- Joined
- Jan 24, 2005
- Messages
- 569
- Points
- 102
Hi All
The Panda Has now gone I'm afraid and a nice shiny new Citygo in its place.
We didn't go out to buy a Citygo it just sort of happened.
We had come to the end of the finance contract on the Panda and thought we'd go for something better appointed. The little Panda was really just a stop gap second car and was the basic model. And when fiat make a Basic model it's really Basic. I was getting a little fed up with driving with my head against the roof lining as no height adjustment on the drivers seat and not having remote central locking. The stereo was lacking in all the functions we like these days too. We kept it for four faultless years and at the end of the contract went dutifully back to the new fiat dealer in our area to see what we could get either against a better Panda or a Punto.
We'd been on the Fiat web site and they were offering £3k off the punto droping the price to £8900 or £1500 off a Panda so things were looking good.
To my amazement when we asked about these deals we were told by the dealer that they couldn't do them and we would have to pay full price.
The only deal even close to what we wanted was another Panda exactly the same spec as we had for a much higher price than we originally paid for ours too.
I asked about loyalty bonus having owned fiats for the last 20 years - nothing doing- take it or leave it basically, It was like they didn't want to sell us a car at all.
to add insult to injury they were only willing to write off the balloon payment we still had to pay on the panda and start again with no deposit. The balloon payment was only £2.5K and I new the car would end up on the forecourt at £4.5k, now I don't mind someone having to make a profit but that's ridiculous. so we politely bid our farewells and left.
We decided to pay off the Balloon payment and keep the car.
Roll on another month and Service/MOT time. I had to take the car to BSM as it was still on a service contract so all free .
walking through the Skoda Showroom to the service desk and was quite taken with the City go - A Special colour edition- metalic paint - black Alloys - Privacy glass - 5 Doors and that sexy new front end they've just updated. Plus a discounted screen price of £8900.
After picking up my car I went and sat inside and Yessss a full 5 inches of head room and all the toys.
To cut an already long story short - after a test drive a week later with the missus and a little haggling we drove off with the car - Final price was £7900 - £3000 part ex on the panda and £1900 cash back in the bank. (which I'll pay back into VW's flexible finance scheme as soon as i get the chance). and monthly payments of £130 a month. (plus free servicing for two years).
So whats up with Fiat these days????? don't they want to sell cars any more. And why advertise deals on their web site that the dealers aren't willing to offer????
Never-mind - loving the Citygo by the way .
The Panda Has now gone I'm afraid and a nice shiny new Citygo in its place.
We didn't go out to buy a Citygo it just sort of happened.
We had come to the end of the finance contract on the Panda and thought we'd go for something better appointed. The little Panda was really just a stop gap second car and was the basic model. And when fiat make a Basic model it's really Basic. I was getting a little fed up with driving with my head against the roof lining as no height adjustment on the drivers seat and not having remote central locking. The stereo was lacking in all the functions we like these days too. We kept it for four faultless years and at the end of the contract went dutifully back to the new fiat dealer in our area to see what we could get either against a better Panda or a Punto.
We'd been on the Fiat web site and they were offering £3k off the punto droping the price to £8900 or £1500 off a Panda so things were looking good.
To my amazement when we asked about these deals we were told by the dealer that they couldn't do them and we would have to pay full price.
The only deal even close to what we wanted was another Panda exactly the same spec as we had for a much higher price than we originally paid for ours too.
I asked about loyalty bonus having owned fiats for the last 20 years - nothing doing- take it or leave it basically, It was like they didn't want to sell us a car at all.
to add insult to injury they were only willing to write off the balloon payment we still had to pay on the panda and start again with no deposit. The balloon payment was only £2.5K and I new the car would end up on the forecourt at £4.5k, now I don't mind someone having to make a profit but that's ridiculous. so we politely bid our farewells and left.
We decided to pay off the Balloon payment and keep the car.
Roll on another month and Service/MOT time. I had to take the car to BSM as it was still on a service contract so all free .
walking through the Skoda Showroom to the service desk and was quite taken with the City go - A Special colour edition- metalic paint - black Alloys - Privacy glass - 5 Doors and that sexy new front end they've just updated. Plus a discounted screen price of £8900.
After picking up my car I went and sat inside and Yessss a full 5 inches of head room and all the toys.
To cut an already long story short - after a test drive a week later with the missus and a little haggling we drove off with the car - Final price was £7900 - £3000 part ex on the panda and £1900 cash back in the bank. (which I'll pay back into VW's flexible finance scheme as soon as i get the chance). and monthly payments of £130 a month. (plus free servicing for two years).
So whats up with Fiat these days????? don't they want to sell cars any more. And why advertise deals on their web site that the dealers aren't willing to offer????
Never-mind - loving the Citygo by the way .