My sister is thinking of replacing her 7 year old Fiesta with one of these as the 'sports' suspension on her ill chosen Fiesta has been the bane of her life. We are limited by the width of new superminis as they seem to get wider and longer with each new model and therefore won't be a comfortable fit in our garage.
Recently, I discovered the UP and Mii and they would seem to fit the bill although they are rather small in certain exterior dimensions, not to mention the 3-cyl engine. However, I sat in an UP yesterday, admittedly not one of the more baser models and was impressed with the room and finish although I would, personally, prefer not to see so much exposed painted surfaces.
Any comments, here, would be welcome.
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They're meant to be very good cars with decent room. Don't forget the Skoda version of this car too.
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We bought an Up! at the beginning of September, and I'm deeply impressed by its ability. Although its 'only' a city car its great on A/B roads and actually fun to drive. Feels pretty brisk as well, though the reality of the numbers tells me it isn't! It's also quite capable of dealing with faster dual carriageways as well, though ours has the higher powered version of the 999cc engine. I say higher powered; it has a heady 74bhp...
Size wise the interior feels absolutely fine in the front - no one has been in the back of ours though. The interior finish is, IMO, impressive for a car in its price bracket. Our is white, and so the unpainted bits on the door are quite noticable, but it doesn't detract from the overall quality feel. The plastis used on te hdoor trims and dashboard tpo are actually pretty hard, but teh surface finish is such that it looks much beter than it feels.
We went for the Up! almost by default, though I do think the profile view of it looks better than the Citigo or Mii becasue of the kicked up trailing edge to the rear window. The whole design somehow seems 'crisper' and in white almost Apple like in its execution. Feels impressively solid and well put together, though there are obvious areas of cost cutting - little or no soundproofing in the rear wheel arches, no cover on the sunvisor mirror, only one remote key. On the other hand it has ESP, A/C, Sat Nav, heated seats, remote locking and a nice chunky leather steerig wheel, as well as a lovely piano black high gloss finish to the dashboard.
Ours is a High Up! and so has more kit than necessary, but you have to have that trim level to get the more powerful engine. We only specified 3 options - a sound pack (as standard it has just 2 speakers) at £100, graphite alloys insetad of silver (£100) and a graphic on the roof that says 'This Side Up!' with an arrow ;-)
Let me know if you want any more info
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Try the Skoda man with his Ctigo...........same car different badges.
You never know who needs the sale most near the end of the month and eally wants your money - if you have the money the garage/salesman needs to earn it with a deal to beat the others.
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We would go for the 'middle' model in the SEAT or VW and most important to my sister is where the dealer is - she wants jam on it, to be honest! We have a mixed dealership on Bromley Common who sell Vauxhall, SEAT and Hyundai etc but like most dealers have very little parking space. The other main SEAT dealer is at the foot of Westerham hill and very good they are although about 20 mins drive away.
We have a VW Beadles in Bromley and in Sevenoaks, although the latter is a better placed dealer for parking and my Golf MK6 is going in there next week for a 'bumper' repair as BMWs X5s have a penchant for my rear, being bumped twice in 12 months!
We'll be having a look in their currently being refurbished showroom, although the one on display is a top model and so will give a bit a a false impression.
She is not to keen on the idea of so much painted metal in the interior, to be honest. Additionally, it must ride our worsening road surfaces better than the cart spring feel of her 1.4 Zetec Fiesta 2004 model.
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Ooops...a number of iPad typos in there (that's my excuse...). Also, for unpainted bits on the door read painted!!
I also forgot to comment on the ride; ours is on alloys that I'm fairly sure are 15". The ride is fine; it drives like a grown up car in that respect. The short wheelbase means that inevitably speed bumps are a bit severe, but otherwise no issues. I think models with the 60PS engine have 14" wheels as standard; that was the version I test drove and again it felt absolutely fine.
