I'm no spring chicken either
I've just bought a Fiat Panda 1.1 eco 2010 to replace my 52 punto. I'm totally over the moon with it! She has an excellent ride over bumps etc. The skinny tyres have been amazing in the snow recently. Excellent drivers visibility. You actually get very good steering feed back too. Decent large mirrors. Five doors. And a respectable boot
I am compering it to my mk11 punto.
My Panda feels quite like my beloved Cincuecento that I owned for over six years..loved that car
spent far to many hours on welding and other repairs really with hindsight..but didn't want a new car...I did put over 150K miles on her though. Great little car. I love my Panda the same even though we've only done about 2000 miles in three weeks.
I've never driven a 500 but they have the same chassis I believe. Never driven a new Panda either.