Don't believe the hype?

The gut reaction is -

It's a Fiat It's a Diesel It's new and thats financial suicide.

HOWEVER. If you need something small, cheap to run, and no worries about it costing you a fortune if it breaks, and the finance deal is that good, then maybe, just maybe, it's a good idea...

Yup... one that seems to be quite in demand.

They do good diesels, have done for a while...

But is it?

I've worked it out, and when you take into account the likely depreciation over three years, and the money it'll still be worth when I've paid it all off, and own it outright, it isn't really.

They're doing 0% interest over three years, with no deposit... I can't even buy a secondhand one off them, with that deal - to buy their year old demo without all the options I want, it worked out to £10 a month cheaper on a car worth a fair bit less. :-S

And how will it cost me a fortune when it breaks, given it has a three year warranty on it, and I don't intend to keep it beyond that, or skip any of the, what seem reasonably priced, services?

I keep looking at it, vs the cost of running an old car, and it's not that dear by comparison, when you take into account the usual repairs / MOT costs etc., you end up with, on an older car - that, and it has the warranty, and is supposedly exceptional on fuel economy.

Thats what i meant, there is no worries about it breaking and costing you anything, 'cos of the 'warrenty'.

My bad.

'Should have gone to Specsavers'

And yes, that's one of the main pluses for me - not having to keep spending out, patching up old s**te all the time. :)

->Fiats new Panda... the new Multijet Diesel one.

->

->Is it as good as 'they' (1) say, or would I be an eejit to get one?

Mate of mine is a service manager at a Fiat dealers, says the 4x4 Panda is the best car Fiat have made for a long time (1)

(1) That carries the Fiat badge.

I haven't driven one but I've been in one and I'm astounded. FIAT seem to have really pulled it out of the bag with the Panda. What's more, I don't know if they will depreciate badly or not but they seem pretty popular and second hand ones aren't that much cheaper than new ones especially if you take into account the 0% interest and no deposit crazy deals they are offering. And Fiats come with a 5 year 'warrenty' these days don't they? Or was that just Alfas?

The only thing I'm not sure about is the diesel choice, surely the economy isn't that different and the extra initial cost and extra servicing would offset the minimal fuel efficiency gains?

There's one thing that people do seem to miss with the whole diesel/petrol debate, and that's that around town, just due to their nature, diesels are a lot more economical than petrols, especially on lots of short journeys. And the "extra servicing" is a myth these days - most equivalent petrol and diesel engines have near identical service intervals, thanks to modern super-duper synthetic oils. And those Fiat 1.3 Multijet engines are

All 20 seconds to 60, of it... ;-)

Be fair, it's not had many tough acts to follow!

It needs a service every 12k - same as the petrol, if I'm not mistaken, and it's fixed price, which doesn't look too shabby from what the dealer has told me so far... it's also the quickest in the range, and the economy, around town at least (and going by the official figures), works out to something like over 33% more miles per gallon, over the petrol.

And my prime usage of a car these days, is round town.

All this aside... I, for my, what I'm sure will be now lambasted to death by some in here, sins, prefer the power delivery of the diesel.

I've not had a petrol car yet I've managed to equal or exceed the manufacturers economy figures with - diesels, I've managed to do this several times.

And finally... the diesel is the one, bar the 4x4, that will be most in demand in three years time, I reckon, secondhand.

It's not just that - I prefer the power delivery of a diesel... the uphill effortless grunt etc.

If I want to go thrash ten shades out of something to get my kicks, I take the bike.

The 1.9 JTDs aren't all that sad, either.

Anyone fancy an R reg one, as I've got one of these (amongst other things), at the moment - will come with a years MOT. :-D

Sheep :-)

You've done your homework, you've almost sold one to me so hurry up then!

ROTFL...

I can't have one until the end of September, if I am lucky, apparently.

I might be buying my Mk4 Golf TDI back off my dad anyway, so we shall see. :-)