We took the Panda for a test drive on Sunday. It wasn't too bad, but it had a def shudder as you pulled away from being stopped. Like the engine was struggling to generate enough power or something. I read a few reviews and bits and found a number of people saying the 2015 Panda has issues with its clutch. It's also telling that two similar cars on Facebook both proudly proclaimed their clutch had been repaired!
So yea, much as I loved it otherwise (it was fun to drove, but it did feel like driving a shopping trolley) I have realised that owning a very niche car that no one else has and probably having to import parts from England isn't the "Practical Runaround" that we're looking foward.
We also test-drove a Nissan Cruze which seemed quite nice, until Travers pointed out it was the lead car on Car Australia's "List of Lemons" to avoid. So that's been ruled out too.
We took a VW Golf for a test drive last night, it was very nice. Clean and tidy, peformed well, the kids thought it was comfortable. They liked the Panda too, but the VM has power windows in the back, the Panda had old school manual roller handles!
I'm getting a mechanic to give it a once over tomorrow and if it turns out OK, we'll probably buy it. It's $9.9k, well have to try and talk him down a bit. Though looking at other cars on the market it seems like a pretty good price already.
Edit: I went to the Panda auction because I was curious what it would sell for. Someone got a bargain, $3,600 it sold for!
Tim
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