Faults:

Nothing serious.

Windscreen washer on passenger side keeps popping out of place meaning that the jets don't always aim accurately at the screen.

Windscreen wipers judder occasionally.

General Comments:

For a 1.2, the fiat is pretty quick, although it's worth slowing down for bends. It struggles for grip.

A friend commented that the head and leg room in the front was better than in her BMW 3 series. I like the unusually high driving position. Apart from giving extra head and leg room, you get the feeling of driving a 4x4.

The cabin is bright and modern.

The boot is small, but fine for normal shopping trips.

My only complaint is the headrests. Hard plastic in the front, non-existent in the back.

Faults:

As it's only a year old, not much has gone wrong. What has is:

* front tracking went AWOL

* boot release stopped working.

Other "undiagnosed" faults include:

* engine revving on its own

* engine stalling at roundabouts.

* clutch judder, particularly in reverse

* intermittent operation of the passenger-side speaker

* clouds of blue smoke in the morning (at 14k!)

No official reason was ever given for these faults.

General Comments:

I liked it. OK, it was slow, but it was actually quite good fun. The body rolls a lot in corners, but there's enough grip. Even though it's slow, it's quite nippy and very maneuverable.

On the motorway the seats get a little uncomfortable and strangely the faster it's driven, the quieter it gets. There's less road or engine noise at 85mph than at 70mph.

The dealership in Bristol has been unhelpful, and the sales process was interesting. It was all nice when buying the car, but I had to wait an hour to collect it (I was on time for the appointment, but he was seeing someone else).

I'd been assured that the first service would be about £90. It was actually just under £190: quite a difference (and the door said the service department shut at 6pm, when in fact they shut at 5.30, so I missed the pick up too).

Best go independent for service and maintenance.

But it's a good, fun, economical car. It's "cool" as one chap put it. It just won't last for 100,000 miles.

Faults:

A fault was discovered with the engine whilst driving our brand new Panda back from the dealer in early September 04.

A local dealer could not identify the fault and Fiat agreed to replace the engine.

Our new car has remained at a local dealer ever since with next to no communication regarding what is happening about the delay!

A courtesy car has been provided which is the only saving grace.

This is another example of the dreadful lack of customer care we provide in this country once our money has been taken.

General Comments:

We were initially excited and the car was a lot if fun to drive.

However on account of the appallingly long delay in resolving our problem we have lost faith with Fiat and their after sales service.

This has been especially true of their head office where even a response from the MD did not answer any specific requests we had put forward.