Matt's Fiat Panda 100HP

[XLBaconDoubleCheese]

So, the long waffly bit first, if you just want to see pictures scroll down.

 

I've wanted one of these since they were new. My supervisor at my saturday job's husband was a Fiat techie and she had one as soon as they come out. I know, it's a odd car for a 16 year old to like, but I've always had a taste for quirky cars. Back then when I did pass my test a few months later, they were obviously too new for me to buy/insure so I was happy with my Nova SR. The years roll on and I remember still noticing the little Pandas when out and about, most likely because they were quite rare so seeing one was unusual in itself, I also remember reading reviews of them from Evo magazine and the like raving about them.

 

I kept a close eye on the prices for them, they were only £10,000 new, yet the prices seemed to have dropped very slowly. I guess this was partly due to the hype from the reviews but much like when I had the Fabia originally (not so much now), 90% of the drivers I see in them are blue rinse OAPs who most likely use them for the shopping once a week and thats about it. On top of the solid values the other half despite being Italian kitten hated them so my thoughts of getting one were still quashed.

 

This was until the recent shake up of the chelski fleet, bike arrived last year, Fabia went and the Mrs got her 320d. This left me with a stop gap Octavia and the chance to get something else, cheaper to run, bit smaller etc. Almost started looking at Aygos and the like then I remembered the little Panda. Had a look and found they'd dropped a little, high mile examples (circa 110k) with very little in the way of history are now changing hands for as little as £1600. Cars with a bit more history are knocking about for £2000 or so, I done some research and the little 1.4 16v 'Fire' unit is a basic motor thats just been modernised over the years. One forum documents a learner car that has over 196k on the clock! Looking further up the price scale, 75k examples are going for £2500 or so and anything less than that seems to command £3000. I did notice most of the cars for sale seemed to be at dealers. 

 

I'd kinda accepted that for my budget I'd be lucky to get something with less than 80k on, this was until I spotted a newly listed car on eBay during my daily search. It was put up on auction, £100 starting bid, £1950 buy it now. Grey my choice colour, 52,000 miles, FSH, needed some tlc but nothing major. I emailed the seller straightaway to arrange a viewing but didnt get a reply until very late that night, by the time I'd read it in the morning the car had been bid up to £1400 and hit the reserve. I was gutted, but arranged a viewing anyway and went to look at it last night (Friday). Had a good poke about, took it for a spin, nice genuine seller. It was his wife's car but they're having a 3rd child and it's only a 4 seater so replaced it with a Renault Zoe. Everything that needed doing had been done, cambelt, tyres, MOT, services. They suffer from rotting back boxes, that had been replaced too. A few little bits need doing (see below) but nothing expensive. I asked the guy if he was going to let the auction run and he was in two minds, to be honest I was thinking if he did, I'd most likely be out bid but thankfully after a bit of deliberation and me waving £1900 about he agreed to sell me it. I called the Mrs and we went back to collect it about 2 hours later.

 

I've only had it 24 hours and driven it about 40 miles so these are very limited first impressions;

 

Space, it's a TINY car, when I stand next to it I'm not sure if I need to get in it or use a remote control. In pictures they look quite tall but it's not in the slightest, I can see the whole roof easily. Cleaning will take 30 seconds. Inside though, thanks to the boxy shape it's not as small as you'd imagine. I'm 6ft 1 and fat yet I'm comfortable in it, my right leg is against the door card and I have the seat all the way back but I could still drive for hours in it. There is plenty of space for drinks and all that bull****, the boot is decent and square too, there's seats in the back and I could fit in them, but not with me sat in front of myself. Plenty of headroom thanks to that box shape again. 

 

Speed/power. Well it's the polar opposite of the PD130 running 220bhp put it that way, the little 1.4 engine needs working to go anywhere at pace BUT when it is on the boil it does pull itself along well. The whole car weighs less than a ton I think so 100BHP goes a long way. I think it has torque figures in single digits It does have a close ratio 6 speed box though to make the most of the power available. 

 

The ride and handling. Well, of all the research I done, this was the biggest problem and to be honest I didnt think it'd be that bad but boy was I wrong. I thought my Fabia on coilovers was a bit bumpy and harsh at times but **** me, this is a whole other ball game. On a smooth road it's fine, firm but no issues, the problem is none of the roads in the UK are smooth. A bump or dip in the road sends you flying, it's like Fiat fitted solid metal poles instead of dampers, hit a pothole and you can hear your bones crunching. The flip side of this is it feels like a go kart, it's a box with a wheel at each corner so was always going to be good, I've not explored cornering too much yet but it just feels so direct and pointy when you throw it into a corner. 

 

There is loads of kit inside, MP3 headunit, handsfree phone connection, digital climate control, trip computer, lots of stuff you'd never expect a car of this price to have. The sport button firms up steering and sharpens up throttle, to be honest, the steering I like but the throttle just becomes snatchy unless you're really on it. It's also put together far better than any Fiat I've known, I think they're built in Poland but it all feels very well made. 

