General Panda 4x4

[nigelspanda]

mine was at hartwells garage 15th march saw my car for the first time 17th march get insurance on the 18th and picked mine up 22nd march ,I think they said mine Could take upto a week from the Docks but I think it was 4 or 5 days

 

[4x4Panda]

Thanks deeyup - so as mine went to 20 on 30/4, then I should be looking for c.17.May delivery

Nigelspanda - do you know when yours went to status 20?

Can't wait to be back in a Panda again

 

[Moultoneer]

Moultoneer - When did your car turn to status 20 (built)?
My garage does not want to even estimate when my 4x4 will be delivered to the UK!

In general though - Panda Mk4 fans - what is the range of elapsed time folk are seeing between status 20 and the car being at their UK dealer?

thanks in advance...

Hartwells have never quoted any Status Code relating to my car- on visiting
them yesterday afternoon, I was told it had been built and was to be shipped
ASAP (about a week?)

Having ordered way back in late January, they were getting embarrassed at
the delay (having initially said I'd have it by Easter )

(FWIW, my Alfa Mito was ordered mid-January 2010 and with me on 9th
April- considerably better, although hardly rapid )


Chris

 

[philboo]

I'm sorry. I can't give any exact dates for status changes throughout the order/delivery process for mine as I kept having to ask.

But these may help. It was ordered on 19th dec (well I paid the deposit then, I think they ordered it a couple of days before as they knew I was having one), and it was register in the uk on the 30th March (as they wanted it in the march sales figures). It had arrived in the UK that week. It wasn't with the dealer until the 9th April (I actually saw it in the transporter going up the M6 on that date) and I collected it on the Friday of that week 12th April. So as you can see my car was very slow from the UK arrival to arriving with the dealer. During the time the status did go from fixed back to heaily variable.

I totally understand the frustration with delays. I had p/x'd my Abarth 500 before Christmas so they could sell it on, and at times I wished I'd never bothered as I thought my 4x4 was never going to turn up (I'd hoped for a march/April delivery at the latest due to registration plate changes).

The good thing to remember is that between all the members that have had cars believed we know they do arrive finally with the options you asked for.

I wonder if fiat have just massively underestimated the demand (from the LHD markets maybe) and haven't enough stock of various options.

At the time of my delays I put it down to my insistence to have the city brake option but now I think it maybe the 50:50 rear seats.

Anyway it turned up and I've been happily driving it around for 3 weeks.

Don't despair they'll turn up

 

[philboo]

On another totally different point.

I noticed in the reviews of the new renault captur (or whatever it's called) and the new Peugeot 2008 (that's a nice looking car...not) the reviews all make a big point of the very fast growing compact SUV market which the juke and mini countryman tend to dominate (according to the reviews).

I know the panda 4x4 is probably in its own class as sub compact SUV or something daft but in the peugeot 2008 review (which starts at £13k (makes the panda look pricey(but very exclusive ) ) they give alternatives as the juke, captur and mini countryman (the summary quotes of the mini are funny "pug ugly" being one) but never the panda, I know it's small but it has to be as big as the mini inside surely ?

Anyway, my post was just to mention how the little 4x4 panda, although getting great stand alone reviews seems to be missed in comparisons like this. Maybe a good thing as we like to remain the decerning buyers choice (well, I like to think so

It does make me think that the latest 4x4 panda really is an absolute unique model in its class and given this growing interest in smaller SUVs I think the 4x4panda (and trekking) can only become more desirable.

 

[Moultoneer]

On another totally different point.

(snip)

Anyway, my post was just to mention how the little 4x4 panda, although getting great stand alone reviews seems to be missed in comparisons like this. Maybe a good thing as we like to remain the decerning buyers choice (well, I like to think so

It does make me think that the latest 4x4 panda really is an absolute unique model in its class and given this growing interest in smaller SUVs I think the 4x4panda (and trekking) can only become more desirable.

I'm seeing very few of the latest Panda around- so it really is rare, if not
actually endangered (in comparison, there are zillions of 500s
everywhere)

A bit odd, as to my way of thinking, the Panda (particularly in 4x4 and
Trekking versions, with the Twinair engine) offer a great combination of
fun, practicality and (if you're careful ) fuel economy, and all for modest
purchase price and running costs. Fiat will have only themselves to blame
if it doesn't become as popular as their 500 :bang:


Chris

 

[nigelspanda]

Thanks deeyup - so as mine went to 20 on 30/4, then I should be looking for c.17.May delivery

Nigelspanda - do you know when yours went to status 20?

Can't wait to be back in a Panda again

sorry I don't No all that hartwells said was first it was status 13 then it was being built ,then built and reay to be shipped and last when it was at the docks I did not ask or recive any more numbers from them , just one other thing was my car was supposed to be with me on the 30-3-2013 so mine was Early

 

[4x4Panda]

No problem, thanks in any case . It's interesting to see we all get different information from our garages! I think Westover know that if they email me it at least keeps me moderately happy and i don't then start hassling them on the phone!!

I actually saw a new shape Panda yesterday and someone in our village recently chopped in their 10 plate Mk3 for a 13 reg new Panda. Amazingly, in around 250miles of driving today I did not see a single new shape Panda, but i did see over a dozen 911s and more sub 1year old Land Rovers and Range Rovers than I could even start to keep tally of. Okay, i live in the countryside, but there are 500s everywhere.

