Fiat Grande Panda review: Has the Italian finally found its mojo again?

With retro styling, clever interior design and hybrid or electric power, Fiat’s latest small crossover makes a compelling case for under €30,000

The Fiat Grande Panda review: Discover how Fiat’s stylish new hybrid and electric crossover delivers retro charm, practicality and value for under €30,000.

FIAT GRANDE PANDA
Rating	★★★★★
Price	from €28,500 - €28,880 as tested
Engine	a 1.2ltr petrol engine with a mild hybrid system
The Spec	in ‘La Prima’ spec there’s little overlooked
Verdict	a triumph of design allied to excellent technical abilities makes this a winner for Fiat

Fiat was once the home for small, popular cars that people loved and wanted. Apart from the cutesy 500 range, that hasn’t been the case for a while — until now.

The days of the original 500 and 600 in the 1950s and then the 124 of the 1960s and the 127, 128 from the same decade. These were the glory days for Fiat.

Later, there were models like the Ritmo, the Uno (and its successor, the Punto), the Bambino, and others, but perhaps the original Panda encapsulated Fiat’s ability to connect with the masses and produce a cheap, practical, relevant mass-market contender.

The first-generation Panda was introduced in 1980 and designed, impressively, by Giorgetto Giugiaro and his team at Italdesign.

Originally a two-box, three-door hatchback design, it was a very basic beast, but it sold in huge numbers, with the first generation alone amassing 4.5 million units.

In its second iteration, it gestated into the five-door car, and over the 40-odd years it has been in production, total sales have amounted to 7.8 million units which, as they might say in Turin, is ‘sorprendente.’

During its development, the car was called in-house the ‘rustica’ — as in rustic. And, in truth, although the name changed to Panda, the elements that made up the car were indeed rustic. The seats in the original seemed to be made from a slightly developed form of the fencing material used to make chicken runs.

But it was uniquely practical (the original design brief stressed that the cargo area be able to carry two demijohns of wine, which is, if you think about it, very Italian indeed), had a flat floor and a high roof. Everything about it, from the manufacturing to the production to maintenance, was one thing and one thing alone: simple.

In terms of automotive history, the Panda sits alongside such as the Citroën 2CV and the Renault 4 (the original one) as being a masterpiece of understated design; it might have looked flimsy, but it was actually as tough as nails, and the public took to it as it did to denim jeans.

That it was as cheap as a bag of boiled sweets and readily available through affordable financing, made it all the more popular. Indeed, at a time when most of my generation were struggling to afford fifth-hand crocked Minis and the like, one of my college contemporaries, the late, great Tom Reddy, shocked us all by rocking up one day in a brand new one.

The Fiat Grande Panda review: Discover how Fiat’s stylish new hybrid and electric crossover delivers retro charm, practicality and value for under €30,000.

Back then, the thought of actually owning a brand-new car was about as likely as the Soviet Union collapsing, but, ever the adventurist, Tom Reddy shattered the norms of the time.

With a couple of facelifts, the original Panda remained in production until 2003, making it one of Europe’s longest-produced small cars.

The second generation was unveiled the same year as production of the first ceased and it was a completely different beast altogether, being a five-door hatch from the outset and with more in common with the mini-MPVs popular at the time. By comparison with the original, it was the essence of luxury.

But it maintained the essential characteristic of practicality and sold well too — 2.1 million units — until production stopped in 2012. Fiat, by then, was financially challenged and needed a hit car, the Panda delivered.

They also made a 4x4 version, which was remarkable in its ability to go anywhere and on any surface.

It was pretty much the same again for the third generation, which was introduced in 2011 and continues in production to this day. Although it was usurped somewhat by the introduction of the new 500, it has its own core of fans across Europe and beyond and remains a very popular car indeed.

In 2024, and with Fiat now operating under the Stellantis umbrella, the company decided to up the Panda’s game and came up with the newest — and current — model, the Grande Panda.

Its introduction coincided with Fiat’s 125th anniversary and is built on a platform shared with fellow stablemates such as the Citroën C3 and the Opel Frontera.

Fiat, perhaps realising they had to return to their roots of adventurous styling, got to work on what is our tester this week — the Grande Panda. There were several parameters — it had to be an EV, it had to have a retro feel, and it had to be value for money. It scores on all counts.

Building an EV is not cheap, however, and Fiat has simplified the process to the point where they can sell this car for a lower price than most of its rivals and still give it a reasonable range and decent get-up-and-go.

Crucially, however, as is the case with most Stellantis products these days, the car also comes as a petrol and/or a petrol hybrid.

They’ve also gone overboard on the styling to make the Panda a singularly identifiable entity in a world full of bland carbon copy automotive designs. Attention has been paid to every detail, from the ‘Panda’ being stamped into the metal of the doors on either side, to the plastic Fiat logo detailing in all manner of places, especially the cladding and the fantastically inventive front and rear light clusters.

The interior of the Fiat Grande Panda is a design masterpiece

The interior too — on the top ‘La Prima’ specification model we tried — has a unique bamboo material utilised for the dashboard inserts. This and the very original instrumentation layout make for a very appealing cockpit. Physical controls for the climate system and actual buttons to disarm the lane-changing and speed warning functions are also welcome.

In naming the car ‘Grande ’, it would appear Fiat is also trying to suggest it’s big, but in reality, it is comparable in size to any regular mini-SUV crossover and, thus, ideal for the urban environment which will be its natural home.

This one utilises a 48-volt mild-hybrid system allied to a 1.2 litre three-cylinder petrol engine, and the design works well and honestly feels quicker than the eleven seconds or thereabouts it takes to get from a standstill to 100 km/h.

While it is most at home in a city environment, taking on the great outdoors presents neither handling nor ride flaws, so it is actually a very adaptable thing indeed.

The hybrid might be a bit dearer than the electric, but then it also offers zero issues on the range front. Now it may be that production delays have somewhat stymied availability, but those are now largely sorted and should not be an issue into the future.

Specification is pretty much top drawer, and there’s little to quibble about there, but the overriding thing about the Grande Panda is that it is unique, handsome and very practical. There’s loads of room inside, and the boot space on the hybrid is bigger than the EV.

I really engaged with this car and found it to be enchanting and desirable — as well as being a good and economical driver, and you can expect a return in the region of 6.8 l/100 km (well over 40 mpg).

It is practical too, and the interior is a design masterpiece — and all for under €30,000. Fiat has found its mojo again with this one.