Fiat’s new Panda is a city car with character
Miniature crossover comes in four models, with either front- or all-wheel drive
FIAT’S quirky little A segment Panda crossover is back in South Africa, this time with a grunty little 875cc TwinAir turbopetrol engine, shared with the Fiat 500, that not only enables it to escape import duty and make some impressive emissions claims, but also adds an extra dimension to the car’s persona.
Even the front-wheel drive Panda is more a crossover than a hatch, with upright seating that makes it taller and more spacious inside than rival city cars (although, in an attempt to maximise that space, Fiat has made the front seats a little narrow for beefy South African behinds), while the all-wheel drive derivatives are remarkably capable offroad once you learn to keep the revs up a little – this is, after all, a two-cylinder engine.
At 63kW and 145Nm it has more than enough grunt for zipping around town, accompanied by a growly soundtrack unlike anything you’ve heard before. At low revs it’s like a diesel without the clatter, but as you begin to explore the power curve it’s more like a big twin-cylinder motorcycle. Nevertheless, it’s a very friendly growl, and the willing little twin never sounds stressed, even when working hard.
The front-wheel drive have a five-speed manual gearbox, with a stubby lever variants mounted high up on the centre stack for quick, fuss-free shifting. The controls are light, the steering precise and the longtravel suspension is firm but supple, free of the choppiness and pitching you’d expect from a relatively light car with a short wheelbase.
Typically Italian, the layout of the controls is a little unexpected – the rockers for the standard electric electric windows are on the bottom of the centre stack, for example – and the Panda does take a bit of learning. The all-wheel drive versions have a six-speed gearbox with a first gear so low it almost qualifies as a fivespeed with underdrive – reassuring when crawling around on rough or sandy terrain, as we did on part of the launch drive. Each drivetrain comes in two trim levels, for a four-strong line-up, starting with the frontwheel drive Easy model. This has black door handles and mirror housings, and runs on 14” black steel rims. Standard kit includes a two-speaker radio/CD player, manual aircon, remote central locking, idle stop, hill hold and tyre pressure monitoring.
The upscale Lounge variant adds body colour door handles and mirror housings, front foglights, a leather-trimmed multifunction steering wheel, automatic air-conditioning, a four speaker sound system with Bluetooth, auxiliary and USB connectivity, front and rear parking sensors and a smartphone cradle – download the app and your phone becomes part of the car’s infotainment system.
The 4x4 model comes with allwheel drive, a six-speed ‘box and 15” steel rims shod with 175/65 tyres, 150mm of ground clearance and all the interior trim features of the Lounge.
The default mode of the ‘Torque on Demand’ system is front-wheel drive, with torque directed to the rear wheels as needed, with two differentials and an electronic centre coupling. The 4x4 variant has an electronic locking differential system that’s manually engaged and works at up to 50km/h, braking the wheels that lose traction and transferring torque to the wheels with more grip.
The range-topping Cross model (with slightly more power at 66kW) takes that a step further with a three-way Terrain Control selector. Hill Descent Control restricts the Panda Cross to walking pace no matter how steep the slope.
The Cross has an extra 11mm of ground clearance thanks to 185/65 all-terrain tyres on 15” steel rims with plastic covers (cheaper and quicker to replace than alloy rims if they get bashed while you’re bundu bashing), steel underbody bash plates and a distinctive body-colour front skid plate, special headlight clusters, fog-lights and LED daytime running lights.
Inside, you get a special copper finish on the dashboard and centre console, a height-adjustable driver’s seat and rear head restraints. There’s also an extra-cost Cross Plus package available that adds 15” alloys, a satin aluminium-finish front skid plate and side mirror housings, and red tow hooks.
PRICES: Panda Easy – R184 900 Panda Lounge – R199 900 Panda 4x4 – R229 900 Panda Cross – R249 900
You can however, knock as much as R40 000 off these prices if you scrap an old vehicle (any make) as part of Fiat’s Big Deal campaign. The idea is to replace inefficient, out-dated polluters on the road with low-emission TwinAir engines. You have to provide proof that it’s your car, that it has been registered for the road within the past six months and that it really has been scrapped.