General Why Fiat Panda?

[Theleman]

We have had Panda now for about 10 years, and it has been a good car.
Good points we noticed from Panda are,

1. Reliability - never had serious problems. Just regular maintenance and it keeps going.

2. Cheap to run - full tank petrol about 38 - 40£, and it does about 350 miles.

3. Parts and services are good price - not rock bottom cheap, but afforable.

4. Good to park and maneuver in town

5. Reasonably fast on motorways

What are your feelings on your Pandas?

 

[varesecrazy]

Similar.

 

[dac69er]

for the 100hp things are a little different in my opinion:

1. Reliability - never had serious problems. Just regular maintenance and it keeps going.
parts are not made to last so wear out quicker than other manufacturers.
if you catch things early you are ok, but if left you would eventually break down.


2. Cheap to run - full tank petrol about 38 - 40£, and it does about 350 miles.
not too bad. averages around 35-40mpg this time of your with mixed driving. could be better


3. Parts and services are good price - not rock bottom cheap, but afforable.
agree with this, parts are cheap and reasonably easy to get hold of. however the 100hp parts can sometimes take a little investigation.


4. Good to park and maneuver in town
the size helps, but the turning circle is awful! visibility is good


5. Reasonably fast on motorways
it gets there ok and can easily overtake, i find maintaining a constant speed a bit of a chore though.

6. Fun to drive. its not a rocket but has enough poke to have a bit of fun when you want

 

[koalar]

rear headroom for car size.

 

[DaveMcT]

It's just very capable and really quite pretty without being cutsie.

Parts for the 1.2 are really well priced. Not always so great for the 100HP. Clutch is a great price. Clutch hydraulics that cannot be overhauled are silly money for what you get. Brakes are well priced even the vented front discs can be as low as £30 a pair.

100HP has more comfortable seats but it needs them if you keep the OEM springs. They both tend to zoom along at motorway speeds. At about 80 indicated they'll just keep going and you'll not spot it until its well into "Sorry Officer - how fast?". 100HP is worse for that obviously.

Some items are easy to service but try changing the alternator and see how that goes. A simple(?) job is such a struggle.

Radiator is not well protected from an animal impact. You expect the bumper to suffer but not the rad which sits well back.

 

[Theleman]

6. Fun to drive. its not a rocket but has enough poke to have a bit of fun when you want

Important point.

 

[Theleman]

It's just very capable and really quite pretty without being cutsie.

I do agree.

 

[Theleman]

parts are not made to last so wear out quicker than other manufacturers.

That's bad.

if you catch things early you are ok, but if left you would eventually break down.

So do all other cars?

 

[Wee Smurf]

I like that it's fun to drive and makes me smile...

In its heyday, I even managed to get over 500 miles from a tank of diesel...

I am feeling sad at the minute though as mine has been in the garage since Monday getting work done. I've been driving my husband's Honda Accord, which I would describe as "The Barge", and not particularly enjoying it at all. It's just too big to get comfortable in. Can't wait to get The Yellow Peril back...

 

[DaveMcT]

parts are not made to last so wear out quicker than other manufacturers.

Parts prices are very reasonable though in some cases the 100HP does look costly compared to vanilla 1.1/1.2 prices.

£70 per side for front bottom arms is par for the course on any car, but the £30 cost of 1.2 items is just silly low.
Front discs and pads for a 1.2 are about £40 for the whole axle and a lot less if you choose carefully. £30 for a pair of 100HP vented discs is also reasonable.
£30 for rear hubs not just the bearings. That's the whole hub complete with a new retaining nut.
1.2 Exhaust system - £70
Clutch kit 1.2 and 100HP - £70
Sump pans rust but at £35 to replace it's not a big deal.

Rear axles are silly money from Fiat but Ford Ka and Fiat 500 axles fit the more basic models so it's not a big issue.

 

[dac69er]

That's bad.



So do all other cars?

true, but you have to keep on top of things alot more frequently.

my toyotas dont need anything doing from one year to the next. the damn fiats always seem to have something go wrong/play up every few weeks!

 

[A3jeroen]

6. Fun to drive. its not a rocket but has enough poke to have a bit of fun when you want

:yeahthat:

I'm a granddad so well past the boy-racerage, but the 100HP challenges me to have some fun every time I drive it. And still doing 14 - 15 Km/l

To quote an advertisingslogan: "I'm lovin'it"!

gr J

 

[Theleman]

my toyotas dont need anything doing from one year to the next. the damn fiats always seem to have something go wrong/play up every few weeks!

hmmm my Panda has been very reliable. For last 10 years, it only needed new exhausts, tyres, battery, brakes, window screen wipers and now new clutch.

Everything else is factory original.

Not every Toyota is good car either.

 

[dac69er]

hmmm my Panda has been very reliable. For last 10 years, it only needed new exhausts, tyres, battery, brakes, window screen wipers and now new clutch.

