Kia Picanto vs Fiat Panda

[Dace]

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]

What car are you thinking of "scrapping"?

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).

 

[Dace]

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.

Insurance groups. Economical running. I'm looking for something cheap thats going to run for years reliably.

 

[Dace]

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!

Could be worse

Owned a Fiat; never would again, they all seem to be rust-buckets and rattle like crazy.

Fair point, and its personal experiences like this I'm after.

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.

When I was booking my test drive for the Fiat the salesman stated the delay is currently 3 months.

 

[Dace]

In the interests of not derailing this thread, I'll ignore your obvious, unexplained prejudices; do please feel free to start a fascinating thread on "Why I hate Hyundais"

I was going to say something similar

 

[Dace]

However, I know someone who is getting a Panda on scrappage, and he's paying £1000 less then you.

Can you get some more details on this please as I'm interested in how to get a discount on the list price.

And, back on track...

Ok, and I've had my test drives and here are my thoughts on the two cars (stream of though):

Kia Picanto

Fairly attractive to look at. Decent space inside. Nice CD player. Severe braking. Very hard suspension. Noisy engine (and this was the 1.1). Plastic feel to internal panelling. Huge and stupid blind spot on front passenger side. Cheapest version comes in white. Very usable interior layout and decent steering wheel, liked the gear box which was very Clio-esque. I really mean it about the suspension, very clunky. The engine was pretty poor -really sluggish to respond.

Fiat Panda

Looks ok from the front, but the back end is rather boxlike. Higher quality finish to the interior with the exception of the CD player. Far more pleasant to drive - liked the softer suspension, good all-round vision and smoother drive (engine was nowhere near as noisy either). Interior seems a lot smaller than the Picanto. Boot seems a bit on the small side. Engine seemed a lot more responsive and gave some reasonable power.

Conclusion

I'm favouring the Panda at the moment. Much more pleasant to drive. But then again, its £700 more. Definately can't justify spending £350 more for a non-stock paintjob though.

Came away from the dealers pretty pleased that I got to try both without any pushiness. I'll take a couple of days now to think over my decision and possibly look at 2nd-hand options if you guys have any definate suggestions.

lol... got back in my Clio with no power steering and it just felt heavy and sluggish. Damn I've been spoiled today

 

[Dace]

He has simply negotiated an extra £1000 off the £2k the scrappage got him.

Do you have any advice on how to go about this? I have no guile or experience with this sort of thing. I'd honestly be happy to get a decent paintjob thrown into the price, but the dealer doesnt seem too concerned about making the sale (maybe I'm going about it wrong).[/quote]

Without going into tax, the scrappage scheme means the govt. is paying £1000, and the dealer is giving a £1000 discount. So when at their most desperate, a FIAT dealer will let a 1.1 Active go for ~£5k (list price being ~£7k).

The price I'd be paying is 5k pretty much flat for the Fiat or 4.5k for the Kia, which is the bog standard deal after 2k scrappage (see my first post for apres-scrappage prices).

 

[Dace]

I hope you don't want either/any of those cars soon - i've got a panda on order, the lead time is about 2 months i assume the Picanto will be the same - The scappage creates demand for such cheap, small cars.....

2-3 months for both the Picanto and Panda.

I suspect the margins on these cars are pretty small.

The dealer said as much. Tried using cash payment to get something thrown in extra, but he was adament the margins were too tight.

Not the experience I had when my sister was thinking about purchasing a Picanto or Panda. They would not budge at all. I'm talking here not even chuck in free mats. I tried 3 or 4 dealers around here and they all had the same attitude 'we don't care if you don't buy it'.

I was going to try a few dealers, but as you said its probably going to be pointless. Still nice to know I'm not the only one who experienced it

Question: Does anyone know where I can get bumper stickers made up? I want to pimp my Panda with a "sexual harassment" sticker

 

[Dace]

The only category in which it scored below average was for the appeal of the car's interior, with owners saying it could have been more practical, and that the stereo, in particular, was below par. On the other hand, owners liked the low fuel and insurance costs, as well as the good mechanical reliability."

I'd go along with that. The look of the Picanto was better: steering wheel was decent, interior was decent, the CD player was better, interior finish was pretty stylish (except for the tacky plastic door panels!). Plus its a better looking car.

On the downside, the engine is sluggish, the suspension is shocking, some of the interior lacked refinement and the engine was loud.

It was a far more pleasurable experience to drive the Panda, and I'm not going to buy a car for how it looks.

Editing in some Interior Shots:

Panda

Picanto