As I suspect was the case with many Panda 100hp owners, a series of reviews in car enthusiast’s magazine Evo was highly influential in my decision to buy the car. The first I saw of the 100hp was in the December 2006 copy of Evo. The first bite is of course with the eye, and if I recall correctly my first thought was “fugly” before continuing to leaf through the magazine.
A couple of months later in February 2007, Evo did a more complete test. This time they featured a grey 100hp being driven hard on the fantastic roads of North Wales. I love the roads in that part of the world and have been there more times than I can remember just to drive and take in the breathtaking scenery. I still was not won over by the car’s looks, but after the extremely positive review (and impressive 4.5 star rating) I certainly had a new found respect for it.
Evo went on to review a series of second hand performance cars that cost the same price (at that time) as a new Panda 100hp and then finished with a face off between the 100hp and the MK1 Renault Clio V6, with the 100hp coming out with distinction against a car with 130bhp more power.
The car that was featured in these tests was kept by Evo magazine for several months as a long term test “Fast Fleet” car, coverage of which is available in the following articles:
January 2008 – End of Term review
Finally, in July 2009 Evo included the 100hp in a “Supermini” test along with a Fiesta, Arbarth 500, Mazda 2, Swift, Twingo & Colt. It finished in a creditable third place behind the Twingo and the Swift.
Although almost completely positive, one thing that the Panda was picked on was it’s “bouncy bouncy bouncy” ride. From my initial experience with the car, this is something that they probably didn’t cover enough as it’s the most unsettled ride I’ve ever experienced in a car. The springs are not especially hard, but the shock absorbers are unable to adequately damp them as they rebound, causing a ride something like pogoing on a see-saw! This is something that can be addressed and I will cover my attempts to improve the ride in the coming weeks.
Panda 100HP 