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The “electric power” does nothing.
Technical Panda 1.0 3cylinder engine design details
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Technical Panda 1.0 3cylinder engine design details
The “electric power” does nothing.
The Panda Nut
Nutty about Pandas Infected by Panda virus and OPD
Well not according to what I was told, and the sales guy seemed interested in how it worked and how to get the best out of it and informed as well. You can feel the electric motor jabbing in and out when on light throttle and its not a very nice feeling. You can also see the battery level and regen going up and down on the dash display. Give the car a good footfull and next time the regen shows the battery is discharged. Its a good idea but I don't think its well developed.
I think the basic engine if a fine little thing it is smooth and quiet, but the sense that something else is going on is very apparent and also not to my taste. May be more use would iron this out. I wouldn't personally consider one of these things. Its just a lot of stuff to pay for, for not a lot of gain and as a drive either an electric or ICE car would be much nicer. Toyota do a far better job and their car is at least nice to drive, or at least not unpleasant.
Next stop is the electric 500 which I am told is far more interesting, but far too expensive to be viable and with just a 160 mile published range that is apparently good for more like 120 miles. Going to try one though.
The Panda Nut
Nutty about Pandas Infected by Panda virus and OPD
I totally agree, all the three pots I have driven have been great free revving engines, but rather thirsty, as they rev so well and I have a heavy right foot. The Ford 1.0 litre is a really gutsy performer and produces loads of power. Trouble is loads of power is only produced by burning loads of fuel. In this instance I would rather a larger more relaxed engine. But thats personal preference.
Oddly I have grown to like the Twinair a lot as it defies its small size and noise apart could be a much bigger engine.
Hi.
The only 3 pot engine I've driven was a Suzuki Balerno. The vibration at low revs was very noticeable and you could feel it through the steering and even the seat. Once the revs were up it was OK and quiet at 70mph.
The only other car with three cylinders is my neighbours Kia Picanto, a car I seriously considered before the Pandas. Not only was it rough (my neighbour was driving) it was gutless. When I test drove my original lounge it was a revelation in comparison, it was three years old and the Picanto 4 months old.
Again its personal choice and I haven't been in a Fiat with a Firefly engine so I cannot comment.
Re the hunting you describe both my 1242cc Pandas do this on a trailing throttle, I think its to do with tiny changes in the throttle flap position that is more noticeable at around 30mph on very small decents where engine load is very small.
The only 3 pot engine I've driven was a Suzuki Balerno. The vibration at low revs was very noticeable and you could feel it through the steering and even the seat. Once the revs were up it was OK and quiet at 70mph.
The only other car with three cylinders is my neighbours Kia Picanto, a car I seriously considered before the Pandas. Not only was it rough (my neighbour was driving) it was gutless. When I test drove my original lounge it was a revelation in comparison, it was three years old and the Picanto 4 months old.
Again its personal choice and I haven't been in a Fiat with a Firefly engine so I cannot comment.
Re the hunting you describe both my 1242cc Pandas do this on a trailing throttle, I think its to do with tiny changes in the throttle flap position that is more noticeable at around 30mph on very small decents where engine load is very small.
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Other than the wretched “hybrid” 500 I had on long-term loan, the only other three cylinder I’ve driven is a mate’s Seat Ateca. I didn’t find it objectionable, but he couldn’t live with it and chopped it in against a four cylinder one.
Back in 2016 when I finally decided my 1999 SEAT Cordoba 1.9 tdi - which I'd owned since it was just over one year old - had reached the stage of being beyond economic repair I did extensive research and decided to buy a Honda Civic 1.8 i-vtec estate. I took a test drive and liked the car very much. On the day I was going to place my order I took Mrs J with me to let her try it out just in case she didn't like driving it. Absolute disaster! It proved impossible to find a seat/steering wheel position combination which let her release the clutch pedal without trapping her left knee under the dash (thus preventing her from engaging the clutch!). I know this sounds unlikely but it's due to the fact she's one of the vertically challenged people in this world so doesn't have very long legs - even their disability advisor (she's not disabled, just wee) couldn't figure it out. So the Civic idea had to get binned! I've always liked the Jazz too but it was just to gutless.
Back to the drawing board and I ended up back with the SEAT/Skoda range of vehicles again. The Fabia estate or Ibiza estate would be direct replacements for the Cordoba (which was a POLO based vehicle). I liked the look of the Ibiza estate much more than the Fabia and after a lot more research I settled on the new wee 3 cylinder CHZB engine - a 95hp 3 cylinder turbo petrol. Took a test drive and was very surprised by how well the engine pulled. It does have a bit of turbo lag at very low revs which can be annoying when trickling over speed bumps but there is some clever ECU intervention which picks the turbo up when pulling away from a standstill so the lag isn't felt under normal driving. The engine is exceptionally quiet around town, sometimes I find myself looking at the rev counter just to check it's not stalled when I'm at traffic lights - honestly! There is virtually no vibration, due to the "clever" out of balance flywheel no doubt. (and it's not dual mass either!) I fancy it sounds a bit like a wee V6 when pulling hard, quite a pleasant noise really - "Purposeful" you might say?
Running locally, in and out of the city to see the family, I get over 40mpg and approaching 50 if I'm in the country more. On longer motorway trips, running with cruise engaged at 70mph she repeatedly gives me a smidgeon over 60 mpg. Being a turbo engine she does go pretty well - not exactly a tyre smoker though - but if you keep the revs up and use large throttle openings you can easily make big dents in the consumption figures.
All in all, with over 5 years ownership behind me, I'm very pleased with the car so far. The engine is very complicated with much more to potentially go wrong compared to the old diesel and I'll be astonished if it lasts anything like as long as the Cordoba did, but so far so good!
Back to the drawing board and I ended up back with the SEAT/Skoda range of vehicles again. The Fabia estate or Ibiza estate would be direct replacements for the Cordoba (which was a POLO based vehicle). I liked the look of the Ibiza estate much more than the Fabia and after a lot more research I settled on the new wee 3 cylinder CHZB engine - a 95hp 3 cylinder turbo petrol. Took a test drive and was very surprised by how well the engine pulled. It does have a bit of turbo lag at very low revs which can be annoying when trickling over speed bumps but there is some clever ECU intervention which picks the turbo up when pulling away from a standstill so the lag isn't felt under normal driving. The engine is exceptionally quiet around town, sometimes I find myself looking at the rev counter just to check it's not stalled when I'm at traffic lights - honestly! There is virtually no vibration, due to the "clever" out of balance flywheel no doubt. (and it's not dual mass either!) I fancy it sounds a bit like a wee V6 when pulling hard, quite a pleasant noise really - "Purposeful" you might say?
Running locally, in and out of the city to see the family, I get over 40mpg and approaching 50 if I'm in the country more. On longer motorway trips, running with cruise engaged at 70mph she repeatedly gives me a smidgeon over 60 mpg. Being a turbo engine she does go pretty well - not exactly a tyre smoker though - but if you keep the revs up and use large throttle openings you can easily make big dents in the consumption figures.
All in all, with over 5 years ownership behind me, I'm very pleased with the car so far. The engine is very complicated with much more to potentially go wrong compared to the old diesel and I'll be astonished if it lasts anything like as long as the Cordoba did, but so far so good!
Reminds me of a problem I had with the newer mini clubman when we looked at replacing my wife’s car (got the countryman in the end) the clubman is a very big but very low car and I have long legs, when ever I got in the drivers seat the natural position I sat in as I got in, combined with the layout of the car meant I would always slam my right knee in between the door and the side of the steering wheel, I really liked the car but couldn’t live with that especially as I have a problem with that knee
