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Styling 'LaPanda' Plan

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Styling 'LaPanda' Plan

SB1500

SB1500

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Parked in the garage Written a review
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Thinking of adding a dash of luxury to the Panda in March time.. assuming it behaves itself from now till then. It's been a month without any money needing spent on it. I've prepaid my insurance too!

This is what'll be happening and why:

Fake Tailored Leather Seat Covers
The blue fabric on my seats won't last much longer before ripping to turning black! This should protect it, and give the car a fresh, new and more comfortable feel. Also, should be a bit spill resistant compared to fabric. A relative has similar ones that are tailored to his car, and about 10 years on they're still in remarkably good shape and are the only seat covers I've ever seen that have been fitted in a way that they aren't hanging off!


Heated Seats
Something I've wanted for a long time, found a kit on eBay for not too much. (Thanks to the guy who was willing to send me his for free on here, though whilst we're wiring things in I want to get the two fitted!). This would probably just be used before the cars heater gets up to temperature, it doesn't take long and I don't pretend it's an essential in the UK climate, but it'd make early morning trips a little less miserable a little quicker. I know all I need to know about fitting them now thanks to my other thread! :worship: I would fit these on top of the blue fabric to avoid having to dismantle it, since it'll be covered anyway I figured that it'll be fine.

Tailored Car Shades
Cheaper than tinting, and should anything happen the car, can be sold on to another Panda owner. Shade, privacy, cooler in the summer months. I've heard from a few people with them they're good too!

Boot Light
Not sure why I haven't done this yet. Such a good little guide on the forum for adding one, and it's a pain on dark nights shining my phones torch in.

Brighter interior lights
If I can find good quality bulbs that are a bit brighter, it'd be nice to have the car more visible when something drops at night time etc. Shouldn't cost too much.

Also to top off these 'unnecessary' but welcome additions to the car, some practical additions: a set of jump leads (handy to have!) and a boot organiser as i hate hearing things bump around there!

Not sure what else I'd add. I always wanted the more comfortable seats found on some models, with the real head rests but I don't think they're worth £200 that people want for them. Also, a leather steering wheel but again, those are a bit more involved. Maybe if the car was younger!

Planned for March, as said. Anybody else added these things or planning on adding any of them?

I'll try make some Guides at the time if I get the right photos!
 
Geniune sun shades are available on ebay.fr at about £20.

Search for "Ombrelle bébé shade protection set pour fiat panda 2003-2012 oem genuine part"

I bought sets of these for our Pandas and they work pretty well. The stick on clips are a bit useless, but I fixed the clips on with small self tapping screws after they fell off for the second time.

How about one of the new generation jump packs instead of jump leads? Mine started a 4.0 litre Discovery V8 before Christmas so they seem to work fine. Lighter than my old jump leads too. And I can jump start without having to have a second car to provide the power.
 
I notice the only half sensibly priced extra for the cake fed Panda (2013+) is an LED bulb insert for the interior light. I anticipate this means LED bulbs might be worth a try.

My advice on adding to a first or early car is fight the temptation. You rarely get anything back when you do decide to move on. Save up for a Panda 100 they are now very affordable and seem mechanically robust as well.
 
petercresswell said:
I notice the only half sensibly priced extra for the cake fed Panda (2013+) is an LED bulb insert for the interior light. I anticipate this means LED bulbs might be worth a try.

My advice on adding to a first or early car is fight the temptation. You rarely get anything back when you do decide to move on. Save up for a Panda 100 they are now very affordable and seem mechanically robust as well.
Click to expand...


petercresswell Do you mean a newer type of Panda by 'Panda 100'?
 
Sounds good.


Have you thought of installing a double Din GPS/radio/camera system


You can pick them up for around £60


Not looked to much into it.
 
No just a 169 panda 100HP. The most amazing car ever I think.

Incidentally I just asked today, how much extra for insurance if my daughter ( 4 yrs NCD) takes mine over. She drives a Micra 1.0 and the extra insurance cost is only about £80 a year amazingly. We have Admiral multicar insurance and they were really good giving NCD to her as a named driver. Having mum and big sister as named drivers also reduced the cost
 
petercresswell said:
My advice on adding to a first or early car is fight the temptation. You rarely get anything back when you do decide to move on.
Click to expand...

That's my advice too. The whole point of running a basic Panda is to have low-cost motoring; if you want to spend more money on your car, you'd probably do better to consider something else entirely.

If I may be permitted to paraphrase Colin Chapman, "Add cheapness". ;)

One of the best things about owning my 1.2 is all the money I have to spend on other things.

It's what the Panda is all about.
 
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My advice too.

Although at least most of the things you are considering are easily portable to another Panda 169.
I would certainly use sunshades rather than stick on film, and, honestly, the standard Panda windows do make for an uncomfortably hot interior on bright days. (Also, according to our insurer, they are not a modification, whereas tinted film most certainly is. However, not all insurers are created equal, etc. etc....)

