Fiat Grande Panda Review 2026: Prices, specs and verdict

What is the Fiat Grande Panda?

The word ‘iconic’ is overused these days, but it absolutely applies to the Fiat Panda. Through 45+ years and eight million examples sold, Fiat’s unashamedly boxy and utilitarian small car is one of the most recognizable shapes on the road.

This all-new version is called the Fiat Grande Panda, and fans of a certain global coffee shop will know that ‘Grande’ is an Italian term for ‘large’. Don’t worry, the small car icon isn’t suddenly a Range Rover rival, but it has expanded a bit.  

In Fiat’s home market of Italy you can still buy the now 16-year old regular Panda - dubbed Pandina - but in many other markets city cars like that are an endangered species. That’s why new the Grande Panda is closer in size to fully fledged superminis and small SUVs, and also why it only comes with either hybrid or fully electric power.

The Grande Panda is very closely related to the Citroen e-C3 and C3, along with the bigger Vauxhall Frontera and Citroen C3 Aircross. It’s taken a while for the right-hand drive Grande Panda’s to come to the UK, but we’ve driven both versions to see if they’ve been worth the wait. Our in-depth review covers everything you need to know.

Verdict: is the Fiat Grande Panda a good car?

We reckon the Fiat Grande Panda isn’t just a good car, it could well be our favourite small car on sale right now. It’s dripping with fun and character, with a great design, but it certainly isn’t all style and no substance.

We like the comfortable and easy driving experience, the intuitive technology, the keen pricing and the surprising practicality, too. Granted, a Renault 5 or Clio is sharper and more capable in the bends (and both feel a bit posher inside) but in terms of comfort and the ability to zip about town, we reckon Fiat has nailed the balance.

Pricing, specs & rivals

Prices for the new Fiat Grande Panda Hybrid start at £18,995 at the time of writing. That’s about the same as a top-spec Kia Picanto, fractionally less than a Citroen C3 and a good deal cheaper than a SEAT Arona.

That price gets you in base Pop trim, which gets 16in steel wheels, manual air-con, a 10.25in touchscreen and digital dials, all-round LED lights, cruise control, rear parking sensors and the usual suite of connectivity and safety tech.

Upgrading to Icon trim adds £1,000 to that price and brings some styling and material upgrades inside and out along with 16in alloys, a centre armrest, privacy glass and roof rails.

Top spec La Prima is £21,995, but throws in plenty of goodies including 17in alloys, climate control, heated seats and steering wheel, sat-nav, front parking sensors, a rear-view camera, wireless phone charging, an auto-dimming rear view mirror and a host of further styling and material upgrades inside and out. This is the version that goes all in on colour and character.

The Grande Panda Electric commands a £2,000 premium spec-for-spec, starting at £20,995. There some minor kit differences including funky white steel wheels on Pop trim, but fundamentally both hybrid and electric variants are the same.

Rivals

The Fiat Grande Panda has no shortage of small car rivals, be it petrol or battery powered. It’s closely related to the Citroen e-C3 and C3, along with the larger Vauxhall Frontera and Citroen C3 Aircross, for starters.

On the petrol side, alternatives to the Fiat include the Chery Tiggo 4, SEAT Arona, Renault Clio, Suzuki Swift, Kia Stonic and Picanto, MINI Cooper and Dacia Duster.

On the electric side, the Grande Panda has stiff competition in the form of the Renault 5 E-Tech and near-identical Nissan Micra. There’s also the BYD Dolphin Surf, Hyundai Inster, MG 4 Urban and MINI Cooper Electric.

Interior comfort, quality & technology

Just like the funky exterior, the Granda Panda’ interior is a real highlight. Compared to the smart but straight-laced C3’s cabin it’s a refreshingly bright and colourful place to sit.

There’s loads of little details throughout, including Fiat and Panda logos everywhere and a little graphic of the original Panda ‘driving’ around the infotainment surround – itself designed in the shape of Fiat’s Lingotto rooftop test track at its old Turin HQ. Top spec cars also use bamboo for the top part of the dash where the second glovebox lives.

The splashes of colour and ingenious use of materials help disguise the relative cheapness. You won’t find any soft-touch plastics or fancy metal bits, and although nothing feels flimsy a Renault 5/Nissan Micra is more upmarket inside.

The Panda gives you a much better view out than those cars, though, thanks to the small SUV-like raised driving position. You get a good view forwards and sideways, although the over-the-shoulder view back is a bit restricted.

We do like the simple usability, however. Instead of a keyless fob you get a key that goes in a slot on the steering column (if it isn’t broke, etc), and you also get physical climate control switches and even dedicated buttons to turn of unwanted driver assists. The Grande Panda is an easy car to live with.

