Fiat Grande Panda review

Once again, this fundamentally stylish architecture is dotted with lots of little details that make the Grande Panda feel more like an installation at the Milan Design Fair than an affordable supermini. Few, if any, manufacturers have used coloured acrylic as seen on the dash and, where needed, fabrics have been deployed to keep the overall ambience from feeling too cold or stark. There’s not a single piece of padded, soft-touch plastic anywhere, and for us that’s a good thing. 

For the sake of comparison, a new Renault 5 is more premium and has more content inside. But the top-spec Grande Panda is priced at around the level where the R5 kicks off, fitting customer expectations almost perfectly. 

Sat-nav, stereo and infotainment

Fiat is under no illusion that offering up a twin-screen infotainment system is going to change the world, but it’s a layout that is universally recognised as being effective for a car in this area of the market. The main 10.25-inch touchscreen is mounted in the right position and is clear and fairly easy to use. 

There’s some lag to the interfaces, and the actual menu structure could be a little easier to navigate, but as Fiat has kept the air-conditioning controls separate you could easily keep the interface in a phone-mirroring mode for the vast majority of the time. The driver’s display isn’t hugely configurable, but still offers all the info you need at a glance. 

Despite its quasi-SUV body, space in the rear is tight. The high floor and slight hump in the rear floor can make it a squeeze for tall rear passengers, but headroom is well catered for thanks to the boxy silhouette. Compared with a MINI or Renault 5, it’s fine, but those hoping for space akin to the Citroen e-C3 or even the new Vauxhall Frontera will notice the difference.