General General Panda thoughts

[Aston Martin]

Car tax is awful, paying 2 at once is even worse.

(Yes the cheapskate 6 months)

 

[leonsdada]

Tell me about it..
I wonder how much would the tax be if the car was newer and it was based on CO2 emissions
...probably 450 quid

 

[Aston Martin]

I was at work and in the upstairs warehouse this afternoon, which was unusual, because i'm usually downstairs. Anyway as we were all leaving for the day.
"I saw a metallic blue Panda, drive by about an hour ago." :worship:

My response was why didn't he chase it?


I think the one my mum saw a few months back was blue too.
If it was a Panda... I will stumble upon you one day.

 

[panda panda]

It's not the blue sergio taccygreeni that was advertised on ebay?

If you give me your work postcode I'll drive by randomly one day

 

[Aston Martin]

Was in WHSmith and this months 'Practical Classics' had a best first supermini.
It had no Panda, but there was a why not also try... It had the Y10 and the Marbella, which it said "Its hard to deny the Panda roots and it's like driving in a fishbowl, but you won't find one so get a Panda instead."

Yet they had no mention of any Panda.

 

[homeward]

Was in WHSmith and this months 'Practical Classics' had a best first supermini.
It had no Panda, but there was a why not also try... It had the Y10 and the Marbella, which it said "Its hard to deny the Panda roots and it's like driving in a fishbowl, but you won't find one so get a Panda instead."

Yet they had no mention of any Panda.

At least the Uno came in at number 8.... Mind you: the Metro was first (with the Y10 second): so I'm not convinced it made that much sense, anyhoo...

 

[panda panda]

Now I'm not going to rest until I know the full top ten
205, polo, ax?, 5, fiesta, clio, 106, saxo, nova, justy, micra, yaris, ??????

 

[homeward]

Now I'm not going to rest until I know the full top ten

You're in luck...!

I've been in bed, all day, with a bug (not of the VW variety...) -- and had thought that Mrs homeward had put the mag out to be recycled.... But it's just sitting by the back door....

Give me a mo....!

Here we go:

Small cars, BIG fun

1. Austin/MG Metro
2. Lancia Y10
3. Renault 5
4. Citroën Visa
5. Nissan Micra
6. Daihatsu Charade
7. Honda Civic
8. Fiat Uno
9. Talbot Samba
10. Yugo 45

...followed by Volvo 340/360; Lada Samara; Alfa Romeo Arna; Toyota Starlet; and SEAT Marbella (which is the nearest this post will ever get to being Panda-related, I'm afraid...).

PS: I have no problems with the Renault 5, Samba, or Marbella being on there; but, in my experience, neither the Metro or Yugo got you very far without conking out (in fact, I once -- amongst many other things -- had the gear lever fly out of the window in the Yugo); the Starlet used to rust; and the first generations of Civic were just plain ugly....

 

[purple haze]

Micra should have been first...best small car ever..

 

[Aston Martin]

But the feature cars were the Mk1 Fiesta, Mk1 Polo, 205 and something else.

 

[homeward]

But the feature cars were the Mk1 Fiesta, Mk1 Polo, 205 and something else.

You're right...! I'd forgotten that... (my excuse being a brain raddled with man-flu...).

The "something else" was the Mk1 Nova....

 

[panda panda]

the charade and the visa were so unmemorable to me I had to google them.

Always wanted a Talbot samba though

 

[homeward]

Always wanted a Talbot samba though

A friend's uncle had a souped-up one... -- if my memory isn't playing tricks: was it tuned by Lotus...?

Whatever it was, it was a screeeeeeeaaaaammm...!

PS: Apologies for taking this so far off-topic....

 

[JamieK]

I think the Samba became the Sunbeam and did have either a Lotus engine or suspension set up on the pocket rocket version.

Citroen visa was pretty rubbish but they did a GTi version that was pretty impressive for the time! Very rare now though.

 

[homeward]

Citroen visa was pretty rubbish but they did a GTi version that was pretty impressive for the time! Very rare now though.

From 744, originally, only 6 left; and 10 SORN'd (of the GTi): according to How Many Left?

 

[VmanC]

I think the Samba became the Sunbeam and did have either a Lotus engine or suspension set up on the pocket rocket version.
.

Not quite

The Samba and Sunbeam were two completely different models. The Samba was smaller and front wheel drive, the Sunbeam was rear wheel drive and more the size of an Escort. The Lotus Sunbeam was a great car, built as an Escort RS2000 chaser.

 

[Palio]

Not quite

The Samba and Sunbeam were two completely different models. The Samba was smaller and front wheel drive, the Sunbeam was rear wheel drive and more the size of an Escort. The Lotus Sunbeam was a great car, built as an Escort RS2000 chaser.

Minor edit if you don't mind Vernon: The Lotus Sunbeam was a great car (and the Samba wasn't!) , built as an Escort RS2000 chaser

The Samba (aka Peugeot 104) also folds like a pack of cards if you drive a Tipo into the back of one coming out of a junction Good job no-one was in the back seats, as there weren't any (literally) by the time I'd shunted it 100 yards up the road - in my defence there was room for a fleet of steam rollers to pull out, and the old 1.4 Tipo was quick off the mark if you floored it (I did :bang. Damage: one folded & written off car, one cracked Tipo headlight (and small bumper scuff), one big insurance increase - many moons ago now, but I do miss my old Tipo :devil:

BTW don't diss the Yugo too much folks - it was originally a 127, which is the best ever (non-Panda) Fiat ever

 

[VmanC]

Edit accepted Gavin, I never rated the Samba either :yuck:

They did tune it up for rallying but that only made it quicker at the expence of terrible torque steer.

 

[homeward]

Not quite

The Samba and Sunbeam were two completely different models. The Samba was smaller and front wheel drive, the Sunbeam was rear wheel drive and more the size of an Escort. The Lotus Sunbeam was a great car, built as an Escort RS2000 chaser.

I think it must have been a Sunbeam, then....

 

[Aston Martin]

Found these on Flickr.

The second one is weird, why does it have the stripes all the way to the bonnet?
Why is the Parade badge missing?
Why does it make me cry?