For the first time ever, I can afford to buy a new car :sunglasses:

Blah blah blah

Show me someone who thinks a car is a status symbol and I'll show you a fool.

I'd sooner own one of these and put money into property or investments any day than the amount of people out there driving new BMW's and renting.

I had to scrap a Fiat with 50k on the clock 10 years old. Repairs were too expensive. The last straw was a linkage between the gear lever and the gearbox which was made out of plastic. To replace this requires taking the engine and gearbox out and dismantling the gearbox. £1000 repair so that Fiat could save a few pence making the car. That was just one example.

Fiats have a very poor reputation for a very very good reason.

People slating it because it's a Fiat are showing just how out of touch they are. Forget the 500, the platform and some engines are shared with the current Ford Ka. If you've driven a 1.3 or 1.9 Diesel over the past 15 years then chances are it was a Fiat JTD unit. The multi air petrols are very well respected in terms of modern engine design and make the likes of VANOS and VTEC look quite dated in many respects. Fiat had a reputation as being unreliable and poorly built in the early 90's but back then the idea of a battery powered Kia was hysterical and your grandad would of wrote a cheque for his E class estate as only drug dealers leased their cars. :innocent:

checking

For the first time ever, I can afford to buy a new car :sunglasses:

may be £30 roadts but not on the new rules as £145 after the 1st year

Pass me a balaclava.

The panda is OK, it's better than many at its price point. Heat.

only 4 seats too

A friend of mine purchased one of these new in January. The 1.2 Lounge model. Seems well built and from what I can tell seems almost identical to my Daughters 500, same chassis engine etc. Just the shape and the extra space with 5 doors. Great value at this price.

it says new, not prereg in the title

I had to scrap a Fiat with 50k on the clock 10 years old. Repairs were too expensive. The last straw was a linkage between the gear lever and the gearbox which was made out of plastic. To replace this requires taking the engine and gearbox out and dismantling the gearbox. £1000 repair so that Fiat could save a few pence making the car. That was just one example.

Fiats have a very poor reputation for a very very good reason.

I guess the poster just meant that the 500 has a good rep and pointed out this shares a common base and components without the funky styling.
It just says to me the 500 could be a lot cheaper. :wink:

They use the same floorpan and suspension, engine, exhaust etc . The Fiat 500 has been acclaimed as a good car so cant see why the Panda should be slated. Obviously the older Pandas were rust buckets but generally this Panda seems well put together, especially at this deals price. I dont think the diesel nor the 900 turbo engine are as good as the faithful 1.2 / 1.4 Fire Petrol engines.

Is it pre reg?

Wife purchased the previous model Panda in 2011 and traded it in for this one last year. Six years with not a single problem, not even a light bulb going.
We never take extended warranty, paint protection, scotchguard add ons etc. Be aware if purchasing a service plan that this Pandas first 'service' is just a visual check - no oil or filter changes are done.
At this price it may only have 4 seat belts fitted and may not have a spare wheel. Fuel economy is not as good as stated. Otherwise can't fault it.

In my view the 500 is very overpriced, I hadn't realised how much of the bits were shared with the Panda.

Nothing to do with this deal, but I've recently bought a Celerio and park it next to a 500 at work. The 500 looks cute, but it's really not worth literally double the cost of mine.

So in conclusion, people who care more about looks buy a 500.
More practical people buy a Panda? (and get virtually the same car)

Looks like a great deal.

6k for a new car?
From outside it looks like a 10k car
climb inside and it looks like one of those Tata nano cars which they were building in india for 1k.

I've only just traded my FIAT 500 1.2 after 9 years and 175000 miles, only one breakdown due to the clutch otherwise only had to sort out general wear and tear stuff

What a beast

​The only getaway will be running a mile from this mobile skip.

Blah blah blah

Show me someone who thinks a car is a status symbol and I'll show you a fool.

I'd sooner own one of these and put money into property or investments any day than the amount of people out there driving new BMW's and renting.

Cheap but do you need ta add a £149 admin fee to the price?

Just offered to buy my Mrs one and she said " F off you fat T, it looks the effing Pope mobile, you some sort of special P arent ya?" I ain't heard swear in weeks, Must be a bad car.

Hot good value

final payment of £2337 makes total over £8k & only 5000 annual mileage. Or am I reading this wrong

I'd rather have a base Dacia Sandero for the same money (even without a radio or spare wheel)

Fiat? no thanks, I'd rather walk.

