General Panda 4x4

[deeyup]

Hi More fool you "Well I just got a settlement on my 500. I owe £10k."

I still owe sod all and my car cost £2,600. Tip do not buy until you have saved the money up first.

Keeping up with the Welsh Jone's cost loads of money.

Believe me taking out finance will result in you paying more than you need too every time.

Derek

LOL!

Let's see,

For me saving to buy the car didn't make sense.
If I put £220 a month (my monthly payment) away it would take say about 5 years to get the asking price, but hey what about inflation? would the list price still be the same as 2012 prices. I don't think so. It may be another £2000 by then, so my money is worth less??

The fact is my car came with a nice £1750 discount from list, and by juggling the term and mileage we managed to get the interest down to £23. That's over the whole term.
So to borrow £11,000 odd costs me about 80p per month.

Now it's up to you to choose to drive a £2600 (in my book) banger, and congrats on saving all that up, pat on the back well deserved.
We all try live within our means after all.

I could pay off my Fiat if I wanted, the reason I wont pay off the negative equity is because I am stubborn, I'll wait till there is none.
Also, the Fiat group deals aren't good enough yet for me to jump into a Panda.

Anyway
Thanks for your advice,

I've taken all on board, put my van and car up for sale and am scouring the classifieds for £2600 cars because I've obviously been doing it wrong for all these years.

I'll tell the Jone's [sic] to do the same

 

[deeyup]

On a more positive note I've ordered a 4x4 after some helpful advice from here.

Not sure I'm doing the right think but I've gone for the orange in and out. It was that or silver (arctic grey?!?) and my head said silver my heart said orange. Still time to change it if everyone says I'm mad.

So difficult to make the choice with only photos online and a white one in the flesh. I could have any other car in silver but I wouldn't go for orange one but on the 4x4 it just seems to go with the slightly more fun image.

Nice one on the orange, it's perfect for this car.
Bet you can't wait!

How long till it gets here?

 

[hollis]

Hi

I actually drive a Toyota but I bought the Panda just to run about (4X4) when the weather gets bad down hear in Dorset. Labour thought it was wise to borrow and now we are all paying it back. Right you do what you think is best but I firmly believe it is normally (except in your case) cheaper to pay on the nose.

You actually said in your post that nearly new cars were being sold for what you still owed which I think is different from the case you now present.

Derek

 

[Palio]

On a more positive note I've ordered a 4x4 after some helpful advice from here.

Not sure I'm doing the right think but I've gone for the orange in and out. It was that or silver (arctic grey?!?) and my head said silver my heart said orange. Still time to change it if everyone says I'm mad.

So difficult to make the choice with only photos online and a white one in the flesh. I could have any other car in silver but I wouldn't go for orange one but on the 4x4 it just seems to go with the slightly more fun image.

It looks good in the photos - can't wait to see one in orange. I suspect you will be happy with the choice - fingers crossed!!

What's your delivery time scale on it?

 

[deeyup]

Hi

I actually drive a Toyota but I bought the Panda just to run about (4X4) when the weather gets bad down hear in Dorset. Labour thought it was wise to borrow and now we are all paying it back. Right you do what you think is best but I firmly believe it is normally (except in your case) cheaper to pay on the nose.

You actually said in your post that nearly new cars were being sold for what you still owed which I think is different from the case you now present.

Derek

I'm unsure what you mean?

All I've said here is I'm not buying a new 4x4 at the moment because I owe £10k on my car.
On the other thread I've said that fiat have sold a stack of nearly new 500's to motor point at such a price that they can afford to sell them at less than £10k.

This therefore makes mine and everybody else's 500 of similar spec and age less valuable.


The biggest running cost of buying a car is depreciation.
Yes I could have cleverly bought a £5000 car, run it for a year and get 95% of my money back as I've done in the past on numerous occasions.
I could have bought a 1.2 pop and still had the same £1750 off. That would have been the clever thing to do, but sometimes people are willing to pay for what they want.
I had a suspicion that 500 values were beggining to slide. The fact I got the deal I did speaks volumes. I wouldn't have got that 18 months ago.

You'll do well with your panda only owing you £2600, but I doubt you'll fare so well with a £20,000 Toyota.

Anyway, as you say each his own.

To try and get back on topic here's a pic of the 4x4 I drove the other week.
They've put stickers on it, and the roof bars. Apparently they are very noisy at high speeds if you were thinking of getting them (roof bars that is)

 

[philboo]

Wow, how many great positive comments about my colour choice. Thanks everyone.

I've gone a bit mad with options so climate, winter pack, etc.

No idea on delivery yet. Not had time to speak to the dealer today after I ordered it. Not in a rush. 1st march would be ideal.

Thanks again it is a bit bright but hopefully it'll look good.

 

[Most Easterly Pandas]

You can never have to many options!

A 13 plate doesn't cause you to be superstitious I take it?

 

[deeyup]

Winter pack is a must I reckon.
Great value too at the price. I'd definatley get it.

 

[JTD_Liam]

I'm not replying to hollis, as i'll end up getting banned, but great news to hear a Panda 4x4 has been ordered

Great colour choice too. Silver/Grey is a wasted opportunity on something as characterful as the Panda, and the Sicilian Orange suits the 4x4 brilliantly for very little outlay (£290 as opposed to many of the colours priced at £450).

