Not long after I’d had a grand old moan about the Panda’s starter motor, a remarkably clean example of a Renault Clio RS 182 came up for sale. It’s a car I’ve wanted for yonks and the numbers just about made sense, so it all felt like the stars were aligning to give me a way out.
I’d just started organising all of the paperwork in preparation for a part-exchange when the dealer asked for a 10% deposit – oh, and it would be non-refundable. When they then said they couldn’t send a picture of the Clio’s underside, alarm bells started ringing.
I slept on it, only for someone else to beat me to reserving the car. C’est la vie, and probably for the best.
Here’s the odd bit: the following day, the Panda returned to working completely normally, minus the start-up sneezing noise. I thought perhaps it was down to the weather – an unusually warm winter’s morning – but the problem was fixed. It’s almost as if the car was apologising, begging for another chance.
Reinvigorated, I treated the Panda to a new timing belt, a service and a thorough inspection from Fettle & Finesse, the UK’s leading 100HP specialist.
But all went south rather quickly. I mentioned that I was worried about the condition of the sills – a common issue on 100HPs, hidden away under the chunky bodykit.
Then Laurence, F&F’s chief Panda whisperer, managed to pull away a wedge just by hand.
Still, I didn’t think it would be quite so bad.
