2007 Fiat Panda Multijet Dynamic from UK and Ireland - Comments

Delivered with minute delivery mark (less than 1mm) on rear bumper, for which dealer offered a free paintstick.

One grommet was missing on the NSR folding seat assembly; on order.

Very slight rattle developing on dash top - may be due to my covert TomTom wiring through the dash to the windscreen pillar.

Otherwise NOTHING.

I have searched for problems with a magnifying glass, and I am fussy. I would never have bought another Fiat for me - but this was for my wife. I am still looking, trying to prove myself right that Fiats are cack.

Still NOTHING. Damn.

We could not be happier with this car, especially now the first class power train has loosened up.

The car is enjoyable to own, fun to drive, user-friendly and staggeringly economical. We are averaging 65mpg with mixed use, with 75mpg possible on a run, and coupled with £35 pa road tax and group 2 insurance, this car just has to be the best budget car to own, as it is enjoyable to drive and frugal.

This car was bought for my wife who recently passed her test, but I keep pinching it after falling for it (hence 3200 miles on 57 plate!). I used to own a 2006 Suzuki Swift DDiS (see report!) with the same engine (many cars use this excellent unit) and I fell out with that car in a big way because of the stupid interfering electronics fitted, but the Panda is just superb.

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Clever touches:

Speed related stereo volume.

Speed related wipers with auto wipe on selecting reverse with front wipers on, auto wipers when washing window, intermittent rear wipe goes half speed of front wipers, flick wipe facility.

Follow-me-home lights.

Excellent trip computer with both instantaneous and average fuel economy.

Very bright reversing light, excellent headlight performance.

Quality tyres, super smooth engine, fantastic refinement, finger light gearchange.

No annoying beeps or alarms, lovely folding key remote (like Golf), the pack Fiat sent me with a branded USB key gift, etc, etc..

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Could do with improvement:

Leg room for taller drivers - one knee catches the centre gearshift pod and the other thigh catches against a very hard door handle, but you can get comfy after trial and error.

Intermittent wiper setting too fast.

Mirrors are convex but ridiculously small for a town car, and have no blind spot curve or easy adjust for kerb alignment when parking (silly mistake Fiat!).

Very strong plastic smell when using heater.

Nothing else. Damn!

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Drive a well run-in one of these and be surprised - it is a world away from the petrol Pandas, and we actually chose our Multijet over the 1.4 100HP version after testing it, the diesel and also the 1.2 petrol.

The car is very refined indeed and well suited to demanding A and B roads, as well as lengthy fast motorway runs. Really!

Ours has the following options: air conditioning, sliding rear seat, a full size spare wheel and metallic paint, and cost £6800 on the road at a main Fiat dealer as the first owner, 57 plate car - an amazing deal.

When sourcing the car we saw various £5799 deal for the Multijet diesel, or £6199 with air-con, but these cars come WITHOUT rear headrests and with YELLOW as the only base colour - even red is an option of £235, metallics are £360. We therefore specified the £200 sliding rear seat option (4 seats only) which comes with the rear headrests and this is useful for increasing the boot size, but the seats when folded do not fold flat - the bases are fixed and back rests flop forward. We would rather have had proper folding seats in hindsight.

The £20 full size spare option is well worth it, as the boot is unaffected and you have a proper tyre, and you will only have to buy one when the fronts wear - use the best worn tyre as a spare when the time comes.

I would recommend the base car in yellow at £5799 as a cheap or second car, but the addition of air-con, nice paint and the better rear seats makes it usable as the main car - so for £1000 extra it is well worth it.

I would order the steering wheel controls for the audio if buying again however -the volume is a fair stretch away (even if only used occasionally with the auto/speed volume on). The sub-woofer option is unnecessary - the stereo is excellent.

Be very careful to get the colours right when ordering, and go and see the correct combination of paint and trim colour first before committing - Fiat have someone in the interior department who is colour blind (sky blue seats with maroon paint anyone?!).

We chose Cumbia Beige (smoke gold) with matching beige interior after looking at 30 odd Pandas, as it looked very nice - even though I hated gold, but the New Orleans Blue matches the blue interior well, and so does the light blue metallic. Rumba red comes with beige interior (!?!!).