 

The biggest thing for me though is that it has character, I cant even pinpoint why, or what bit, it just does. Maybe it's again a bit like the Fabia, take a shopping trolley and add a bodykit and warm engine to something that would otherwise blend in with everything else? I dunno, but every time I look at it or drive it I have a huge grin on my face. 

 

Plans are to replace the torn gear gaiter, deep clean and prep the black trim etc then in the new year, replace the suspension with coilovers and the exhaust with a Ragazzon exhaust. Once I've cleaned it up I can see what bits of bodywork needs tidying. I'm going to use it as my daily but I can see it being a long term car so want to get it as fresh as possible. 

 

Only a couple of quick snaps for the moment, I'll sort more tomorrow

 

If you're still reading, sorry for the extra long waffly post

Edited 26 September, 2015 by matt1chelski

[faboka vrs]

Love these

[Auric Goldfinger]

My son had one of these, must say the gear lever is in the right place, out of the dash,

[Dr Zoidberg]

Very nice. Shame they didn't do an equivalent in the later Panda.

[TriggerFish]

Always had a soft spot for these too - esp. in that blue colour they do.

 

Enjoy it 

[Updown789]

Had to drive a 1.1 panda the other week as a courtesy car whilst my leon was being fixed. Easily the ****test car I've ever driven lol

[Dr Zoidberg]

I had a 1.2 as a courtesy car a couple of times and it was fine. The Citroen c2 was far worse.

[Chriswright03]

Pleased you managed to get one then Matt.  Start doing overtime now to pay for all the bits you are going to need!

[faboka vrs]

I had a very entertaining passenger ride in scobbychris's old one.

[sharkrider]

Love these

 

 

I had a very entertaining passenger ride in scobbychris's old one.

 

 

I love these too! I test drove one for a long while from my local garage when they were new, and loved it! very tunable, lots available...

 

may I suggest : A FIAT UNO TURBO ENGINE!  .... just putting that thought in there ... a bleed valve intercooler exhaust and intake will see 160bhp and they do bolt in!

 

I will watch the thread, these are real bargin fun cheap cars for people who know what they are talking about

 

enjoy!

[XLBaconDoubleCheese]

My son had one of these, must say the gear lever is in the right place, out of the dash,

 

I love it, its just the right position for slick changes. 

 

Had to drive a 1.1 panda the other week as a courtesy car whilst my leon was being fixed. Easily the ****test car I've ever driven lol

 

I was thinking today, I wonder what the base spec ones are like, what was so bad about it? I think they need to be taken at face value, a basic cheap car, getting out of a Seat Leon costing maybe double what the Panda would have is always going to be a come down. 

 

I had a 1.2 as a courtesy car a couple of times and it was fine. The Citroen c2 was far worse.

 

I've had a C2, it shat itself 4 days after buying

 

Pleased you managed to get one then Matt.  Start doing overtime now to pay for all the bits you are going to need!

 

Indeed, plus earning some brownie points for getting her out yesterday to pick it up, she HATES driving on dark country roads, not best pleased lol

 

I love these too! I test drove one for a long while from my local garage when they were new, and loved it! very tunable, lots available...

 

may I suggest : A FIAT UNO TURBO ENGINE!  .... just putting that thought in there ... a bleed valve intercooler exhaust and intake will see 160bhp and they do bolt in!

 

I will watch the thread, these are real bargin fun cheap cars for people who know what they are talking about

 

enjoy!

 

Urgh, dont start me off I'm not entirely sure how far I'll take it, to a degree part of it's charm is how cheap and simple it is, that said, it'd be cool to have a daily and a turbo'd toy both looking identical?  

 

Just been reading up on a mod to get a AUX input into the headunit, I might just stick a new one in though, I wanted to put a new steering wheel in it but didnt want to loose the phone controls, if I replace the headunit that's a problem solved Good logic. 

[Updown789]

The main problem with it was that even though it was a 1.1 I expected better performance than it was capable of. The gear ratios were obviously designed by a madman - 70 mph topped out it third, with fourth and fifth being there for purely no reason as it was incapable of gaining any more speed than this on a perfectly level road no matter how long you gave it. The accelerator was like a switch, which made it nigh on impossible to drive smoothly, the wing mirrors and rear view mirror were awful and made it difficult to see rearward, seats were so bad I had a bad back after the 25 min drive home and the headlights may as well have been candles in jars for all the good they were. However, the gear change was good and the gearstick positioning excellent, plus I like city steering and although the boot is tiny it makes it easy to reverse right up to something as the back is so flat. I do remember liking the look of the 100hp versions when they were released and I think that if I had drove one first before a base spec I may have been more inclined to like it, but the base spec was just too bad for me and has put me off them, but would like to be pleasantly surprised by a 100hp

[Dr Zoidberg]

I had an original Panda with its mighty 45bhp 1.0 litre engine, and was very envious of a chap I saw who had put a 1.05 litre turbo from a Lancia Y10 in his.

[Chris]

I nearly had one of these a few years ago. They are proper fun! Lovely colour too!

