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Review: Fiat Panda Cross

Image of James Fossdyke
Author: | Updated: 19 Dec 2014 11:53

Back in the day, the Panda was offered with a four-wheel-drive variant, which made it the Italian answer to the Citroen 2CV – small, rugged, dependable and capable. Since the return of the Panda in the early 2000s, Fiat has tried to rekindle some of that character with varying degrees of success. The latest attempt is this: the Panda Cross.

On- and off-road

Because the Panda Cross is neither a proper 4x4, nor a genuine road car, it doesn’t fare any better than adequately in either area.

As a road car, the mud and snow tyres, low-powered engine, uncomfortable seats and jiggly ride spoil the Panda’s ability both on twisty B-roads and on the motorway, but some of the Panda’s prowess as a city car has made its way into the Panda Cross. The city steering, stop/start and light pedals all make it easy to drive around town.

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Away from the tarmac, the Panda Cross is equally flawed but still competent enough for most of the conditions it’ll be faced with.

Granted, it doesn’t have the ground clearance of a Land Rover, or even a four-wheel-drive Nissan Qashqai, but with a four-wheel-drive system and hill descent control, it’ll traverse a muddy field without drama.

Inheritance

Fiat may have traded some of the Panda’s road manners in pursuit of off-road capability, but it hasn’t sacrificed the Panda’s practicality.

Like the standard Panda, the Panda Cross has a 225-litre boot which expands to 870 litres with the back seats down. It’s just as roomy in the cabin, too, with both front-seat occupants benefitting from plenty of head- and elbow-room.

Rear-seat passengers won’t be quite so comfortable, with a hard bench seat and limited legroom, especially if the person in front is a member of the six-foot-plus club. Fitting three in the back is a squeeze, but two passengers will be happy enough on a short journey.

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The Panda Cross has also inherited the Panda’s design and quality. Fiat is resurgent in terms of build quality, and the plastics in the Panda Cross may be hard and the handbrake may feel cheap, but everything seems to have been bolted together well. The ‘Panda’ pattern all over the door cards and dashboard is a neat touch, too.

Other features of the one-trim-only Panda Cross include climate control, heated seats, USB and Bluetooth connectivity and voice control, which sounds good, but it’s not all rosy for the Panda Cross. Most of the information screens have displays taken straight from the early 1990s and if we’re being really picky, some of the ergonomics aren’t great.

Engine

Under the bonnet of our test car lay a 1.3-litre diesel engine with 79bhp and 190Nm of torque. It’s far from the punchiest engine in the world and nor is it especially refined, but it’s so torquey that first gear is properly optional on the road.

On paper, it doesn’t look great, with a top speed of just 99mph and 0-62mph taking a leisurely 14.3 seconds, but it will manage 60.1mpg and CO2 emissions are reasonable for a small 4x4 at just 125g/km, putting VED at £110 a year.

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Where the engine really fares well, however, is off-road, when the low first gear and comparative mountain of torque is enough to take the lightweight Panda over the majority of lumps and bumps. The engine and gearing also work well in conjunction with the hill descent control to stop the car running away down the hills.

If you’re going to use the Panda Cross on the road though, you might want to go for the 0.9-litre TwinAir petrol engine with 89bhp. It’s more powerful but less torquey than the diesel, so it’s better on the tarmac but it can’t match its stablemate in the mud.

It’s almost as efficient as the diesel though, achieving 57.6mpg and it’s cleaner, emitting just 114g of CO2 per kilometre. It’s quicker, too, if still not rapid, sprinting to 62mph in 12 seconds and eventually hitting 104mph.

Derision

From the outside, the Panda Cross doesn’t deviate far from the two-wheel-drive Panda it’s based on, but Fiat has made an effort to make sure it looks like as capable as it is. There are skid plates front and rear, chunky plastic cladding and big, red towing eyes at the front.

Despite this effort though, there’s always a sense that it’s just for show. The large holes in the skid plate, for example, are big enough to fit your hand through, so God only knows which stones will find their way in to damage the radiator hidden behind it.

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You’re also painfully aware that, as you drive around in the Panda Cross, everyone just sees a modified Panda, and people in Land Cruisers and Defenders look at you like a Ferrari driver might look at a Citroen Saxo with an enormous spoiler: with derision.

But they’re missing the point, because if you need a cheap, small car with the ability to career through a snowdrift or down a muddy track but still function when you get to civilisation, the Panda Cross blows cars like the Suzuki Jimny out of the water.

It may be compromised both as a serious 4x4 and as a road car, but a compromise is exactly what this car was meant to be, and anyway, it makes up for its flaws with bags of character.

Fiat Panda Cross at a glance

For:
+ Decent off-road capability
+ Diesel engine is efficient and torquey
+ Lots of character

Against:
- Off-road styling might make ‘proper’ 4x4 drivers sneer
- Cramped rear
- Mud and snow tyres spoil road manners

Vital stats

Length: 3,705mm
Width: 1,662mm
Height: 1,657mm
Wheelbase: 2,300mm
Kerb weight: 1,155kg
Boot space: 225 litres
Engines: 0.9 TwinAir petrol, 1.3 MultiJet diesel
Fastest: 0.9 TwinAir – 0-62mph 12.0s, 104mph
Cleanest: 1.3 Multijet – 60.1mpg 125g/km CO2
Cheapest: 0.9 TwinAir – £15,945

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