Styling
We don't need to say much here that you cannot see with your own eyes, simply by perusing and then longingly gazing at the pics of the Fiat Grande Panda. It. Is.
Glorious. There's not a spare detail on it, and just fabulous little flourishes everywhere you look. The embossed 'Fiat' and 'Panda' on the side doors and bootlid. The diamond-cut 17-inch alloys. The pixellated light clusters with X motifs. The integrated, retractable 7kW AC charging cable hidden in a Fiat-branded panel on the front 'grille'. The multiplexed hologram on the C-pillar, which shows the Fiat wordmark if you look at it one way, and the company's old four-diagonal-lines logo when glanced at the other. The roof rails. The stance. The vaguely crossover-themed air to its lower portions. It is nigh-on aesthetic perfection for a car of this diminutive stature, and it gets even better when you find out that Limone Yellow, by far and away the best colour for the FGP, is the only free choice - all the other shades will relieve you of 750 quid to make the car look worse.
Interior
If you think the Grande Panda's interior is going to be a letdown, think again. It shares its architecture with the
Citroen e-C3, but Fiat puts its own stamp on the cabin of the Grande Panda with devastating effect. Sure, the materials are sturdy and durable, rather than premium and squishy, but there's a real sense of joy in the architecture and (again) detailing.
We love the 'Bambox' upper dashboard, studded with rectangular air vents to mimic the GP's rear lights, we love the way the 10.25-inch infotainment and the 10-inch digital cluster are integrated into that yellow-tinged oval construct with a little 'classic' Panda emblem crawling up its left-hand side, we love the fact there are proper buttons and switches and sound ergonomics, we love the 'Fiat' emblems integrated into the doors, we love the seats, we love the airiness - in short, we love it. And we think lots of buyers of this car will, too.
Practicality
Space in the back of the Fiat Grande Panda Electric is superb, even if there is an ever-so-slight hump in the rear footwell as there's a hybrid version of the Italian supermini also on sale, so a couple of taller adults ought to be OK there for short- to medium-distance journeys. You also get decent stowage solutions dotted around the cabin and a sizeable 361-litre boot at the back, as well, so for a small car, the Fiat is surprisingly versatile thanks to its blocky, upright exterior form.
Performance
Driving the Grande Panda Electric is an unusual experience, as it's an EV which seemingly lacks for any meaningful torque; 122Nm is pretty feeble, all things considered, although the associated 113hp does its best to overcome this deficit.
Weirdly, despite a kerb weight the wrong side of 1.5 tonnes, the Fiat feels surprisingly spry on the roads and you won't really complain about its performance, unless you are often hammering up and down motorways. In which case, this is entirely the wrong sort of car for you anyway. Nothing of similar size and/or price is going to do that much better.
The calibration of the brake and throttle pedals can be considered a major success, though, and the light, breezy controls make piloting the GP stress-free and fun. So about the only limitation to your motoring life in the Fiat will be its 43.8kWh battery, which confers a 199-mile range on the vehicle with a claimed economy of 3.7 miles/kWh. Heartening news: we managed almost bang-on that figure (3.6 miles/kWh) across 241 miles of mixed-roads motoring in this cubic EV.
Ride & Handling
The handling of the Grande Panda Electric is surprisingly enjoyable, despite steering on the flimsier side of things and a significant degree of movement to the Fiat's body under g-force duress. But it grips keenly and feels willing in the corners, while on the other side of the dynamic coin it has a wonderfully supple level of ride control and deeply impressive rolling refinement.
It's maybe not quite as plush as the comfort-oriented e-C3 cousin in its own Stellantis stable, but generally the GP conducts itself admirably on even woefully pockmarked surfaces, so that the end result is that the Fiat tends to float around in a thoroughly amenable fashion, making it a great choice as a day-to-day conveyance to destress you while driving on the shambolic roads of the present-day UK.
Value
Even in top-spec La Prima trim like this, the Fiat Grande Panda Electric is less than £24,000. For that, you get plenty of equipment, including 17-inch alloys, electrically adjustable, folding and heated door mirrors, heated front seats and a heated steering wheel, automatic climate control, an auto-dimming rear-view mirror, embedded nav on the twin 10-inch-ish screens, front and rear parking sensors with a reversing camera, auto lights and wipers, LED headlights, cruise control, and a good slug of ADAS as well. So you're not scrimping on kit to have this endearing Fiat in your life, that's for sure.
Verdict
Two things would improve the Fiat Grande Panda Electric for us. The first would be giving it some torque - about 200Nm of the stuff would be grand(e). And the second would be fitting it with the 54kWh battery within the Stellantis family, only without ballooning the car's weight to near-1.7 tonnes or its price into the realm of circa-£30k. Other than that, this is easily, by a country mile, the best car Fiat has made and put onto the market in the 21st century. It's a characterful, charming and downright magnificent little EV.
