General What to buy to replace a Mk3 Panda?

[koalar]

Getting in and out of the panda is easy

Same with the A class, splash

The i10/picanto you have to climb into and out off

If anyone has any mobility issues it's a consideration, I changed the Punto just so I could get my mum in and out of the car

 

[Bonefish Blues]

Two words:

Suicide doors.

Yours, the BMW i3

 

[porta]

Well I’ve decided on my future panda (s) replacement, not, I’m keeping them until I can no longer fix them.
On the upside, the wife says ‘if I sell the tank, I can have a VM90 and a 128’, got to get the radiator recored before I can think about selling it, but at least I have a cunning plan

 

[jrkitching]

Be interesting to hear your impressions

I was impressed - very. It's easy to drive, and it drives well. Up to the UK speed limit, it's also seriously quick; it feels faster off the mark than an A500. I've definitely changed my thinking as a result of driving this car.

Tyres are a bugbear - why so, I've never heard of that as a problem, and there's plenty of tyres for cars, various? I'm guessing I'm missing something.

If you make use of all the available bottom end torque, I can understand why tyre life might be an issue.

Getting in and out of the panda is easy

Unfortunately the sill height makes it less easy in the R5.

 

[AB100]

Well, the trusty Mk3 Panda will be 15yrs old this year and basically it's just plain worn out. It's been an excellent car, but there are now so many things that are on the point of needing serious work that it no longer makes sense to keep it.

Be interested to see what you decide. Our 169 is 14 this year and the MOT is due soon but it's been an excellent van, with the 312 we bought 8 years ago doing the occasional trip.

I did see a Dacia Spring the other day. Looked ok but I'm still sceleptrical with only the Honda-e looking anything like interesting. Otherwise we'd g for a low-mile used Panda to match the 2017 one.

 

[koalar]

Past a hyundai casper/Inster today

Looks cute small and practical

No nothing about them, so could be rubbish

 

[Bonefish Blues]

I collected my i3 on Friday. Delighted so far.

 

[The Panda Nut]

For the last forty years, I've adopted a strategy of buying new, doing all my own maintenance, and keeping to end of life. That's probably no longer realistic; I think now I'm going to have to fundamentally rethink my attitude to car ownership.

Me too. I suspect leasing may be a sesnible option as costs of an ev are a moving feast I feel. I dont like leasing Im already £6000 up on my current Panda through buying outright. I feel I have some ability to contain costs doing basic work myself but on an ev I am unsure what I could do hence thinking of a lease. Increasing age also makes it easier if someone else does the maintenance. I hope the Pandas last us agood few years yet.

 

[The Panda Nut]

I collected my i3 on Friday. Delighted so far.

TURNCOAT!



PS I hope it turns out well and am interested to see what the running costs end up as after you have had it a while.

 

[koalar]

Just spent a couple of hours in a nissan qashqai, automatic

Automatics wiper, light and so on

Something's are great, the cameras around the car get stitched together for an areal view of the car going into a parking space and so on

The seats are comfortable and it easy to get in and out off

But due to its size and expensive wheels you have to plan more, turning left at a T junction you have to keep right, takes two goes at a parking bay as the panda would easily do it in one

The LCD dash with built in sat nav and so on,

It's quiet, it's technically brilliant, but it's nowhere near the same to drive, you are aware of its size and no doubt expensive to repair OEM mirrors alone have a RRP of £450

 

[AnthonyH]

Just spent a couple of hours in a nissan qashqai, automatic

Automatics wiper, light and so on

Something's are great, the cameras around the car get stitched together for an areal view of the car going into a parking space and so on

But due to its size and expensive wheels you have to plan more, turning left at a T junction you have to keep right, takes two goes at a parking bay as the panda would easily do it in one

The LCD dash with built in sat nav and so on,

It's quite, it's technically brilliant, but it's nowhere near the same to drive, you are aware of its size and no doubt expensive to repair OEM mirrors alone have a RRP of £450

On paper theres not much between the Qashqai and 500X. If i recall correctly the head gasket on the Qashqai's blow en masse at 130,000 miles, this info may be less reliable than the AI though lol.

 

[Bonefish Blues]

TURNCOAT!



PS I hope it turns out well and am interested to see what the running costs end up as after you have had it a while.

I'm averaging about 4.1 miles per Kwh. I'm just migrating to Octopus Intelligent Go, which can control my charging (and importantly, tell me in advance when it's scheduled itself to do it*) at 7p per Kwh. Maths suggests that's likely to be about 2p per mile if I annualise it (because it's more consumptive during the colder months)
It's an astonishing drive btw. The way it simply scoots around is truly extraordinary. I doubt I've ever had a car with the low-down and mid range pickup that the little i3 does. Recommended on all levels.

