'Fiat's latest Panda is easy to like despite one gaudy feature inside'
Frederic Manby and his family have enjoyed a love affair with the FIAT for some time and when he got behind the wheel of the latest Fiat Grande Panda La Prima, the affection was still there.
Ciao to Italy in 1960 where FIAT was becoming the small car maestro. Its egg-shaped, rear-engined, rear-wheel-drive 600 and 500 models vied with BMC’s front-wheel-drive Mini to be the darling of the decade. Shopping, commuting, posing in photo shoots, tarted up for film stars or racing and rallying at the highest level by tuners such as Abarth and Downton respectively.
Our Mini got scant development and then was grabbed by BMW to become MINI. The three-door costs £24,735 which is the cheapest BMW you can buy.
FIAT continued to make the 500 and even the 21st century version doesn’t stray far from the first, other than having the engine in the nose and driving the front wheels. You can buy a 500 hybrid for £18,995. If you want four doors then that’s the more refined 600, from £23,995.
FIAT (Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino, founded in 1899) gave us a string of other small cars, some also made under licence in Spain by SEAT (you can probably work that out but the T does not stand for Turin, nor the S for Spain). There was the 126, the 850 (both rear-engined) and the Panda and the Uno (u-no). I had an 850 which my aunt sold to me for £50. I know she could have given it to me as her only nephew but she missed her chance.
I thrashed it mercilessly from country home to city office without a day’s trouble, in the manner of Italian young guns who did the same with their Fiats. I bought a well-used Uno for my daughter Vipona to get to and from university from the rip-off rental she shared in Headingley. It came with a carpeting of hay. The previous owner had a nag. Vipona called it dobbin. It only gave a problem when dad the experienced motoring writer (EMW) meddled with something under the bonnet.
Her uncle had one of the first Pandas, a boxy two-door from 1980 and in 4x4 trim was a daily drive for one of Europe’s wealthiest men, Sr Giovanni Agnelli whose day job was running the family business which made the Panda, 500 , etc. I imagine he had a Lancia or Maserati or Ferrari too.
His cars were not renowned for a trouble-free life. I was testing an Alfa Romeo and rang up the cravat-wearing PR man to say the reversing lights were staying on. Being a pampered EMW I expected a prompt “don’t worry old boy we’ll get it fixed” from Barry (short for Barrington), educated in the “old boy” system. He had an even quicker fix. I should take the bulbs out. On a later Alfa Romeo experience I was outwith (it was in Scotland where they don’t say outside) the grand entrance to the hotel (born as a castle) and wanted to talk to the new PR man, another product of the OBS, though sans cravat and actually a great chap. I pressed the switch to lower the window. Instead the seat moved. Peter saw the humour. What else did I expect from Italian electrics.
My brother in law liked his Panda so much he sometimes slept in it. Naturally it started to rust (a Fiat, Alfa and Lancia tour de force in those days) until the floor under the handbrake fell onto the road.
Things are not the same. The old boys are thin on the ground; the EMWs are being usurped by hobbyists who write for nothing and have other jobs, or who get paid as influencers by the companies they are plugging.
FIAT is now a major part of a US-EU outfit called Stellantis. Some of its factories make Jeeps.
Cars are now so good that there is little of merit to carp at. They don’t rust. They have long warranties. They seldom break down. They will last for decades if you manage their upkeep and don’t hanker for a new car every three years on a PCP easy payment contract (a major factor for rising prices).
I haven’t left much space to tell you about Fiat’s latest Panda, the Grande Panda. The photos show you it is boxy and quirky with lots of detailed fun. This one is the mild hybrid petrol La Prima from £21,995 The range starts at £19,995 and there is an electric model from a bargain £20,995.
The 1.2 litre three cylinder engine and five-speed twin clutch engine is familiar on other Fiats and Peugeots and Citroëns. With 109bhp and decent torque it has never seemed better. I thoroughly liked and enjoyed this larger Panda, though didn’t go as far as sleeping in it.
I went to Cleveleys to see a cruelly bereaved friend. It was nippy and frugal and so easy to drive and park and yes, to like despite some gaudy strident yellow decor inside and the clear plastic rear light covers.
It is slathered with branding logos and indents and aesthetic conceits disguising what is actually a brick. It matches the throw-back cuteness of the electric Renault 4.
It shares the essentials of the Citroën C3 but is made in Serbia and Algeria.
I wanted to keep it and perhaps then I’d find things I didn’t like. Such as no vanity mirrors. In a preening Italian car. Mama mia.
Fiat Grande Panda La Prima as tested £22,645; power 109bhp; torque 152lb/ft; transmission automatic; top speed 99mph; 0-62mph, 11.2 seconds; economy 55mpg; on test 40 to 50mpg; CO2 117g/km; weight 1349kg; length 157 inches/4m. More information at fiat.co.uk