2004/2005 Fiat Panda - What To Look Out For?

Kintarō Hattori

Hey Chaps,

I've bought cars in the past for my other half (K11 Micra, BMW E90) but I'm on the verge of buying MY first car..... ooh the excitement.
As I just passed my test this year and only have 2 years as a named driver on her insurance I'm starting small. For some odd reason I'm really fixated on a Fiat Panda (petrol). The budget will be capped around €1600/1700 as insurance, despite my ripe old age of 38 will be about €1200.

From what I can gather they are generally pretty solid little cars but perhaps I'm wrong. Is there anything in particular to look out for with them?

Nuw

As far as I'm aware, there's not much to go wrong with them indeed. As usual, the more service history the better, check the bodywork for signs of accidents... etc... might bring a mechanic with you, it's 50 quids usually well spent.

bazz26

No personal experience of them but I read before that they suffer similar issues with the power steering electric motor as with the Punto of the same vintage.

Seems to be plenty of information on the web about it:

http://www.acspowersteering.co.uk/fiat-panda-electric-power-steering-fault/

acronym Chilli

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

Hey Chaps,

I've bought cars in the past for my other half (K11 Micra, BMW E90) but I'm on the verge of buying MY first car..... ooh the excitement.
As I just passed my test this year and only have 2 years as a named driver on her insurance I'm starting small. For some odd reason I'm really fixated on a Fiat Panda (petrol). The budget will be capped around €1600/1700 as insurance, despite my ripe old age of 38 will be about €1200.

From what I can gather they are generally pretty solid little cars but perhaps I'm wrong. Is there anything in particular to look out for with them?

Fiatforum is a good website to peruse. The panda and punto sub forums are particularly active.

Kintarō Hattori

So I'm still set on the Panda but while looking in that search criteria I came across the following.... any opinions? I don't need power... in fact I need less to get quoted:



https://www.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/renault-modus-05-just-passed-nct-today/12641074




https://www.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/2004-mitsubishi-carisma-1-3-nct-april-2017/12633960

The Charisma might be a good bet as it's more spacious than a Panda and they are pretty reliable long term?




https://www.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/daewoo-kalos-1-4/12576149

Boring but cheap and looks well kept.




https://www.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/opel-tigra-1-4-convertible-nct-01-17/11970136

Girly I know but feck it. Is there anything to look out for with these?




https://www.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/fiat-panda-1-2-dynamic-5dr-model/12123416

This is the Panda I may go for. I think Bolands are pretty decent to deal with?