We have also made some "silver screen" type blackout shades for ours (windscreen and front side windows), although originally only because we had a spare set and some leftover material from a campervan we had sold. Persuaded 'er indoors to modify them by the simple expedient of replacing her knackered sewing machine. (Sounds really sexist, but I actually bought the machine for me so I could do them!)
Bit over the top, I guess, but damned nice when everyone else is wincing from the egg-frying seats and steering wheel.

The Jump start pack I bought was a "stop gap" purchase when my old powerpack battery started failing. However it has turned out to be as good as the old one, weighs a fraction as much, and is a quarter the size.
Can even charge my phone. And recharge from a 12v socket. Would recommend as useful extra for anyone, especially as they have been coming down in price so much. Most even stop the user from connecting up wrongly, so good for novices too.
 
Just get a heated seat cover.
Far cheaper and it can follow you when it's time to move on.

I've had a cheap one for a few years, at the moment it's stuck under the other half's arse and won't budge!

Dash cam, I think they are a must these days.
There's plenty of cheap, but fairly good quality ones knocking around.
Something like an A118C is small enough to fit and forget behind the mirror without being too noticable.
https://dashcamtalk.com/best-dash-cams-of-2017/
You can probably get money off your insurance too.

I miss some sort of left arm rest between the seats.
Might have to look into an "Armster" soon.

I once fitted a set of those shades to another car, total pain!
The clips fall off or get broken and you're forever messing about recliping the things back in when you shut the tailgate.
After a while you end up with just three left attached and rip them out through frustration, then get covered in dead insects that have died behind them!

Tinting is the way to go, you could probably give it a go yourself!
http://www.window-tint.co.uk/pre-cut-window-tint

The only other thing I miss is cruise.
There are kits from http://www.conrad-anderson.co.uk/wizard/cruise-control
Been think about getting one for my 4x4Ta.
 
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Whilst I'm also tempted too suggest you avoid the spend on your car as it's essentially lost money, another part of me can't help thinking that you'll gain valuable experience in doing so - and will also probably gain confidence tackling things of more complexity as you go along (car-related or otherwise).

Your investment may thus save you more money and when you're our age you can advise the younger folks not to waste their money unnecessarily, like my dad did to me when I was doing exactly what you're doing but 30+ years ago.
 
AB100 said:
Whilst I'm also tempted too suggest you avoid the spend on your car as it's essentially lost money, another part of me can't help thinking that you'll gain valuable experience in doing so - and will also probably gain confidence tackling things of more complexity as you go along (car-related or otherwise).

Your investment may thus save you more money and when you're our age you can advise the younger folks not to waste their money unnecessarily, like my dad did to me when I was doing exactly what you're doing but 30+ years ago.
Click to expand...


I second that, also who's to say you are selling this car anytime soon (only you know)
personally I'm throwing WAY more money in a panda than it could possible be worth, and I have silly plans, and every time I do something I havent tried before I gain some tools, skills and experience making the next operation way easier... one experience I've made that I'd like to share though; sometimes when doing something that should be easy, you mess up and break something that will end up costing you more than you thought it would...

First time I changed oil on our Ciao-Panda I took a too thin oil, and used the motor-cleaner that the kid behind the counter recomended, which made a pinhole in my sump, whereafter I took a 600km roadtrip... => I learned how to change a motor... (dont drive with that red motorlight on) it took a week, but when I bought our 4x4 panda, changing the motor took less than a weekend...
 
The shades are a good job. I ended up using velcro to keep mine in though which made it handy for my five year old to then remove them cause he felt like it!!!

And whatdayemean that your relative had the only seat covers you've ever seen that have been fitted in a way that they aren't hanging off! Does that mean that you thought mine were saggy? :cry:

Can't say I'd spend money on covering the steering wheel with a leather cover.

My added extra in my boot is a compressor. I prefer to set my wheel pressure with cold wheels.
 
Wee Smurf said:
The shades are a good job. I ended up using velcro to keep mine in though which made it handy for my five year old to then remove them cause he felt like it!!!



And whatdayemean that your relative had the only seat covers you've ever seen that have been fitted in a way that they aren't hanging off! Does that mean that you thought mine were saggy? :cry:



Can't say I'd spend money on covering the steering wheel with a leather cover.



My added extra in my boot is a compressor. I prefer to set my wheel pressure with cold wheels.
Click to expand...



Okay, yours are better. No, I didn't think they were bad! Yours are bespoke though and would probably cost me a fortune to get a copy of!
 
The Fiat accessory sun blinds are very good! Here is a previous thread with the part number included (although if I remember rightly I doubted the part number as Fiat list it as something like 'sun visor'.). The clips to hold them on use double sided tape which comes off when the car interior gets hot. I glued them on permanently using Sikaflex (or similar!) so the clips are permanent but the shades are removable.
 
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