Kia Picanto vs Fiat Panda

Dace

Dace

Dace

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Long Eaton, Nottingham
Morning guys.

I have saved up a bit of money and I'm looking to buy a brand new small engine car on the scrappage scheme. Both cars are within my budget and I'll probably be paying cash for one. The prices I've stated are the 'official' ones i've managed to find on various web sources.

I've got a couple of test drives booked today with these cars:

Kia Picanto 1.0
£4495 on the road with scrappage. Funny review on Top Gear website but I've looked around other sites and they seem to be a bit more tolerant of its foibles because of the low cost. Insurance group 2, economical.

Fiat Panda Active Eco 1.1
£4995 on the road with scrappage. Decent review on Top Gear website and generally positive reviews by other websites. Insurance group 1, economical.

Now thats the detail of what I'm interested in over with, I'd like some advice from you guys.

1) Do any of you have any personal experience with these cars? Any general feedback on them?

2) Is it worth buying a new car when there are so many cheap 2nd hand cars available? Does anyone have any solid recommendations for a cheap 2nd hand runabout that might be worth looking at as an alternative? Bear in mind that I'm looking for a simple, cheap, reliable car. The money isn't a huge factor though as I have been saving towards this. If its a decent recommendation I'll take a look.

3) How much leeway do the dealers have with the pricing? From what I've seen the scrappage offers seem fairly popular and I'm not sure if I'll be able to negotiate anything for paying cash. My specific 'question' relates to the Fiat Panda that comes in Yellow or White for the base price: do the dealers have leeway to offer another colour for the same price if I pay cash, or is it fixed by the manufacturer?

4) If anyone has any general comments or suggestions about what to look for when I go on my test drives, or how to 'deal with' the dealers it'd be appreciated.

Thanks guys GOGOGO :)
 
Dace said:
2) Is it worth buying a new car when there are so many cheap 2nd hand cars available? Does anyone have any solid recommendations for a cheap 2nd hand runabout that might be worth looking at as an alternative? Bear in mind that I'm looking for a simple, cheap, reliable car. The money isn't a huge factor though as I have been saving towards this. If its a decent recommendation I'll take a look.
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Well done for asking. A cheaper Focus or Mondeo (ignore the size difference... Honestly) will be immeasurably better than either of these two new cars. Be prepared for everyone else to tell you the same. What car are you thinking of "scrapping"?

As for personal experience, not a lot, but I have been in a Panda for a short while and it was horribly uncomfortable!
 
i wouldn't buy either of those cars new. i'd get something bigger and/or more powerful, 2nd hand.

however, if i was pushed, i'd get the panda. anything korean can't be a good thing
 
Howard said:
What car are you thinking of "scrapping"?
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My current beast is a 1.2 Renault Clio Versailles, N reg 1996. It's seen better days unfortunately.

Tax and MOT expire in December and the last couple of years its taken me about £100 to get it through the MOT. It's also had a couple of minor mechanical failures in the last year (accelerator cable snapping/starter motor solenoids stopping the car starting).
 
Howard said:
Well done for asking. A cheaper Focus or Mondeo (ignore the size difference... Honestly) will be immeasurably better than either of these two new cars. Be prepared for everyone else to tell you the same.
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Insurance groups. Economical running. I'm looking for something cheap thats going to run for years reliably.
 
Clarkey said:
why not?
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because they're all old designs, with new bumpers etc and still crash like 10+ year old cars.

The Picanto performed badly, only doing just enough to merit its three star rating. This is extremely disappointing for a new model in a market segment where other manufacturers have made major improvements in recent years. However, the car protected its child occupants well, although the protection it gave to pedestrians was poor
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The Panda’s body is strong and stable. But although the car is fitted with front belt pre-tensioners and load limiters, high loads were recorded by the passenger dummy’s chest instrumentation in the frontal impact. High loads were also recorded by the driver dummy’s chest instrumentation in the side impact.
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It might be worth seeing how much car dealerships would be looking to part ex your car for against a used car of interest. It's quite possible that you'll still get a very respectable discount after haggling and the part exchange.

If insurance groups and economy are a concern, how about an 06/07 Fiesta 1.25? These cars would set you back similar money and you should be able to find a very reasonable spec with A/C, Quickclear front windscreen, CD + Aux, Wheel audio controls, central locking, power steering and perhaps alloys. These cars sit in higher insurance groups (3 and 4 IIRC) but they are economical.
 
Owned a Fiat; never would again, they all seem to be rust-buckets and rattle like crazy.

I haven't tried a Kia but I know two people who own (larger) Kias and are VERY happy with them. I understand that Kia is actually owned by Hyundai and I have just bought an Hyundai i20 on the scrappage scheme. My reasoning was the extended warranty on a new car, safety features (airbags, ABS & ESP) that were not available on my 15 year old car and reliability - added to that, I got a very well specced car, A/c, electric windows, electrically heated and retracting wing mirrors, CD player with MP3, etc.

