Rumour has it that Fiat could introduce a 105 hp Twin Air Turbo version of the 2012 Fiat Panda.



It could be put on the market as the new "Fiat Panda Sport".



Introduction could be during the:

Looks good in that pic. Hopefully it will happen.

I like it verry much! They must produce it!

I am very interested in the developments of a potential Panda 105HP. However it will all depend on the performance. If the performance is the same as the current 100HP then thats not enough. But if the 0 to 60 falls in the 8 second bracket (like the Suzuki Swift Sport) then I will definitely be interested.

I know someone who's spec'd up the new Panda to look like the 'old' 100... -- in black, with all the red accents, and some rather smart alloys....! I'm not sure if she'll be happy (or not) to see this...!

Looks rather cool, though...!

I tested a Suzuki Sport at the weekend and to be frank the present Panda TA is much more fun. Immediate response, much better steering, a better seat, a far better ride - and quieter. It may roll more but who cares, the Panda is a nicer ride.

The TA felt much quicker too.

Odd, but true.

A 100hp version would be VERY interesting.

Ulpian said:

I tested a Suzuki Sport at the weekend and to be frank the present Panda TA is much more fun. Immediate response, much better steering, a better seat, a far better ride - and quieter. It may roll more but who cares, the Panda is a nicer ride.

The TA felt much quicker too.

Odd, but true.

A 100hp version would be VERY interesting.

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I own a 100HP and it's a great car but it would be better with just a bit more kick.

I remember the TA as hving lots of 'kick', because the turbo spools up so quickly. In fact you need to be careful in case you shoot into the back of the car in front

The Suzi has no low end torque so it has to be revved. I just find it very difficut to watch a rev counter hit 6000 rpm, since I'm used to kissing the throttle on a Diesel turbo and just accelerating easily.

And the gearbox onthe Suzi wasn't great either. Really, Fiats are very good cars. The more I drive the competition the more I like them.

But a 105 TA Panda woud be fun I'm sure. But I bet the 500 gets it first

Ulpian said:

I remember the TA as hving lots of 'kick', because the turbo spools up so quickly. In fact you need to be careful in case you shoot into the back of the car in front

The Suzi has no low end torque so it has to be revved. I just find it very difficut to watch a rev counter hit 6000 rpm, since I'm used to kissing the throttle on a Diesel turbo and just accelerating easily.

And the gearbox onthe Suzi wasn't great either. Really, Fiats are very good cars. The more I drive the competition the more I like them.

But a 105 TA Panda woud be fun I'm sure. But I bet the 500 gets it first

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There's a test film on Youtube (in Dutch, I think,) showing the new 500L with the 105hp Twinair engine, so it's definitely in the pipeline. The head lad at Powertrain has already said that the Twinair could be pushed to 120 hp with no great effort! Mike.

Well, I passed by my dealer today, this time in the quest to find out when the Panda 4x4 might be arriving; answer, middle of next year, probably.

But... The 500L will be here before the end of this year I was told

Great news, but it will be too expensive for me, sadly.

I don't quite get 500L, to be honest. Will it compete with Punto? And it's even *bigger* than Punto, that's left me head scratching...

Aargh: more stylus slippage -- resulting in wrong thumb clicked.... (Perhaps Steve Jobs was right...?) Apologies Ingvarr....

...although I don't get it either. Why do FIAT need this model, when there's the Panda? Perhaps they're hoping that the innate 'trendiness' of the 500 will attract people...? Who knows....

Who knows indeed. It's confusing; a Fiat, but named as a 500, which it isn't.

The Punto is a very good car, but the media has decided that it's dead in the water, so the 500L might replace it. But at what price - 13K - Plus plus plus I read!?

With European economies tanking what Fiat needs to do is become old Fiat again and make clever, fun, CHEAP cars. Some hope

Well I havent driven a Twin Air yet but none of the current Pandas 0 to 60 times are impressive. They are nowhere near the Swift Sports performance figures. I am not a massive fan of the Swift Sport, I just mentioned it as a benchmark that I would like a potential new 100HP to achieve. There is also more competition now with the forthcoming VW Up GT which reaches 0 to 62 in 8.6 seconds. I know its not all about 0 to 60 times as the 100HP performed much better than what its performance figures would suggest. But having lived with the 100HP for over 2 years now its a great car but the lack of acceleration can be annoying. With the new Panda being bigger (and I presume heavier) I fear that the new 100HP will in fact be slower not faster. The original 100HP had a totally different and bigger engine than the rest of the range. If they use a 105 bhp Twin Air its the same engine as used in other models in the range but just at a higher state of tune. I am hoping that Fiat do release a new 100HP model but its the performance figures that will decide if I buy or not.

FullMetalPanda said:

...But having lived with the 100HP for over 2 years now its a great car but the lack of acceleration can be annoying. With the new Panda being bigger (and I presume heavier) I fear that the new 100HP will in fact be slower not faster. The original 100HP had a totally different and bigger engine than the rest of the range. If they use a 105 bhp Twin Air its the same engine as used in other models in the range but just at a higher state of tune. I am hoping that Fiat do release a new 100HP model but its the performance figures that will decide if I buy or not.

