I feel like it’ll be a big departure from the ingenuity and character of the 2012 / outgoing Panda exterior. Especially before they made it bland in 2016 :-/
General Here it is, officially the new Panda
- Thread starter PuntoHowTo
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General Here it is, officially the new Panda
This is not the new Panda...its the first sight platform the new Panda will be based on.
Given the 2 years or so until new Panda launch they will have had ample time to make changes if they want to.
If you look at say the interior of a Peugeot 208 versus a Corsa they are very different.
So to be clear all UK C3s at launch have a 10.5 touchscreen at present which is landscape.
Next year there will be a hybrid and a cheap one joining the line up as at launch the choices are pure electric or pure ICE with a 6 speed manual. The hybrid will be a 6 speed auto..and the Cheaper one comes with a rotating phone holder with a socket to allow to use the speakers in the car with your phone if you want. This is expected to start around 16k for the pure ice manual if not less.
Given the 2 years or so until new Panda launch they will have had ample time to make changes if they want to.
If you look at say the interior of a Peugeot 208 versus a Corsa they are very different.
So to be clear all UK C3s at launch have a 10.5 touchscreen at present which is landscape.
Next year there will be a hybrid and a cheap one joining the line up as at launch the choices are pure electric or pure ICE with a 6 speed manual. The hybrid will be a 6 speed auto..and the Cheaper one comes with a rotating phone holder with a socket to allow to use the speakers in the car with your phone if you want. This is expected to start around 16k for the pure ice manual if not less.
So the stupidity is just with the photo setup. That'll be marketing then, not the engineers. I still would not buy any such vehicle.
Phones will move on. Later phones may become incompatible with the car. My 2015 Fabia is not directly compatible with current bluetooth, as the later bluetooth is not backwards compatible. Found a workaround with Android, make the phone use the older bluetooth.
It has a cable and port in the dash so Bluetooth doesn't come it unless you bring it into it.
Our 2017 seems quite happy to pair with phones in 2024..but we use a cable due to Android Auto.
Out of interest can you name any other new cars you'll be able to buy in 2025 with a manual gearbox, straight petrol engine, manual hand brake physical turny knob heating controls and no touchscreen?
Our 2017 seems quite happy to pair with phones in 2024..but we use a cable due to Android Auto.
Out of interest can you name any other new cars you'll be able to buy in 2025 with a manual gearbox, straight petrol engine, manual hand brake physical turny knob heating controls and no touchscreen?
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The Panda Nut
Nutty about Pandas Infected by Panda virus and OPD
Use a a great big crowbar on it and turn it round. Then do the rest of it. Hideous thing. It is NOT a Panda.
The Panda Nut
Nutty about Pandas Infected by Panda virus and OPD
That is the whole point with this stuff. Built in obsolescence perfect for car makers. Just what they excel at. Some of this stuff is useful no doubt but it doesnt do much to contribute to the task of getting from A to B. Totally agree with you. If you need to be young to appreciate this distracting rubbish, thanks Ill stay old.
The Panda Nut
Nutty about Pandas Infected by Panda virus and OPD
I hope this improves matters, but I still dont want anything big and the joy of a Fiat is the feel and the delightful drive if STallantis the stick inscet do manage to reatin this I will be presuaded, but I will not holf my breath. Might just buy another Panda and keep it tucked away.
Well unfortunately FCRAP had no money due to building very few cars badly and failing to sell them..so here we are.
No. But my complaint was not that it had a touchscreen, but that it didn't have one. It appears to have a radio, and perhaps a satnav, inacessible until the owner provides their own screen.
But at the same time...if you want a touchscreen thats available.
If you don't then that's actually not currently available but will be. I'd doubt it has any built in radio or satnav on that one as it's literally a case of "supply your own in car entertainment" similar to the olden days when you got 2 speakers, an aerial wire and a hole in the dash on the base model.
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OP
OP
I suspect that the car has a power connection for your phone and then connects to the car via Bluetooth, this would actually insure a very long term compatibility as Bluetooth technology at the moment has pretty much reached the limit of what it needs to do. If they update the standards further then any future bluetooth tech would be backwards compatible with the older cars. There may come a point in the future that new bluetooth moves away from the tech used in this car for whatever reason but that would be decades into the future.
I still have a Bluetooth speaker from ?2008 that still works with modern Bluetooth devices.
I still have a Bluetooth speaker from ?2008 that still works with modern Bluetooth devices.
I think it depends, I remember a few years ago Samsung botched the upgrade to Bluetooth 5.0 so when I got a new phone it wouldn't work properly with the Bluetooth in the Mazda. Used to skip all the time when playing music.
