Today, it’s the Driving Experience.

I sometimes wonder if people read this blog, notice the car and the website address and think ’seriously pal, it’s a Panda’, which after all, is a very accurate statement. It is a Panda; a small city car that doesn’t cost a fortune to buy or run, doesn’t do stupid miles per hour or possess hair-on-fire acceleration, yet in my mind none of these things make a whole heap of difference if the car drives and handles like a builder’s wheelbarrow.

When you sit in the Panda, it feels much like any other and to the average car driver this is how it will remain until the journey has ended. But to a car enthusiast, someone who appreciates the automobile, they will already be wondering how it sounds when the engine starts. For me, this is where the 100hp experience starts. It has a great, growly, mechanical but tuneful engine note, which seems to do a fair impression of a Boxer engine at times, coaxing you to push the revs a little higher than normal.

On the road it’s planted and precise, forget the obsession with the stiff suspension – no, it doesn’t ride like a normal car, move on – for once you’re on a good road and stringing together some corners, you’ll be glad of it. Like the suspension, the 100hp’s power steering was another point of contention on release, but has largely been forgotten since then, the reason being is that it’s pretty good. There’s no doubt it feels different to ‘normal’ power steering, but that’s it, just different, not better or worse. To me it’s communicative and suitably responsive even without Sport mode activated, but with the button pressed, it weights up nicely without losing feeling.

To my eternal disappointment, the roads which I travel regularly are filled with traffic ranging from suicidal bikers, cretinous taxi drivers, oblivious Hyundai drivers and a whole host of German saloon drivers who are convinced that I am holding them up in some way. This type of environment is not suitable for the aggressive throttle response which Sport mode brings with it, thus it’s almost continually off. But to the Panda’s credit, it’s still enormous fun to drive.

When I do get some clear air, or leave the city, Sport mode is an addictive little thing which has the unfortunate side effect of making you press on far harder than you would normally. The acceleration feels like it’s not going to end, the instant-on response from the throttle fools you into thinking something much more potent lies under the stubby bonnet and that engine note seems to get even better. It’s the closest you can get to having two cars in one.

Is this a lot of gushing for a Panda? Yes, it is and I’m not ashamed to say so. For I am still astonished that I have been able to find a car which looks this good, feels this good to drive and is suitably different, which doesn’t cost a fortune to run nor did it require me to prostitute myself or close family members in order to purchase it.

Is the Panda driving perfection? No, of course it’s not. What it is though, is pretty close for the amount of cash involved, if you’re looking to buy new. I’ve enjoyed myself every time I have driven my 100hp in much the same way as I did with my old MX-5. With the Mazda, I lived in an area criss-crossed with country lanes and sweeping A-roads and with the Panda, I live in (well, near) a busy city where I have to make an effort to get to the good stuff. It’s got to have a split personality, otherwise it would either be a) tedious or b) terrifying, instead of what it is for me – a great car in the environment it was clearly designed for.

Let’s be honest, if the driving experience was a negative point of the 100hp, I would have mentioned it by now.