[XLBaconDoubleCheese]

The main problem with it was that even though it was a 1.1 I expected better performance than it was capable of. The gear ratios were obviously designed by a madman - 70 mph topped out it third, with fourth and fifth being there for purely no reason as it was incapable of gaining any more speed than this on a perfectly level road no matter how long you gave it. The accelerator was like a switch, which made it nigh on impossible to drive smoothly, the wing mirrors and rear view mirror were awful and made it difficult to see rearward, seats were so bad I had a bad back after the 25 min drive home and the headlights may as well have been candles in jars for all the good they were. However, the gear change was good and the gearstick positioning excellent, plus I like city steering and although the boot is tiny it makes it easy to reverse right up to something as the back is so flat. I do remember liking the look of the 100hp versions when they were released and I think that if I had drove one first before a base spec I may have been more inclined to like it, but the base spec was just too bad for me and has put me off them, but would like to be pleasantly surprised by a 100hp

 

That doesnt sound fun, throttle seems ok, in sport mode its snappy though. Might try and grab a go on a poverty spec one if I can to compare. 

 

 

Today has been productive on the Panda front. 'She' has been named Frankie the Fiat, decided to get the cleaning kit out and see what I could do. While it's not filthy it's clearly had a 'bucket and sponge' was or taken to the local hand car wash. Started out with a basic wash, the paint feels a little rough so I think a good clay would help next time, then a polish. That had to wait though, because I had 2 things I had to do, firstly was removing the stickers in the windscreen, the last garage had put one in with a service reminder which annoyed me, plus another bit of residue left from something else. Gunky glue remover at the ready and it was all clean and fresh again. I gave the seats a very quick wipe with some interior shampoo, I think I need a wet vac to get the water marks out of them properly but they're a little better, plus gave the dash a wipe over and got some dirt off the little climate control screens and around the headunit.

 

 

Next up was going round the little fiddly bits that are often missed on a wash, the door shuts were not too bad but the boot was pretty grubby round the edges. Also inside the petrol cap was rank, thankfully with the car being Italian it took 3 seconds and no tools to removed the cover and make life easy

 

 

I moved onto the wheels, they're not in too bad nick at all, slight scuffing to a couple of them but nothing major. They do have quite bad ground in brake dust though, a couple of cleans and they look better but far from perfect. Also, a strange one but I think one of the wheels is a slightly different shade to the rest, I know the Pandamonium pack sometimes added darker wheels, I'm not sure if one has been replaced and no one noticed or if it's just my eyes. They're on the list to be refurbished now though either way, not sure on colour yet. 

 

The second thing that I was desperate to do was sort the black trip, the car has so much unpainted black plastic, bumpers, arches, side skirts, it really looks terrible when they're all grey and faded. It's made a huge difference I think

 

 

 

Overall I'm well chuffed with the finished article, well, as it stands. It looks much better.

 

 

I've only driven it to Halfords today but I was still grinning bouncing down the road in it I've got the headunit connected to my phone now, it's hilarious in true Fiat style they put the headunits language as italian no matter where you buy the car or what country you're in. I had to fetch the Mrs out to translate it for me but it's all good now, seems to work well. I'll update in a bizzle. 

[Chriswright03]

Looking good Matt.  Good job the weather has been kind today though.

[Lady Elanore]

 

may I suggest : A FIAT UNO TURBO ENGINE!  .... just putting that thought in there ... a bleed valve intercooler exhaust and intake will see 160bhp and they do bolt in!

 

 

 

 

I did this mod to my Uno Turbo II and it was mental (in a mostly good way) the tyres had as much hope of coping with this increase as I have of becoming the next Mrs G Clooney. After it was tweaked and rolling road'd the turbo gauge went so far around the sweep of it's dial it refused to reset again and remained buried in the end zone for all eternally  

 

The man who bought it next blew up the turbo He was warned to run it with Octane booster

[mdk1]

Very nice, saw your pics on Pistonheads.

[XLBaconDoubleCheese]

Looking good Matt.  Good job the weather has been kind today though.

 

Indeed, although it looks like it'll be good all week! Might get a few more rides out yet. 

 

Very nice, saw your pics on Pistonheads.

 

Thanks, I'm warming to Pistonheads, never liked it much before but it's growing on me. 

[XLBaconDoubleCheese]

Exhaust is on it's way Will update when fitted, first proper mod. 

[XLBaconDoubleCheese]

Exhaust is on, it's not subtle in sound but I like it lol. I'll get a video up over the weekend, quick picture, fills the cut out much better. 

 

[bonelorry]

Cool little cars these, My mate has a real soft spot for one and keeps saying that one day he will buy one and fit a Saab engine LOL.

[D15VRS]

What make is the exhaust?

[XLBaconDoubleCheese]

Cool little cars these, My mate has a real soft spot for one and keeps saying that one day he will buy one and fit a Saab engine LOL.

 

Haha how random

 

What make is the exhaust?

 

Ragazzon, fresh from Italy  

 

It was all a nightmare. Ordered the centre section originally, didnt want to go OTT with the noise, got the garage to fit it, he moaned like **** about how crap it went on. Turns out I needed the centre section AND flexi The flexi on it was ****ed anyway so the whole thing knocked it's tits off all the way to Belgium. I got the Ragazzon flexi and decided to go for the back box too. 

[D15VRS]

Most importantly how does it sound? Get a video up