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I'm anything but a fan of the new Panda and I've been hoping that a sportier version might sort out the worst aspects of its over-fussy detailing. We'll have to see. I agree about the possible performance of a 105HP new Panda - not enough, but I disagree with you about the "old" 100HP - for what it is the performance is pretty much what you'd expect; you'd need 115 hp or a bit more to make it noticeably quicker - something like the Lupo GTi was. I've only had two cars that were always capable of going quicker than I wanted - if you see what I mean - an Alfa GTV with quite extensive tuning and an Uno Turbo ie that had something over 130 hp available.

The 500L get a 105 HP TA engine and the USA 500 a 1.4 MA with 101 bhp.
Both are not enough to make the Panda a ± 8 sec car up to 60/62.
I don't like the idea of a 120 hp TA, it is already a noisy engine IMHO.
I like my 1.2 169 much better then the Twin Air's.
To make the Panda a sporty car, it need a 1.4 MA turbo engine with 135 hp.
This is the old 1.4 FIRE engine with MultiAir added. (both NA and Turbo)

In the 500L (1235 Kg) the Twin Air Turbo produce 105 hp by 5500 rpm and have 145 Nm of torque @ 2000 rpm.
With a 6-speed manual it has a topspeed of 180 Km/h and need 12.3 sec to reach 100 Km/h.
Average fuel consumption is 4.8 liter/100 Km (112 G/Km)

It does not look like there is a different turbo in play.
145 Nm of torque is the same as the 85 hp version.

babbo_umbro said:

I'm anything but a fan of the new Panda and I've been hoping that a sportier version might sort out the worst aspects of its over-fussy detailing. We'll have to see. I agree about the possible performance of a 105HP new Panda - not enough, but I disagree with you about the "old" 100HP - for what it is the performance is pretty much what you'd expect; you'd need 115 hp or a bit more to make it noticeably quicker - something like the Lupo GTi was. I've only had two cars that were always capable of going quicker than I wanted - if you see what I mean - an Alfa GTV with quite extensive tuning and an Uno Turbo ie that had something over 130 hp available.

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Don't get me wrong I don't expect anything more from the 100HP.Like you said it is what it is and it's fine for a mini warm hatch and for how much it cost.But the 100HP was falling behind the competition during its production run.The Twingo,Colt Raliart and Swift Sport all left the 100HP behind.The 100HP was still fun though and its price still made it a good buy.But like I said next time I would like a bit more performance but still have a mini hot hatch.I just hope that Fiat doesn't become a manufacturer that calls a car sporty just because it has bigger alloys and a bodykit.

Ulpian said:

I tested a Suzuki Sport at the weekend and to be frank the present Panda TA is much more fun. Immediate response, much better steering, a better seat, a far better ride - and quieter. It may roll more but who cares, the Panda is a nicer ride.

The TA felt much quicker too.

Odd, but true.

A 100hp version would be VERY interesting.

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Tbf if you are used to Fiats then yes perhaps otherwise fiats steering is just plain odd, I had a 500 twinair + as a courtesy car and my impressions were it was similar to driving a diesel, so didn't pull from low revs but worse than that shuddered violently and flashed a shift down light if you attempted it, second the show was over at 4k yes you could keep revving but not much point. Mid range was a strong point tho, people can make up their own minds about the noise.

Also random fact.....people can consistently get 44mpg out of a swift sport wonder what a hopped up twin air would manage. Finally a sports version that rides harder and is more noisy than a none sporty car? Have to admit you aren't comparing like with like a 1.2 swift is the TA pandas natural rival.

Also random fact.....people can consistently get 44mpg out of a swift sport wonder what a hopped up twin air would manage. Finally a sports version that rides harder and is more noisy than a none sporty car? Have to admit you aren't comparing like with like a 1.2 swift is the TA pandas natural rival.

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I totally agree that the Swift Sport gives 44mpg. A friend took a long TD today and got exactly this, as did I.

We both felt that the steering on the Swift was a bit slow and would have benefitted from a reduction in ratio from lock to lock to make it 'quicker'.

The worst part comes with the very hard seat. If the Sport seat had the same foam as the ordinary Swift it would be a superb car.

But you have to rev the Swift engine, and it doesn't make a sweet noise at all, and for this reason the perception of speed, for me, was reduced.
However, it is very well equipped, beautifully built, and they are gving a £2000 scrappage on your old car, so it can be agreat idea: £11.500. That kinda competes quite well with a very ordinary Panda

I love the quickness and immediacy of the Panda's steering, but certainly if they stiffened up the suspension to make it like the original Panda 100hp it wouldn't match the not entirely uncomfortable Swift Sport.

So, both cars are very good, but for me the perception of speed was different from the reality. The Panda 85 feels quicker than the Sport simply because it has a more immediate response - around town - but obviousy it isn't faster overall.