James May has always loved the Fiat Panda. He might have had a few jokes thrown his way on Top Gear when he announced he drove one, but it is a car he has always had a soft spot for. And now, there is a new one.
This is the Grande Panda, a car available as a gasoline, hybrid, or battery-electric vehicle, and it features some radical new styling compared to the previous Panda. In many ways, it throws back slightly to the original Fiat Panda, which was first introduced in 1980.
May was happy to get behind the wheel of the new Panda for his YouTube channel, mostly because it is all new and everything on it works, compared to some of his older cars. May actually owns the third-generation model at the time of writing and has owned the previous generations at various points.
The Panda has come a long way from those early days, as May asks, “Is this really a Panda?” The new Grande Panda, however, certainly seems to live up to expectations, and May was incredibly happy to finally get a chance to see what this new car was all about.
Why Is It Called the Grande Panda?
The name Grande Panda simply differentiates it from the 319 Panda that came before it. And as May pointed out, it has grown in size since the original car went on sale. But it has also been inspired by that original 141 Panda model that first appeared in the 1980s.
It is a slabby, square-cut car, with Panda embossed in metalwork down the side of the car. “The wheels, I think, are very cool,” said May, although he admitted a lot of people might scuff them. The headlights are designed to resemble the windows of the famous Fiat factory in Turin. Inside, the surround of the dashboard resembles the rooftop test track at the Turin factory. A little car motif adds to that little nod to history.
May’s example he had on test was the 1.2-liter three-cylinder mild-hybrid, finished in a striking yellow. It is also the poshest version of the car, which costs £22,995 in the UK, or around $31,000. It also has an automatic transmission, although May did say it has a slightly lumpy ride and an “inert” steering feel. It definitely felt bulky to him, and it has grown since the original car and even from the previous generation.
What Did May Think of the Car?
May commented on how the Grande Panda isn’t quite like some of the original cars that made Fiat famous. Cars like the original Panda, the Fiat 124, and the original Fiat 500. “They were sort of elegant and simple; this is a bit, dare I say it…French,” remarked May. The car has a nice digital display and some button controls, so that makes a change from the onslaught of touchscreens.
“This is a perfectly agreeable car apart from the slightly knobbly ride,” May said in the video. His only real disappointment is that it doesn’t quite embrace the spirit of the Panda. “The shift in what a Panda means is quite dramatic,” said May, arguing it’s gone from the driving experience to being all about styling and logos.
What Does May’s Team Think of the Fiat Panda?
May asked his team of Lucy, Eve and Peter what they thought about the new Grande Panda. They had a similar view to May, that it was a solid car, but nothing to get hugely excited about. For May, it just feels like an appliance. Nothing incredible, and nothing particularly special either. And perhaps not in the spirit of what the Panda should be.