The diesel makes great sense over the petrol as the fuel economy is much better, the tax £80 pa cheaper (£130 cheaper than 100HP version) and the resale stronger. It will be cheaper to own than any of the petrols, even the bog standard Active 1.1 petrol - look at the cost per mile stats in the magazines, even at list price - then factor in these amazing deals.

It is also very quick and pulls hard at tickover right up to 5000rpm - it is a brilliant engine, with a superb light gearbox, which means you can surprise many drivers. I have laughed myself daft watching the expressions of other drivers trying to leave me!! Overtaking is a doddle, so are steep hills, and the engine is strong enough to drive the car at tickover while changing gears.

If this car stays this good while we own it, and has no issues, it will truly be the best car we have ever owned (I've had 74 cars and 20 motorbikes) - and I am fussy! See my reports on 2006 Suzuki Swift DDiS, 2006 Suzuki Ignis 4Grip for instance.

For this money, it should not be this good, but it was made in Poland, which might explain it; the Polish are very proud and diligent workers - Fiat say the warranty claims are very low due on the Panda to the exceptional build quality.

I returned to Fiat after abandoning the brand some years ago from bad experiences. I came back as the brand has made marked improvements in dealers, style and quality, plus the new 500 will make it a desirable brand again. So far I am highly impressed with the car and the dealers, but I am certain something will go wrong...!! The missing grommet is on order and the rattle will be looked at soon.

On the strength of how damned good this Panda is, I have ordered a Fiat Doblo 1.9 Multijet 120 Dynamic for me - risky, but we'll see how it pans out..!!

Very interesting and timely review as I've just ordered my Panda Multijet four weeks ago (they promised 6-8 weeks delivery because of the options I specified.)

Amazingly, the car is practically identical to yours, same colour inside and out (check out the Cumbia Beige on the Fiat UK website.. nothing like the real thing!!) The only extras I'm getting are the 14 inch wheels and the steering wheel audio controls.

All up for £7500 through Fiatsupasaver and supplied through a dealer... I can't wait for it to arrive!

My 60 mile round trip to work and back is a mixture of steep hills, winding A road and dual carriageway, so your comments were very encouraging.

I didn't know about the speed related wipers, would that be the intelligent washer mentioned in the brochure? The speed related audio volume sounds great too!

So thanks for confirming my first impressions of the multijet... a little ripper!!!

The intelligent washer is a function which wipes the screen for three wipes on putting the washer on, then waits a few seconds and does a final wipe to remove any stray runs. It is a good feature. The wipers are very good, but the intermittent settting a little too fast.

The car itself is a hugely enjoyable car and we are very pleased with ours. We have just taken delivery of a Doblo 120 Mulltijet Dynamic ordered on the back of the quality of the Panda-it is very good, but the design and electronics are not as up to date as the Panda, and the Turkish build quality not as precise as the Panda's Polish build quality, with a lot of trim scatches etc.

We are still awaiting the Panda paint touch up stick and missing grommet, however.

Fiat Customer Services rang to ask how satisfied we were with the car and quizzed us over our thoughts on the Fiat Serivce, dealers and brand. This is a good sign that they are getting their house in order ready for the 500 launch...

I do hope you enjoy yours-be patient with the running in, the car transforms when loosened up. I believe that they program the chip to be gentle with the engine during the first 1000 miles, then it changes-but I may be wrong. Ours is so much better now at 3500 miles...

Update: now at 4200 miles and ECSTATIC with the Panda. I have owned so many cars, but this diesel Panda is a true revelation-it is so responsive, huge fun and startlingly QUICK!

Now the gearbox and engine are fully run in, the controls are delicately and precisely responsive and the fun you can have blasting along, flicking through the gears is immense.

The only limit the car has is the grip from the low rolling resistance "eco-tyres" which were not designed for rallying, but for economy. We'll soon be swapping them-the fronts are getting hammered already-the engine is more powerful than you would ever think, and better gripping tyres are needed if you drive very hard; the chassis is excellent.

