The Little Run About Thread

[biggs682]

Of those not much is in group 3 or below, which is where we're at. There's a Sandero Laureate with enough 'toys' but sadly that's all. I'd agree with the CityGo/Mii/Up - far, far too small.



I'd have agreed but it's too high an insurance group for her, given SWMBO has a fondness for getting her photo taken by yellow cameras mounted on a pole.

Oh, and she's struggling to drive my Vauxhall Agila as it's too 'boxy', so I've added rear parking sensors to the must-have list. The Agila's tiny!

Tomorrow I'm test-driving something small, red and Italian on SWMBO's behalf as she's busy. A trip ensues ...

Where you are going wrong is trying to fond a car for swmbo to use , you would be better off leaving her to do the legwork

 

[fossyant]

Where you are going wrong is trying to fond a car for swmbo to use , you would be better off leaving her to do the legwork

Especially if she is racking up the speeding points

 

[DCLane]

Where you are going wrong is trying to fond a car for swmbo to use , you would be better off leaving her to do the legwork

Agreed. But I'm daft enough to try.

Especially if she is racking up the speeding points

Yep.

Little red car bought. Collecting next Saturday once they've done some bits on it.

Having only a 64hp engine should slow her down a bit ...

 

[Gunk]

Friends over for a “casual supper” this evening. Bloody hell, it’s a lot of work.

 

[fossyant]

Dunno. My son got caught in 69hp Aygo... I wasn't happy when a brown envelope arrived twice in my name.

Italian, Fiat 500 ? But they are 3 door ? Lancia Ypsilon ?

 

[DCLane]

Dunno. My son got caught in 69hp Aygo... I wasn't happy when a brown envelope arrived twice in my name.

Italian, Fiat 500 ? But they are 3 door ? Lancia Ypsilon ?

Slower than both of those. It's a 2018 Fiat Panda Lounge, with a less-than-powerful 1.2 litre engine. Has the boot space, high seating position, good visibility, air-conditioning and parking sensors she needs but without anything that resembles power. It is small, red and Italian though given we had been looking at a Fiat 124 Spider for her ...

Oh, and she got a parking ticket today in my Agila. Fined even when stopped!

 

[Gwylan]

Small five doors and a decent boot has to be a Polo or Fabia. CityGo or Ups are too small in the boot.

Used, decent small cars are fetching silly money currently. Even a 10 year old Up is £5k for a good one.

Our Aygo went to the scrap heaven last month. The cat flange fell to bits after four years and likely needed a full exhaust and cat (£700) then two new headlights, some welding and sticky rear brake drum. Looking at over £1k. Wasn't worth it as it wasn't being used much. Just as we scrapped it, son's car broke. Tough. He's getting public transport or taxi until he fixes his car (he owns two).

Be aware! City and Up cannot take a rack on the back.

Well you can put a rack on but certainly not with a bike on! Too heavy, reduces the nose weight, I am told.
In the small print.

Have an UP that we love to hate

 

[Jameshow]

Slower than both of those. It's a 2018 Fiat Panda Lounge, with a less-than-powerful 1.2 litre engine. Has the boot space, high seating position, good visibility, air-conditioning and parking sensors she needs but without anything that resembles power. It is small, red and Italian though given we had been looking at a Fiat 124 Spider for her ...

Oh, and she got a parking ticket today in my Agila. Fined even when stopped!

Could you get one for my son too.

 

[DCLane]

@Jameshow - I've looked at a few in the past week and this was by far the best. Most were battered / dented / scratched and/or badly repaired. The one I've put the deposit on has a full service history, tiny marks and no issues I could find.

The challenge is down at that low insurance level you've got new drivers / those with lots of claims / disqualified drivers returning / those with lots of points all of whom don't necessarily drive their car well.

Sadly son no. 2's Pug Tepee broke down today near Brampton so we're having to wait and see what the cause is (either clutch cable / gear linkage / clutch / gearbox in rising cost order). Update: it was the driveshaft. Repaired the next day - credit to Sands Garage in Brampton.

 

[tyred]

Toyota Yaris.

 

[DCLane]

We picked up SWMBO's new-to-her car yesterday from Malton; a 2018 Fiat Panda 1.2 Lounge. Most of them we'd looked at were battered and damaged, whereas this one is mostly OK with a couple of minor bits. One local owner, low mileage, and traded in at the dealer.

It ticks her boxes; slow, very low insurance (group 3), a high driving position, good visibility, rear parking sensors, plus a boot big enough for her work and travel stuff (I took her work crate to confirm before buying).

New front tyres fitted, with a new MOT, as agreed with the selling dealer. The tyre pressure sensor came on whilst coming home with it - I drove as SWMBO needed a gentler starter drive rather than straight onto major roads. Having spent 30 minutes yesterday, plus another 30 minutes today, looking at the manual and online we discovered the tyre sensor wasn't in the normal manual. It'd been a non-standard addition from the first owner when she purchased the Panda originally. We then found an online manual ... eventually ... via Fiat for the tyre pressure sensor which sort of explained how to reset it.

No wonder we couldn't work it out. Only the Italians would reset the tyre pressure sensor via the foglight buttons

 

[CXRAndy]

Especially if she is racking up the speeding points

My mate sold his RS5 cos he thought it was too quick, bought an S5 estate, now has been caught 3 times in quick succession, last one doing 103mph. He was let off, (lucky lucky bugger), the officer wasnt in a calibrated car and my mate was not adversarial in questioning the speed

 

[Bonefish Blues]

We picked up SWMBO's new-to-her car yesterday from Malton; a 2018 Fiat Panda 1.2 Lounge. Most of them we'd looked at were battered and damaged, whereas this one is mostly OK with a couple of minor bits. One local owner, low mileage, and traded in at the dealer.

It ticks her boxes; slow, very low insurance (group 3), a high driving position, good visibility, rear parking sensors, plus a boot big enough for her work and travel stuff (I took her work crate to confirm before buying).

View attachment 791174

New front tyres fitted, with a new MOT, as agreed with the selling dealer. The tyre pressure sensor came on whilst coming home with it - I drove as SWMBO needed a gentler starter drive rather than straight onto major roads. Having spent 30 minutes yesterday, plus another 30 minutes today, looking at the manual and online we discovered the tyre sensor wasn't in the normal manual. It'd been a non-standard addition from the first owner when she purchased the Panda originally. We then found an online manual ... eventually ... via Fiat for the tyre pressure sensor which sort of explained how to reset it.

No wonder we couldn't work it out. Only the Italians would reset the tyre pressure sensor via the foglight buttons

Get yourself along to Fiat Forum if you're not there already - some really great expertise on Pandas, various.

 

[Jameshow]

Get yourself along to Fiat Forum if you're not there already - some really great expertise on Pandas, various.

You'll need it!

 

[Bonefish Blues]

You'll need it!

With the 1.2 engine, all will likely be well. It's a very good choice for that use case.