New Fiat Panda TwinAir Turbo
Discussion
Hi Folks,
Thought my new purchase might be of interest to a few of you out there!
So here it is, my new Fiat Panda 'Easy' TwinAir Turbo. I graduated in July of last year and started a Graduate Management job in Peterborough. As my home city is Swansea and most of my friends live quite Westerly, I needed an affordable, practical but interesting and fun car to do the communting to and from in.
It wasn't my ideal specification in terms of colour and equipment, but I really wanted a TwinAir and needed it pretty sharpish. Thankfully my local dealer were able to do me a very good deal of a pre-reg Panda that only had 10 miles on the clock. I plan to make some subtle modifications using official Fiat accessories only in the near future.
I have to say, I haven't had so much driving fun in ages. The little engine really is something else. In Eco mode it drives like a normal 1.2 supermini then press the eco button again to switch it off, and ...woooosh! Fuel economy as a result drops but is easily worth for the fun factor. In every day driving, the economy is alright - can easily achieve 50-60mpg when crusingly steadily at 70.
I was torn between this and the Seat Mii but the Panda won in terms of pace and grace. I think it's a great place to sit - high up and with great all round vision. Plus I absolutely adore the dashboard - especially the dials.
The specification of this car includes:
84bhp TwinAir Turbo engine
Air Conditioning
Stop/Start
Remote Central Locking
6 speaker stereo
6 air bags
Anyway, here are some more pictures for those of you that are interested:
Thought my new purchase might be of interest to a few of you out there!
So here it is, my new Fiat Panda 'Easy' TwinAir Turbo. I graduated in July of last year and started a Graduate Management job in Peterborough. As my home city is Swansea and most of my friends live quite Westerly, I needed an affordable, practical but interesting and fun car to do the communting to and from in.
It wasn't my ideal specification in terms of colour and equipment, but I really wanted a TwinAir and needed it pretty sharpish. Thankfully my local dealer were able to do me a very good deal of a pre-reg Panda that only had 10 miles on the clock. I plan to make some subtle modifications using official Fiat accessories only in the near future.
I have to say, I haven't had so much driving fun in ages. The little engine really is something else. In Eco mode it drives like a normal 1.2 supermini then press the eco button again to switch it off, and ...woooosh! Fuel economy as a result drops but is easily worth for the fun factor. In every day driving, the economy is alright - can easily achieve 50-60mpg when crusingly steadily at 70.
I was torn between this and the Seat Mii but the Panda won in terms of pace and grace. I think it's a great place to sit - high up and with great all round vision. Plus I absolutely adore the dashboard - especially the dials.
The specification of this car includes:
84bhp TwinAir Turbo engine
Air Conditioning
Stop/Start
Remote Central Locking
6 speaker stereo
6 air bags
Anyway, here are some more pictures for those of you that are interested:
Edited by EasyPanda on Monday 20th May 18:48
red_rover said:
Hi Folks,
started a Graduate Management job in Peterborough. As my home city is Swansea I needed an affordable, practical but interesting and fun car to do the communting to and from in.
That's a hell of a commute! You must be knackered when you get back to Swansea each night!started a Graduate Management job in Peterborough. As my home city is Swansea I needed an affordable, practical but interesting and fun car to do the communting to and from in.
TwigtheWonderkid said:
That's a hell of a commute! You must be knackered when you get back to Swansea each night!
Ah perhaps I should be more precise - on weekends I like to commute back to Swansea/other places 
Blayney said:
If you don't mind could you tell me what they offered you for finance on that panda? Been looking for the better half wouldn't mind her having a twin-air like that.
They did indeed but it was pretty uncompetitive. I actually took it initially because I had fourteen days to withdraw and I knew I could get the funds elsewhere at a much better rate (thanks Graduate loan!!). The finance from Stoneacre/Fiat was 17.3% and would have seen me paying £4,000 in credit.User33678888 said:
You could've negotiated that.