I'd have the Winter Pack too - heated seats & heated front screen - the screen in particular is worth its weight in gold i reckon. Look forward to its arrival & the photos and maybe even passing it on the roads round Merseyside should i pop over that way (living in Manchester currently so it's not unknown)

 

[hollis]

Hi

I will say that if the new 4x4 is better than the previous version it must be a very good buy.

I loaned mine to a guy who works for us and he thought it had done very few miles as the speedo reading had been left on the trip reading. He said "you can tell it has done no miles" when I ask him what he thought of the car.

I replied you are joking it has actually done over 81,000 miles but I have to admit it drives and sounds perfect.

I have a Fiat Stilo in Spain and again a fantastic car then is well put together and has never let me down. I leave it parked at Alicante airport and sometimes it is left there for two months at a time. Always starts first time.

I bought my grandson a Fiat Punto and again the car has been spot on with just a couple of minor repairs needed. I am well impressed by Fiat.


Derek

 

[ivantate]

If anyone is wondering where all the 4x4s are, its Avis in Italy that are to blame. Was just talking to the guy at turin airport and they have loads just in. Ready for the ski season.

 

[homeward]

Just got a very good email from Renault re the Sandero Stepway and Duster. If they did an auto, that's where I'd be looking....

 

[stu0710]

Hi

I will say that if the new 4x4 is better than the previous version it must be a very good buy.

I loaned mine to a guy who works for us and he thought it had done very few miles as the speedo reading had been left on the trip reading. He said "you can tell it has done no miles" when I ask him what he thought of the car.

I replied you are joking it has actually done over 81,000 miles but I have to admit it drives and sounds perfect.

I have a Fiat Stilo in Spain and again a fantastic car then is well put together and has never let me down. I leave it parked at Alicante airport and sometimes it is left there for two months at a time. Always starts first time.

I bought my grandson a Fiat Punto and again the car has been spot on with just a couple of minor repairs needed. I am well impressed by Fiat.


Derek

Excellent - loving the financial advice from someone who appears to have bought a house in Spain, nothing like hearing about depreciation from the an expert!

 

[AlexS]

Has anybody on here actually bought a Panda 4x4 or any of the sales guys sold one yet?

It seems the insurance companies don't know it even exists and I am struggling to get a quote...

Thanks,

Alex

 

[4x4Panda]

Nope. I'm not ordering one until:
a) I can actually test drive the car (still not arrived at Salisbury...)
b) the dealer can confirm the options that are available (I don't trust the on-line config) and
c) I'd like to see a brochure (to confirm b)!)

This probably means i won't order until the summer now...

 

[philboo]

I've ordered one from Blackburn and they have been really helpful. They've ordered three so far. All are down as March build slots at the moment but they said this can change by weeks forward and backwards.

They have a White demo car which I drove in Blackburn but in Whitefield, Manchester they have a Green diesel and the White petrol one.

With regard to the options I sat with the sales manager and did my config for my car with him directly on the fiat order site (not the customer config one) and it was all correct. The only anomaly I can find is 'City Brake'. On the customer configurator it is an option if the car is a Diesel engine but not the twinair. However, if you try to actually build a car on the real ordering system even selecting a diesel option it isn't available.

Further to this I have just found the Italian version of the new Panda brochure which includes the Trekking and 4x4. It's nice as it lists the options and using google translate I can't see no mention of 'City Brake' yet as an option. It does mention it in the actual brochure though. The sales manager did say he thinks it'll be available later in the year as they have been demonstrated it.

It's not a deal breaker for me, it would have been a nice to have given my girlfriend hit someone at a junction thinking they'd moved off when they hadn't.

Link to Italian brochure: http://www.fiat.it/it/PublishingImages/e-brochure/319/files/assets/downloads/publication.pdf (also attached I hope)

Hope that is useful.

Phil

 

[4x4Panda]

Thanks, that is very helpful. Interestingly, no 'skydome' roof available on the Trekking or the 4x4. It does seem a little odd, so I wonder if its something to do with preserving the stiffness of the shell on the 'off-road-able' cars? Personally, I would like to order the City Brake option, so I would like to know when it is intended to be available on the 4x4 so I can gauge whether or not I'm prepared to wait!

 

[davidc]

Exciting stuff ! Did you fix a colour ?

There aren't too many things to get excited about once you leave childhood but getting a new car is certainly up there.

May be too late for winter by march but at least you will have more chance of wading through the biblical floods that seem to be in the offing !

 

[philboo]

Exciting stuff ! Did you fix a colour ?

There aren't too many things to get excited about once you leave childhood but getting a new car is certainly up there.

May be too late for winter by march but at least you will have more chance of wading through the biblical floods that seem to be in the offing !

I've stuck with orange inside and out. Think it looks great on the photos and fun but I am a little concerned it'll stand out a little.

You're right though. Even though I've had a 500, then abarth 500 which I've loved I'm still excited about the panda as it's twin air, a brand new model, 4x4 and not costing a fortune.

I just hope it isn't April before it finally arrives.

 

[catnash]

Nice 8 page spread on the 4x4 in this months Top Gear Magazine.