Well the day started with home looking like this:
We, the selecta and myself, set off slightly late at 9.30am in the general direction of "The South" guided by my not updated since I bought it tom tom.
I have over the years driven a couple of automatics but nothing really prepares you for a selecta! The rumblings and revving of the engine along with the normal Panda rattlings followed by a 'whoosh' of power from the mighty 1108cc engine propels you swiftly (if not altogether surely) into cruising mode. This is where the Selecta and me found our feet, an indicated 70 (about 60ish on the sat nav), leisurely but keeping up with the Friday traffic. I could push it on a bit but the steering wheel got a bit fidgety and really wasn't worth the loss of the smooth ride, I expect a wheel balance would sort that out. Now yesterday was warm, very warm, and the selecta has electric windows - which don't work. Luckily for me a loose window winder handle was inside the vehicle (inside as in on the seat, not on the door) which one could pop on and wind the window, until it fell off again. Normally I would have opened up the passenger window to keep the noise down, that has a blanking plate over the winder! Thanks goodness for the fresh air vents. The sunroof hole provides some nice and airy diffused sun light through the white perspex which is glued into place, but all adds to the ambiance of the little car.
I got used to the grey plastics, liked the internally adjustable door mirrors (had I realised the night before they may have disappeared) even though the drivers side one made all the overtaking traffic look tall and thin, and enjoyed the rear panel mounted stereo speakers.
After a couple of hours I stopped to admire the porcelain at Watford Gap Services.
Back on the road with the passenger side rear window ajar - which increases the vent airflow spectacularly - we soon were going cross country on dual carriage way, which turned out in part to be the Newbury bypass. So Swampy didn't stop it's construction but l thought at least more people can enjoy the scenic delights than a few NIMBY's keeping it too themselves
Anyhow, this bypass and the others I followed onto Vernons are full of roundabout, which the selecta is great for, you can't get the gearing wrong, it's just a matter of choosing when to hit the accelerator to gain maximum effect - great fun!
Eventually we left the dual carriageway and ventured into rural Hampshire, twisty, hilly roads mainly lacking in the pot holes that plague our roads up North
, one eye on the tom tom checking for sharp bends let the car stretch it legs up a few straight hills, no loss of speed just the engine happily revving away. Bends were rounded with a dab of brakes, a small word on the brakes, excellent, the like of I've never encountered on a Panda before, absolute stopping power with a very light touch almost too good!
All too soon we were at Panda Central, I'd grown fond of the spirited little selecta and felt a little tinge of regret for not being able to make it mine. If you've never driven this flavour of Panda I urge you to take a long test drive, easy to drive and economical too, left home with a full tank, 250miles later still a quarter tank left, not even a flash of the empty light.
Anyway a few pic's at Limited Editions Unlimited
The car with the open door is Gavins perky little runaround Cheerio or summat like that
Said hello and had a little chat about each one with the man himself .
