| Road Test Fiat Panda 100HP |
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Back . . .
The bounciness and the uncomfortable seating position were exacerbated still further by the startling amount of road noise. I can happily say that, with a few obvious exceptions including various Mitsubishi Evos and what not, I have not driven a louder car than the Panda 100HP for years and years - not because of the engine (which you have to rev hard if you want to hear it perform) but because every last ripple on the road surface boomed through the cabin to the point where I thought my ears were going to start bleeding. Add all that together and you end up with a car which is quite astonishingly tiring to drive. Even my usual 18-mile round trip to the nearest supermarket and back was enough to leave me wanting to have little lie down afterwards. And I couldn't help feeling that was a shame, considering that the whole point of the 100HP is that it should be fun to drive. It is undoubtedly a practical, roomy little car. The standard 206 litres of luggage space can be increased to 236 litres by sliding the rear seats forward, and to 860 litres by folding them down. There isn't much rear legroom to speak of, but it would be a grossly oversized passenger who could complain about hitting their head against the roof. In fact, I'm not sure this could be done by anyone who wasn't actually standing up.
But this applies to all Pandas. The 100HP should be more than a practical runaround - the range is full of those already. It should be a joy to own, a delight to drive, an entertaining hot hatch for people who can't yet afford a proper grown-up one, and I'm afraid it just isn't. Price: £9995 Second Opinion
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