2006 Fiat Panda LX D review from Italy

Nothing.

With some trepidation, as an ex rally and track driver (not of any note), I recently rented a Diesel Fiat Panda at Bologna airport for use during a week in the Mugello region, based in the small town of Barberino di Mugello.

I need not have feared... the car was a revelation in almost every respect.

I put up some 6,000-km in six days, covering everything from city, motorway, highway, unsurfaced, high mountain passes with gradients and hairpins of every severity.

Once the tyre pressures were properly set, the car could hardly be criticised for handling dynamics... really very good, and amusing to watch much swifter, swisher and of course more expensive, machinery either trying to overtake or escape from this microbe of a device.

It was quiet enough when cruising at autostrada top limits and perfectly quiet at the limits on other roads.

Fuel economy was superb.

Criticisms..? Luggage space, 2nd / 3rd gear ratio and lights, both main beam and dip (but may have needed setting) otherwise nothing negative, for what the car is. It must be by far the best in its class.