General Autocar test the new 4x4 Panda...

[Philip Young]

Autocar is out this week (look for the Jaguar F-Type drive on the cover, and the little picture of the Eagle E-type which was designed by Paul Brace, co-driver of the Panda that set the World Record from Cape Town to London), there is a detailed road test of the Panda 4x4. They seem to like it. The performance figures and the economy would be much better had the engine been run-in before they gave it a belting, but overall its a very positive upbeat test report.

While Im writing, Fiat Dealers ought to have the commemorative brochure on the World Records set by the two-wheel-drive Panda across Africa to London, 10,300 miles without a rattle or anything falling off or going wrong....
lots of pictures, and when this is gone, there will be no more.
Out now!

If you want to see the Record Breaker, and other interesting cars, drop into Brooklands, Weybridge on May 4th for Auto Italia day. Panda and Crew will be on parade. py

 

[javnas]

Will be there again for the Panda, but this time with my Panda too.

 

[Philip Young]

Not sure I understand that response, Javnas.
Can someone post the link to the Autocar road test of the 4x4, its off he shelves of the newsagents come Wednesday.

 

[4x4Panda]

What I don't get is that the regular Panda gets 4.5 stars (which is excellent), when the general consensus is that the 4x4 has better ride quality and that only gets 4 stars (actually, also a good rating!). I think they criticised some of the trim quality, but the again that is common across the range...

Perhaps it was the economy that let it down?

Once again though, its really tricky to find a competitor for the little 4x4 - FIAT seems to be in a class of one. I personally don't see the Jimny as similar enough to warrant comparison and beyond that what else is there?

food for thought

 

[rgk78]

That is probably due to the different price brackets of the two cars more than anything, which I think is fair.

 

[Philip Young]

The Dacia 4x4 costing similar came out on top, Panda 2nd, as the saying goes, you pays yer money, takes yer choice. The Panda came out well, scoring very well on the handling-circuit and doing visibly better than the previous two-wheel-drive Panda test, which they put down to the firmer suspension, better traction, and credit the all-season softer tyres. The economy and performance would have produced better figures had the engine been run in on mineral oil first! Its a good read, can someone put up a link to the Autocar test? Its only on the newsagents shelves till the next issue comes out on Wednesday. Im currently driving a new Trekking, which is the best of all worlds and simply brilliant.

 

[deeyup]

I just read the online test from autocar
There was some valid stuff in there like the mpg results and performance overall. Although I do reckon a 2wd 1.2 may struggle to keep up with a ta 4x4

Like a lot if these reviews they have some pretty big errors in there though.
On page 2 they say it has a viscous coupling, that's just wrong!
I think the next page says the car defaults to Eco mode every startup, wrong!
In one of the photos the caption says 'tinted windows are an option' wrong, the car has tinted windows. Whether they mean the very dark tinted rear end windows which are an option is unknown? The car pictured doesn't have that option. Either way, dark rear tints are not standard on many cars at all, so I don't know what they are getting at there?


I'll have a look in the newsagent to see if the printed review is the same.

 

[4x4Panda]

Hi deeyup - I thought we'd established the 4x4 does use a viscous coupling

 

[deeyup]

Hi deeyup - I thought we'd established the 4x4 does use a viscous coupling

No viscous coupling was ditched by fiat when they brought out the panda cross in 2008.
It's an electro magnetic thing now.

 

[babbo_umbro]

No viscous coupling was ditched by fiat when they brought out the panda cross in 2008.
It's an electro magnetic thing now.

Opportunity for a Scandinavian to have an orgasm. (See thread from a while back.)

 

[4x4Panda]

thanks deeyup - i must have drifted away during the the great transmission system debate! It would still be good to see a precise description somewhere...