*The schedule in advance is important because the whole house will be charged at 7p/Kwh so I can synchronise the heavy use appliances with it to compensate for the slightly higher tariff the rest of the time. The other nuance people report is a rather bizarre incentive to use an inefficient 'granny charger' and use as much energy in the car as possible. Octopus, because charging's under its control, will commit to charge the car to the level you set by the time you set it for, so will sometimes supply for longer than the 6 hours it commits to at 7p/Kwh.

 

[Twotone2]

Just spent a couple of hours in a nissan qashqai, automatic

Automatics wiper, light and so on

Something's are great, the cameras around the car get stitched together for an areal view of the car going into a parking space and so on

The seats are comfortable and it easy to get in and out off

But due to its size and expensive wheels you have to plan more, turning left at a T junction you have to keep right, takes two goes at a parking bay as the panda would easily do it in one

The LCD dash with built in sat nav and so on,

It's quiet, it's technically brilliant, but it's nowhere near the same to drive, you are aware of its size and no doubt expensive to repair OEM mirrors alone have a RRP of £450

Aye as I said earlier on in this thread I bought a Nissan Townstar van back in February which replaced a ten year old Citreon Nemo 1.4 diesel Enterprise which was the top of the range spec at the time I bought it in 2014 I honestly can't believe the difference ten years make to car/van improvements.

The van literally has everything and practically drives itself the only thing I wish I'd done was buy the next model up which has keyless entry and keyless start think that was another £1500 but I can see the benefit of keyless entry and keyless start being in and out of a van all day although I don't do a lot of miles/journeys.

 

[jrkitching]

It's an astonishing drive btw. The way it simply scoots around is truly extraordinary. I doubt I've ever had a car with the low-down and mid range pickup that the little i3 does.

This mirrors my own experience of the new EV's I've test driven thus far. The difference in driveability over a petrol car is, indeed, extraordinary.

IMO the driving experience of an EV is way, way better that any petrol car I could reasonably afford.

So instead of seeing the limitations of an EV an an excuse for not considering one, I'm now thinking about how I can manage those limitations so that I can enjoy all the advantages of owning one.

Put simply, test driving what's currently available in the market at my price point has totally changed the way I'm thinking about for my next car purchase.

 

[Bonefish Blues]

We're in violent agreement.

 

[Bonefish Blues]

Actually, let me go a little further. All of a sudden, ICE cars feel rather old-fashioned and anachronistic (and I've only had mine for less than 2 weeks!)

I know, burn me now

 

[Twotone2]

Actually, let me go a little further. All of a sudden, ICE cars feel rather old-fashioned and anachronistic (and I've only had mine for less than 2 weeks!)

I know, burn me now

Never driven an electric car/motor but I've gone from diesel to petrol with the van (Nisan only do electric and petrol engines now) and it's a revelation to be honest.

The electric/auto hand brake thing does my head in though.

I'm a prime candidate for an electric van as I only do about 3k miles a year but I am looking to possibly retire in the next couple of years so I would be selling the van whenever that happens as we'll not need two vehicles but resale on an electric van is just throwing money away as it will likely be worthless by then IMO.

One of my neighbours bought a Nisan EV200 about five years ago cost him £25000 but there was a grant available so I think he paid about £16000 at the time, his van rarely moves and would likely be difficult to sell now.

 

[porta]

Never driven an electric car/motor but I've gone from diesel to petrol with the van (Nisan only do electric and petrol engines now) and it's a revelation to be honest.

The electric/auto hand brake thing does my head in though.

I'm a prime candidate for an electric van as I only do about 3k miles a year but I am looking to possibly retire in the next couple of years so I would be selling the van whenever that happens as we'll not need two vehicles but resale on an electric van is just throwing money away as it will likely be worthless by then IMO.

One of my neighbours bought a Nisan EV200 about five years ago cost him £25000 but there was a grant available so I think he paid about £16000 at the time, his van rarely moves and would likely be difficult to sell now.

You can, at least on the fiat, go into the menu and change the handbrake to manual

 

[AnthonyH]

You can, at least on the fiat, go into the menu and change the handbrake to manual

Useful to know!

 

[Twotone2]

You can, at least on the fiat, go into the menu and change the handbrake to manual

No there’s no old fashioned handbrake lever it’s a tiny wee thing like a switch in the van.