Fiat Grande Panda Electric (2025 - ) 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, and the Grande Panda Electric RED edition starts at just under £21,000. Even moving up to a top of the range La Prima model will set you back less than an entry-level 500e. 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.

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. That said, our pre-production test car developed a knocking noise during our drive due to a fault with the suspension. Fiat assured us this was a third-party part which was only used during pre-production, and this shouldn’t occur in the finished cars. We hope this is the case but have scored for reliability based on our experience. Buyers will be covered by a standard three-year warranty and the battery gets its own eight-year/100,000-mile cover to for extra peace of mind.

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 miss-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 over nice-to-haves so it can keep the Grande Panda’s purchase price down, and this means 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. The seats aren’t as padded as they are in the ë-C3, nor is the suspension as soft, and our La Prima test car jiggled about over rough road surfaces.

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 – though this does take a bit of practice. For rapid charging on the go, the Grande Panda also has a more conventional port on the rear passenger side of the car. There are two trim options: RED and La Prima. All cars get a 10-inch digital driver display and a 10.25-inch central touch-screen 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 fairly responsive and easier to use than the 600e. We appreciate the physical heating controls, upgraded to climate control with heated seats in La Prima models. On the outside RED models get retro white steel wheels, while La Prima cars get larger alloys. The Grande Panda brings a slice of Italy to Britain’s streets with its choice of seven paint colours, none of which are grey, and you can add to the robust looks by adding inserts to the Panda lettering imprinted on the doors.

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.