| First Drive | England | Fiat Scudo Panorama |
Key Facts
Model tested: Fiat Scudo Panorama L2H1 12Q Family eight-seat 2.0 MultiJet
Pricing: £23,695 on-the-road
Engine: 2.0-litre turbodiesel four-cylinder
Transmission: six-speed manual, front-wheel drive
Body style: minibus
Rivals:
Volkswagen Caravelle,
Renault Espace,
Hyundai i800CO
2 emissions: 185g/km
Combined economy: 39.8mpg
Power: 164bhp at 3,750rpm
Torque: 251lb.ft at 2,000rpm
In the Metal: 
The Scudo Panorama is a van with windows and some seats. It's more likely to be seen on airport runs than sitting outside a family home - unless it's for a very big family. The Scudo can seat eight, so if you've lots of kids (or just lots of stuff) then the Scudo has merit. As you'd expect the back's a box, with Fiat grafting on something resembling its corporate styling to a van shared with both Citroen and Peugeot. It's largely successful though, the Scudo not a bad looker.
That functionality is carried over to the interior. Thankfully commercial vehicles have moved on a great deal in recent years, so the Scudo's cabin is not quite the austere, workmanlike horror you might expect. It's actually very car like - so long as you ignore the upright seating position and masses of space around you.
Driving it:
Just as the interiors of commercial vehicles have changed in recent years so too has the driving experience. You're sat up high - pleasingly so - and the gearstick is positioned usefully up on the dashboard. Light pedals and accurate steering make the Scudo surprisingly easy and enjoyable to drive. There's no feel at the steering wheel's rim, but it's a quick and sharp system regardless.
Power comes from a MultiJet turbodiesel engine with 163bhp and 250lb.ft of torque. This hauls the Scudo along convincingly enough, though it does need working harder if you've the entire eight seats occupied and the boot fully loaded. The 2.0-litre unit is pretty noisy when starting and is always audible, but it's rarely too intrusive on the move. Wind and road noise are decently contained, too.
Ride comfort improves with some weight on board, though the suspension is not quite so composed when it's driven solo. Fill the Scudo up and the ride settles down a bit, but it's never going to get down a road with the sort of sophistication of a car-based MPV like a Ford Galaxy or VW Sharan. Saying that, the Ford and Volkswagen cannot carry anything like as much as the Scudo can.
What you get for your Money:
Space. And more space. Vans offer vast interior dimensions relative to their footprint on the road and the Fiat Scudo demonstrates that with a cabin that's huge. There are eight seats, with the front two backed up by two rows of three. Each is pretty much an individual pew too, so there's no half-hearted middle seat to squash your smallest passenger into. Crucially, and this is where the Scudo scores over conventional MPVs, the big Fiat has masses of room for luggage, too.
Being sold as a 'car' rather than a commercial vehicle, Fiat has added some niceties like dual-zone climate control, a decent stereo and Bluetooth telephone connection to the Scudo.
Worth Noting
Those six seats in the back of the Scudo can be removed for the full-on van experience. You need to be strong and committed (and have a large space to store them) should you wish to take them out, as they're extremely heavy, cumbersome and large. They do fold and tumble though, and with the seatbacks flat you'll get even the most ambitious Ikea shopping trip in the back with absolute ease.
Given its size and carrying capacity the Scudo's combined fuel economy figure of 39.8mpg and CO2 emissions of 185g/km are very competitive.
Summary
If you value space, people carrying capacity and absolute practicality over everything else then Fiat's Scudo Panorama is well worth considering.
