GTP Cool Wall: 2012(+?) Fiat Panda 4x4 TwinAir Turbo

[LMSCorvetteGT2]

I dunno. The Fiesta has some of that DaimlerChrysler chintzyness in it.

Yeah I agree, but I also have those square patches in the Fiat as tiles in my previous home so...

 

[JAHHAJ]

Even the very slowest accelerating model is no slower than many other city cars - not to mention trucks, vans and SUVs - and this two-pot TwinAir does 0-62mph in 11.2s, the same as a 125hp Fiesta EcoBoost that the press raves over...

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I've only been in the pre facelift base spec Panda and that felt really slow, I doubt the twin air feels much faster on the road. The interior looks to be upgraded on the facelift but I still don't like it. Compared to the Ford, the interior seems ok but I still don't like it. The one that I've been in had horrible road noise especially considering the type of car it is.

 

[homeforsummer]

Wouldn't know about that - but I'll defer to hfs who owned a 100HP for a while...

In the year and a half I owned mine I drove it to the Geneva Motor Show and Frankfurt Motor Show and back from Yorkshire. The former trip in particularly is a fairly healthy one - 800 miles and roughly 14-15 hours each way, which I did in one go on the way back.

It's no noisier than any other small car really. And the current model is widely-known to be both quieter and more comfortable, so...

Incidentally, while I only owned it a short time, maintenance-wise it also cost me less money than any other car I've owned. Those Fiats, eh?

 

[White & Nerdy]

What bias though? I don't see any bias or infighting, there's nobody I see that unilaterally criticizes American cars or V8's. I get what you mean that there's a middle point to everything, but here I see a small group that's convinced cars should be the same as the 60's and another group that thinks cars from the 60's are cool but is also accepting newer cars and newer designs. Maybe in the general public there's people who don't like V8's and such but I don't see many people on GTP saying it isn't fun, more that there's no reason to put them in a city car.

Well there you go. What I see is myself and maybe two other people who think a car should be fast, engaging, and macho, versus the entire rest of the site, which is made up of people who only care about gadgets, quality, and making sure the engine isn't too big.

 

[homeforsummer]

Well there you go. What I see is myself and maybe two other people who think a car should be fast, engaging, and macho, versus the entire rest of the site, which is made up of people who only care about gadgets, quality, and making sure the engine isn't too big.

Which, if you let stuff through that thick skull of yours just once, you'd realise to be complete bollocks. A huge number of us here like the same sort of cars you do - we just like other stuff as well and aren't completely closed-minded to different aspects of car culture. Or indeed life in general.

Christ. I've never encountered someone of such pig-headed ignorance and unwillingness to broaden his mind. It's like you're actively trying to be a moron sometimes.

 

[Roo]

W&N - is homeforsummer on your ignore list?

 

[Famine]

I'm just trying to work out how driving a Mk1 MX-5 with the largest possible engine and no gadgets and building a stripped out car with 30% extra engine capacity and a supercharger lumps me into the people who only care about gadgets, quality and making sure the engine isn't too big.

Which, if you let stuff through that thick skull of yours just once, you'd realise to be complete bollocks. A huge number of us here like the same sort of cars you do - we just like other stuff as well and aren't completely closed-minded to different aspects of car culture. Or indeed life in general.

Christ. I've never encountered someone of such pig-headed ignorance and unwillingness to broaden his mind. It's like you're actively trying to be a moron sometimes.

All of this. Twice.

 

[Bopop4]

I'm just trying to work out how driving a Mk1 MX-5 with the largest possible engine and no gadgets and building a stripped out car with 30% extra engine capacity and a supercharger lumps me into the people who only care about gadgets, quality and making sure the engine isn't too big.

You have an LS7 Miata?

 

[White & Nerdy]

It started with the Cavalier vs. Cruze arguments, wherein the site's core userbase defended a 3,000 pound "compact" car with an 83 ci turbo four based on build quality and technical sophistication (and fuel economy, but the Cruze needed a lug-tastically tall 6th gear to acheive its high MPG ratings, probalby because it weighs 3,000 pounds). Then told me I should have got an I4 import because... interior quality! (and some other things, but that was the most annoying one). Then, managed to call my Sunbird (maybe 2,600 lbs despite having an iron V6) a chick car, while not having any such problem with the wimpish-looking, under-engined, over-luxuried Cruze. I don't doubt that the Cruze, or the Civics and Corollas you were saying I should've got, are very attractive to most modern city-dwellers with no interest in the act of driving, itself.

