If you refuel the Maluch, you will double its value.

- Maluch is a quiet car. - Sure but that's only because your knees are blocking your ears.

Difference between Maluch and Maluch Sport model? - Maluch Sport comes with a tennis ball on the tow hook

When I was a kid, the belt in the engine snapped when we were driving on vacation. My dad used my moms pantihose as a substitute and it worked.

Maluch doesn't rust! It is only fully biodegradable.

Maluch can accelerate from 0 to 60 mph in 2.74 seconds ... ... when in free fall.

Thank you Mat for reminding us about the participation of the great Polish 303 Squadron in defending England. Brave guys.

This sound! The sound of this Maluch’s engine. The sound of my childhood:)

Why does Maluch have a heated rear window? For the comfort of people pushing it during winter.

The Maluch is the quietest car- if you are sitting in it, your knees will cover your ears.

For almost entire video I was like: damn why is he constantly blocking the left lane. Until I realised it is in England.

Film o Maluchu: ma malucha Polacy: *allow me to introduce myself*

Here is one polish joke about maluch: When does the Maluch reach its highest speed? During towing.

New title: *Matt Watson doing illegal things for 13 minutes* lol Keep up the great content!

The Fiat 126p used to rust already in the catalogues - that's an old saying my dad used and he owned a 126p in the 80s (fun fact, also in Katowice)

This was my family car and we drove if from Poland over the Alps into Italy. Great workhorse and easy to fix. It was only when I got older and when we came back Poland for a visit that I realized how small it truly was. Upon our escape from Poland in 86’ we gave two nuns a ride when we got into Italy, it was tight. But looking back it must have been a scene 4 adults and two children getting out of the Maluch. Good work Mat for getting yourself one and in the process allowing me to remember my journey and allowing me to show my son what the car looked like.

„...hold my Żubr” lol

The flopping down mirror is actually a feature. They were designed that way so they'd fold down after certain speed to improve aerodynamics.

The Maluch has full approval of Vatican: it is impossible to sin in it.

Childhood memories: dad, mom, grandma, sister, dog, me + laguage going 400km to the sea 😕 Or my dad overtaking at 100kmh, noise, Everything shaking 😳😅 like warp4 space thing Now: modern car 200kmh, Poland-Chroatia or Warsaw-Moscow booooooring

I'm a simple Pole - I see Maluch, I upvote ;) Greetings from PL! :)

Another funny polish joke about Maluch is that is already started rusting in the catalogue 😂

Mat, grettings from Poland and thank you for spreading Maluch history around the world! :D Good job!

My dad would drive me around city in his maluch when I was a baby, because apparently I wouldn’t shut up and go to sleep the other way xD.

12 minutes of Matt breaking the rules in his fiat 126

Mat, I suggest you unscrew the driver's seat, bring a tall friend and have him drive the car from the back seat. It's doable and hilarious, I've seen it happen.

"Just for the opportunity to exact revenge on the Germans...." *Camera pans up to show behind Mercedes in traffic*

I drove an FSM Niki in 1991/2 for a few months and loved it. I found 70-kph ( 42-49mph) ok, 90kph (55mph) thrilling... I once wound it out to 112 kph (68mph) on a flat and that was thrilling too, but in the "I'm 19 and nothing can hurt me!" sense... but the time that taught me about being lucky was beyond any thrill and also terrifying. down a very long hill that little Niki got out of hand. it engine braked well enough for the less steep section and then once the steeper remaining decline had begun those little drum brakes went for a holiday. no idea how accurate that speedo is but I turned the engine off after it hit 125kph around a sweeping right hand bend. I figured the engine was the only brake I had and I had two choices. let it spin hard and maybe go beyond redline to destruction, or use the stopped engine's internal inertia to hold it back. I chose pulsing the clutch to spin the engine up then release it to allow the engine to slow, hoping that friction, inertia and compression slowed it. It worked, we got to the bottom of that run (there were 3 on board!) and took a break. I'm sure it would have went much worse if I'd let the motor spin as it wasn't really holding the car back once the thing sounded like hell in a bucket. The damn thing was hurtling down one section of that decline at about 147kph ( too fcuking fast) before it thankfully levelled a little. Yet I have wanted one ever since, and still do to this day.