FIAT (fix it again tomorrow)

I'm talking from experience too, the 04 punto I had was the worst thing I've ever had the displeasure of owning. NEVER AGAIN.

​Rather buy a 3 to 4 year old second-hand Mazda 2 for the same money. Agreed that spending tens of thousands of pounds on a car is foolish but each to their own.

If you want cheaper you could buy a Ford fiesta, its the same car underneath.
same as 500/panda all though the rear brake cyclinder on the mazda is 3 times the price.

Wonder how much one of these would be on a lease deal, as £99 a month on finance is already cheap!

Not bad, but like many people who have owned a fiat, never again. Wonder how they manage to squeeze so little power from a 1.2, must be an American engine.

Fiat. They're all into this world class engineering stuff. Think they're like many others, spend a fortune with noticeboards and talk about how great it is but in reality they can't see the wood for the trees, hence their reliability issues. A decent engineer can design something that works well, others can probably improve on it, it doesn't take Japanese speak and loads of paper to do it. Last Fiat I drove had to be reversed onto a drive because there was a 2 in 3 chance you wouldn't get reverse in the morning. Great price for a car, just don't expect it to last or even start the day after you get it home.

Looks ok for reliability. Simple cars really.

http://www.reliabilityindex.com/reliability/search/66

What are the other options, Dacia Sandero and a few just above this price range.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NL4UQDB2psY

Ranked 54 in the top 100 most reliable cars.

http://www.reliabilityindex.com/top-100

However that said the track record of reliability seems to be based on when it was made in Poland but the current model is made in Italy so reliability and build quality may be less.

People slating it because it's a Fiat are showing just how out of touch they are. Forget the 500, the platform and some engines are shared with the current Ford Ka. If you've driven a 1.3 or 1.9 Diesel over the past 15 years then chances are it was a Fiat JTD unit. The multi air petrols are very well respected in terms of modern engine design and make the likes of VANOS and VTEC look quite dated in many respects. Fiat had a reputation as being unreliable and poorly built in the early 90's but back then the idea of a battery powered Kia was hysterical and your grandad would of wrote a cheque for his E class estate as only drug dealers leased their cars. :innocent:

I'm shocked, I'll admit it. Read that article which turns every survey I've ever read on it's head, this from 2 years ago 2015 survey
Maybe some new model has had 100% reliability and given this new result, or every other manufacturer has slipped up. Something doesn't add up.

nice deal.
but fiat cannot do control pedals, your ankles will hurt unless doing a short journey.
they put pedals very high

Pub talk 30 Objectivity 0

Everyone should have a new car at least once in their life but buying brand new cars isn't really financially the best thing to do.

That's a us survey not applicable in Europe, car design may change, different assembly plants used etc. How many Fiats do they get in the states. Wouldn't be surprised if the only get the little retro 500. The site I linked to isn't opinion at all its based on warranty claims so is completely factual with no bias and based in uk. The issue is because a warranty needs to be bought it has to be after the manufacturer's warranty or a s/hand car with a non-transferable warranty which makes it older models by a few years. As I mentioned previously the Panda was made in Poland up until 2011 I think and is Fiat's most reliable car but then production moved back to Italy and that could have possibly reduced build quality and reliability. If you look at some recent Fiat model reviews you still see issues with poor quality plastic used and easily breakable indicator stalks etc. I suspect the Panda will be reliable though based on it's simplistic and basic design. Less to go wrong certainly helps with reliability. They seem to do pretty good engines generally. It seems like every motorhome you see is based on a Fiat chassis and engine with only rare exceptions.

Hmm, that 2015 survey has Audi at the 3rd most reliable car make which is quite clearly lies so I think it may have been made up. :stuck_out_tongue:

Not for me, but heat for the deal as that is a great price for a brand new car. I spent more on options on my last car than what this car costs!

Regardless of the fact I posted a link to a US survey, every survey I read for yesrs had Fiat, Chrysler and Land Rover at the bottom. Hence why I didn't buy a Grand Voyager when my wife was begging for one.

