Hello all, I am a newbie here. Recently bought a Panda diesel 1.3. I am very pleased with it. It makes me smile when I drive it, its fun. I am based in North Wales (lots of forestry tracks etc) and I would have liked to have bought a 4x4 diesel Panda but its too expensive and the Cross looks naff. So, not being very technical here's my question. Can I retro fit 4x4 mechanicals to a standard diesel Panda ? Would love to hear from you. Thanks

Anything is possible with enough time and money, but sadly I think it would be cheaper to buy the Cross

Chris

Anything is possible, but it may be an easier starting point to make a Cross look more like a Climbing than swap petrol to DDDddddiesel.

Different floor pan too. 4x4 has smaller fuel tank for to make room down under. Don't reckon there would be the space to fit the extras. And the 4x4 has more ground clearance.

If you want to stick with the Multijet engine, think it's a case of either go for the Cross or buy yourself a decent set of Winter wheels. Bit of a compromise.

thanks for your replies Smurf, HP and Scooby. I suspected it wouldn't be that straight forward. Nice idea though..

I thought the standard Panda shared the same body? i recently looked underneath my 2WD MJ and there's a huge empty recess that runs the entire length of the car for the prop shaft or drive shaft, whatever it is! Could be wrong but it would be a waste of space otherwise? BTW, modding your car will void it's warranty if it is new of course.

P.s. what part of N. Wales you from Sputnik? i also live in N. Wales, well north mid really...

The Panda MJ and 4x4 use the same body and floorplan. The fuel tank is smaller as it has a raised section in it to clear the propshaft that passes under it. The ground clearance is greater because the suspension is different: at the front, longer springs and struts, and other parts differ to keep the wheels at the correct angle. At the back, its a completely different suspension, on a subframe which also houses the rear diff. It would be silly to try... It might just about be possible to do it the other way round and fit a diesel into a Panda Climbing... but that too would probably cost more than buying a new Cross. But why bother at all? The petrol 4x4 really is very good...

I read that the 4x4 body has some additional metalwork to strengthen it for off road work. I have no other details. I've never scrambled under my 4x4 then my daughter's 1.1 Active to confirm this.

My understanding is that the front suspension mountings are strengthened. And no doubt some alterations where the 4x4-specific subframe fits at the rear. Don't think there's any other differences though, apart from bolt-on protection under the engine and a guard to protect the centre of the propshaft (and collect ice)

Pete

It sounds like from your posts that it is feasible to do, but it would be costly. Thanks for all your advice, much appreciated. Incidentally I took the panda up a dirt track this weekend (very silly but great fun)and it is fantastically nimble and maneouverable- the main problem was lack of clearance rather than lack of traction.

I just don't see any reason now for Fiat not to bring in a Multijet version of the normal 4x4. After all the Cross is basically the 4x4 in a different dress...

All the hard work of pairing the Multijet engine with the 4x4 drivetrain has now officially already been done.

Let's just wait and see!

Wee Smurf said:

All the hard work of pairing the Multijet engine with the 4x4 drivetrain has now officially already been done.

Click to expand...

Good point... let's see indeed.
P