Fiat Panda Cross
The county of Lanarkshire is not renowned for its mountainous terrain, but if you drive the twin cylinder 875cc Fiat Panda, it certainly makes you re-think the definition of a hill! Having said that, the southern part of the county does generate lots of wavy brown lines on the Ordnance Survey maps.
In motoring terms, many of these hills are quite unremarkable, but in the 90hp Panda they make the driver feel as though he’s in Tomintoul, not Carnwath. Hills which would be a breeze in top gear in a 2 litre diesel require a bit more planning with regard to the approach when you have just two wee cylinders sooking at the petrol pump under the bonnet.
For instance there’s a couple of long-ish ascents on the Biggar to Carnwath road through Elsrickle and Newbigging which are usually dispatched in top gear in cruise mode. There are a couple of bends to negotiate and this is where the Panda showed its weakness. Having lost momentum, it needed a couple of downchanges to keep going. But really, there was no problem.
Taking that a stage further, and purely as a test, there’s a steep wee rascal on the access road to Camps Reservoir near Crawford. You can’t get a decent run at it because it turns off the main unclassified road and runs up to the dam. I managed to get the car into second gear from the junction before the really steep bit, but had to change down to first before I got to the crest. The wee thing made it. Job done.
So to those sceptical folk who claim that it doesn’t have the power to pull the skin off a rice pudding, I say bring on the rice pudding!
But this was no ordinary Panda, it was the Panda Cross. This was a 4×4 with attitude, but in miniature form. It sits higher off the road than a standard Panda on chunky looking Goodyear Vector 4 Seasons M+S tyres. These generated a bit more road noise than ‘normal’ tyres, but perfectly acceptable for everyday use.
However, take it off road, and its capability is genuinely surprising. Because it’s so narrow and tall the driver’s nerve will give out long before the car’s capability. Especially on sideways slopes but care will need to be exercise here, as cockiness could overreach confidence. As for slopes and descents, the car is so light it doesn’t feel like it’s working hard at all and with the six speed gearbox it makes the most of the power it has. I wasn’t able to try it in really muddy conditions. This being Scotland, we rarely get rain (!) so it was quite dry during the test.
But honestly I had to chuckle at times, especially on the more ludicrous slopes where the Panda stuck to its task like a midge to a tourist. This is not a car for old folks. Why should they have all the fun? This is a serious toy for the off-road enthusiast.
As I said, the car is narrow and tall, it is also quite short so that means internal space is hardly what you could call generous. Even the doors are small. Getting in and out of the thing can be quite a sprachle for the overweight or the infirm so you’ll realise very quickly if this car will fit your lifestyle.
Headroom is fine all round but rear leg room is very tight while shoulder room is quite mean. But if you do test drive this car before buying it, you can’t complain about the internal packaging. If you need something with more room then you’ll just have to buy something bigger.
But for folk who fit you can’t go far wrong with this. I loved the thrum from the twin cylinder engine and enjoyed the changing note which accompanied every gearchange. Stupid I know, but it reminded me of a turboprop aircraft the way the engine changed pitch.
That was probably my undoing. No way could I get near the claimed 58 mpg. I barely managed to get 40 mpg. I spent the week whistling around Lanarkshire and the Tweed Valley, tickling my eardrums, playing with the gearbox and having a hoot. At the expense of fuel economy.
I daresay if you lived in a flat county like Norfolk and tootled around the place at 30 mph all the time then you might manage to travel a decent distance on a tank of fuel, but if you love the joy of driving, you’ll be forever stopping to top up the 35 litre fuel tank.
There’s just one tiny wee drawback. The price. It’s 16 grand for a cramped 4 seater that drinks petrol like a thirsty wean on a beach at Saltcoats, but I Ioved it. And every time I think about it, I have another wee smile to myself. Would I have one? Of course, even if I had to leave the wife at home when I went out for a drive.