This bloke isn't going to be very happy,
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2016-Fiat-Panda-1-2-Pop-Hatchback-5dr-Petrol-Manual-start-stop-119-g-km-/282344463986?hash=item41bd0a9e72:g:oycAAOSwYIxYAbZw

Even If this only lasts 10 years then that's £600 a year! My 5 series depreciates about that in a month! It's super value motoring. Do you actually expect a £6k to last as long as a more expensive one??

Absolutely! I had 3 company Audis and they were forever in the garage.....

Could say the same about many cars produced ten years ago, and if it was in the middle of the life cycle that car could have been designed and engineered almost twenty years ago. Had a couple as my first cars and they were decent.

Unless the car is already registered, road tax should higher as of today?

Amazing value.

went round a few dealers today and there are quite a lot of pre-reg car that were registered yesterday to beat the tax hike

​I would rather have the panda.... Better looking inside and out. Fiat might not be the best brand but they do the small city car thing well.

The 1.2 FIRE engine suits the panda well too, it's really smooth and has just enough pep.

I also notice that they have the Punto for a very reasonable £6995 - and also available at either £99 or £139 per month, for those that might be interested:

http://motorvogue.co.uk/fiat/new/fiat/punto/

i would look cooler crawling than being in a panda. But who wants to look cool.

heat added.

Why not both?

Fix It Again Tomorrow.

I hired a Fiat Panda in Spain once, it literally wouldn't go up hills.

Fiats are so ****.

[img][/img]
At the millau viaduct
it got me there with 4 adults and wasn't to bad

I'd sooner own one of these and put money into property or investments any day than the amount of people out there driving new BMW's and renting.

If you must consider a Fiat, for a cheap runabout get an *old* low-mileage Seicento, especially if it has been kept garaged. They're bulletproof aside from the usual things like exhausts falling off every 5 years (as with any old car), snapped handbrake cable (easy repair) & squeaky pedals (just oil 'em).

Just don't crash, or you'll get pancaked.

Haha ​'Celerio' ...what on earth is that? Did you buy it in Tesco in foreign vegetable section? ...baby celeriac​ from Spain...?

Would never have a Fiat again after my first.

I've owned 2 cars in my life. The Fiat Punto, which I bought new, which went in for warranty work several times over within that first 6 months. Horn, glovebox, windscreen wipers, window seals (leaks) and handbrake cable all failed within the first 6 months. Never felt like a new car, felt like some garbage second hand pile of turd. I got shot of it when it was five years old, after failing it's first and second MOT.

I then bought a Mazda 3 in 2009. Absolutely awesome car. World of difference. Just hit 8 years old and has passed every MOT without a single advisory. It's not the most fuel efficient engine, but I just can't justify changing when it runs so lovely still.

For lols, I just chucked my reg of the Punto into the MOT history checker. I can't believe it's still going and hasn't been scrapped, but this has pretty much been the situation every year, always needing work, always with this quantity of stuff wrong with it. Wasn't a one off either, foolishly my brother also had a Punto and had similar problems.

Fiat. You'll be suckered in once, but you're unlikely to do it again. I appreciate not everyone has this experience, but a hell of a lot of people have.

3 cars and a triple garage,nice

really ? I thought it was the ford KA that was same as 500 / panda not the fiesta

​A car is a status symbol. Whether or not you can afford it is another matter.

Living within your means is another topic all together.

Having a 'lesser' car; road users treat you differently. If you have both then you should know exactly what I'm talking about.


I look at a car as investment. The less it breaks down the less time off I need from making more money, the less stressed ill be.

Or, put it thus way- engineering time is ~£100 per hour. You get 60hrs worth of engineering in the Panda (assuming no marketing costs are involved).

Buy cheap, buy twice...

You are correct, but the other poster was talking about a Mazda 2 if you read the thread.

The crazy thing about what you have said is I'm going to guess you drive some kind of 'premium' (in your opinion at least) car, and therefore, it's almost certainly not particularly reliable.

Well, it will be a cold day in hell when I ever let a German car or Land Rover out of a junction, so not sure how that fits in with your theory?

You'll be telling us if you don't wear a suit and tie you are less of a man next..

Voted Cold Fiat are very unreliable.

I bought this cars predecessor in 2010, drove it for 3 years then gave it to my father, who is still driving it. Nothing has gone wrong in that time, it is really inexpensive to run, very practical and reliable. I've voted hot, these are good cars for a remarkable price.

I do know what you mean, and you are absolutely right.

