Panda 100HP

[rejn]

I remember EVO magazine ran one of these a while back, and they really rated it.

I'm having to sell my TVR pride and joy as we have a baby on the way, and wondered what people thought of these.

We live in London so don't use a car much day to day, but it'll be used for the odd trip to B&Q, plus weekends away to stay with friends. Does anybody have one of these, and what do you think? Is the car nippy around town (from memory, EVO said yes), is the car big enough to fill with all the stuff you need for a baby? And is the car ok on motorway journeys?

any thoughts gratefully received!

thanks,
Richard.

[pixelpimp]

A great fun little car to hoon about it, but suffers from jiggly hard suspension, tram lines on motorway journeys and the boot is pitifully small.
I'd go for a Punto T-jet or similar as to get the fun factor out of the 100hp you have do trash it which does nothing for MPG.

Edited by pixelpimp on Friday 9th July 15:19

[Roop]

Nearly bought one of these instead of my Focus RS. Really fun little car and agree with the comments above bar fuel consumption as I never owned one, just tested one.

Would be a cracker with the 160bhp 500 SS motor

[Podie]

I like 'em.

Thought about a second hand Fabia vRS?

1.9 Turbo diesel engine is nippy enough, plenty of torque,cheap to run and maintain... has a bit more room than the Panda.

[Dan Friel]

The 100HP is a great car, I love it. However, would I recommend it for the city and carrying baby stuff around, no I wouldn't. It's not really big enough, the ride isn't passenger friendly and you could question the safety (very few took the option of side and curtain airbags). The extra weight of passengers also affects performance significantly!

For carrying newborns, there's definitely safer and more practical options.

[wrighty78]

I testdrove one before deciding to buy our new 500. Similarly, we wanted ours for pootling around London, trips to the shops etc etc. I found the ride of the Panda far too hard - it was great on dual carriageways and smooth fast country roads, but just too firm for a city runabout IMHO.

The 500, on the other hand, is much better, especially now that they've upgraded the suspension for the 2010 models. Same engive (although I think it is mapped a little differently) and it seems to buzz along quite happily. And hopefully it will continue to improve as it loosens up a bit.

Whether there's enough space in the 500 for all your baby needs is another matter. The rear seats fold down individually in our Lounge model - I'm not sure they do in the Pop and Sport.

You don't mention budget, but the Abarth 500 might be worth a look as well, if you want a bit more power.

Edited by wrighty78 on Friday 9th July 13:32

[Lagerlout]

My Wife has two ISOFIX seats in the rear of her 500C and there is plenty of space for two toddlers and a pram for the younger one in the back. I'm 6ft 3 and can still sneak in the passenger side with the two kids behind us. She uses it every day so it can be done.

[Raify]

I've done 32k miles in one, my thoughts:

You've got to try one out before ruling other cars out. As others have said the ride is hard and is not everyone's cup of tea.

For getting aroung london, I can't think of much better. It's nippy, small, good visibility and decent amount of room (even the boot is better than a mini). Only caveat to this is the bad (for its size) turning circle.

For longer journeys it can be tiresome. If the surface is ok (eg France), then it's ok. I did 8 hours to Macon with no problems. However, in the UK it will bounce around on the motorways.

It's strictly a 4 seater, no fifth seatbelt by the way.

For A/B road fun, it's just brilliant.

[Dan Friel]

Lagerlout said:

My Wife has two ISOFIX seats in the rear of her 500C and there is plenty of space for two toddlers and a pram for the younger one in the back. I'm 6ft 3 and can still sneak in the passenger side with the two kids behind us. She uses it every day so it can be done.

Toddlers are definitely ok, I have two and on the occasion when they travel in the Panda it's no problem. Having rear doors is a major plus. Rear facing seats and large buggies / travel cots for smaller ones would be a different manner.

[Targarama]

I echo what the last poster just said. Perfect for around town, but the back suspension is rock hard and might not be great for a baby. Only other issue is that it has a city car sized boot, which while pretty good for the class is no Focus class car sized boot. A Punto might suit you better but keep a fair bit of the fun.

[rejn]

Thanks for all your comments guys - sounds like it'd be great for nipping around (but hard ride could be an issue) - but is it big enough for a baby? We'll go and have a look over the next couple of weeks and see what we think.

Thanks for suggestions of vRS and Punto, too - we'll bear that in mind.

Richard

[Targarama]

rejn said:

Thanks for all your comments guys - sounds like it'd be great for nipping around (but hard ride could be an issue) - but is it big enough for a baby? We'll go and have a look over the next couple of weeks and see what we think.

Thanks for suggestions of vRS and Punto, too - we'll bear that in mind.

Richard

I'm 6ft 5 (195cm) and its big enough for me, even in the back So yes, a baby would fit just fine. Of course many people seem to need an SUV after having a baby these days...

[rejn]

Thanks to everybody for their comments.

We test drove a car last week, and loved it. It's quite nippy; the suspensions wasn't as hard as we thought it might be; and the boot was bigger than expected. We were on holiday and had a load of suitcases in our hire car (Vauxhall Merivo(?) MPV thing), and the suitcases all piled into the Panda boot no problem (I think it helps that it has such a low boot floor). My wife either likes car or doesn't and a few small cars she driven recently she hasn't liked, but she loved the Panda.

So, we're buying it! A bit mad, in that the car is in Exeter, and we live in London, but the dealers (Vospers) were really helpful and happy to deliver it to us for free, and much nicer to deal with than most London car dealers I've dealt with recently!!!

I think the car will arrive next week, and I'm already doing some digging on what upgrade options there are!!!

Thanks again for your help, and I'm excited to be about to join the 100hp club!!!

Richard