A super-quick blast from the Midlands to the Welsh Coast across some choice damp mountain twisties only confirmed my admiration and love for this car-an experienced driver in the Panda can lose many so called "hot hatches".

I laughed myself daft after an impatient Range Rover Sport HSE driver desperately trying to pass the car in front of him got blitzed by me who passed them both UPHILL. He then came roaring after me, but just could not keep up on the tight twisties-it was like the QE2 chasing a jet-ski!! LOL.

God, I love this Panda-it is so much fun, so rewarding, so intuitive and well balanced and the economy of £35pa road tax, cheapest insurance and great fuel economy are the cherry on the icing on the cake!

I think I have had more fun in this than in the Alfasud ti I had in my teens. Honestly!

I prefer the 1.3 diesel to the 100HP version as it rides more softly and it's sprightly performance more surprising to others who cannot believe you are keeping up with them..

It would me mental with a superchip and some sticky rubber, but standard is fabulous...

***UPDATE***

Now at 4300 miles and the engine and gearbox are blindingly impressive-huge performance for a small engine, especially in this light car.

Faults: OS screenwasher jet faulty (centre piece slides/drops out constantly-same fault on my 2007 Doblo).

Dashboard rattle above clocks binnacle getting worse daily.

This car is highly impressive, but very short on front end grip in the wet and the steering is artificial and slightly vague, which makes it nervous on wet twisty roads when keeping up with the traffic. I even went to Kwik-Fit to check tyre pressure and alignment after my wife nearly lost it on a bend, but they checked it and said it was OK.

I blamed the factory fit eco tyres with low rolling resistance for the lack of grip, but the fitter said they were the best tyres available, and that the electric power steering can be vague and that the pumps are sometimes slower than the speed you turn it, giving a very slight delay which feels like a loss of grip.

Overall, wonderful engine and box, far better package than the 100HP Petrol (due to great performance with excellent ride quality instead of rock solid suspension) but has a small cabin with hard plastics and lacks front end grip in the wet.

I do go swiftly for a small car, but it catches my wife out too and she is careful!

If it was chipped (91BHP seems the norm) it would need larger wheels, as the standard wheels and tyres cannot even cope with the standard 70BHP...

Very interesting review of your car. I too have a Panda Multijet and after 3 months and 2500 miles so far and faultless drive and performance.

I agree about the tyres and level of grip and although Continental tyres are a premier brand the standard 155/80 R13 are not that good. I have upgraded to 14" alloys shod with Vredestein T-Trac tyres and can honestly say I have had no more problems with grip in wet or dry conditions.

Yes a fine 1.3 multijet diesel engine, lots of room with back seat folding for all those mobile djs. Funky wee motor enjoy.

*Original writer update*

I have now sold the Panda on and bought a Daihatsu Sirion as it fits us and the pushchair better than the Panda. The Sirion is far more basic and not as stylish, but is much a more spacious and practical car which corners and grips far better, and has 4 star NCAP over the Panda's 3 stars.

Parting thoughts on the Panda at 5000 miles:

First class engine and gearbox is astounding, clever and unintrusive electrics, surprisingly adept in all conditions at all speeds, good build quality. World class economy.

Very tight space in front for driver with bulky gearshift surround in the way and very hard door plastics, boot tiny, some rattles on dash developing.

In a sentence: A small Fiat as small Fiats should be, fun, entertaining, economical and stylish.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED if you find it big enough.

I would recommend the diesel with aircon, remote stereo controls, full size spare wheel and rear headrests, in a good colour which matches the interior.

Wow, no wonder you've owned 74 cars in your life time!

Thanks for the great coverage of the Panda, its encouraging to know that Fiat quality is on the up and up. Enjoy your Sirion.

I have a panda, it broke.

Thanks for the huge detail in that comment. How old was the Panda? What was wrong with it? Was is a Fiat Panda or the one that looks like a bear but in black and white?

Great car, strange clutch though - can't get anyone to agree yet with me, but I think it is faulty. Never had one like it in 40 years of motoring. It really is difficult to control - anyone else had problems?