There seems to be some sort of brain transplant that happens to owners of small Audis and BMWs that turns them into arrogant and selfish prats on the road. Funnily enough it doesn't seem to affect to the same degree those buying the larger versions.

It is almost as if the people buying these base models are somehow embarrassed at not being able to afford the larger versions and try to make up for it, and so end up suffering from 'small dick' syndrome.

All a bit sad really.

​You had a poor experience it happens, don't judge the brand just because of this. Suppose you won't touch French cars either

that's cheap, I was looking at buying a 2012 mini for £9000.

no air conditioning

heat. cant be a bad deal.

Lol didn't have them all at once obviously.

Didn't James May use to have one of these and rave on about it?

Don't, it will be a money pit, honestly.

They're really not all that bad, especially a fairly simple one like this.

Fiat were unlucky and unfairly received the unreliable label, whilst at the same time VW were gifted the myth that they were reliable.

As Androoski said earlier, it's basically pub talk.

This is seriously good value.

Confused.com say that a 13 plate Panda pop with 60k miles should be worth £3500 in a private sale. That is 2.5k depreciation in 4 years and 60k miles!

... in my direct experience I'd say that is complete bunkum.

Didn't you just prove my point? I didn't bat one way or the other...

Just because you have your opinions (limited experience) doesn't mean that everyone else react the same way as you do. One assumes you never sat the other side of the fence to see, if you did you clearly were oblivious in your premium car bubble :wink:.

Depends on which day; weekends, town or daily... Living within ones means.

All my cars are 'premium' (in your words).

Except maybe the banger I bought for chopping.. :smile: That's a joy to drive, people do actively avoid you because it's such a turd. Im starting to understand why people buy 'premium' bangers now... They last the test of time, cheap to buy and don't need to care about paintwork!

They really don't, they are money pits (sorry for using that phrase twice in close succession).

And my 'limited experience' is 29 years in the motor industry, in Sales and Aftersales, and working with 'premium' brands and actual good cars (without premium badges).

So I was spot on then - you have chosen perceived image above reliability, despite saying that reliability was important to you.

There are hundreds of thousands of people just like you in that respect, and each and everyone baffles me.

Why would you do that?

Of course I'm talking to a sales person...

You if all people should know image counts for huge amounts.

But if you can have best of both image and reliability. Why not?

If you talk to an engineer they can tell you the number of engineering hours spent on a Fiat vs a typical BMW.

And if your telling me an m3 is less reliable than a 206 gti you're gonna have to try harder as a salesman.

OP - How did you find this deal? In a couple of years I will be looking around for a sub 6k new car.

Great price.... Have some heat.

Hey,it's not me you've got to convince,it's your boss !

Sorry the old Ford KA is the same chassis not Fiesta.

Brilliant piece of British design, I was one of the first to drive over it.

Yes its certainly a magnificent structure,
in regard to the fiesta I was replying to a mazda 2 comment. I know the 500/panda/ ka are all the same
but so are mazda2/fiesta.

I think you will find he was talking about the 500/Panda as that was included in the same sentence, then new sentence to talk about Mazda 2.

Thanks for that "tip" for "MOT History Checker", brilliant!!

Isn't the latest Mazda 2 based on Mazda's CX-5 platform rather than sharing it with a Fiesta?

Your originality is astounding! I first heard this at school in the early seventies and it was old hat even then. Some of us have moved on!

Regrettably, Fiat have not.

I bought my first PANDA in 2001,great runner,were made in POLAND then.I exchanged it in DEC. 2014 ,the newer version that was and is now made in Italy,besides being a lot noisier[sounds like exhaust is blown] ,especially when back seat down it is a good little runner,and the squarer back shape is useful if you have to carry stuff around which I do for my job..I did look at part exchanging before new tax regulations,but the best price around last month was £6495,so that is a good price.,

Some interesting talk here.However, been driving 45 years and have had about 40 cars.
Fiat have upped their game and I had a Panda 20 years ago and it run ok but was a rust bucket. We have had 4 camper vans and every one was a Fiat chassis and engine. Probably the best money can buy for a motorhome.
So I guess a new run about for 6k is good value indeed. I have a Toyota Aygo and is a cracking car mechanically, but leaks like a sieve every time it rains.

You can all mock it but I think £5995 is great for a new fiat

Do they do trade ins against the panda?