TBH, the 75PS version was a bit of an extravagance; the 60PS would have done the job. Incidentally, though ours has just done 800 miles, the three cylinder engine has loosened up significantly since we got it and now feels quite lively. It also makes a lovely noise. Though when I drive it I do like to make progress, and there's a lot of satisfaction to be had in getting a small, relatively low powered car moving swiftly!!
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OMG! as they say on forums. Nearly made a mistake here. Has anyone else, found this a disadvantage?
A had a good look around the SEAT versions at leisure and it wasn't until we were driving home that my partner remarked that the centre panel of heating controls and radio were very high up but where were the centre air-vents? I must admit to not having realised that these cars did not have any!!! How on earth does one get sufficient ventilation on hot days especially in city driving for which these cars have allegedly been aimed at?
This is a serious design flaw, I would imagine and I would think would put us off ever considering such a vehicle now - such a shame.
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If you have a Fiat dealer anywhere near the new Panda is supposed to be a great car. Infact some of the car mags, unbelieveably, have the Panda as a winner in this category!
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Until you mentioned it I hadn't even noticed, so I don't think it can be that much of a flaw! What's more irritating is the old fashioned petrol cap that requires the key to lock/unlock. Needless to say ours stays unlocked...
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Have joined the VW UP forum. Don't like the sound of the FIAT and their website is a travesty and cannot find my local dealer from it.
Now going on to reconsider the Suzuki Splash which seems a more complete car and better trimmed and equipped.
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Have a look at Drive the Deal and the usual other brokers for the Splash. The VAT paid offers reflect in the broker prices. I sat in one recently and found it much easier to get in and out of than the Swift. I drove the Citigo (manual and auto) recently and liked it but wasn't keen on the bare paint and it was a lot lower (re. access) than the Splash. I liked them both - without having driven a Splash but would expect it to drive fine for a small city/supermini size car. I think the Citigo/Up would definitely be cheaper to tax, insure and fuel though. There is an active section for the Citigo on the Briskoda site.
Last edited by: kb on Sat 24 Nov 12 at 13:59
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Not sure why the sound of the Panda should put you off, but each to their own. Anyway, Autocar has a list of their top five on the right here...
www.autocar.co.uk/car-review/fiat/panda
(PS dealer locator link is at the top of the Fiat site, just click and type your postcode in there!)
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Kia have really raised their game when it comes to style / design - I saw a 62 plate Picanto this morning and thought looked smart. Don't they have an ex Audi guy heading up their design team?
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My elder daughter looked at a Citigo and a Splash before choosing a Hyundai i10. She's a nanny and the i10 has a slightly bigger boot for kiddies' gubbins, but the main reason was that the i10 was a lot cheaper. Unsurprisingly it's similar to the Picanto but at least in September there were better deals available on the i10.
She's very happy with it, and it drives quite similarly to the four Toyota Yarises she had before this.
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For what it's worth, my experience of the Picanto...
Mrs Felix got a picanto a year ago. I think it's a very good car in this category. It's obviously in its element round town however the 1.2 engine and reasonably tall gearing make it pretty refined on the open road too. It's no ball of fire but it keeps up with the motorway traffic fine. In '3' spec it's also really well equipped and though you might mock the idea of heated seats they can be a godsend on cold mornings and the likes of climate, electric folding mirrors, Usb input on the stereo and hill start assist all make it easy to live with. It's more expensive than the Hyundai which it's obviously closely related to but IMHO it's much better looking and think its more comfortable too. 5 doors come in handy sometimes and its even surprisingly roomy in the back. Its a bit of a cliche but it doesnt feel like a city car to drive. Economy's been the one disappointment, in low/mid 40s. The up! and new panda weren't around at the time we got it but I still think its really worth considering.
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The UP i looked at, the spare wheel was an "extra". it was probably the basic model.
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>> The UP i looked at, the spare wheel was an "extra". it was probably the
>> basic model.
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It'a a £50 extra - very reasonable as long as it can be properly secured which I presume it can. Why it's not included as standard is beyond belief really. Who wants a can of gunge.
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Volkswagen E-Up! EV - VW UP or Seat Mii? - rtj70
