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Panda Panda 1.2 Dynamic

Introduction

Hi all .. my daughter is learning to drive and Fiat make some great first cars.
She is thrilled with it. I did the oil , filter , air filter and changed the coolant, adjusted the handbrake. Just need to sort the door mirror adjustment now. 78k and drives really well.
Great choice of colour too :D

We got ours for my girlfriend to learn to drive in too... 3 1/2 years later we don't want to get rid of it.

Funny you should mention the door mirrors. When we got ours, I couldn't adjust them enough to be useful...
...turns out the housings were seized in place. Plenty of penetrating fluid and spray grease freed them up.

Check the 'duckbill' scuttle drains under the windscreen which block easily and need occasional clearing out, and the rear axle which is the main rust spot on these.
 
Great choice of colour too :D

We got ours for my girlfriend to learn to drive in too... 3 1/2 years later we don't want to get rid of it.

Funny you should mention the door mirrors. When we got ours, I couldn't adjust them enough to be useful...
...turns out the housings were seized in place. Plenty of penetrating fluid and spray grease freed them up.

Check the 'duckbill' scuttle drains under the windscreen which block easily and need occasional clearing out, and the rear axle which is the main rust spot on these.
Yes it’s a striking colour isn’t it ? Thanks for the advice I’ll try that with the door mirrors tomorrow… it’s a clean car and looks good underneath, no welding ever mentioned on mots 😊
 
Happily the main body's galvanised, so rust shouldn't be too much of a concern. Only really seems to affect:
Rear spring pans
Coolant return pipe across front of engine
Engine oil sump pan

There's also a mud trap behind the front springs.

I think they're great little cars - fun, reliable and surprisingly practical.

The over-enthusiastic self-cancelling indicators were the only thing my girlfriend struggled with when learning to drive. But you learn to anticipate their little ways..
 
Thanks for the heads up I read the sumps can go porous with rust and I was surprised when I read that the Panels are galvanised … very different to the Fiats and Lancias I’ve had in the past. They practically dissolved in front of me.
 
We have 3 kids - not really kids any more, all grown up with families of their own - and the two younger ones both learned on Pandas and drove them for several years after passing their tests. Very cheap to insure and maintain/repair. The one my youngest learned to drive in is the Panda Parade (purpley blue) in my avatar picture which we owned for over 20 years! The kids are now in their 40s and we've had a Panda in the family continuously since the first one, a 750 with a carburettor and distributor - yes it was that old. The current one is a 2010 1.2 Dynamic Eco in white, which I think works especially well with the black trim, but I must say I do like your's in that blue.
 
Thanks for the heads up I read the sumps can go porous with rust and I was surprised when I read that the Panels are galvanised … very different to the Fiats and Lancias I’ve had in the past. They practically dissolved in front of me.
I'm not sure why Fiat chose to build the 169 Panda so well, but I'm glad they did (apart perhaps from the rear axle...).

I can only wish they'd started doing it sooner. I always promised myself a Lancia - a Fulvia or Flavia - back when they were plentiful and cheap. But if I had, I know it would only have rusted away by now. And now the few survivors are overpriced. Still love them though. What did you have?
 
I'm not sure why Fiat chose to build the 169 Panda so well, but I'm glad they did (apart perhaps from the rear axle...).

I can only wish they'd started doing it sooner. I always promised myself a Lancia - a Fulvia or Flavia - back when they were plentiful and cheap. But if I had, I know it would only have rusted away by now. And now the few survivors are overpriced. Still love them though. What did you have?
Yes I always liked the fulvias too … I started out with a 128 3p series speciale. Then beta couple 2000 ie. Beta spyder. Fiat 131 sport . Lancia delta HF turbo then integrale 16V .. moved onto Frenchie’s after. Had my current car nearly 9 years now . My first ford ..Mk 1 Focus RS. Totally standard and pretty much immaculate.
 
There are usually a few on eBay , they don’t seem to sell well, a niche market I guess. It was also my only Italian car ‘mistake’ my dad viewed it on my behalf as I was working and it was full of filler. I didn’t keep it long and fortunately got my money back when I sold it. I always lusted after a volumex coupe.
Going back to the panda it stops well and straight but there is more pedal travel than I’m used to on cars is this a trait of the model would you say?
 
My guess for the pedal travel would be rear self adjusters. Becky (2010 1.2 dynamic eco) had quite long pedal travel - although I hadn't really noticed it, suppose you get used to it feeling that way. Then I got the garage to do rear flex hoses for me (couldn't get the old ones undone, they used an oxy acetylene torch on them!) and we carried on and did pipes and cylinders too. We didn't change the shoes which were only about half worn. After freeing off the adjusters and "flipping" them up with a screwdriver whilst trying the drums on and off, we ended up with a really brilliant "tight" pedal but no binding of the drums when spun by hand. We've had quite a few Pandas over the years and rear shoe adjusters requiring "attention" has been a common "feature".
 
My guess for the pedal travel would be rear self adjusters. Becky (2010 1.2 dynamic eco) had quite long pedal travel - although I hadn't really noticed it, suppose you get used to it feeling that way. Then I got the garage to do rear flex hoses for me (couldn't get the old ones undone, they used an oxy acetylene torch on them!) and we carried on and did pipes and cylinders too. We didn't change the shoes which were only about half worn. After freeing off the adjusters and "flipping" them up with a screwdriver whilst trying the drums on and off, we ended up with a really brilliant "tight" pedal but no binding of the drums when spun by hand. We've had quite a few Pandas over the years and rear shoe adjusters requiring "attention" has been a common "feature".
Thank you for the info that’s very useful , I’ll look at them at sometime soon 👍
 
Thank you for the info that’s very useful , I’ll look at them at sometime soon 👍
While you're at it I'd also have a look at the front pads. They have a tendency to seize/stick in the carriers if not treated with anti seize paste. If you decide to remove the small bottom caliper retaining pin (easiest way to get at the pads is to take this pin out and swing the caliper up on the larger diameter upper guide pin) it may well be seized too if it's not been out for a year or more. Be careful using too much "welly" when trying to move it as the lugs it goes through are not very substantial and you may snap then off which turns a relatively simple job into a bit of a "hassle" job.

I posted this a few years ago when I was starting to get to know our then new purchase Becky. Might be of interest? https://www.fiatforum.com/threads/beckys-brakes-a-few-surprises.459983/
 
Well the drop links were mentioned on the mot so thought I’d do them , then noticed one of the discs were scored but pads had plenty of meat .. so I got new discs and pads. My dad is a retired mechanic so he got on with them. Copper slipped the backs and all seemed ok but when I put the wheel on it was fouling the calliper so dad gave it a whack not realising the pin wasn’t located properly through the calliper so broke the lugs off . So new calliper on now and dad has well and truly retired now at nearly 84 years old.
 
The only rust I can see is by the filler cap .. negligible. Even the boot floor is like new .. fantastic for a 17 year old fiat.
 

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