with the competition, but that's keeping up, not getting ahead. The other "features" can be summed up as a load of funny shapes and distracting colours on the dash, which don't add up to much as far as I can see.
I think you've partly answered your own question/concern - being very slightly bigger, slightly heavier & slightly slower shouldn't matter to alot of people when weighed up against being better to drive, better riding, more refined and more upto date. Being slightly less economical could be a problem but it depends on real World economy rather than tests. We all know that companies can say a car is more economical but the truth is only found once a few people start running the cars day-to-day.
The current Panda has been a bargain. It was stonking value at launch (£8095 for a top spec Eleganza) and as the list price rose, offers/discounts got bigger because the model got older, but things move on - a Grande Punto was £7594 at launch in 2006, now a base model Punto is £9900. It's not just Fiat that are more expensive, everything is.
Ok you might be able to buy a base model Kia Picanto for less than a Panda, but the top-spec 3 door Picanto is £11,195 and 5 door is £10,695 after customer savings (the OTR are even higher). The Panda might have a (in relation) high starting price but £10,050 for a top-spec 1.2 Lounge seems decent value compared to the equivilent-specced Picanto.
If the higher list prices mean better quality, dealers & service then i think people will stomach it, but they need to realise that many competitors nail Fiat on service & if they think they can increase prices and not show a commitment to improving, particularly their dealer network, then they're very much mistaken.
