Panda 2012+ First timer.

[Twotone2]

Hi guys, just recently joined the forum.

My wife and I have just bought a pre-reg Panda 4 X 4 with about sixty miles on the clock, we bought it from Stoneacre Worksop which was an ‘interesting’ experience I have to say anyway we collected the car from them on Wednesday after driving down from Glasgow in my son’s September 2019 Ford Fiesta, which was used as the trade in, amazingly we got £9150 for it but it has only done 14000 miles and has recently had to have the clutch replaced @ £440 it was due the final payment of £5400 in October but we lost confidence in the car so that’s why we ended up buying the Panda otherwise we’d have kept it but I didn’t fancy going through that again as it was a terrible experience when the clutch chucked it, seems to be a real issue with some Ford fiestas but in saying that my wife had a 2016 eco boost fiesta and it hardly missed a beat in all that time, my son now has that car.

Getting back to the Panda it was registered on March 30th 2023 it’s white and is a Fiat Panda Hatchback 0.9 TwinAir [85] Wild 4x4 [Touchscreen] 5dr we paid just under £16,000 for it but it’s on HP over 60 months and we’re hoping to pay it off beforehand it’s essentially our retirement car as we’re (plus our dog) kinda hoping to go to Spain and Portugal in the spring of 2025 for maybe four or five months as my wife retires in November 2024 and I ‘officially’ retire in August 2026 but I’m self employed so I’ll likely still work a couple of days a week or so.

Stoneacre actually wanted £650, plus about another £170 on the credit agreement, to deliver the car to us in Glasgow and also pick up the Ford and take it back to Worksop, the initial deal I made with one of their salesmen was £100 for delivery and £180 for the road tax but he went off to Greece on holiday and the new salesman kept moving the goalposts to such an extent I actually told them to cancel the car and pay me my deposit back plus the road tax fee but he insisted that I’d have to travel to Worksop and sign for the refund but eventually I talked to his manager and managed to sort out an improved deal with him but my God it was hard work however at the end of the day we saved about £670 for a day’s driving so not all bad, unfortunately I couldn’t really recommend the dealer but the car is excellent and we’re delighted with it and more importantly my wife loves it as it’s really her car I just did the research.

Thanks and looking forward to spending a bit of time here and read up on the car.

I‘d appreciate any tips regarding driving the car and servicing it etc I’ve already picked up that it’s best to fill it up with V Power petrol and obviously turn off the ECO button and possibly the start stop too.

Tony

 

[Panda IIs]

I‘d appreciate any tips regarding driving the car and servicing it etc I’ve already picked up that it’s best to fill it up with V Power petrol and obviously turn off the ECO button and possibly the start stop too.

Tony

Certainly I find my 4x4 TA a more pleasant drive on Super grades of fuel (98 octane?) which remains E5 rather than E10 I believe. You'll probably find the stop/start turns itself off after a while (unless you are doing loads of miles which keeps the battery volts up) it seems very "system voltage" dependant. Enjoy your new car!

 

[Twotone2]

Certainly I find my 4x4 TA a more pleasant drive on Super grades of fuel (98 octane?) which remains E5 rather than E10 I believe. You'll probably find the stop/start turns itself off after a while (unless you are doing loads of miles which keeps the battery volts up) it seems very "system voltage" dependant. Enjoy your new car!

Thanks, we do a lot of low mileage journeys or my wife does, probably roughly six miles either way to her work and a couple of miles to the park and back to take the dog out and very occasionally a 30mile drive to the coast although in saying that we’re going up north next week so about a 200 mile drive, best to just turn the S/S off permanently do you think?

Tony

 

[Panda IIs]

Thanks, we do a lot of low mileage journeys or my wife does, probably roughly six miles either way to her work and a couple of miles to the park and back to take the dog out and very occasionally a 30mile drive to the coast although in saying that we’re going up north next week so about a 200 mile drive, best to just turn the S/S off permanently do you think?

Tony

I wouldn't like to say really, it works when it works and I never found it disturbing or distracting. My daughter found it useful when learning to drive in the car since if you stalled at the lights it would restart as you dumped your foot on the clutch. At 84k miles I'm still on the original starter so wouldn't buy into any "wear and tear" argument, but, as I say, my experience is that it doesn't operate for long!

 

[Mouse1903]

Sounds like you got a decent deal given the price of some of the new ones just now. Definitely run on super unleaded and do oil change every 9k miles instead of 18k would be my advice

 

[Twotone2]

Sounds like you got a decent deal given the price of some of the new ones just now. Definitely run on super unleaded and do oil change every 9k miles instead of 18k would be my advice

Thanks I've just bought sill protecters and a rear bumper protecter and had new rubber mats and a boot liner delivered today.

