With much speculation, the Fiat Panda seems to be doing rounds in various forum with no clue when the car is going to be launched.
I happen to take a test drive of the car during my visit to Florence, Italy. Thanks to the Multi Brand dealership Brandini for providing me with Fiat Panda and Abarth 500 (review coming soon) for a quick Test drive and review.
Following is the spec of car I drove-
Engine - 0.9 TwinAir Turbo
Max power - 85hp at 5500rpm
Max Torque - 145 Nm at 1900rpm
Transmission - Manual
Please note that this is not an official review and the spec of car meant for India may be completely different. This thread will provide very basic input about the car what I gained in a 20 minutes test drive and 10 minutes photo-shoot.
The shape of this car follows a strict pattern of rounded rectangle something similar to Nissan cube.
Note the meaty 5 hole alloys with 175/60 R15 wheels.
Closer look of the alloys
The rear has a plain design with c pillar mounted tail lights.
The rear underbelly.
The multibrand showroom Brandini at Florence. The dealership is huge with almost 15 cars on display from various Fiat owned brands.
The TwinAir is small yet powerful engine. There is a very less likely chance that we may get this engine here.
The differentiating factor.
I took a 15 minutes short test drive on the main street in and around central Florence.
Once you start the engine, you get a very surprising noise especially knowing that this is not a diesel. The engine sounded more like the M-Jet with pretty good amount of clatter. The noise and clatter reduced dramatically after driving the car for 2 kms.
Initially I wasn't aware of Dualdrive power steering which basically gives you option to select between soft and stiff steering for city and highway drives respectively. The steering was extremely soft like that of an i10 or more. Maneuvering the car was a piece of cake mainly due to soft steer and the high gear lever placement like i10. Given the grunt of engine, the car is fun to drive.
It took me 2 minutes to get the basics right before I pushed the gas to check the grunt of TwinAir. Please note that the Turbo grunt of this puny engine can be a real game changer. It may sound like over-exaggeration- the car has a grunt similar to T-Jet or maybe even better.
At traffic signal, the auto start-stop comes into action. Once you press the gas after >30sec stop, the car will crank up.
I could not test the 4 wheel drive option, wholly because I forgot to do so ;-) ..
Coming to the interiors, note that the car is compared to the likes of Skoda Yeti in terms of size and capabilities. In India, the car can be unfairly compared to the Ford Ecosport due to matching dimensions and similar engines.
Boot
Keeping in mind that the car is mostly meant for city and semi-urban driving, the boot is 225 liters making it almost the best in similar sized cars such as i10.
Here is my Bag (wildcraft trekker) for reference.
Interiors
Fiat Panda has a slight straight seating stance similar to Yeti. The plastic is notch better than what we get here in top end Linea T-Jet, and there are no uneven panel gaps to complain about.
The round rectangular pattern is followed across the board.
Have a closer look at the instrument cluster.
The button that makes the difference.
Small glovebox meant for putting Gloves quite literally.
Closer look of the door plastics.
Closer look of plastics behind the steering.
Mid variant gets a manual ORVM adjuster
The front legroom is spacious, the picture you see is with the passenger seat fully pushed behind.
Stylish Air con vents
Seat headrest design following the rectangular pattern. Gave a feel of 500 headrest.
Speedo console
Front plastic below the windshield (I don't remember the name of this part)
The rear may get cramped for more than two occupants. Following pic is with passenger seat fully pushed backwards. I personally do not like tall boy designs, note the tall yet narrow rear door. Cramped rear is a major drawback and a let down of this car.
I somehow feel that there is a pattern of Fiat making cramped rear even in sedans. Also note that I hardly saw any car in Italy with rear bench occupied.
The trip button similar to the ones we have in Punto/Linea
Seat height adjustment lever for driver.
I became a fan of hand brake lever design. Wonder why they do not give in all the cars.
If priced right, the car has a heavy potential for Indian market simply due to its versatility. Panda in the Italy is one of the best selling car and is most famous among city commuters as well as farmers due to high GC and slight off-road capability.
In the UK it is available in TwinTurbo, 1.3 Multijet and 1.2L normally aspirated engines. The TwinTurbo is a highly sensitive engine and thus need a lot modification/tuning to suit the Indian fuel condition.
As far as the vehicle is concerned, my message to Fiat is Price it right, and get all the features including Dualdrive and 4x4 and there will be many takers for this car.