I remember the day they were ceasing the 126 production, Polish Radio 3 had a special about it with a phone in. The listeners were very nostalgic about that funny little imitation of a car. One guy said he and a mate, on student holidays, had travelled vast swathes of Eurasia in it, usually carrying some spare parts and tools with them. Best thing about it was its level of complexity - or rather - lack thereof. One time it broke down somewhere in Kazakhstan, they took the whole engine out and fixed it in a public toilet. He said he was over 190 cm tall and had since had numerous "normal" cars, he still felt very emotional about the Maluch in which he'd travelled so much. Nearly everyone in Poland who remembers the 126, has some stories about them...

Great that you mentioned Polish Squadron 303. Good work Matt, greetings from Poland :)

6:34 Hold my Żubr, hahaha good one mate, for that you get a like, you even said the beer's name correctly

Once, during a polish university student's holiday (Juwenalia - you can wiki it ;)), me and my friends saw a guy in Fiat 126p trying to move across a river of young people celebrating their holiday. Since everyone was too busy to leave a gap for the guy, me, my friends and couple of friendly students (6 men in total) lifted up the Fiat, moved with it above our heads across the human river, and delivered the car safely on the other bank :D Glory days :)

Respect for knowledge about squadron 303 not many brits have that knowledge

Drag Race Idea: Maluch vs running Yianni

i remember when I was young, my mum said you always need two of these ... one for each foot!

The level of chaotic energy in this video is just... and the laugh!

Love how people struggle to reverse cars with cameras and sensors. And here's matt in an old Polish cardboard box reversing through a narrow drive through 😂

Hey Matt. True story . Maluchs at one point were so cheap that my friend bought it for 50 zloty which is roughly £10 back in the day .

"hołd my żubr" make my day 😂😂👍. 126 is my first car. I love him.

seeing matts shenanigans treating london like a playground has to be the best content on youtube

So when is the drag race ?

Thank god this channel is not dead

The funny story about the Polish 303 squadron was that the British kept doubting their performance with the kill count of German planes. British ministry kept sending officers to observe the Polish pilots in action to see if they are exaggerating. The assigned officers kept going back singing such high praises that in turn they were also mistrusted - resulting in sending another officer to observe... which lead to sending more officers to audit... which brought them back to square one. They had several go before they gave up. "A Question of Honor: The Kosciuszko Squadron: Forgotten Heroes of World War II" written by Lynne Olson and Stanley Cloud is a great book on the subject. Reads like an action novel.

This is so lovely! I just admire how much fun you've got with the car. My parents used to drive one when I was small. And I saw one in Dagenham last summer. A huge thumbs up for the Polish War Memorial in Northolt!

Thank you for bringing back some great memories of my youth! I spent lots of time in a 126p. Here are some ideas of how to enhance your 126p experience: 1. Take it down some dirt/grave/sandy roads, or maybe even on a beach. As it is very light, rear engined, and rear wheel drive, it gets through the loose/sandy stuff surprisingly well, and, in turns with loose surfaces, it is a 911 at 1/10th scale! 2. It is great for chauffeuring a person around: Remove the front passenger seat, and have your distinguished guest enjoy limo-scale legroom without stirring any anti-bourgeois backlash. You can have your luxury cake & eat it too :-). 3. Use it as a nimble in-town transporter: Remove the front passenger seat, slap on a luggage rack, and be the coolest and most effective courier around. The guys/gals from UPS, FedEx, DHL, etc. will turn green with envy, as will the bike courier folks. 4. Get a N126 caravan trailer, hook it up to your 126p (don't forget to gap the rear hood for better cooling) and go on holiday! The folks with the expensive teardrop trailers will match colors with the couriers mentioned above when they see you pull into the campground. 5. The 126p is a great car to teach somebody how to drive with (that is how I learned): It requires precision and concentration, and is great at teaching somebody how to drive by feeling. Also, in most cases, a little slip up at the controls can be compensated for easily and doesn't risk a major accident. It is a great at teaching smooth inputs, because, if you can become a smooth driver in a 126, your should be able to manage any other more modern automobile with aplomb. I hope this helps, and thank you once again for the trip down memory lane!

