General Panda multijet vs twinair

[soupdragon]

Certainly food for thought regarding the 1.2.

I don't think my local dealer has any Panda's at the moment so if I give the 1.2 a spin it'll have to be a 500 again.....

Cheers Tom

 

[The Pretender]

I too can vouch for the 1.2. I bought mine 7 weeks ago after a short test drive. I have to admit that I was a little disappointed with the performance of the engine, but as it was being bought as a second car and this one was available to buy straight away.
Now, with 1200 miles under its belt, it feels so different to when I test drove it with just 10 miles on the clock. Upon delivery 4th and 5th gear were unusable for ANY acceleration , now whilst not exactly neck snapping, progress can be made without so much gear changing but when you do, it really surprises me and other road users how well it goes, AND its so smooth when when doing it.
Economy wise, the total average for this period is 43MPG ,(according to the relatively accurate gauge that I checked against proper figures for the first couple of tankfuls). This is mostly London driving with a few longer runs as well.
In light of the premium charged for the other two motors, I would certainly give the 1.2 a test drive, just try to find one with some reasonable mileage on it!

I have a Panda 169 with 1.2 ltr engine.
It had ± 65 hp at the wheels.
After placing a K&N panelfilter and a remap it has ± 75 hp at the wheels and 122.8 Nm torque at the wheels.
Topspeed is ± 180 on the GPS.
I find that my 169 like this, drives much better then a TwinAir 85 IMHO.
And when i drive ± 110 Km/h i can put my foot down in 5 and it go's very wel to 150+ Km/h without a hasle.
I would chose a 1.2 ltr over a TwinAir 85 "24/7".

 

[deeyup]

I have a Panda 169 with 1.2 ltr engine.
It had ± 65 hp at the wheels.
After placing a K&N panelfilter and a remap it has ± 75 hp at the wheels and 122.8 Nm torque at the wheels.
Topspeed is ± 180 on the GPS.
I find that my 169 like this, drives much better then a TwinAir 85 IMHO.
And when i drive ± 110 Km/h i can put my foot down in 5 and it go's very wel to 150+ Km/h without a hasle.
I would chose a 1.2 ltr over a TwinAir 85 "24/7".

Yes, but you are one of a small minority. Not everyone wants to spend money modifying a car, and have all the insurance headaches that goes with it.

 

[The Pretender]

Yes, but you are one of a small minority. Not everyone wants to spend money modifying a car, and have all the insurance headaches that goes with it.

Yes i know, but the costs of the modifications where less the € 400,- though.

 

[Super Uwe]

Certainly food for thought regarding the 1.2.

I don't think my local dealer has any Panda's at the moment so if I give the 1.2 a spin it'll have to be a 500 again.....

Cheers Tom

Wow, really surprised your local dealer hasn't got any Pandas at all to test drive? It's a bread and butter car for Fiat. I could kind of understand maybe if you wanted to test drive a Qubo or Doblo...but not a Panda.

Anyway...if you do test drive a 1.2 500, all I would say is don't be afraid to work it reasonably hard in the first three (or four) gears. I think you will be pleasantly surprised how quickly you can get up to 40/50 mph, even in a relatively new car with only a few miles under its belt.

IMO the 1.2's "sweet spot" is around the 3500 to 4000 rpm mark to change gear if you want to make swift progress. But of course you can follow the gear shift indicators if you want to be a bit more economical. It'll do the job just fine either way!

 

[soupdragon]

Wow, really surprised your local dealer hasn't got any Pandas at all to test drive? It's a bread and butter car for Fiat. I could kind of understand maybe if you wanted to test drive a Qubo or Doblo...but not a Panda.

Anyway...if you do test drive a 1.2 500, all I would say is don't be afraid to work it reasonably hard in the first three (or four) gears. I think you will be pleasantly surprised how quickly you can get up to 40/50 mph, even in a relatively new car with only a few miles under its belt.

IMO the 1.2's "sweet spot" is around the 3500 to 4000 rpm mark to change gear if you want to make swift progress. But of course you can follow the gear shift indicators if you want to be a bit more economical. It'll do the job just fine either way!