Infotainment, sat-nav, stereo and connectivity

Every Fiat Grande Panda comes with a 10.25in touchscreen infotainment system mounted on a dash-top plinth alongside a 10in digital instrument display.

The touchscreen is pretty good overall. It may be relatively basic in terms of functionality, but it’s responsive and fast-acting with intuitive menu layouts – arguably more important in a car than gimmicky features.

Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto also let you mirror your phone on the screen, so while built-in sat-nav is only offered on La Prima trim, you don’t really need it.

The 10in dial display is clear with sharp graphics and interesting layouts – it’s better than its Citroen cousin here too – although there’s no map display like some rivals.

You’ll find two USB-C connectors up front and a single USB-C charging slot in the rear, while La Prima models add a wireless phone charging pad. All versions get the same six-speaker audio system that delivers decent sound quality.

How practical is the Fiat Grande Panda?

The Fiat Grande Panda’s dimensions of 3,999mm in length, 1,763mm in width excluding mirrors and 1,586mm in height (1,629mm with roof rails) make it significantly larger than the old Panda, in-keeping with the ‘Grande’ name.

It’s still shorter and narrower than a typical supermini like the Renault Clio, but it is longer than a Toyota Yaris or Renault 5. That pays dividends when it comes to space inside.

Headroom is impressive. Even with the high seating position, tall drivers have plenty of space between their heads and the roof, while legroom is fine and there’s enough width to avoid rubbing elbows with your front seat passenger.

In the rear the Grande Panda is noticeably roomier than a Renault 5 or Nissan Micra, offering enough legroom for a six-footer to just about fit behind a similar-sized driver and generous headroom. There isn’t quite enough space to comfortably fit three adults across the rear bench, but young teenagers should be fine. Foot space is decent, too.

Storage and boot space

Cabin storage in the Grande Panda is good for a small car, mainly because you have not one but two gloveboxes – an upper and lower one. The upper one is covered in funky materials regardless of trim, or becomes a bamboo-covered ‘Bambox’ on La Prima models.

Elsewhere you get a pair of narrow but long door bins that can just about take a reusable water bottle, a tray below the upper glovebox to hold wallets or sweets and a useful centre console tray with cupholder elements. You also get a small second space directly between the seats, which becomes a lidded armrest on Icon or La Prima trims.

The rear seats don’t do anything like the sliding and reclining items in the Hyundai Inster. They just fold easily in a typical 60/40 split. There’s also no height adjustable boot floor, which is a shame.

Fortunately, the outright boot capacity is very competitive for a small car. The hybrid’s 412-litre capacity is more than much bigger hatchbacks like the VW Golf, never mind the Renault Clio or Kia Stonic.

That reduces to 361 litres in the Granda Panda Electric, but that’s still better than the BYD Dolphin and on a par with the bigger MG 4. There isn’t much in terms of boot features, but you do get a couple of tie-down points and hooks. The load lip is quite high, however.

Performance & drive: What is the Fiat Grande Panda like on the road?

Fiat has kept things straightforward with the Grande Panda’s power sources, offering just two:  petrol ‘hybrid’ or fully electric. Both have near identical power outputs and similar on-paper performance.

The Grande Panda hybrid uses Stellantis’ tried-and-tested 1.2-litre three-cylinder turbo petrol engine mated to a tiny battery pack and 29hp electric motor. The combined output is 110hp – far more than any version of the Kia Picanto.

It’s a mild hybrid in essence: Fiat claims you’ll roll around town up to 50% of the time in electric power alone, but it can only do this at really low speeds or when coasting. Most of the time, the hybrid bit acts as a helping hand alongside the petrol engine.

My experience of the hybrid Granda Panda on UK roads was positive: it feels decently peppy and gets up to speed with both minimal fuss and an eager engine note. Overtaking isn’t too tricky either, but although the six-speed automatic gearbox is mostly smooth it can sometimes take a bit longer to kid down than you’d like. A manual, non-hybrid version is likely to come later.

Onto the Grande Panda Electric, which has a front-mounted electric motor boasting 111hp – a whole one more than the hybrid version – but is 200kg heavier.

Officially it’s a second slower from 0-62mph than the hybrid, and while it’s nippy enough away from a standstill performance tails off out of town. It’s fine for a runabout such as this, but don’t expect to be pinned in the back of your seat. A Renault 5 or Nissan Micra is noticeably punchier.

Both hybrid and electric Granda Pandas have regenerative braking that activates quite strongly a second after you lift off the throttle. There’s a ‘C’ mode in the electric car that enables full coasting, which is smoother for motorway driving. The hybrid version has an ‘L’ mode intended to increase the regen effect for low speed driving, but it doesn’t add much.