I did but not very well. They lured me into speaking in terms of £x per week. I negotiated them down from something like £55pw to £46pw (and I was rather smug about that too at the time). I didn't even think to ask what the APR was...because in my head it worked out quite competitively (£46 X 4 = £184pm X 12 months = £2208 X 5 (years) = £11,040)However, the next day when I went in to sign the finance paperwork and pick the car up, I was presented with the actual figures. Even though it was technically £46 a week, it didn't work out as my man maths had told me but instead it would be £202pm over 5 years with a massive £600 final last payment and admin fee. At this point I almost didn't sign....but the chap told me I'd have 14 days to withdraw and find the money elsewhere. So I did, remembering that I had access to a graduate loan offer from my bank. This turned out far better because it's 7.9% APR and I can make additional payments at any time without penalty via online banking. Plus the loan is only four years instead of five with only a marginal increase in the monthly repayments compared to the dealer finance offer.
So my lesson learned....always speak in terms of APR and monthly payments instead of weekly payments!
Edited by EasyPanda on Sunday 3rd March 11:46
viggyp said:
Finally. It's good to hear from an owner that this car is pretty economical rather than the journalists who slate it saying they can't get better then 40 MPG.
This is what this forum is for. Always had a soft spot for a the Fist Pandas.
As long as you aren't caning it (which is very tempting to do), the MPG figures displayed are very impressive. Funnily enough, if you drive down a surburban road at 30mph in third gear - I see the best mpg figures - hovering around 70mpg This is what this forum is for. Always had a soft spot for a the Fist Pandas.
jaik said:
Wow, they really ran with the whole rounded square thing when they were doing the interior, didn't they?
They did indeed, with utterly catastrophic results imo. I loved the first gen Panda, but there's absolutely nothing about this new one I can get on with, especially that dash/dials/seat colour combination. Maybe the sport version will look better!viggyp said:
Finally. It's good to hear from an owner that this car is pretty economical rather than the journalists who slate it saying they can't get better then 40 MPG.
I did 400 motorway miles last Monday in my mums 500 TA.Eco mode turned on, not caning it but pressing on.
Average 38mpg.
ETA, just checked the fuel computer. Car is 3k miles up so run in, mostly used for town work, showing a total average so far of 33mpg.
Worse than her previous 1.2 500.
Makes a good noise and is fun to drive but the economy for such a small engine in such a small car is silly and so far off the manufacturers projected figures it's untrue.
The 3.0 petrol E92 I used to drive was far more economical.
I'm shooting out in it in a bit, will see what the computer says for a steady 56mph.
Edited by B17NNS on Tuesday 12th March 13:31
B17NNS said:
I did 400 motorway miles last Monday in my mums 500 TA.
Eco mode turned on, not caning it but pressing on.
Average 38mpg.
ETA, just checked the fuel computer. Car is 3k miles up so run in, mostly used for town work, showing a total average so far of 33mpg.
Worse than her previous 1.2 500.
Makes a good noise and is fun to drive but the economy for such a small engine in such a small car is silly and so far off the manufacturers projected figures it's untrue.
The 3.0 petrol E92 I used to drive was far more economical.
I'm shooting out in it in a bit, will see what the computer says for a steady 56mph.
Well my 500 TA averages out in all driving at 46mpg. I have seen 52 on a 90 mile run on dual carriageway at about 75 or so. Still miles away from the official figures but fine for me.Eco mode turned on, not caning it but pressing on.
Average 38mpg.
ETA, just checked the fuel computer. Car is 3k miles up so run in, mostly used for town work, showing a total average so far of 33mpg.
Worse than her previous 1.2 500.
Makes a good noise and is fun to drive but the economy for such a small engine in such a small car is silly and so far off the manufacturers projected figures it's untrue.
The 3.0 petrol E92 I used to drive was far more economical.
I'm shooting out in it in a bit, will see what the computer says for a steady 56mph.
Edited by B17NNS on Tuesday 12th March 13:31
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