Might as well spend the money on the car as we're hoping to keep it for a long time plus we've a mental spaniel

Also seriously considering have new tyres fitted nearer the winter but the stock tyres seem well regarded they're Goodyear ultragrip we do get some bad weather here plus my drive is treacherous in the frost and snow so something to think about.

On a positive note my wife loves ithe car, I was worried that she'd struggle with the gear changes particularly first gear but she gets the car into second gear fairly quickly and is happy with it.

Tony

 

[The Panda Nut]

Hi guys, just recently joined the forum.

My wife and I have just bought a pre-reg Panda 4 X 4 with about sixty miles on the clock, we bought it from Stoneacre Worksop which was an ‘interesting’ experience I have to say anyway we collected the car from them on Wednesday after driving down from Glasgow in my son’s September 2019 Ford Fiesta, which was used as the trade in, amazingly we got £9150 for it but it has only done 14000 miles and has recently had to have the clutch replaced @ £440 it was due the final payment of £5400 in October but we lost confidence in the car so that’s why we ended up buying the Panda otherwise we’d have kept it but I didn’t fancy going through that again as it was a terrible experience when the clutch chucked it, seems to be a real issue with some Ford fiestas but in saying that my wife had a 2016 eco boost fiesta and it hardly missed a beat in all that time, my son now has that car.

Getting back to the Panda it was registered on March 30th 2023 it’s white and is a Fiat Panda Hatchback 0.9 TwinAir [85] Wild 4x4 [Touchscreen] 5dr we paid just under £16,000 for it but it’s on HP over 60 months and we’re hoping to pay it off beforehand it’s essentially our retirement car as we’re (plus our dog) kinda hoping to go to Spain and Portugal in the spring of 2025 for maybe four or five months as my wife retires in November 2024 and I ‘officially’ retire in August 2026 but I’m self employed so I’ll likely still work a couple of days a week or so.

Stoneacre actually wanted £650, plus about another £170 on the credit agreement, to deliver the car to us in Glasgow and also pick up the Ford and take it back to Worksop, the initial deal I made with one of their salesmen was £100 for delivery and £180 for the road tax but he went off to Greece on holiday and the new salesman kept moving the goalposts to such an extent I actually told them to cancel the car and pay me my deposit back plus the road tax fee but he insisted that I’d have to travel to Worksop and sign for the refund but eventually I talked to his manager and managed to sort out an improved deal with him but my God it was hard work however at the end of the day we saved about £670 for a day’s driving so not all bad, unfortunately I couldn’t really recommend the dealer but the car is excellent and we’re delighted with it and more importantly my wife loves it as it’s really her car I just did the research.

Thanks and looking forward to spending a bit of time here and read up on the car.

I‘d appreciate any tips regarding driving the car and servicing it etc I’ve already picked up that it’s best to fill it up with V Power petrol and obviously turn off the ECO button and possibly the start stop too.

Tony

Stoneacre are at best a bunch of wasters. I travelled 100 miles to view a car advertised, and after checking it was still available to be told they sold it weeks before. They were not in the least bit botherd about my inconvenience or the cost. There are quite a few tales on here of their appalling service and shoddy service - including damaged new cars being passed as fit! I would do yourself a favour and never ever have anything more to do with them!! I would rather push my Panda 100 miles than let them anywhere near it.

 

[Twotone2]

Stoneacre are at best a bunch of wasters. I travelled 100 miles to view a car advertised, and after checking it was still available to be told they sold it weeks before. They were not in the least bit botherd about my inconvenience or the cost. There are quite a few tales on here of their appalling service and shoddy service - including damaged new cars being passed as fit! I would do yourself a favour and never ever have anything more to do with them!! I would rather push my Panda 100 miles than let them anywhere near it.

The guy in the Liverpool branch was something else when I called up and asked about the Garmin that they have for sale, he basically told me to do one, quite funny actually as a matter of fact during the ten seconds or so I spent with him on the phone the 'advice' he gave me was pretty much spot on in a weird sort of way

 

[Marcus Daly]

I've never worked as hard in my life as I had to when I bought my Panda from Stoneacre a few years ago. Their salesman couldn't have cared less. Aftersales service to match. They've lost the Fiat franchise where I am, to no one's surprise.

 

[Twotone2]

I've never worked as hard in my life as I had to when I bought my Panda from Stoneacre a few years ago. Their salesman couldn't have cared less. Aftersales service to match. They've lost the Fiat franchise where I am, to no one's surprise.