For what it is worth, I would check that you will actually be able to get the car you want on the scrappage scheme. According to the Government regulations the replacement car MUST be supplied within four months and the scheme has proved so popular on certain models that the delivery delay is now > four months.

Incidentally, according to http://www.euroncap.com, the Punto ("The Punto gave a strong performance, revealing no areas of real concern.") is safer than the Picanto ("The Picanto performed badly, only doing just enough to merit its three star rating.").
 
Clearly you are worried that your new Hyundai may prove unreliable, otherwise the existence of a 5 year warranty would be a non-issue. You obviously feel that the car will at some point become unreliable and therefore are pleased to have the warranty there as a safety net.

What I was saying is that there exist better cars out there (Such as much of Honda's range) which whilst not coming with a 5 year warranty, will also give you no reason to have wanted such a thing in the first place.
 
GeX said:
because they're all old designs, with new bumpers etc and still crash like 10+ year old cars.
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You sure about that?

Hyundai i20 - 5-Stars NCAP 2009
Hyundai i30 - 5-Stars NCAP 2008
Kia Sorento - 5-Stars NCAP 2009
Kia Soul - 5-Stars NCAP 2009
Kia Cee'd - 5-Stars NCAP 2008

I think you'll find that none of these cars are more than 3 year old designs.
 
[TW]Fox;14870562 said:
Whilst I am sure thats the going rate, £5000 for a 5 year old Ford Fiesta is pretty hilarious don't you think? I think I'd take a new Panda over that!
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Could be worse :)

stockhausen said:
Owned a Fiat; never would again, they all seem to be rust-buckets and rattle like crazy.
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Fair point, and its personal experiences like this I'm after.

stockhausen said:
For what it is worth, I would check that you will actually be able to get the car you want on the scrappage scheme. According to the Government regulations the replacement car MUST be supplied within four months and the scheme has proved so popular on certain models that the delivery delay is now > four months.
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When I was booking my test drive for the Fiat the salesman stated the delay is currently 3 months.
 
[TW]Fox;14870562 said:
Whilst I am sure thats the going rate, £5000 for a 5 year old Ford Fiesta is pretty hilarious don't you think? I think I'd take a new Panda over that!
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I quite agree, the Fiesta is pretty poor value for money. In fact £5k can buy you an ST220 of a similar age. :eek:

However, if the OP is unwilling to look at anything bigger than a Fiesta, then that's the choice he is stuck with - buy something new with a hairdryer motor under the bonnet, or buy something older, that's a bit faster, better spec etc. but accept it's going to be poor value for money.
 
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Rilot said:
You sure about that?

Hyundai i20 - 5-Stars NCAP 2009
Hyundai i30 - 5-Stars NCAP 2008
Kia Sorento - 5-Stars NCAP 2009
Kia Soul - 5-Stars NCAP 2009
Kia Cee'd - 5-Stars NCAP 2008

I think you'll find that none of these cars are more than 3 year old designs.
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ok, drop the word 'all' from my post and stick to the car in question.. the picanto;

The Picanto performed badly, only doing just enough to merit its three star rating
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[TW]Fox;14870621 said:
Clearly you are worried that your new Hyundai may prove unreliable ...
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I am always worried about the reliability of ANY car, any breakdown is likely to prove inconvenient. There is always the risk with any new car that it is a "Monday manufacture", however in my experience, more things are likely to start going wrong in a 15 year old car.

[TW]Fox;14870621 said:
You obviously feel that the car will at some point become unreliable and therefore are pleased to have the warranty there as a safety net.
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Most cars become unreliable eventually, but no, I view the five year warranty as a bonus and indicative of Hyundai's confidence in their reliability. As with insurance, I hope never to have to call on a warranty scheme.

[TW]Fox;14870621 said:
What I was saying is that there exist better cars out there (Such as much of Honda's range) which whilst not coming with a 5 year warranty, will also give you no reason to have wanted such a thing in the first place.
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I'm sure there are "better" cars out there and having owned a Honda, I think that they are great if overpriced cars.


You seem to have picked up completely the wrong end of the stick over the five year warranty which I never even mentioned and which may or may not be relevant in the case of the Kia Picanto 1.0 and the Fiat Panda Active Eco 1.1,
 
You mentioned it as a key part of your decision, 'my reasonin was the extended warranty on a new car'.

A 3 year warranty on a new car is not extended, it is standard, therefore you must be reffering to the Hyundai's offering which is extended over that of the competition.

Another point, surely after 4-5 years in a Hyundai you'll already have attempted to guage your eyes out with a spoon rather than drive it any longer and will have changed it before you gain this benefit anyway?
 
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