Hello,thinking of upgrading my wifes car,sick to death of Citroen and Vauxhall with recalls on wet belts and timing chains,i ran a panda several yrs ago and loved it,the one i,m looking at is a 2017 plate,,Is the engine a decent one,ie no recalls issues with them,thank you in advance,Bob.
Technical Is this engine any good.
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Technical Is this engine any good.
euroben
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There are different engine variants. Which one are you looking at?
As euroben says here, it depends on the engine. The two cylinder "twin air" is a very interesting and advanced engine with excellent performance but tends, from what I've learned - never owned one - to be a bit greedy if you habitually use all the performance. It has a chain driven cam, turbo charger I think? Hydraulically actuated valves which are complicated and expensive to sort if it goes wrong, very important too that it gets exactly the correct spec of engine oil if it is to perform as intended by the manufacturer.
The 4 cylinder 1.2 has been around "for ever" and is a much simpler engine which uses a "dry" conventional cam belt. These later (post 2011) 1.2 engines are interference so don't ignore change intervals (75,000 miles or 5 years, whichever comes first) however they are not known to have particular problems with their cam belts and people post on here about then comfortably exceeding the recommended change intervals - which is not something I'd advise. The 1.2 (69 hp) has few vices and is robust as long as you don't let it run low on coolant. If they are allowed to seriously overheat they are known to blow head gaskets - so look very carefully at one you're buying for signs of overheating. Once you've bought it check coolant level regularly. I check ours roughly once a fortnight when I also check other levels, tyre pressures etc. There's a large metal coolant pipe which runs along the front of the engine under the exhaust manifold which can rust and leak when older. No a big problem as it's relatively easy to renew if you have experience of repairing cars. Also check the rear axle which is known to corrode when they get older - So a 2017 car might have problems here if it's lived near the sea or, for instance, up here in Scotland where we have lots of road salting in winter. Pattern axles are available for under £200 but. if you're not doing it yourself, the labour cost is quite steep which takes the job up to in the £600/£700 pound region and maybe more if big problems, like corroded nuts and bolts, are encountered. Our 2010 1.2 is needing a rear axle now and it's spent at least half it's life in Scotland (with us) and in the midlands when it was young. There's an excellent spare parts supplier which you might like to look at to get an idea of parts prices: https://www.shop4parts.co.uk/?name=store&op=PartFinder&Manufacturer=2&items=Fiat_Parts.
We've run Pandas as "second cars" since my kids learned to drive in them - they're now all grown with teenage/pre teen families of their own - and I think we'll probably end up running a Panda as our last car when we decide longer journeys are no longer possible due to our age. They are, in my experience, surprisingly reliable as long as you maintain them properly and regularly check levels etc. Also cheap to insure and I think, at 2017, the one you are talking about may just creep into the £35 road tax band? Because "Becky" - our 2010 Panda 1.2 Eco Dynamic so also £35 road tax - is getting pretty long in the tooth and starting to need more serious repair work of late, we've been thinking of buying a newer replacement. Been looking at other possibilities but always coming back to a 1.2 Panda when looking into the options in depth.
There are many on here who are great Panda fans and collectively there's a great depth of knowledge about them available to you. Please do just ask away if there's something which occurs to you. It's very likely someone will know.
There are many other minor things I could mention but one that comes to mind is that the "Blue and Me" communication module can fail. if so, one of the indicators that this has happened is that the mileage indicator on the dash will be flashing on and off when the engine is running. It's not that big a problem to sort out but the ECU module has to be removed and replace or sent for repair so better just to avoid the car if you see this.
We also are "old", I'm nearly 80 and my "better half" is only a few years behind me. We both love driving the Panda. In fact I run a Skoda Scala as our "good" car which we use for longer journeys and it's very comfortable. However, if just buzzing around the city I always jump into the Panda and love it! Mrs J won't drive the Scala as she says it's too big and she's scared of kerbing the Alloys!
We also are "old", I'm nearly 80 and my "better half" is only a few years behind me. We both love driving the Panda. In fact I run a Skoda Scala as our "good" car which we use for longer journeys and it's very comfortable. However, if just buzzing around the city I always jump into the Panda and love it! Mrs J won't drive the Scala as she says it's too big and she's scared of kerbing the Alloys!
Regarding "car for oldies" That may be, but is that a bad thing? They say the same about the Honda Jazz which is another very reliable car. However the Panda has to be one of the easiest cars to get in and out off as age starts to limit flexibility. I think they are actually a pretty smart looking car and tend to go "under the radar" in that thieves aren't interested and Police don't view you as a likely object of interest. Other drivers don't tend to be "competitive" either which I find makes for a nice relatively stress free drive in the city. This is not to say it's incompetent out of the city. Acceleration is not as good as the Scala with it's turbo engine, but is "adequate" and handling on the wee country roads, especially when you get down into the border country, where my family is from, whilst not like the old Mini, for instance, is very sure footed but with a bit of body roll if pressing on. No problem unless you're being "silly".
Thanks auld jock,yeah our big car is a 7 seater combo,8 speed auto 1.5 diesel,gorgeous to drive,going but vauxhall have just put out a recall on the timing chain,i wouldnt trust a main dealer as far as i could throw them,i,m pretty sure he told me a massive lie but i got a print off as proof,i,m almost sure i,m going to sell it on as like you it hardly turns a wheel.i just jump in her citroen c1,going to take a 7 grand hit on it but thats life.