It was retrospectively fixed in a software update by Samsung but you're very much at the mercy of the phone maker to make sure their stuff works given they are meant to be compliant with standard but in this case it was not.
This was about 2018 though...and they are still in a version of Bluetooth 5 now. Bluetooth is meant to be fully backwards compatible as long as your phone manufacturer follows the standard correctly.
It was retrospectively fixed in a software update by Samsung but you're very much at the mercy of the phone maker to make sure their stuff works given they are meant to be compliant with standard but in this case it was not.
This was about 2018 though...and they are still in a version of Bluetooth 5 now. Bluetooth is meant to be fully backwards compatible as long as your phone manufacturer follows the standard correctly.
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I think there's a difference between the bluetooth version, and the communication protocol version. My Fabia communicates with protocol 1.3, whereas the 2022 phone uses 1.4. 1.4 is not backwards compatible with 1.3, or at least not fully. I could make and recieve calls, but it would not transfer the contacts or text messages. My Android had 1.3 embedded, and I was able to dig deep into the phone and revert to that.
OP
OP
I am not sure what year your Fabia is, but I am sure you've mentioned it in the past.
We were on version 2.0 of Bluetooth back in 2005 and there was no version 1.3 or 1.4 so I wonder if this is a phone and software compatability thing, and the way contacts where stored on the phone or by the car, rather than it being an issue with bluetooth itself. as you where able to dig into something in the history of one phone to get it to work, that would tend to imply that it was software as the it is the hardware that supports the version of bluetooth being used yes there is some software to getting that to work but you can't for example take a version 1 bluetooth device and just update some software to make it bluetooth version 4, anymore than you can take an FM radio and Tweak some software to make it DAB.
Maybe I've missed something here but I can't see how transfer of data will be a problem when all the car is going to be doing is acting like a set of Bluetooth earphones and all the data is staying on the phone whichever one you may have at the time.
The only possibility of it no longer being supported is the Bluetooth standard itself either becoming defunct or future standards not being backwards compatible.
The only possibility of it no longer being supported is the Bluetooth standard itself either becoming defunct or future standards not being backwards compatible.
Now i'm near my phone again, I've been able to interrogate it. It won't tell me what version of bluetooth it is on, but there is a protocol called 'Bluetooth AVRCP version'. Phone was originally on 1.4, now set back to use the earlier 1.3. 2015 Fabia is on 1.3.
I've no idea what that all is, but when I got the new phone, it only connected with the car with very basic functionality. Setting back to 1.3 regained all the previous functionality for phone connectivity. This is for calls, text messages, and contact list. This is not the same as bluetooth for music streaming, which I've never used.
I've no idea what that all is, but when I got the new phone, it only connected with the car with very basic functionality. Setting back to 1.3 regained all the previous functionality for phone connectivity. This is for calls, text messages, and contact list. This is not the same as bluetooth for music streaming, which I've never used.
Ah yes...not been in developer mode since I had a Samsung now it makes sense.
However the 2017 Citroën appears to be quite happy with 1.5 and displays album art etc via Bluetooth.
Obviously having android auto it reads texts out as they come if you tell it to...and also can access call histories if needed.
However not sure how this would ever affect a car that doesn't really interact with your phone except via its own app if at all.
If you're using the phone holder...all the data stays on the phone. The only interfaces with the car would be volume and track adjustment perhaps answer which tend to be on a steering wheel control which does nothing until a phone is attached.
We've got a voice command button..does absolutely nothing except in Android Auto and Carplay so the car is designed with the expectation of you using it in that way.
However the 2017 Citroën appears to be quite happy with 1.5 and displays album art etc via Bluetooth.
Obviously having android auto it reads texts out as they come if you tell it to...and also can access call histories if needed.
However not sure how this would ever affect a car that doesn't really interact with your phone except via its own app if at all.
If you're using the phone holder...all the data stays on the phone. The only interfaces with the car would be volume and track adjustment perhaps answer which tend to be on a steering wheel control which does nothing until a phone is attached.
We've got a voice command button..does absolutely nothing except in Android Auto and Carplay so the car is designed with the expectation of you using it in that way.
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I wouldn't say the FCA era of Fiat made bad cars. Two things: they kept trying to break into some of the most difficult markets that they had no hope of competing in and secondly, the forced move to adopt an all BEV strategy in a stupidly short timeframe by the EU legislators.