Everything else is factory original.

Not every Toyota is good car either.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIvZzbYLq5Q

Those Scotty kilmer YouTube videos give me diabetes. They are utter trash!

Lexus and Toyota are consistently top of the charts when it comes to car brand reliability. But that is an argument for another day.

I own an rx8 so I know what unreliability is

 

[Theleman]

Those Scotty kilmer YouTube videos give me diabetes. They are utter trash!

Lexus and Toyota are consistently top of the charts when it comes to car brand reliability. But that is an argument for another day.

I own an rx8 so I know what unreliability is

I felt Scotty Kilmer videos are quite good.

Aren't reliability of Japanese cars just thing of the past legend? I read about many instances of Toyota cars recalled for problems.

Recently there are not many Made in Japan cars on the road. But there are more Hyundai and Kia cars everywhere I go.

 

[koalar]

I felt Scotty Kilmer videos are quite good.

Aren't reliability of Japanese cars just thing of the past legend? I read about many instances of Toyota cars recalled for problems.

Recently there are not many Made in Japan cars on the road. But there are more Hyundai and Kia cars everywhere I go.

I wanted I brake clip from a breakers in Norwich. I was told that he didn't keep Toyotas as they took up space and nobody buys any parts from them so they still not too bad.

mind you my Pandas aren't to bad when consider they are 29 years and 3000 miles between them.

 

[Theleman]

I wanted I brake clip from a breakers in Norwich. I was told that he didn't keep Toyotas as they took up space and nobody buys any parts from them so they still not too bad.

mind you my Pandas aren't to bad when consider they are 29 years and 3000 miles between them.

Last time I had Japanese car was about 20 year ago, and it was large DATSUN Saloon.

It was OK, but body was rusting badly, and starter had problems. I had to carry a wee hammer to strike the starting motor when it refuses to start.

I wonder if they are making car bodies a bit more rust proof recently.

 

[dac69er]

Last time I had Japanese car was about 20 year ago, and it was large DATSUN Saloon.

It was OK, but body was rusting badly, and starter had problems. I had to carry a wee hammer to strike the starting motor when it refuses to start.

I wonder if they are making car bodies a bit more rust proof recently.

nissans/datsuns of that era always had rust problems. Fiats werent exactly rust free in those days.

my 28 year old toyota still has its original exhaust (other than the flexi) :slayer:

rust proofing in general for all manufacturers is far better these days.
french cars always seem to survive the rot pretty well, but that doesnt make them good cars!!!

 

[DaveMcT]

These days it's not hard to properly rust proof a steel body shell. Some are built with (lightly) galvanised panels that reduces the need to clean off any surface rusting before painting.
Back in the day rust was bad on everything though Fiat and Alfa had a really bad name for corrosion. Consequently (with the Uno) they were the first to move into the new world of properly finished metal.

The trouble is that it's now possible to use paper thin panels that dink and mark at the slightest touch. At least the Panda 169 avoided that.

 

[Pugglt Auld Jock]

For us the Fiats have always been second cars so practicality and simplicity rank highly. The Pandas we've had score highly here. Absolutely ideal around the town and with good spares availability at affordable prices. I prefer Shop4parts due to price and quality but my local factor keeps a good stock of common parts on the shelf, often cheaper than S4p but less "known" names. If I'm really pushed there's the local main dealer who has the showroom on one site and workshops and spares on another. I find them really quite helpful. Both the service desk and spares personnel have been helpful in the past but the prices can be a bit frightening so I'm seldom in there. Now I have my MES I'm finding I have the facility to do just about anything but, If I run into a big problem I can't manage, there's always Kenny Harrison not 5 minutes away and Edward Labinjoh and McLennans garage, both Italian car specialists, within an easy drive. (Been aware of these two for years but never had a car looked at by either of them. I know Edward is ex Fishers Alfa man and I've spoken to him a few times. He seems very knowledgeable especially the older cars. McLennans is an unknown but my oldest boy lives near them so if something went catastrophically wrong with his Punto they would be the logical choice and I've read good reviews of them.

Much the same applies to our VAG vehicles. Been running SEAT/Skoda models for years. Parts readily available and reasonably priced. Quality parts at a good price locally from TPS. Fully registered version of VAG-COM/VCDS for fault finding etc and the chaps at AVW to fall back on in an emergency. The local SEAT/Skoda main dealer have been fine for keeping the new car "warranty compliant" and there were no arguments about the new turbo when it was needed but the front of house people are lacking in technical knowledge and leave me feeling "out of the loop".

I'm tempted by the Japanese stuff. The Toyota hybrids fascinate and scare me equally. Hondas and their vTEC (especially i-VTEC) engines interest me a lot, I'd like to try out the new 1.5 Jazz sport. But there is no equivalent to MES or VCDS for the eastern marques.