Power, 0-62mph times

• Fiat Grande Panda Hybrid: 110hp/

Ride and handling

Compared to the Citroen C3/3-C3, Fiat has slightly stiffened up the suspension to increase agility in the Granda Panda. We’d stop short of calling this a particularly sporty or engaging car to drive, however.

Compared to a Renault 5 or Clio, the Fiat has more body lean in hard cornering and lighter, less feelsome steering. It’s not too roly poly though (certainly it’s more enjoyable to steer than a Chery Tiggo 4) and grip levels are good, and its compact size and light weight means it’s agile.

You can enjoy driving the Grande Panda in town or on the open road. The ride is still decent, too, shrugging off the worst potholes at low speeds and not bobbing about too much on faster roads. All in all, the ride and handling aren’t a reason to buy the Grande Panda, but they certainly aren’t a reason to avoid it either.

Noise and refinement

The Grande Panda is more refined than many affordable cars. Obviously the electric version is near-silent when running, with just a faint whine under hard acceleration. The hybrid version brings with it engine noise, but it’s far from uncouth – you mainly notice a brief shudder when the car switches from electric to petrol mode.

Road noise is kept in check quite well and can be drowned out easily by the stereo. There is some wind noise at motorway speeds due to the boxy shape, but again it isn’t excessive.  

Euro NCAP: is the Fiat Grande Panda a safe car?

At the time of writing, the Grande Panda hasn’t been crash tested by safety experts Euro NCAP. The same applies to the related Citroen C3 and Vauxhall Frontera, so we can’t make any concrete conclusion regarding how safe the Fiat is.

There is a decent but not outstanding level of standard safety kit, including the now mandated automatic emergency braking, lane keep assistance, speed limit assistance and driver drowsiness detection. There are also six airbags on all versions.

What the Grande Panda lacks is features like blind spot monitoring, safe exit alert and rear cross-traffic alert. Traditionally these aren’t offered on cheaper cars, but new Chinese entrants such as the Chery Tiggo 4 are showing that even affordable cars can come fully loaded.

To avoid parking prangs every Grande Panda comes with rear parking sensors. You’ll need to upgrade to La Prima to add front sensors and a reversing camera, however.

Running costs and fuel economy

Fiat calls the Grande Panda a hybrid, which it technically is, but it can’t run on electric-only power for as long as ‘full hybrids’ such as the Renault Clio E-Tech.

That means it can’t match the outright fuel economy figures of cars like the Clio, the Toyota Yaris or MG3 Hybrid+. It also can’t match the lightweight, seriously efficient pure petrol Suzuki Swift. The Fiat’s official WLTP figure of between 55 and 56mpg is still respectable, however.

As with the Grande Panda Electric (below) you’ll likely find that this figure is more achievable in gentle urban driving (where it drop into electric mode more frequently) than on motorways.

Electric range and charging

The Fiat Grande Panda Electric is only available with one battery option – the same 43.8kWh usable pack that’s found in the related Citroen e-C3.

It promises the same range as the Citroen, at 199 miles in the official combined WLTP test. That’s a little bit more than an entry-level Renault 5 and matches the longest-range Fiat 500e. It’s not far behind the 43kWh BYD Dolphin Surf and 39kWh Hyundai Inster, either.

The only issue is that rivals, like the Renault 5/Nissan Micra, Inster and EV2 all have bigger battery options available that push well beyond 200 miles of official range.

In terms of charging, the Grande Panda Electric has a peak speed on DC rapid chargers of 100kW – faster than any version of the Dolphin Surf and Inster and in-line with the bigger battery Renault 5. The quoted 31-minute 10-80% charge time is up with the best small EVs.

AC charging is capped at 7.4kW as standard (enough for a typical home wall box charger) but it’s possible to add 11kW charging if you plan to use three-phase electricity supplies or ‘slow’ destination chargers. It’s a shame that you lose the brilliant built-in charging cable if you option this, though – it’s stored behind a flap in the front grille and spirals out, so you don’t have mucky cables taking up space in the boot.

How much does the Fiat Grande Panda cost to insure?

The Fiat Grande Panda is unlikely to break the bank when it comes to insurance costs, but some small cars may be cheaper to insure. Hybrid models sit in insurance group 19 for Pop trim and group 20 for La Prima, which is a bit less than the Suzuki Swift but more than a Skoda Fabia.

The Granda Panda Electric will be slightly pricier to insure, sitting in insurance group 23 or 24. All versions of the Renault 5 have slightly lower groups, but the Panda is in-line with the MINI Cooper E and Hyundai Inster.