How I got a very cheap Fiat Panda Cross

[bezzabsa]

used to see loads of the earlier ones on 4x4 play days - upsetting knob head V8 'drivers' .. 

actually surprising where they can go..almost as good as the Lada Niva

[Foeux]

3 hours ago, bezzabsa said:

used to see loads of the earlier ones on 4x4 play days - upsetting knob head V8 'drivers' .. 

actually surprising where they can go..almost as good as the Lada Niva

It must be a great feeling. A bit like turning up to a 10 mile time trial on a butchers bike in jeans and a fleece and putting in a serious time.

[Foeux]

I've been playing in my panda and it really is great. It isn't perfect but the eternal riposte to any troubles is 'CHEAP CAR!'

 

The problems are:

- rattly ARB or drop links

- Start stop doesn't work (don't mind this)

- horn sounds dreadful after some recent water activity

- slightly damp smell inside after flood blasting but no wet carpets

- intermittent check engine light associated with start stop 

- small tyre rub owing to 185 not 175 section tyres being fitted.

 

The fun:

It has been quite wet in Wiltshire lately. Whilst a viral clip.of a new defender sinking to its death in Malmesbury, lots of people are very soft about going in water. Me and my mate Jack (and Autoshiter) had a bloody great time flying through deepish water and generally mucking about in the rain.

I've also used it pretty extensively across Salisbury plain. It bottoms out a bit in ruts but doesn't get stuck and has a metal bash plate.

I was most amused to meet a Jimmy in full off-road battledress coming the other way down a trail the other night...

It is extremely frugal against a Volvo 940 and a sprinter.

It is extremely small and easy to park.

Soon I shall fix the arb, get some all season tyres and fit a Bluetooth radio. I am also having gentle fantasies about a set of white 15" steel wheels...

[Foeux]

I've been fixing.

 

Suspension knock was a bit annoying. Traced it to ARB. For very little money you can get drop links and arb bushes. From the wheel wells you can easily see the drop links and the ARB bushes and their D-shackles bolted to the subframe.

 

You'd think if they sell the ARB bushes, they would be replaceable, wouldn't you? I did.

 

No! The bushes are bonded to the bar and the bloody D shackles are staged together through the bolt holes. Just to make things extra annoying, the bolts into the subframe are the funny star headed ones too!

 

Of course, the drop links needed cutting off but the new ones went on well. I also took the opportunity to clean out the arches with a pressure washer. Got literal pounds of mud from beneath the car and also emptied the propshaft cradle as it was a mud-nest.

 

 

 

4 new tyres and track rod ends later it is driving nicely. What tyres? Falken all season in 175 65 15 as the 185's on there rubbed when you walloped them into corners.

 

It has been off-road a fair bit and makes me and my chumbs laugh.

[Foeux]

The cold but a couple of weeks ago. I was tumescent with anticipation of snow and lo, it came.

A cheap fiat panda 4x4 is a thing of enormous joy when the weather turns slushy, especially when you've got winter tyres. As karmic redress for my absolutely intolerable smugness, I got a screw or nail into one of the new tyres (FFS).

With the snow, came cooler temperatures. This is not a complaint, merely an observation. The frosty windscreen was dealt with phenomenally by the quick clear button. Again, my smugness was was tempered by the fact that in colder temperatures, the battery seems to show off a bit. As soon as voltage drops even a little but, every sensor develops an issue and tries to convince you the car is about to implode. As soon as you've run it for 2 minutes, turned off and back in, it is 'healed'.

 

It is great for green lanes and for catching more expensive stuff in corners. It doesn't use fuel when driven normally. If I were going to make up stories about how fast it is, I would say something like "I made it do 100mph down a long, empty road the other day..."

[Foeux]

Yoohoo,

 

I've owned the panda for 12 months. It just went in for an MOT and.....you can wait till later to find out.

In brief:

5800mi

48mpg

1 service

4 tyres

3 wipers

New injector seals

At MOT, it passed with advisories. Inner tie rods, lower arm bushes. In a casual chat with MOT man he said that the wipers didn't park properly. That's my fault for getting curious, taking the motor apart and not 'clocking' the cog in the motor properly.

 

As a reward for its good behaviours I've bought it:

New boot lid (2nd hand but right colour)

New wiper motor and linkage (2nd hand but hopefully not wanked)

Will also be doing inner track rods and the suspension arms one day soon. Apparently the lower arms are a bastard as you have to remove most of the front of the car to get at 2 bolts.

 

It has begun to smell diesely again so will check leak off pipes and injector seals again...

 

In the interest of science, I test drove a new panda today. It left me completely numb so will press on with this one for now.