To be fair, my local branch ( 10 min drive ) has only been a Fiat agent for about 6 months. I got my Panda from another branch of the same dealership ( nearly 25 mins ) who's been Fiat for yeeeeeeeeears. I'll be paying them a visit too before any purchase just in case they can shave a couple of hundred of the price

Cheers Tom

 

[Moultoneer]

Couldn't agree more....

Bear in mind that my TA Trekking's economy isn't the result
of 'normal' motoring, as I only use the car for long trips
(normally >20 miles, and often over 100) and I'm used to
coaxing diesels to achieve decent economy (but whilst
keeping to a good average speed, I don't hang around )

While I'm pleased with the mid-50s mpg I'm getting, a friend
of mine with a mk3 Panda Multijet regularly achieves 80+

Going by experience with my previous diesels, I'd expect to
get low- to mid-70s from a Multijet Trekking.

But I really wanted the Twinair's fun-factor :devil:



Chris

 

[JTD_Liam]

Test drive is booked for lunchtime tomorrow. Still no Panda's but I've got the pick of a 500 or a 500L. I'm thinking the 500L as it's more the size of the Panda?

Cheers Tom

I'd go with the 500 to test drive of the two. The 500 is an 85bhp TwinAir, the same as the Panda. The 500L is the new 105bhp TwinAir with 6 speed gearbox, and they're massive compared to the Panda so it wouldn't be a representative test drive. V nice cars, but a lot more money than a Panda.

Most Panda's we seem to have as demo's where I work are 1.2 Pop or Easy models, or TwinAir 4x4's, as they're the biggest sellers. Don't have any 1.3 Multijets, but it'll be much the same as your current one, and not much in the way of TwinAir regular Panda's, but a TwinAir 4x4 or 500 will give a good idea and dealers do seem to have those.

However, be wary that the regular Panda feels slightly more accomplished than the 500 to drive (better ride) and slightly less accomplished than the 4x4.

I take it you'd be using Windsors? I'd imagine Heswall would have a Panda demo. They're meant to be a very good dealership I believe.

 

[soupdragon]

I'd go with the 500 to test drive of the two. The 500 is an 85bhp TwinAir, the same as the Panda. The 500L is the new 105bhp TwinAir with 6 speed gearbox, and they're massive compared to the Panda so it wouldn't be a representative test drive. V nice cars, but a lot more money than a Panda.

Most Panda's we seem to have as demo's where I work are 1.2 Pop or Easy models, or TwinAir 4x4's, as they're the biggest sellers. Don't have any 1.3 Multijets, but it'll be much the same as your current one, and not much in the way of TwinAir regular Panda's, but a TwinAir 4x4 or 500 will give a good idea and dealers do seem to have those.

However, be wary that the regular Panda feels slightly more accomplished than the 500 to drive (better ride) and slightly less accomplished than the 4x4.

I take it you'd be using Windsors? I'd imagine Heswall would have a Panda demo. They're meant to be a very good dealership I believe.

I couldn't fault the Heswall branch at all when I bought there nearly 6 years ago. Very friendly and genuine with it. Once I've had my test drive I'll head over to them and have a chat there too.
Thanks for the heads up about the size of the 500L. Deeup had already mentioned the engine having more oomph. so the 500 it will be

Cheers Tom

 

[soupdragon]

Right, not long back from my test drive.


Fiat 500 TwinAir as they didn't have a Panda I could try. 14.000 miles on the clock. I covered 14.5 miles ( mix of around town and motorway, eco button on for the last 5 miles in town ), with an average mpg of 47.4. I neither ragged it to see how much fun it could be or drove like a nun, just my " normal " drive, whatever that may be.
So if that un-scientific little spin gave me 47mpg then I'm thinking if I'd not had a little blast on the motorway that I could have got nearer to 50. That figure, I would be very happy with
Out of curiosity I had a go of a 1.2 while I was there. I pushed the 1.2 more than the TwinAir to see if it had the oomph that I would require on my trips up to visit family in the Lakes. Unfortunately, for me, it didn't. It felt out of breath most of the time.

