Thursday 22nd January 2015

Fiat Panda 100HP: Catch it while you can

A great hatch that should have been an Abarth. A Fiat of genuine star quality (and cheap too!)

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Forgive me if I sound evangelical about this but, four years ago, I found myself with just one car in my garage - a Caterham - and was in desperate need of something with four seats for not much cash. I looked at lots of options but kept coming back to one: the Panda 100HP. I took the plunge at £5K and I've never looked back.

Fast, fun, cheap - what more do you need?

A lot of people really don't get the 100HP but, take it from me, it's brilliant. It's pretty much the last of the old-school mini hot hatches: no-nonsense, with the focus firmly on fun (it was one of the last cars with no ESP, unless you ticked an option box, which pretty much no-one did).

Since Fiat is seemingly incapable of producing anything nearly this good any more - don't even get me started on the Abarth 500 - the 100HP is your last chance to experience true Italian micro-magic.

I always thought the 100HP deserved to be badged as an Abarth, and it's always punched well above its featherlight (975kg) weight. Yes, I'm very well aware of the 100HP's faults - board-hard ride, over-assisted steering (even in Sport mode), occasional mid-corner bump excitements - but it's brilliant in so many ways that it's always easy to forgive.

Six gears to make most of modest power

Most modern hot hatches require you to drive stupidly fast just to feel like you're doing anything on the edge. The 100HP delivers belly laughs at any speed, is supremely chuckable and a blast on almost any road.

Given its modest 100hp output, it's also surprisingly lively. Its 0-62mph time of 9.5 seconds feels much faster, courtesy of Fiat's rev-happy 1.4-litre 16-valve Fire engine and close-ratio six-speed gearbox. Just remember to press the dashboard 'Sport' button to firm up the steering and sharpen low-rev throttle response.

It's also unbelievably practical - I can comfortably carry two mountain bikes in the back. Try that in a Mini. And the Polish-built Panda is also relentlessly reliable and cheaper to run than any other enthusiast car I can think of.

Fewer than 2000 Panda 100HPs were sold in the UK between 2007 and 2011, and seeing one on the road is remains an I-spy moment. Numbers will undoubtedly fall soon as they're knocked out by accidents and neglect.

Cheap to buy and cheap to run too

For now, the 100HP is the very definition of an accessible car for the yoof. Not only is it great value, it's very affordable insurance-wise (group 11, or group 5 in old money). And there aren't the usual issues with mods - almost all 100HPs remain standard, which is greatly to their benefit.

What price a 100HP? I've seen 100HPs below £2K but they're normally Cat C insurance jobs (of which there seem to be quite a few). The entry point for a decent one is around £3,000, as evidenced by this one in the classifieds. It's finished in ridiculously-named Electroclash grey (Fiat's bizarre music genre paint-naming scheme also gave us such shades as Bossanova white and Pasodoble red).

Finding a low-mileage one is getting harder, and prices for these remain very firm. In fact there is only a single other 100HP in the PH classifieds, and at 60,000 miles it isn't exactly lightly used. It's for sale at £3,795. When you consider I paid £5K for a 17K-mile car four years ago, it seems the Panda is faring up against depreciation well too. What more do you need?

 

 

 

[gingerbeard]

I test drove one of these and it really was good fun but ultimately I preferred the Swift Sport and paid a bit more for one of those. Both very similar cars and great fun to thrash around in without doing silly speeds.

Pandas are cheap now though and I think a good SSS is a bit more