Best car I have ever owned was a Mini Cooper. Fun to drive. Solid. You notice it when closing doors. Downside expensive to buy and expensive to fix. If I had the money I would have another in a second

cold - fiat

This is what's wrong with UK car buyers.

It broke (multiple times I'm sure, even though you don't specify) and cost lots to fix, but because the doors were designed to make a nice noise when they close (this is how the German's do things - perceived quality rather than ACTUAL quality) it's 'the best car you ever had'.

It really wasn't, was it?

Brilliant.

Wow nice car

Only has 4 seats! :disappointed:

It actually never broke down. But was expensive when needed new tyres etc. Best car I ever owned solid and fun. It's what you want. Worst car Hyundai. Love mini

I refer you to my earlier post. As a Panda owner for 7 years I much prefer it to the much more expensive cars I have owned and it has cost me a fraction of the price to run and maintain. I can only speak from experience and tired old cliches like yours just irritate me. You'll be calling me a remoaner next :sunglasses:

Like a lot of people I expect, we're a long way from Motorvogue and don't fancy the idea of trying to get any early problems fixed by them that might take minutes with a local dealer. Though they offer to deliver, would it be best to use this price as a bargaining tool with your local Fiat outlet?

Also, has anyone called them to ask if there are any Vague Additions to the Total which you have to pay before you can drive it away, like 'admin' fees? Dealers sometimes conceal those in the marketing of a 'headline' price.

You would take the car to your local dealer if there was any niggly problems under the fiat warranty which it says here is pan-european. However although 2 years anywhere the 3rd year is with the original dealer so not sure how that would work. You would have to ask.

http://fiat.mopar.eu/uk/en/warranty-servicing

Why don't you go to get the deal and then you will get to know how much it costs in full. How do you expect the members here to know when they are not the dealer, and if in further doubt why not give them a ring, they are the ones to be able to answer your questions. And remember this is PCP.

I've had a few Fiats (probably a masochist) and I think all the handbrake cables are made of liquorice. Same problems with exhausts and suspension, too.

Rang them earlier, these are pre-reg 17 plate cars and no white ones left so wanted an extra £500 odd for a pre-reg black one, they also mentioned something about a £150.00 fee but had lost interest by that time.
I Wanted a 5 seater one which is a £120 upgrade but only had 4 seater pre-regs at 6.5k + fees, if you search you'll find previous deals for these at 6.5k brand new, bit naughty dealer not mentioning they are preregistered..... Then again cheaper tax on them do not all bad !

Yep, handbrake cable was pure garbage. Even after being tightened on it's first service, it was creaking like mad whilst parked on a hill. It got to the point that I just avoided parking on hills because I simply didn't trust it.

I like how when the wiper arms failed as well I went on a website looking for new ones and they were advertising Fiat Punto wiper arms on the homepage before I'd even put in the model of car. Clearly replacement wiper arms were a hot seller...

Haha, I've just remembered my wiper arms failed on the M6 on a particularly rainy day. That was... ...fun. That was on a Stilo. I was also showered in glass when a hinge on the door fell inside and when I pressed the button to raise the window... ...pop!.

This is like talking to Renault Clio drivers when you realise the little foibles (in this case a sunroof that leaked) were faults that every owner lived with and not just your unlucky car.

[quote=markpj777]
Save £3,300
£5,995 or £99 per month 6.7% APR
Fiat Panda Pop 5 Door 1.2
Economy 55 mpg
Road Tax £30
[You can buy a Mercedes CLS 320 on a 06 plate for the same money. Full leather etc. Go figure.

And what an amazing motoring experience that will be for you, if you're really fortunate, it may cost less than £5,995 a year to keep it running.

Bit like the Fiat then.

1) So you worked for Kia or Ford dealership.
Ok, understood.

2) interesting, have you owned one? Statistic data and 'my mate says x' sounds like pub talk to me.

3) Sorry let me specify- this is my job. I engage with these engineers on a regular basis. So, take it as you like. (and yes, Maclaren engineering requires another level of 'Perfection').

4) ok, your right. I'm done. Thanks, good night. :innocent:

The Punto's wipers failed during spectacularly heavy rain (as is the norm for Swansea), and I was doing about 40 on a dual carriageway, I was immediately completely blind, had to stick my head out of the window to safely pull over. One of my scariest moments in driving...

Its a convertible SD... :smiley:

Again - why would you do that?