General Next car, best option?

[The Panda Nut]

The 169 Panda has the potential to be one of the cheapest cars to run that you can buy, period.

That said, they're all over 10yrs old now, and with a car of that age, the economics of ownership are rather different from what you'd find with a newer one.

The key to making it work is keeping the repair bills at a reasonable level. It helps greatly if you can do some or all of the work yourself - owning any car of that age may not work out well if it has to go to a garage every time something needs doing. If you want to keep repair bills down, go for the simplest models; there's less to go wrong with a 2WD petrol than with either a diesel or any 4WD version, and if it does, it's likely to be easier and cheaper to fix.

There are a few potentially costly 4WD only issues; both front and rear subframes are unique to these cars, prone to corrosion, expensive and almost unobtainable; once the corrosion reaches the point where it would fail an MOT, the car is basically a write off. So inspect these areas very carefully if you go this route. We've also had reports of failures with the centre propshaft bearing and viscous coupling; when faced with replacing these, several owners have just removed the propshaft and used it as a 2WD car, which defeats the point of buying one in the first place.

The diesels suffer from clogged emissions control components, burned out glow plugs which strip on removal, and camchain breakage (the latter will scrap your engine, unless you can do all the work yourself and have infinite patience). Access isn't great, so , for example, unblocking a clogged EGR isn't what I'd call a pleasant job. At this age and mileage, the engine could basically be a lump of coal. In my opinion, the real world difference in economy isn't great enough to justify the added complexity and potential for costly repairs.

If you can find a decent one, I'd go for the 1.2 dynamic eco from 2009 onwards; £35 tax, a bulletproof engine and 50mpg+ if driven sensibly. It's also ULEZ compliant, which helps if you need to drive regularly in a clean air zone (but hasn't made it any easier to find a good one at a sensible price).

But I'm biased; I've got one which I bought new in 2010; it now has over 110,000 miles on the clock. It's cost less than £200 in repairs in 13 years, and averaged more than 55 mpg. It cost me about £6600 back in the day; motoring just doesn't get much cheaper than that.

and possibly still worth 2750 or may be more if scrubbed up !

 

[The Panda Nut]

I do regular 300 miles round trips in our Pandas and dont aggravate a longstanding back condition. The 319 has a seat height adjutment that is a good thing to have. Panda 100 front seats are exceptionally good and would fit as far as I know.
2 wheel drive Pandas seem to be good enough most times for any on road issues so still worth considering.

 

[Adam427]

I used to use the Abarth 595 as my daily but my Mrs now uses it to pooter about and go to work with, for context it has the Sabelt bucket seats and my FAT chassis was alright in it, never had a sore back with them.

The Evo is a on going project that I've took a lot of care and attention to bringing it back to life, hence why I don't want to use it, unless for safety, I had to use it for the AWD abilities last winter. (I still boot it and enjoy it when I'm not working)

The Astra (X reg estate) was my father's in which he was going to scrap it, but I bought it off him for £200 and passed its MOT no bother. I know people think I don't need 3 cars, which I don't, but it was handy to have the Astra when the Evo was doing Evo things and not starting, and I couldn't take my Mrs independence away from her.

After reading everyone's comments and replies, firstly, I'd just like to say thank you very much. I'm still undecided but I think I'm going to go for the Mjet Diesel (my stepdads Doblo has the same engine I believe) and if I feel its lacking in capabilities in the winter, I'll get a 4X4 1.2.

I've no issue with having a bit of a dinger, I'm a bit of a DIYer and can do most maintenance myself.

Thank you,
Adam

 

[jrkitching]

and possibly still worth 2750 or may be more if scrubbed up !

That would seem to be the minimum price now for just about any £35 RFL ULEZ compliant car with a year's MOT in good working order.

If I sold it now, and it achieved that, it works out at £26.47 a month for depreciation and repairs combined, averaged over its life. That's a little under 3.7p/mile.

Fuelly tells me I've spent £11,794.43 on fuel over 111,871 miles, which works out at a shade under 10p/mile.

RFL is £35/yr; insurance well under £200.

I've said it before, but motoring really doesn't get much cheaper than that.

The big problem is what can I replace it with ????

 

[DaveMcT]

My multijet with rebuilt engine (it had a broken timing chain, was clogged with soot, turbo worn, a stuck injector and leaking HP fuel pump) gets mid 50s mpg about town and up to 65mpg on a long run. The performance is punchy and feel way higher than the claimed 70bhp. That said at motorway speeds you can feel its not much more than a 1.2 petrol (60bhp).

The repair work was not expensive but I did it all myself and allowed weeks of spare time to do bits now and then.

I suspect a remap (95 bhp) will improve economy if I can restrain the right foot action.

Parts replaced -
Head gasket and cam chain set (£130)
Damper pulley hub (£20)
Rockers (£70)
Lifters (£70)
Aux belt (£20)
Turbo core (£60)
Diesel pump (£150)
Used injector (£30)
Clutch (£100) - previous clutch was quite new but the wrong part and breaking up.

I also fully overhauled the brakes but most used pandas will need at least this doing. I replaced brake hoses with HEL stainless braided. Lovely pedal feel. I also swapped the clutch master cylinder for a known good one. They are a regular issue for sucking air.

I fitted a baffle into the exhaust manifold to deflect gasses away from the EGR. It does not fully close the EGR port so no warning lights but it's not getting the preferential gas flow as it normally would..

I need to replace the dog bone engine mount but they are not silly money.

Other stuff was done but that's typical for any used car.