So now all I need to do is decide what colour I want my new TwinAir to be. The only Panda colours I've seen are the white, black and cancan red. Don't want those so I'm torn between the beige or the brown. The brown is in the brochure but not on the on-line configurator thing
Will probably place an order to tie in with the new reg at the start of March as it'll only mean waiting another 7-10 days on top of the 8 week lead time.

Does anybody have a few pictures of those two colours on the car that I could have a look at?

Cheers Tom

 

[Super Uwe]

Thanks for the update!

Glad you got to try both engines though, a smart move. Sounds like the TA is defo the one for you then.

As for colours, I'd suggest looking at all of the Pandas on AutoTrader and then selecting brown and beige as a colour. For some reason I can't get the site to work, but you will probably find one model at least?

Quite possible that the brown colour has been discontinued. I doubt it's sold very well at all to be honest, but it might turn out to be a bit like the Ye Ye Green on the 500; not popular to start with, but now a cult colour and hard to get hold of! It certainly isn't my cup of tea anyway, but at the end of the day it's none of my business what colour people want to choose for their car!

 

[soupdragon]

I'm a bit disappointed in the selection of colours really, I might just be fussy but none of them really catch my eye. I'll be passing another Fiat dealership on my way home from work tomorrow so will park up and see if there's any Panda's that might give me an idea about the other colours.

Cheers Tom

 

[soupdragon]

By the way.

Price is £9500 on the road for the Easy trim in white. Fair? What else, other than a full tank of fuel and mats are the usual bargaining points these days?

Cheers Tom

 

[triumph7]

I'm a bit disappointed in the selection of colours really, I might just be fussy but none of them really catch my eye. I'll be passing another Fiat dealership on my way home from work tomorrow so will park up and see if there's any Panda's that might give me an idea about the other colours.

Cheers Tom

Agree. The panda colours are a bit uninspiring.... I chose orange for my 4x4 but sadly its n/a across the range....

 

[soupdragon]

Agree. The panda colours are a bit uninspiring.... I chose orange for my 4x4 but sadly its n/a across the range....

There's something wrong when chosing your new car is easier that picking it's colour

Cheers Tom

 

[deeyup]

By the way.

Price is £9500 on the road for the Easy trim in white. Fair? What else, other than a full tank of fuel and mats are the usual bargaining points these days?

Cheers Tom

I'd be aiming at 14% off list at least.
If you could get them down to £9000 on the basic car that would be a result I'd say.
Don't forget, after you've secured the discount on the car, any options you want at the same discount. Don't let them mug you off by charging full price for them.

Good news for you is that it's the best time of year to buy a new car.

 

[EasyPanda]

I notice the Panda is available with a new colour - Venetian Blue

 

[varesecrazy]

By the way.

Price is £9500 on the road for the Easy trim in white. Fair? What else, other than a full tank of fuel and mats are the usual bargaining points these days?

Cheers Tom

there is ALWAYS room for manouvre

OTR charges, paint protection, valet club - all stuff they'll try and add on ,

or try hard-ball and knock a couple of grand off,

I got £3.5K off my Punto

 

[soupdragon]

I'd be aiming at 14% off list at least.
If you could get them down to £9000 on the basic car that would be a result I'd say.
Don't forget, after you've secured the discount on the car, any options you want at the same discount. Don't let them mug you off by charging full price for them.

Good news for you is that it's the best time of year to buy a new car.

I'll let them stew for a week or so and see how they respond to a shout of £9000. If they come back with 9200 I'll probably go for it. Still with the full tank and mats though
There's still the dealer that I'll be passing every day now that I've started my new job. I'll touch them for a quote too

Cheers Tom

 

[soupdragon]

I notice the Panda is available with a new colour - Venetian Blue

Where did you see that?

Cheers Tom

EDIT.....

Scratch that, just noticed it on the web site. Had forgotten about that colour, bit too light and wishy washy for me.

Cheers Tom