This doesn't translate well, but here's an actual conversation I overheard a few years back: -Ok, so I was driving my Maluch and... -I'm sorry, did you say "driving"? -Pardon. So I was *walking* my Maluch...

Greatings from Poland! The motto is: the position of the driver in the Maluch resembles the famous medieval engraving: peasant in pillory.

Greetings from Poland xd you made my day :-)

This is the best old school Top Gear review I've seen. I love the content Mat! Keep it simple and classy

I remember my parents and me aged 10 travelling from Poland to Italy in that one. I also remember how embarassing it was to be overtaken by trucks on a highway...

MAD respect for these videos, even though I haven't been born in Poland, you have certainly sparked a feeling of nostalgia, melancholy and pride of my ancestry.

What do Maluch and a Mercedes have in common? The crumple zone ends in the engine bay

Screw the ferrari and lambo car vlogs I lile this better

You can't even imagine what Maluch is for Poland. This car pretty much motorised most of our families back in the day, in deep f* comunism... My dad had 16 of these in his life. Most used in driving school... Had actually mine as well... They had price like a bicycle in my youth, lol xD

The polish pilots be like "i can hear the fritz over there kurwa!"

Hahaha, dude, I just can't believe you actually drove into the memorial ground...

You can control it like a jet fighter. When you go fast (around 60 MPH in this car), you can turn by opening those small windows near mirrors

Thank you for pointing out that the Polish pilots were so brave, sometimes this fact gets lost in history! We all need to remind everyone of how brave our pilots were!🇵🇱

Oh dude - me and 3 of my mates in my green Maluch going for camping holiday with BoomBox playing KAliber44 - summer 1997 I think - we had some problems going uphills but this is when `ssanie` was handy .... amazing you are driving the Legend. good luck !

Love this video! It was my first car actually!!! Welcome back into 90's :) you made my day :)

I haven’t laughed that much in a long time lol!! Funny episode Mat

Reversing into the drive-through. Loved it. You are a real-life Mr. Bean...Matt Bean

this reminds me my childhood, i was 14 when ive been driving this beauty Maluch:)

I've just bought a nice clean one here in Australia. I take delivery next Saturday. I've wanted one since they had them at the royal Melbourne show in the 80s when I was a kid. I've got a white 91 model with an orange interior.

Mat thank you for a bit of history of 303 squadron !!! History that connect 🇵🇱 &🇬🇧 .

Hold my żubr(polish beer) is the best part 😂

There’s a funny connection between the 303 and Maluch - the person who immortalised the squadron in his 1942 book was Arkady Fiedler, a renowned traveller and travel writer. His grandson, also named Arkady, is known for his affection towards this car and actually drove his Maluch from Egypt to South Africa a couple of years ago. The entire journey was filmed and is available on KZfaq.

I wish I had a friend like you in my childhood who had similar interests as you. This was the first family car and I have so many fond memories of this. Do not have the mechanical know how to maintain a car as such without fuel injection and no oil filter, so the confidence is not quite there considering that most of my local mechanics are also looking to build a receipt and not a relationship. I love the simplicity of this car, its engine note, the heat from the engine bay warming the seats, to the lack of a synchro all adds to it's appeal. Someday, I'll find a place where people aren't too busy looking to out-do the person next to them and possibly take part in silly things such as going through a drive-thru backwards. Good Luck Mr. Mat

I’m not polish, but in Serbia we call this car ‘peglica’ which roughly means small clothes iron.

I'm Polish. And I was laughing crying watching this😂😂😂. The best episode what I ever seen 👍👍

Why it was recommended to me only now?! Great video! Maluch was the first car I had a chance to drive myself. It's interesting seeing it on the streets of London! Thanks!