1. Focussing on markets they have no hope in
The US - far too much time and money spent taking the 500 into the US a decade ago. A market where they consider the Ford Focus how we consider the Fiat 500, and they consider the Fiat 500 how we consider smart cars or Renault Twizy's... not exactly the sort of appeal needed to sustain a brand. Even Peugeot / Citroen brand got out and stayed out for a long time because they had no interest in trying too hard to produce cars that weren't appealing to the American consumer which was sort of a wise move, because they've done fine withoht it. Fiat, other than a few funny ads from the US, have not much to show for it.
The C-Segment - The Tipo, hardly a bad car tbh. Budget? Sure. That's fine though, at the start (not now) they were modestly priced compared to a Golf or Focus. I think the issue here is the competitiveness of this segment was too high and with the influx of the cheap Korean brands getting decent in the last decade, and the rise of Dacia etc, it was either buyers going for those, or buying a used Focus / Golf / equivalent because they needed the size class and couldn't consider a new or used A/B segment car for practicality reasons. So the Tipo didn't have much hope there.
The 124 - I thought this was a stunning car looks wise, sure, it's not much of a real Fiat but when was being a Mazda ever a bad thing? Boring style? It's got Fiat style. Boring for never breaking down? Outside of BMW fans, who misses that. I don't think they expected this to sell high volumes but EU emissions legislation scrapped that again...
The 500L - People complain about this a lot but there was a LOT of them around on the roads. Seemed to have a lot of superficial problems initially, similar to the small 500 with the amount of bespoke or custom new parts for it breaking a lot. Not sure how the engine choice fared in a bulkier car. Maybe this one could be considered 'bad'. An attempt to compete with Citroen / Peugeot big people carriers? People carriers seemed to have mostly went the way of the saloon nowadays anyway. The 500L never got a replacement so won't argue that even Fiat seen it as not worthwhile.
Had FCA focussed on what it's good at, and not the models above, e.g. the Panda and 500 (also FCA cars, also best sellers, also strong from front to back bumper by all measures) - clearly, they could make a good car and a commercial success. I think 1 is summed up by them certainly wasting their time and money on the above models where others did it better, or cheaper or both.
2. Forced BEV strategy / legislation
All EU based car makers can / will / are / have suffered with this. Even the big guys. VW and Mercedes who went all in have since come back to reality, consumers are happy. Journalists / activists not so much, but who cares - they are out of touch with reality like the legislators. Electric technology should be taken seriously for sure, Fiat did not take it seriously, not soon enough. Had it gotten the 500e and a utility Panda variant on the road a year or two earlier and rolled out the same platform / tech to the likes of a new Tipo and 500X (and accordingly to the Jeep, Alfa, etc shared platform cars) for the current generation, maybe they would have had a chance. Instead they were clearly holding out (ignorance or deliberately?) and talking to PSA about the merge. Lazy option in my view which destroyed Fiat as we know it and ever will know it again.
Now, in fairness, even if FCA produced a fair attempt at an electric offering, I doubt they'd have been able to compete with the influx of utter rolling waste coming from Chinese slave factories in any case. Banding together is realistically, the only way any of the EU car makers have a chance in the next decade / era. EV or not, after all, the Chinese are happy to slap a British badge (and not even a very good one) on a blatant parody design of a selection of respectable / real car makers (Mazda, Mercedes, even elements from Hyundai's) AND have the audacity to sell you a 20+ year old, no longer fit for purpose, old scrap GM engine from the early 2000s with poor mpg, no refinement, and a jerky gearbox. For some reason... people can't get enough of them. It's affecting all of the car brands we can buy on this side of the planet. Fiat never really stood a chance against that. Arguably, as I think we touched on before on the forum, we'll probably see a lot of brands go away because of this. I think Fiats name was squarely on that list if it wasn't for the merger.
Tl;dr Fiat (FCA) made good cars and bad cars. I'd argue changes in the world around it beyond its control and a lack of focus has left them where they are now. Doubtful I'll ever buy a Fiat badged PSA product tbf.
Less like a children's art project and more like a car.
Seems to have a better stance at least then the C3 unless it's concept car wheelage and ride height games.
www.topgear.com
It does however look like a Jeep Avenger.
Seems to have a better stance at least then the C3 unless it's concept car wheelage and ride height games.
Here’s your first look at the new Fiat Grande Panda
Reinvented Fiat icon will arrive in both hybrid and electric forms later this year
It does however look like a Jeep Avenger.
I've just seen the new Grande Panda on Autocar, I have to say I'm not a fan of the looks nor the £15k starting price, with that starting price the whole thing of what the Panda is meant to be has gone out the window