But you people were making it very clear that you, yourselves, would take the Cruze or the older I4 imports over a J-car, and thought I should have done the same. That's when I started thinking that most of GTP considers macho to be a negative thing, wants smaller engines in everything, and cares about luxury first and foremost.

 

[Famine]

You have an LS7 Miata?

Nope. Don't own one with a ship engine in it either.

It started with the Cavalier vs. Cruze arguments, wherein the site's core userbase

That's everyone except three people, right? I mean you said that everyone except three people (you and two others) "only care about gadgets, quality, and making sure the engine isn't too big."...

defended a 3,000 pound "compact" car with an 83 ci turbo four based on build quality and technical sophistication (and fuel economy, but the Cruze needed a lug-tastically tall 6th gear to acheive its high MPG ratings, probalby because it weighs 3,000 pounds)

I'd rather nail my scrotum to the cobbles of Red Square than own a Chevrolet Cruze.

Then told me I should have got an I4 import because... interior quality! (and some other things, but that was the most annoying one).

I think you chronically misunderstood what was being said to you.

I know, shocker right?

Then, managed to call my Sunbird (maybe 2,600 lbs despite having an iron V6)

2,750 if you can't be bothered with your own gears, 2,640 if you can.

a chick car

I've canvassed the women of this house. They say it's "laughably ugly", "urrrgh" and "who would seriously drive that".

I pointed out it was manly. They laughed.

while not having any such problem with the wimpish-looking, under-engined, over-luxuried Cruze.

I'd rather nail my scrotum to the cobbles of Red Square than own a Chevrolet Cruze.

I don't doubt that the Cruze, or the Civics and Corollas you were saying I should've got, are very attractive to most modern city-dwellers with no interest in the act of driving, itself.

Apparently you've never driven a Civic. Also I doubt even Pontiac's press office would have gone with "Sunbird 3.1 V6 - for people interested in the act of driving" - I'm not sure it'd even rank in the top seven hundred cars of 1993 for the driving experience.

But you people were making it very clear that you, yourselves, would take the Cruze or the older I4 imports over a J-car, and thought I should have done the same.

I'd rather nail my scrotum to the cobbles of Red Square than own a Chevrolet Cruze.

That said, I'd put the nail through one of the twins rather than own a Sunbird.

That's when I started thinking that most of GTP considers macho to be a negative thing

What, because in a choice between a shed and a laughably poor shed, more people who expressed a preference for either suggested they'd rather have the newer one?

The Cruze is as macho as a handlebar moustache. The Sunbird is as macho as assless chaps. Drawing the conclusion that everyone but three people are a bit effeminate because more people polled said they'd go for the moustache is about as sane as what you've done.

wants smaller engines in everything, and cares about luxury first and foremost.

From one comparison of two cars? You'd be as sane to suggest it means everyone on GTPlanet owns a Chevrolet.

Do you take special meds and, if so, are you off them at the moment?

 

[Roger the Horse]

And what do you have against those who aren't manly?

My idea of a real man is not someone who drinks alcohol they made themself and drives a muscle car that they have to fuel using the alcohol they made themself because they can't afford actual petrol. My idea of a real man is anyone who happens to have a gender orientation which is such that they would prefer it if they were referred to as a man.

 

[Beeblebrox237]

While we're on the subject, my idea of a real man is someone who doesn't ever feel the need for something to be manly because he isn't wildly insecure. I'd say that a male Fiat 500 driver is far manlier than the male driver of a lifted pickup truck.

 

[Bopop4]

Nope. Don't own one with a ship engine in it either.

A ship engine?

 

[Famine]

An engine. From a ship.

 

[Azure Flare]

Noob: Fun is a gas pedal embedded in a floorboard and a large engine and loud pipes drowning out the world. That's my opinion on cars summed up in one sentence.

What happens when a corner appears?

Do you slow down and go around it slowly?

Do you slow down and see how fast you can get around it?

Or, do you kick the clutch, mash the gas and slide that bitch?

