Fiat Grande Panda Electric (2024 - ) review

You know the drill, electric cars are generally more expensive to buy, but cheaper to run if you can charge at home. However, while the electric Grande Panda is more expensive than the hybrid equivalent, the cost difference is impressively small. This is a strong statement of intent and certainly makes the Grande Panda an appealing choice even compared to the value offered by the Renault 5, Hyundai Inster or Citroën ë-C3. With this Fiat is hoping to help more private buyers go electric, but if you’re a company drivers the Benefit In Kind advantages could help seal the deal. And if you’re buying privately or don’t have the option of home charging you can still have the hybrid.

The Grande Panda is a new model so we don’t yet know how reliable it will be, but its shared parts from the wider Stellantis group offer some reassurance. Being an electric car should also play in its favour as there’s fewer moving parts than petrol or diesel models. We did experience a knocking noise from the suspension on our first drive in a pre-production car but having now driven it again on UK roads this seems to have been an isolated issue. We’d still prefer a longer warranty than the three-year standard cover, especially when many rivals now offer more.

The Grande Panda comes with six airbags and, unusually, Fiat has located the passenger one in the roof to make more room for storage in the dashboard. Additionally, you get driver aids such as emergency braking, driver attention monitoring, lane keeping assistance and traffic sign recognition. This is prone to mis-reading the speed limit, so the inclusion of a physical button to mute the warnings is welcome. All cars come with rear parking sensors, cruise control and a speed limiter as standard, while La Prima cars gain front parking sensors and a reversing camera. Fiat has pragmatically prioritised the regulated aids against nice-to-haves to keep the Grande Panda’s purchase price down, so you won’t find useful features such as blind spot monitoring or adaptive cruise control.

This may be the biggest Fiat to wear a Panda badge, but it’s not a big car by today’s standards. However, it does make good use of the space available. There’s a decent boot, which is slightly larger than the related Citroën ë-C3 and easily swallows four overnight bags with room to spare. Passengers get plenty of space regardless of where they are sitting with ample head- and legroom even in the back. Upfront is also spacious, with decent storage compartments and the bonus of a dashboard cubby. On La Prima models this is partly upholstered with real bamboo fibres adding additional character to the interior. Fun is a theme throughout the car with pops of yellow present throughout and a range of different materials, textures, and motifs to make the Grande Panda stand out. Notably the blue plastic used for the door cards is made from plastic and aluminium found in drinks cartons which can’t usually be recycled, and each Grande Panda helps to recycle 140 cartons. The seats aren’t as padded as they are in the ë-C3, nor is the suspension as soft, so you will be jiggled about over rough road surfaces, particular if you are in the top of the range model with larger wheels.

The main feature of the Grande Panda Electric is the 4.5-metre integrated spiral charging cable hidden behind the front grille. This frees up space in the boot and should mean you avoid getting tangled as it retracts back into the car, but it does take a bit of practice to get it to slot back into place. For rapid charging on the go, the Grande Panda also has a more conventional port on the rear passenger side of the car. Since we first drove it the UK trim line-up has evolved into Pop, Icon and La Prima grades, all of which get the 10-inch digital instruments and 10.25-inch central screen, the latter with wireless CarPlay and Android Auto integration. La Prima modes also get sat-nav and a handy wireless phone charger on top of the standard four USB-C ports throughout the car. The infotainment doesn’t have a huge range of features, but the layout is much simpler than the 600e, fairly responsive and easy to use. We appreciate the physical heating control which get upgraded to climate control with heated seats in La Prima models. Each to theirs but we’re huge fans of the white steel wheels on the basic Pop version, and the slice of retro cool they bring. The others get more conventional alloys if that’s your bag.

The Grande Panda has the same official 199-mile WLTP range and 44kWh battery pack as the ë-C3. Like the Citroën, the Fiat provides adequate power and it takes motorways in its stride, but isn’t the quickest electric car off the line and the upright shape means you do feel the car rolling around through the corners. The steering is also very light, which helps with manoeuvrability around town, but it is vague at higher speeds and not particularly engaging. By default, the Grande Panda is set to its maximum braking regeneration setting, which is a middle ground between coasting and grabby ‘one-pedal’ driving. It’s a good balance and makes the Grande Panda easy to drive. You’re likely to get around 150 to 180 miles of range in the real world and when you do need to charge, Fiat says you can top up from 20 to 80 per cent in around half an hour.