The trick with fixing Maluch's little foibles is doing it on the side of the road with whatever you can find in the hedge. Once, my dad fixed a faulty thermostat with a small stone on our trip to the lake. It stayed like that for next few months and worked perfectly. Try doing that in the X5

Thanks for paying respect to those who fought and died for you. Greetings from Poland.

I have this car in USA 👍😎And I have more attention then those exotic sports cars 🤣😎🤔🤣👍🤐

Wikipedia says that most of these were produced in a city I was born in. Explains why they were everywhere when I was growing up! My dad was considered posh when he upgraded to VW Polo. Love how much fun you have with it 😄

Now imagine mom and dad with two children going on three weeks vacation. yep. Thats my childhood :)

You Sir, are positively bonkers. This car suits you xD 126p is not a car. It is a mobile story writer. When my dad bought it first, it broke down in the middle of a railway crossing on the way home. He bought it when my mom was pregnant, already in the hospital waiting for her term with me :D Later he decided to paint it. His friend who agreed to paint it left the car outside at some point and it started to rain... So for some time we had it piebald orange :3

Nice of you mentioning the 303. It's one of those stories that aren't being told around much sadly.

Did you know that the Maluch stared in an anime called FLCL? :D It appeared in the 5th episode :D I recommend checking it out!

Great little car, my friend had one at college! Lovin' your work @Matt

In former Yugoslavia it was a super popular car. It has a nickname "Peglica" [pronounced peglica, not peg-Lica] that means small iron (clothes iron). It is almost exclusively known by this name in that region. Original nick name in the region for the car was Tetrapak (Tetra Pak) as it resembled a carton of milk. After the refreshed model came to Yugoslavia under the designation "Polski Fiat 126P GL". Since PeGLa is a clothes iron and the car is small (ica being a suffix for making something miniature), the car got a nickname Peglica.

Pls do a drag race with this Fiat😂

Great video!!!

Funny little thing... these were also popular in Hungary and now they cost about the same as a mkIV Golf. They were called Kispolszki or "little polski/pole". There's an awesome mod to them: you put in a 1000 cm3 engine in it from a hungarian made Suzuki Swift and it'll fly!

In Croatia we call those "Peglica", meaning a tiny clothing iron!

I once did 110kph in that thing, I would have felt safer on a bicycle.

You made me laugh so hard Mat :))!!!! When I was a child we had one of this magic car , 4 people in and a huge suit case on top and we were ready to go all around Poland , amazing times :) !!!

That was brilliant :D had a laugh, it's nice you got our polish Maluszek, hope you get all the cars you want on your channel, subsribed for new videos.

Spent some time in Krakow PL last month, saw just 2 or 3 of these beastirettes. I thought they are already dissolved by the sands of time! Iconic! More vids with Fiat, please)) Greetings from Ukraine.

You have a sticker with a green leaf, it means the beginning driver :)

I drove those for many years. Part of my life ..... Thanks for the smile. Greetings from Poland.

Mat's accent and great personality makes me comeback and watch cars' reviews even if I can't afford to buy one.

thanks for saying word about Polish Pilots of 303 Squadron. Greetings from Poland.

Hahaha I can't stop laughing, your pronunciation in polish is so funny :D I love your videos and I am waiting for more!

lots of memories thanks alot, remember adding remote control central locking to mine!

Hi, I'm Polish and I would like to thank you for a great video about our national law, which is FIAT 126p, I myself "reworked" several models of this car, from the "toddler" from 1982, through FIAT 126 Bis, and ending with the model 126 EL that this is one of the coolest cars I had, in Poland there is such a joke about "toddlers as they are commonly called FIATY 126p, well:" toddler "is perfect but has one drawback, namely, the crumple zone ends on the rear sofa. And one more thing in Poland, often "baby" is called: lighter cough (from coughing engine) and my friend was tenderly saying "bee" to him. Best regards from the city of Łódź.

Greetings from Poland!

I think that it would be interesting to see a drag race between 126p and some old Mini.

Matt - I have a 128 when I was at uni. Great cars. went like the clappers. 1300cc, SOHC and a Weber. awesome.

DUDE I FREAKING LOVE YOU!!!🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