Naw, going straight is more your thing...

 

[Bopop4]

An engine. From a ship.

I was being semi-serious about the Corvette engine in a Miata, it's not that big.

 

[Famine]

I'm just curious why you chose to misunderstand "biggest engine possible" (being a 1.8 nasp four - though the 1.6i turbo reached similar airflow equivalence) as a middling capacity V8. It's scarcely the biggest engine possible, even if you approach the sentence from the mindset of someone thinking about swaps.

 

[Bopop4]

Because that's the biggest engine I've ever heard of being swapped into a Miata.
(Sure, anything can be swapped in, but that seems to be the biggest you can fit without ripping the car apart.)

If you go to all the trouble of swapping an engine, shouldn't you have at least gotten something bigger than a 1.8?

 

[The Stig Farmer]

Isn't an LS7 a bit overkill for an MX5?

 

[Bopop4]

Isn't an LS7 a bit overkill for an MX5?

500hp in a 2200lb car? Perfect.

With that kind of p/w it's more like a 4 wheeled bike, and you can still get 30mpg.

 

[Famine]

If you go to all the trouble of swapping an engine, shouldn't you have at least gotten something bigger than a 1.8?

You still seem intent on misunderstanding the concept as an engine swap, despite everything...

 

[homeforsummer]

If you go to all the trouble of swapping an engine, shouldn't you have at least gotten something bigger than a 1.8?

Hint: The biggest engine Mazda itself put in an NA MX-5 is a 1.8. The engine swap is for Famine's other car (and it's not a V8 either).

 

[Bopop4]

You still seem intent on misunderstanding the concept as an engine swap, despite everything...

?

An engine swap is to make the car better, if you're spending the time to pull an engine and put in a different one, would it not be better to install one bigger than what the factory later put in?

 

[MatskiMonk]

It's not about the capacity of the V8 you put in it, it's about how many V8's you put in it

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Anyhow, I went cool... Despite the fact I dislike pretty much everything about it, I've always had a secret lust for an early Panda 4×4, just as a winter beater... and man I would 🤬 that 🤬 in much the same way as I wouldn't mind an old Lada. As for the newer Panda, well, I'm trying to get my sister to buy one.... she's a vegan mad cat lady, how's that not cool?

 

[Famine]

?

An engine swap is to make the car better, if you're spending the time to pull an engine and put in a different one, would it not be better to install one bigger than what the factory later put in?

I don't know what this has to do with anything I said, nor still why you're choosing to understand the concept of a Mk1 MX-5 with the biggest engine possible as a car with a swapped 7 litre Chevy.

 

[Bopop4]

I don't know what this has to do with anything I said, nor still why you're choosing to understand the concept of a Mk1 MX-5 with the biggest engine possible as a car with a swapped 7 litre Chevy.

Read everything back over.

You said you had a Miata with the largest engine, that would usually mean an LS7. (Since that's the biggest swap that I can find that people have actually done. A Viper or Veyron motor doesn't count if no one has done it.)

I don't really get the first part since I've asked twice now why you went with a 200cc increase rather than something like a 2.4.

 

[Roger the Horse]

Somehow, Azure Flare just vastly changed my outlook on drag racing...

 

[Beeblebrox237]

Read everything back over.

You said you had a Miata with the largest engine, that would usually mean an LS7. (Since that's the biggest swap that I can find that people have actually done. A Viper or Veyron motor doesn't count if no one has done it.)

I don't really get the first part since I've asked twice now why you went with a 200cc increase rather than something like a 2.4.

He never, ever said that he swapped the Miata's engine.

 

[Cano]

Sunbird

macho

Eh I think there's the problem. You keep spewing macho crap and then you proceed to defend your Sunbird which is not a macho car in any sense in any place in any culture ever. If you drove around in a freaking 69 Charger with a tunnel ram and two dominators and 5:13 gears with a spool, you'd have some credibility... but still you'd be quite fun to laugh at because your reasoning would still be primitive as hell and all-exclusive of, well, automotive culture. But at least you'd have some stuff to back you up.

 

[Bopop4]

He never, ever said that he swapped the Miata's engine.

Ah ok.

I read it that he had swapped it because nobody would ever brag about the 1.8 being a big engine.