Fiat Panda 4X4 2005 - Present

The Fiat Panda 4X4 has been given the same sort of makeover that the regular Panda has. It comes back looking modern and well developed. The styling is neat and the lines across the whole car are clean. It's light weight for a 4X4 and this helps make it as agile as a mountain goat. Fiat have kept the price down so if it's a capable off road vehicle that you're after for a reasonable price then this could well be the motor for you. The Panda's performance on tarmac isn't anywhere near as assured so if you're looking for mainly on-road with occasional excursions on to the dirt then you may want to look at other options.

The new Panda 4X4 looks too neat to be really taken too seriously as an off road vehicle. It looks a bit like a very small bodybuilder, someone with a small frame who has pumped themselves up as much as they can. Nothing could really be further from the truth. The Panda 4X4 is extremely competent off road, much more so than it is on the tarmac. The four wheel drive system very efficiently puts the power to the front wheels until it detects a loss of traction there and has cause to send power to the back wheels to in effect push you out of trouble. The raised suspension tackles bumps both on road and off road with aplomb. Never really being out of it's depth off road (within reason), and offering a good level of comfort on road.

The 1.2L engine is more than ample for off road motoring but is frankly too slow on road. The light weight of the 4X4 Panda means that it's always got enough grunt and pull off road, but this is largely due to the absence of any need to go fast off road. Fiat use this engine in a number of it's vehicles and it's a bit lacklustre. They should at least offer an alternative for the 4X4 or commit some R&D spend on an oil burner. Small diesel units offer much better ranges of power and performance, while offering better fuel consumption.

The boot space is generous and the finish good throughout the cabin. The seats are comfortable and room is abundant. There is quite a bit of glass used in the cabin so visibility if good and the cabin retains an airy feel front and back seats.

The Panda 4X4 is much better suited to off road driving but this is in the main due to the engine's failings. There must be room in the range for a bigger engined model. This would open a much bigger area of the market up to the Italian manufacturer.

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