Aye it was the couldn’t care less attitude that got me basically they weren’t making a lot out the deal so just did the minimum even when we picked the car up it was here’s your keys, give me the keys for the fiesta and the V5 and get tae, he just had a cursory look at the fiesta didn’t even look inside it.

We actually ‘bought’ a panda hybrid from Arnold Clark and they brought the car from Newcastle to Glasgow for us and never charged a penny but we did have to pay a £99 deposit on the car, which I’m still waiting on, but we spotted a pre-reg 4x4 panda that they had for sale in Edinburgh and said we’d buy that car instead but after the salesman ‘doing me a deal’ on it he then discovered that it had been sold and was due to go out the next day so we cancelled the city hybrid and decided to buy the car from Stoneacre in Worksop which I’m not really complaining about per se cause it was a great price especially relative to the city hybrid.

Even motorpoint only charge £199 delivery to us at home from Derby for example or £149 to move the car from a dealership down south to Glasgow.

Here’s the Arnold Clark 4x4.

 

[Mouse1903]

Thanks I've just bought sill protecters and a rear bumper protecter and had new rubber mats and a boot liner delivered today.

Might as well spend the money on the car as we're hoping to keep it for a long time plus we've a mental spaniel

Also seriously considering have new tyres fitted nearer the winter but the stock tyres seem well regarded they're Goodyear ultragrip we do get some bad weather here plus my drive is treacherous in the frost and snow so something to think about.

On a positive note my wife loves ithe car, I was worried that she'd struggle with the gear changes particularly first gear but she gets the car into second gear fairly quickly and is happy with it.

Tony

I plan on keeping mine indefinitely too, future classics too and they hold their value well, especially if maintained, looked after and upgraded.

I almost got mine from Arnold Clark in Aberdeen which is 9 miles away from me, but they wouldn't match TJ Vickers price and couldn't order me a winter pack which was annoying. So even with the train cost and fuel cost from a 400 mile trip I still saved a few hundred quid by travelling.

 

[Twotone2]

I plan on keeping mine indefinitely too, future classics too and they hold their value well, especially if maintained, looked after and upgraded.

I almost got mine from Arnold Clark in Aberdeen which is 9 miles away from me, but they wouldn't match TJ Vickers price and couldn't order me a winter pack which was annoying. So even with the train cost and fuel cost from a 400 mile trip I still saved a few hundred quid by travelling.

Well done, we’ve bought all of our cars from AC going back to 2001 and always found them fine in the main just unfortunate that we missed the 4x4 in Edinburgh as it too was an excellent price and they’d have brought it to Glasgow ( Paisley actually) for us but I prefer the white one to the black but my wife was disappointed not get the black one but what can you do?

There’s very few of these cars about now, especially 23 registered ones, although ours was manufactured in 2022 apparently.

There’s a 23 reg in St Albans at a dealers with 1000 miles on the clock for just under £19,000 so naturally I’m delighted with the car and the price, the APR is a wee bit high @9.9% the Ford fiesta was on 1.2% APR and I think the credit charge over the four years PCP was about £450

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[Herts Hillhopper]

Thanks, we do a lot of low mileage journeys or my wife does, probably roughly six miles either way to her work and a couple of miles to the park and back to take the dog out and very occasionally a 30mile drive to the coast although in saying that we’re going up north next week so about a 200 mile drive, best to just turn the S/S off permanently do you think?

Tony

You could turn it off, but actually it will work out for itself whether there's enough juice in the battery and simply not stop the engine when there isn't.. the system is monitoring the battery voltage and the load on it, the temperature, how far its moved since it last stopped, and more... Its more clever than 'just turn off when stopped.

 

[Twotone2]

The bumper and cill protectors turned up this morning so I fitted them to the car, I wasn't quick enough with the bumper protecter so it's just slightly off the bumper on the right hand side and the rear left sill protector is the same so I'll just keep an eye on both of those in case the rain loosens the tape which I would doubt as never seen tape with such a grip before, all looks great though.

I checked out Arnold Clark regarding the servicing they do a manufacturer's service for £75.30 or MOPAR have oil change packages starting from £199 for two oil changes so I might consider one of those Arnold Clark also does a service package for £399 for cars up to 42 months which gets you two service vouchers and FIAT (I'm sure you all know this) have an extended warranty for two further years but you need to buy it within 14 days of the car being registered.

I'm seriously thinking about buying a set of steel rims and winter tyres however the existing tyres are Dunlop Duragrip does anyone know if those are suitable for winter driving as we have a really dodgy drive (pretty steep) when there's frost or snow?

Here's the car for anyone interested.

Tony

 

[Mouse1903]

Looks great!