Pat the Panda has been fixed!
Now the headlamps are perfectly aligned with the bumper and the bit of wheel arch extension that was sticking out is sorted.
As a courtesy car I had a 500 1.4 Lounge. The guy told me it was a 1.2... there was me driving it thinking it does feel sluggish compared to the 100hp but then again the 6 speed box and the Sport mode button made me think otherwise and giving it a bit of throttle it was piling on the speed at a reasonable rate, so I had my suspicions I was driving a 1.4. Funny that the rev line is at 6K rather than 6.5K in my car.
Overall it's quite a pleasant car to drive, feels totally different to the 100hp though. Its got a better ie lower driving position which is good, the ride is better too. Body roll is well controlled too so it doesn't wallow about at all. It doesn't though feel as responsive as the 100hp though, throttle response in Sport mode is nowhere near as sharp as my car, so you have to make much bigger throttle inputs to get a similar response.
It also feels definately slower, I can only guess to a fair bit of additional weight (dealer reckoned 100-120kg, I haven't verified this). I think there is some additional lard though as the car is simply not as responsive to change direction quickly like the 100hp. Having said that its more comfortable.
The dash is weird with the speedo going round the outer ring and the rev counter on the inner ring. At first it seems frustratingly difficult to read but I did get used to it after an hours worth of driving or so. The display within the centre for all the usual stuff is quite cool really and does work reasonably well. A bit like the Panda you can still tell its built to a budget with lots of hard plastics seemingly everywhere, but you can live with that as its fairly funky inside.
I do feel it really does try to ape the Mini to an extent. In some respects it does pull it off reasonably well although you can of course tell how they've made it cheaper. Overall a good car. Not focused enough for me (maybe the 1.4 sport is better in this respect), but I will be recommending my mum to try one and a colleague at work really liked it. I do wonder though with such a heavy shell what the 1.2 must be like as I would expect it to feel a bit under-powered.
Now the headlamps are perfectly aligned with the bumper and the bit of wheel arch extension that was sticking out is sorted.
As a courtesy car I had a 500 1.4 Lounge. The guy told me it was a 1.2... there was me driving it thinking it does feel sluggish compared to the 100hp but then again the 6 speed box and the Sport mode button made me think otherwise and giving it a bit of throttle it was piling on the speed at a reasonable rate, so I had my suspicions I was driving a 1.4. Funny that the rev line is at 6K rather than 6.5K in my car.
Overall it's quite a pleasant car to drive, feels totally different to the 100hp though. Its got a better ie lower driving position which is good, the ride is better too. Body roll is well controlled too so it doesn't wallow about at all. It doesn't though feel as responsive as the 100hp though, throttle response in Sport mode is nowhere near as sharp as my car, so you have to make much bigger throttle inputs to get a similar response.
It also feels definately slower, I can only guess to a fair bit of additional weight (dealer reckoned 100-120kg, I haven't verified this). I think there is some additional lard though as the car is simply not as responsive to change direction quickly like the 100hp. Having said that its more comfortable.
The dash is weird with the speedo going round the outer ring and the rev counter on the inner ring. At first it seems frustratingly difficult to read but I did get used to it after an hours worth of driving or so. The display within the centre for all the usual stuff is quite cool really and does work reasonably well. A bit like the Panda you can still tell its built to a budget with lots of hard plastics seemingly everywhere, but you can live with that as its fairly funky inside.
I do feel it really does try to ape the Mini to an extent. In some respects it does pull it off reasonably well although you can of course tell how they've made it cheaper. Overall a good car. Not focused enough for me (maybe the 1.4 sport is better in this respect), but I will be recommending my mum to try one and a colleague at work really liked it. I do wonder though with such a heavy shell what the 1.2 must be like as I would expect it to feel a bit under-powered.
