I thought I'd sign up and post a tread about the first year of my new 4x4 panda 1.3 mjet diesel. I couldn't find a review that anyone had posted when I was looking to buy one so maybe someone may find this helpful if they're shopping for one at the moment.

I bought the car brand new a year ago and I've done almost 15000 miles and it has been the best car I have ever bought, which surprised me, given my car history. I've owned a Porsche cayman, BMW z4, lotus Europa se, vw touareg, 5 series BMW, and a land rover defender. I bought the panda because I bought a house half way up a mountain in Italy and all the local villages etc have tiny streets. It (really!) snows in the winter so I wanted a 4x4. The only cars used there by the local plod and emergency services are 4x4 pandas. So I figured there's a good reason for that and took the plunge!

The car has been fantastic. I got the diesel because I wanted the torque and it flies up hills and the good ground clearance means I've never ground out on the terrible roads. It's also great in the snow, the standard m&s tyres mean I don't have to swap over during winter (mandatory in the mountains). I have to drive over the mountain and down the other side to go skiing and it's great to not have to worry about stopping a few tonnes of land rover going down the snowy hairpin mountain roads.

The ride quality is great, city steering is brilliant for Negotiating small streets of Italian towns and of course it fits in even the smallest of spaces. The equipment is also first class and the phone is better than anything I've had in any other car.

So in summary, I'm finished spending 40k on cars forever! I can't believe how good this car is.

I've got a twinair 4x4 and I too think its the best car I've ever bought. I've had Saab, Subaru, 2 land rovers various Citroen and some I won't mention cos I've tried hard to forget them!

I too have had 'posher' cars and bigger 4x4s but what makes the car so good, as you mentioned, is its compact dimensions which are so useful on the narrow lanes round here.

I've had my 4x4 TA for 10-11 months and have covered almost 13000 miles. Now on its second stay in Italy, and also purchased - partly - to cope with the road up to our Italian home. Great little car; I opted for the TA for its performance and main road ability.

We came across a road that was signposted as closed the other day but, as the detour was very long, decided to chance it on the basis that the Panda would cope. A section of road was washed away - fairly main road between Acquasparta and Spoleto in central Umbria - dived into a dry river bed and up the other side but it presented no problems. There's a classic car run that includes the same road in a couple of weeks so I've e-mailed the organisers to alert them as it would be no good at all for them.


I'll do a write-up when the car's a year old after we return to Pudding Island at the end of June.

I've had a 1.3 Multijet for two months and like it. It is comfortable, solid-feeling and capable, and there are not many small 4x4s to choose from. I will have to wait and see what the reliability is like, and how it copes with snow in the Welsh hills here.

However, I do have some niggles.

1) It does not look like a 4x4. I like my vehicles to look rugged and functional (4x4 or not), but all car makers now follow the trend of flowing lines, half-sucked pear-drop shapes I call them . Are people worried the anti 4x4 brigade will chuck bricks at them if it looks like one ?

2) Too much nagging, bleeping and flashing when you do something it does not approve of. When I leave home I first have a 60 yard drive to my gates where I get out to open them, and I don't put my seat belt on until after that. It screams at me, even after I have stopped and got out.

3) Ditto being nagged to change gear, like telling me to change up when I can see I am about go up a hill. Do all modern cars do this sort of thing?

4) The steering wheel rim obscures the critical 30-50 mph part of the speedo. Have to move my head to read. Depends on your seating position I expect, but poor design detail.

5) The flat external "shelf" at the bottom of the tailgate puddles water and collects dirt, looks really bad on white, and it's right where you need to lean over for the boot. Poor design detail; they should have sloped it down a bit so that it washed off.

6) Rear seat belt anchor up in the roof, when seen in the corner of your eye in the driving mirror, looks like a motorbike about to overtake you; has fooled me a couple of times. Probably OK with LH drive.

7) They could have provided wheel nut covers - a bit mean. I bought some for £9.

8) There is an advert for Microsoft on a jack socket by the gear lever, something to do with music? I'm not really interested but hope it is not the case that only a Microsoft product can be plugged in there. I h8 Microsoft :bang:

Don't get me wrong, these are minor niggles. I really like the place to put your left foot, and the hidden oddments tray in the centre console. And it does have an ignition key.

Thanks for the post.

I agree with pretty much all you have said, and especially agree with the nagging and the rear external lip.

Dr Zhivago said:

Too much nagging, bleeping and flashing when you do something it does not approve of. When I leave home I first have a 60 yard drive to my gates where I get out to open them, and I don't put my seat belt on until after that. It screams at me, even after I have stopped and got out.

Click to expand...

You can disable seat belt alarm in options menu

Dr Zhivago said:

The steering wheel rim obscures the critical 30-50 mph part of the speedo. Have to move my head to read. Depends on your seating position I expect, but poor design detail.

Click to expand...

You can adjust steering wheel so it does not obscure speedo

Dr Zhivago said:

There is an advert for Microsoft on a jack socket by the gear lever, something to do with music? I'm not really interested but hope it is not the case that only a Microsoft product can be plugged in there. I h8 Microsoft :bang:

Click to expand...

Blue&me port and connection is developed by Microsoft. You can plug most USB drives and connect most android&ios phones to blue&me without any problems

TwinAir Newbie said:

Thanks for the post.

I agree with pretty much all you have said, and especially agree with the nagging and the rear external lip.

Click to expand...

Me too

alamar said:

You can disable seat belt alarm in options menu

You can adjust steering wheel so it does not obscure speedo

Click to expand...

Thanks, I'll try those.

Generally agree with your comments - and the follow-uos from others - especially about Microsoft - dyed in the wool Mac user - but my iPod works flawlessly and my very basic Nokia 'phone likewise. Don't have third rear seat.

My god! Can u cancel the seat belt warning? Fantastic! I'm on it!

triumph7 said:

My god! Can u cancel the seat belt warning? Fantastic! I'm on it!

Click to expand...

I've just seen this and the misses reckons that's a great idea.

Edit- done it.

A rough census of Italian drivers suggests that seatbelt wearers are in the minority, so the ability to turn off the warning should have been obvious.

Don't seem to be able to turn mine off. In the settings menu I've selected 0 in the buzzer volume and the damn thing still works. ...any thoughts or is it just that I can't turn it off in this car?

triumph7 said:

Don't seem to be able to turn mine off. In the settings menu I've selected 0 in the buzzer volume and the damn thing still works. ...any thoughts or is it just that I can't turn it off in this car?

Click to expand...

That thing only adjusts the volume of the low fuel chime etc.


From what I was told at the dealers, the seatbelt on/off option in the display is hidden by default. Only the dealers can enable the menu to display it. They refused to do mine on safety grounds.

On my Vw I have a cable and software to mess around with all kinds of settings including seat belt chime. That works on all recent vag cars.
Anyone know of such a thing for the fiat ?