[Closed] Panda 4x4 anyone?

4 x 4 = 16

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MrsCat has one.
Super little car.
Search YouTube for the Panda vs Range Rover test, sold it to us.

Had a 55 plate 1.2 petrol for 5 trouble free years.
Surprisingly capable off road and also great in city traffic. Well out of its depth on motorways as you'd expect.

Not entirely sure how different the new ones are compared to the previous model, but if it fits your requirements then go for it. I've found Fiats a lot more reliable than the stereotype suggests!

My mate has one its a really really good car but it is proper minging. It's hard to believe an Italian designed it

Well out of depth on motorways ? In what way I have the non 4x4 panda it runs along happily at 70 doing about 50 mpg.

@crankboy- he's right, you can't sit at 90 up the exhaust of any car in front, you need an Audi for that. 😀

you can't sit at 90 up the exhaust of any car in front

re: fiat reliability
i had a 2004 punto 1.3 multijet diesel, did 65000 miles in 3 years in it, no problems at all, and it would happily sit at 80 up any motorway hill fully loaded.
lots more torque than the 1.2 petrol sporting (which was the same price)
averaged 54mpg the whole time i had it, if i was looking for a small car would defoe consider one again.
4x4 panda is available with the same engine . . . .
consider road tax too, as diesels usually have lower co2 than equivalent petrol.

Well out of its depth on motorways as you'd expect.

I hired a 1.2 Panda on holiday in Ibiza. I LOVED IT. Awesome car but at 120km/h+ it just didn't feel good at all.

Then again its not that sort of car is it.

If it was me I'd just get the regular Panda and put some decent winter tyres on when needed. My C1/a hired 107 was brilliant in snow/ice with low weight/skinny tyres anyway.

FIAT reliability - [url= http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/news/miscellaneous/2013-07/big-surprises-in-uks-most-accurate-car-reliability-survey/ ]scores pretty well in latest surveys[/url]

I thought German cars were meant to be reliable

The non 4x4 Panda is indeed much more capable on the motorway. I think the gear ratios were different on the 4x4 compared to the standard Pandas.

Always felt like I wanted to change up another gear when at 70. That and the 4x4 setup did make it more thirsty.

Bro-in law has one (he works for a fiat garage). It's awesome. I borrowed his 1.3 diesel 4x4 as a courtesy car while the 500 was being serviced and it's really cool. Not hugely fast but the engine's characterful enough and can certainly pootle along at 80 "on a runway" quite nicely. It has a fair bit of body roll, but the suspension's well sorted and obliterates speed bumps. High driving position is really comfy and there's more interior space than you'd imagine.

The continental m&s tyres are a little noisy, but a set of 16" abarth alloys with tyres (from people installing the esseesse kits on 500s) are so cheap on fleabay you could easily swap them out for the summer.

I've heard mixed reports of the twinair version: the engine's a hoot (900cc parallel twin, turbocharged with multiair valve train) and loves been thrashed but the resultant lack of economy is pretty poor. Yes it'll do 70mpg if you drive it like a nun, but where's the fun in that?

We had a 06 plate 1.2 petrol 4x4. Did 15k miles in the first 12months. brilliant little cars and build quality loads better than Fiats of old. 1.2 very economical and the 1.3 multijet is a little expensive. Boot is a little small, but we manage to fit two dogs in the boot including our greyhound x. Some came with split folding and sliding rear seats which may be worth seeking out. Great in the snow. The new TwinAir 4x4 Panda look great and is a fair bit bigger. Tempted by to have one of those in the future.

Had the original and it was spot on, not tried the new one, but now after what you have all said it's time I did.

Will a bike fit with the wheels off and the seats down?

Apparently the twinair model comes with 6 gears, diesel 5. I usually would always plum for a diesel, but the twinair is £1k cheaper and I would like the 6th gear for longer runs.

Looks awesome though, Fiat make great small cars and they look pretty capable offroad. If I didn't do so much motorway time, I would definitely look at one.

"Will a bike fit with the wheels off and the seats down? " yes that was part of my test drive . takes a 19 inch p7 and a santacruz and all kit for two for a weekend away .

also takes a p7 across the back seat with the wheels off despite a large child seat in back.

on child point our 3 year old model does not have isofix and we had to do research to get a pushchait system thing that fits in the boot (bugaboo)

our 3 year old model does not have isofix and we had to do research to get a pushchair system thing that fits in the boot (bugaboo)

I thought this was mandatory from 2007 but looks like they managed to squeeze it through without with the previous type approval.