Hi all, back on the forum after a long absence.
I had a very hairy moment with my Panda Cross a few weeks ago, nearly rolled it off a hillside during a driven hunt for wild boar.

Driving on a small gravel track on a hillside, road under the snow collapsed and the Panda was basically "hanging" from the driver side wheels. I could move forward and back, but every move would cause it to list more downhill..

Now, I'm thinking on other tyres (Pirelli Scorpion ATR) and a winch.

Anyone here with experience with these tyres, and especially installation of a winch in a twinair cross? Or would you advise to not install a winch and get a hand winch?

I guess it depends on where you plan to spend your most important time in the car - on road or off it. If the track collapsed, then tyres won't make a huge difference to that situation, but of course a more aggressive tread will help you off-road in the mud. I've not used the ATRs on my Panda, but have on other cars and they are good, if a little noisier on the road and with less ultimate grip on tarmac. But again, it depends how many road miles you are planning.

The winch is a different consideration, ie: weight and practicality. To be of real use and properly effective, the winch needs to have a rated pull value in excess of the weight of the car, plus about 50%. Panda weighs broadly 1000kg, so a winch with 'pull' of 1500kg force is ultimately needed. This will weigh a lot, be quite large and will need a substantial mounting frame - plus of course a very decent power supply. The Panda battery is probably OK, but again it depends on how often you might need it - it's a lot to drag around and it will affect the handling quite a bit, as all that weight is right in the nose.

Having said all that, look up the Top Gear episode from a year or so ago when they took a Panda Cross and Suzuki Ignis up a mountain in Scotland. They both had winches fitted and used ground anchors to pull themselves over the really boggy ground. Clearly they can be fitted....

In a previous life with a Disco 200 Auto I did a lot of off-roading and decided against a big heavy winch (a massive Warn unit would have been needed for a car that heavy) and instead carried a TirFor hand-winch in the boot with a length of steel cable. Only had to use it a couple of times when I was on my own and it worked well.

Do your research if you are considering a winch, they use huge amounts of power, my old Range Rover had twin batteries and a massive alternator to be able to run a winch but also appreciate that was a much heavier car, you could be looking at 80-100A minimum even for a small winch which would easily overload your alternator on a little panda

This link goes to an old thread for the previous modal Panda but may offer some insight. Biggest problem I can see is that, if you take the front bumper off the Panda (or indeed pretty well any car these days) there is not a structural cross member between the two 'chassis rails' anymore (so nothing to attach a winch to?). To allow for safe, frontal crumpling, these are designed to behave independently and so only a deformable bar links them together. https://www.fiatforum.com/panda/134182-winches-available-fiat-panda-4x4.html

You might also look here: https://www.rialzi4x4evo.it/epages/150916.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=Categories

I had not considered the power drain of a fixed winch - so I'm leaning towards a manual winch.
Will also save mounting costs and weight, since I only take it in the hunting season when I'm offroad a lot.
Rest of the year the Panda stays "on-road"
Thanks for the answers all!

I have a manual winch that I use for my outboards. Mine is 750 Kg, but they are available in 1,5 T as well. Works like a charm.

gr J

I come from the Suzuki Jimny fraternity and think that unless this kind of thing is likely to be an everyday occurance, then a TIRFOR hand winch is quite sufficient for getting you out of the clagg on those odd occasions. I was poised to acquire one as I couldnt justify the costs of an electric winch that would be rarely used and probably take a big hit on my battery as well.

The TIRFOR type winches are pretty darned good - you can pick them up on eBay for reasonable money second hand. Yes they are slow but very easy to use, and lets face it you arent going to be using it every day. just keep it all in a bag and put it in the car with some other emergency kit everytime you put yourself in an offroad situation. Even the Jimny crowd don't use winches that often unless theyre doing serious offroad competitions that are often times, or knowingly about to set off and put the vehicle into some extreme situations.

Video Link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoodYb3vK0E In this video, tough leather gloves are not used when pulling the cable through - this is potentially dangerous if any of the cable strands are broken, so bear that in mind

Late response, but how did you get on? Riga Maxi Cervinia 185/65R15 on spare rims was a great solution for me: superb traction in mud & snow compared to others tried.
Also plus one for manual winch… bought one after spending 3 hours digging a van out of a muddy track. Significantly simpler to cranky winch / work forward.