E30 Zone

I know I wont get much love on here for anything fiat but there is a fair few mechanics \ traders on here.

A work colleague is getting rid of her Fiat Panda 100HP, its a 2008 on a 58 plate, 1 owner and full service history.

It's in really good shape having only done 55K and as she has a private space at the work and its parked on her drive every night there is barely a mark on it bar the usual stone chips.

She was offered £2600 for it as a trade in and has offered it to us for the same money if we want it. Having looked online that's up to 2K cheaper than forecourt price for the same spec, age and mileage.

I have been dragging my feet over buying another car for the last 6 months and with moving house this would be the perfect commuter car back and forth to the train station. Has anyone got any experience with them?

I know its a fiat and there not legendary on reliability but my Mrs old 500 was impeccable when she had it and the panda is on the same platform.

My dad offered me his one last week but I turned it down. The interior is a truly hateful place to be and I would rather not drive a Fiat personally. They do look quite cool though

However, the old man loves it. He actually has two panda's, one being a diesel and he has had no problems with either of them

It seems to be the people that have them love them from the reviews and forums I have found online.

Agree the interior looks a bit naff but at least they are well spec'd with 6 speaker stereo + sub, Bluetooth, power this and that, climate control etc etc.

Quite like the idea of something small and chuckable again, as much as I looked like a massive bufty driving the Mrs 500 it was a hoot to drive.

You know what? I'd bite her arm off. It's a better bet than some french pile of shite and what's the worst that can happen?

6 months down the line you don't like it? So flog it on at a profit and use the profit on decorating a room in the new house or a much needed holiday away from decorating the new house!!

Sounds like a win win situation to me if you can afford to spend the £2600 quid.

B7 wrote:You know what? I'd bite her arm off. It's a better bet than some french pile of shite and what's the worst that can happen?

6 months down the line you don't like it? So flog it on at a profit and use the profit on decorating a room in the new house or a much needed holiday away from decorating the new house!!

Sounds like a win win situation to me if you can afford to spend the £2600 quid.

This !

Having a go in it tomorrow so will let you know how we get on.

They're not a bad car. The later fiat petrol engines aren't bad at all. Unlike the early ones with head gasket issues. The 100hp is the 16v one?

Mechanically and MOT wise not a lot goes wrong with them.

Come a cross a few sets of brakes where the slider seizes.

A deal has been done and I pick it up Tuesday, I'll put some pics up then. It's great to drive, quite nippy and handles like a go kart. Best of all it's just had a major service including timing chain, 4 new tyres and a wheel refurb so shouldnt have to spend a penny on it for a while.

Should have said timing belt, not chain.

good move. How are you going to spend your windfall?

To be honest in my mind it's a keeper at the moment, will see how we go with it though.

The saab is a bit of a ticking time bomb, 12 years old and 111K on the clock, with a stage 2 tune means reliability could become an issue, although touch wood it currently doesn't have one single fault.

But if it does go bang rather spectacularly which is not unheard of, having the panda to keep us mobile will be handy.

Picked up the car last light and while it needs a good valet its not too shabby a car. They had a go at polishing it up themselves before we picked it up but its not a great job, so If I have time over the weekend it will get a full going over.

Its a good spec too with 6 speaker + sub factory stereo, Aux in, electric windows \ mirrors, climate control and Bluetooth phone. Ride is pretty bumpy but from what I read they all do that. You have to ring its neck to get any real performance out it but its great to throw about.





And a couple of the other turd seeing as we just got it back from a wheel refurb.

Just sell the turd while it has some value!

It will either be ran till its dead or punted on a while from now. Hopefully for the next wee while at least its free motoring. The plan is to keep adding to the savings so we can buy something rather nice once the SAAB comes to its demise.

I don't mind these for a little shopping runabout. Made dad had a 1.2 as a courtesy car and it was a hateful piece of crap. Amazing how a few fairly minor tweeks can transform a car.

My mum has a punto sporting with the same 1.4 16v engine and six speed box, and it can be hustled along quite nicely. Rev limiter seems to kick in a little early for what is quite a smooth, revvy engine which needs to be worked hard. Makes a decent noise too.

From what I understand the 100hp is a detuned version of the FIRE engine used in other Fiat's because the gearbox would lunch itself.

Bargain though, well bought

I don't know what it's a detuned version of, the only other more powerful 1.4 engines they do are turbocharged and were introduced afterwards.

The 1.4 16v is just a 16v head on the normal 1.4. A FIRE engine isn't anything special, it just means the engine was assembled by a robot, which was quite impressive back in the 80s.

Just had a look on wikipedia, seems the chap who told me that was chatting shit

A nice little thing that. You can't lose. Either run it into the ground (cheap motoring over time), run it til it's worth roughly what it owes you then sell it (even cheaper motoring) or sell it now and release the profit. Happy days.