Perhaps FIAT decided it needed a new niche car, rather than a volume seller I certainly can't think of a rational explanation (oh, apart from incompetency on FIATs part, obviously...)

 

[babbo_umbro]

The UK market doesn't reflect Fiat's production numbers. As far as I can make out in a brief search, there are about 200,000 500s made each year, and something over 250,000 Pandas. Profit margins are another issue, of course, and the 500's ability to attract a premium price - or it's over-priced, depending on your viewpoint - makes it attractive to Fiat. The same goes for the more expensive versions of the Panda - the new Panda is on the roads in Italy in big numbers, with the 4x4 very popular in this area - Umbria, country and mountainous.

In Devon, the 500 took ages to appear in any quantity, and it's still not that common - not a very fashion-conscious area with relatively low disposable incomes, so the Panda is a more sensible buy.

 

[306maxi]

I think only 4x4 has rear discs and other major differences are the 4x4 has more links on the rear suspension from what I've read. The rest if the car is essentially the same I would have thought?
The ride extra ride height is gained soley from suspension and not a body lift.
A slightly smaller fuel tank? And of course the 6 speed box in the ta 4x4.
Both trekking and 4x4 have higher centre consoles where the drink holder and USB port is with storage underneath this area.

The 4x4 doesn't have more links in the rear suspension, it's a torsion beam suspension like the 500 and Panda.

 

[306maxi]

The UK market doesn't reflect Fiat's production numbers. As far as I can make out in a brief search, there are about 200,000 500s made each year, and something over 250,000 Pandas. Profit margins are another issue, of course, and the 500's ability to attract a premium price - or it's over-priced, depending on your viewpoint - makes it attractive to Fiat. The same goes for the more expensive versions of the Panda - the new Panda is on the roads in Italy in big numbers, with the 4x4 very popular in this area - Umbria, country and mountainous.

In Devon, the 500 took ages to appear in any quantity, and it's still not that common - not a very fashion-conscious area with relatively low disposable incomes, so the Panda is a more sensible buy.

If the 500 wasn't overpriced when launched, it sure as hell is now. We got ours on scrappage at a good price, I probably wouldn't buy another new again unless there were big discounts to be had. That said the new 4x4 is also overpriced as well....

 

[306maxi]

You may well be right - though to my mind it would be a clever trick if the body is precisely the same as a regular Panda's. I would have expected differences in the floor pan to accommodate the transmission and possibly different pick up points for the suspension or sub-frames. Wonder if the design of the Mk3 gives any clues that might be carried over? The internet is irritatingly free of details - at least from my amateur search efforts!

Now if we were talking Porsches, we would be able to download full assembly drawings and parts numbers of everything from body sections, through mechanicals, down to the last washer. Or is that only on their older cars?

Oh and AFAIK the floorpan is the same, my 500 appears to have the pickup points for the rear ARB mounts of the 4x4. I suspect all the other mounting points are carried across, after all it would cost more to have two separate lines for floorpans rather than just one.

 

[4x4Panda]

thanks for the insight 306maxi

So there is only one floorpan that does the 500, 2wd and 4x4 Panda then?

Was this also true for the Mk3 Panda - for some reason I thought it needed a different floorpan to accommodate the prop shaft?

I'm going to see if Westover will shove mine on a ramp for me to photograph the grubby bits when it comes to collection day. They will probably think I'm mad!

all the best

 

[4x4Panda]

I imagine this has already been posted, but I probably missed it first time round:

Gives a good overview of the 4wd transmission and suspension.

 

[306maxi]

thanks for the insight 306maxi

So there is only one floorpan that does the 500, 2wd and 4x4 Panda then?

Was this also true for the Mk3 Panda - for some reason I thought it needed a different floorpan to accommodate the prop shaft?

I'm going to see if Westover will shove mine on a ramp for me to photograph the grubby bits when it comes to collection day. They will probably think I'm mad!

all the best

Well I don't know for certain that the floorpan is the same, but I strongly suspect it is, the 500 still has the transmission tunnel, but can it take an actual propshaft? I can't see why not, but who's to say? Maybe I'll have a look under my Mk3 Panda and 500 to see how similar they are visually.

 

[306maxi]

Well I don't know for certain that the floorpan is the same, but I strongly suspect it is, the 500 still has the transmission tunnel, but can it take an actual propshaft? I can't see why not, but who's to say? Maybe I'll have a look under my Mk3 Panda and 500 to see how similar they are visually.

Well I had a look underneath today, the rear end looks like it would work. but there is no mounting point for the propshaft in the middle of the car (that I could see), that's not to say it couldn't be done, just that it might not be an out of the box solution.

 

[4x4Panda]

Now status 35

<praying for calm at sea>

 

[deeyup]

Now status 35

<praying for calm at sea>

I thought of you yesterday when I was out in the Bristol Channel.
I saw this sailing by.



Could your car be have been on it??? Hope so.

It was as flat as a pancake out there, but it's wash gave us a few ramps to jump!

 

[gar074]

I'm seeing very few of the latest Panda around- so it really is rare, if not actually endangered (in comparison, there are zillions of 500s everywhere)

Yes, but it was ages before the 500 became as ubiquitous as it is now. For at least a year after it was released, it was quite an event to see one on the road. The new Panda - in all its guises - will inevitably be the same.

 

[4x4Panda]

Thanks deeyup

there could be a whole deck of little FIATs there destined for Bristol docks...

...but I reckon they'll be about 90% 500s and just a handful of Pandas!