Fiat Grande Panda Review 2025: Price, specs & boot space

If you're after basic but fun transport, we reckon it will be. It's a car that demonstrates cheap and cheerful is still a thing in the motoring world, where all too often cheap equals nasty. Some of the funky details might not be for everyone, but we're all for it. Importantly, though, the mechanical side of everything is as sensible as can be, with proven powertrains in use in a dizzying array of other Stellantis vehicles.

As far as the engines go, a lot of that is going to be down to your personal circumstances. If you are able to charge a car at home and aren't going to be regularly doing big trips, the electric Grande Panda will make a lot of sense, and it won't be much more expensive than the hybrid version. 

In terms of which trim level to choose, that's hard to say at this stage because we don't know what equipment will be fitted to the entry-level trim (simply called 'Grande Panda') nor the range-topping La Prima model. That said, given the low prices we're expecting, you still shouldn't be paying much by going for the fancier one of the two.

The most similar cars are the Citroen C3, C3 Aircross and Vauxhall Frontera, as they're built using a lot of the same parts. This includes the Stellantis Smart Car platform, which has nothing to do with the Smart car that uses a lowercase 'c', before you ask. 

It's arguably not a true rival to any of those cars, though. Instead, we'd look to other small SUVs, including the Toyota Yaris Cross and the Dacia Sandero Stepway. Where the Grande Panda wins out against those cars is in its choice of powertrains - you can have it as either a hybrid or an electric car. 

Dacia also offers the all-electric Spring from only £14,995, but there are compromises to achieve that low opening price. The Hyundai Inster is another electric-only Grand Panda rival, but it's a lot more expensive than the expected starting point for the Fiat, nudging nearly £30,000.

Considering the Fiat Grande Panda falls firmly into the affordable car category, the quality and finish on display all around the car is impressive. Fiats of old used to have a bit of a reputation for lacklustre build and quality issues. There is none of that in evidence with the Fiat Grande Panda. The exterior dazzles with its inventive design ideas but, equally, the materials and finish look and feel great to the touch too. 

Moving to the interior, it’s a similar story. Granted, there is a lot of plastic in evidence, with the usual lower-grade feel being most evident on the door cards and lower regions of the cockpit. Look higher up though and it’s a real treat. The Fiat designers have been really imaginative with their ideas and the execution is wonderful. Case in point is the use of bamboo-based product for the partial covering of the dash and glove box in the La Prima edition. 

Highlights abound though and, compared to its rivals in the Stellantis family of brands, the quality and finish is definitely on a par, if not slightly better overall than the options from Citroen or Vauxhall.

The 10.25-inch touchscreen infotainment system infotainment system is a decent setup overall. The graphics aren't drastically different in the Grande Panda than they are in other Stellantis vehicles, although there is a big Fiat logo lurking in the background.

The propriety navigation system is useable enough, but many drivers will prefer to use smartphone apps like Google Maps or Waze, which will be possible through the use of Android Auto or Apple CarPlay, both of which we're anticipating the Grande Panda will have as standard.

There's a pair of USB-C sockets in the front, another pair in the back, and as far as the stereo goes, erm, it has one. That's about all we know for now when it comes to the sound system.

Being a bigger car than the last car to be called 'Panda', it should be no surprise that you get a considerably larger boot. At 361 litres, the Grande Panda offers about 100 litres more load space than its indirect predecessor and 51 litres more than the Citroen e-C3/C3. 

There's no frunk, but there is a handy 13 litres of interior storage space, boosted by the three litres from the upper glove box alone.

The all-electric Fiat Grande Panda uses a 44kWh combined with a single 113PS motor powering the front wheels. The mild-hybrid petrol meanwhile uses a 1.2-litre inline-three cylinder engine and a five-speed manual gearbox, although unusually, the price difference between this and the EV will be small.

Somewhere down the line, there will be a 100PS hybrid hooked up to an automatic gearbox. 

As the electric Grande Panda's battery isn't all that big, you won't go hugely far on a charge. The range according to the WLTP cycle is 199 miles, but in reality, that'll be more like 170 miles at best, and considerably less during colder times of year. 

One of the most impressive feats of bringing this relatively low-budget car to the marketplace is just how refined the Fiat Grande Panda feels. Even when it’s presented with unpleasant road surfaces to contend with, the little car retains its composure. 

This is helped by the seats, which feature funky styling and provide sensible levels of support. That said, they’re not the most capacious so anyone with larger proportions might find the Grande Panda’s front seats a bit of a squeeze. Levels of refinement in the rear are marginally less impressive, with none of the dazzling dashboard kit to entertain backseat passengers. There is a decent degree of room, however, which again combined with the comfort supplied by the seats makes even longer journeys feel doable.

Meanwhile, noise levels are impressively low, with only some minor wind noise down the sides of the car evident during our test time with the car. Most EVs struggle with stifling tyre noise but not so the Fiat Grande Panda. Even our jaunt on a section of motorway proved to be blissfully quiet, making it easy to hold a conversation during the journey. In that respect, we think the Fiat Grande Panda does remarkably well in both the refinement and noise level categories.

Euro NCAP is yet to test the Fiat Grande Panda, nor any other Smart Car platform vehicles like the Vauxhall Frontera. A five-star score is what we're expecting, though, which will be a big contrast to the last time a Fiat Panda was tested, which resulted in zero stars being awarded...

Insurance groups for the Grande Panda haven't been announced yet. All we have to go on is the related Citroen e-C3, which sits in a lofty (considering the size and power of the car) group 33. 

That's hard to say at this stage. Fiat hasn't done well in recent HonestJohn.co.uk Satisfaction Index surveys, placing third from the bottom of the list of the worst manufacturers for reliability in the last one. Then again, its score was likely dragged down by older vehicles, and the Grande Panda certainly isn't old, being based on a completely new platform.

That provides another unknown, though. The Smart Car architecture might prove to be exceptionally reliable, or there could be teething issues. Time will tell, but we are reassured by an eight-year/100,000-mile warranty for the battery. The overall warranty for the car is less impressive at 60,000 miles or three years, whichever comes first.

The electric Grande Panda won't be able to escape paying Vehicle Excise Duty (VED). From 1 April 2025, EVs will be liable for a flat rate of £190 a year. Mild-hybrid Grande Panda owners will have to pay the same.

The electric Fiat Grande Panda will be available in two trim levels – an entry-level grade simply called the (Grande Panda) Red (Fiat's brackets, not ours), and the top-of-the-range Grande Panda La Prima.

The full specifications haven't yet been revealed, but we know that the (Grande Panda) Red is a collaboration with the (Red) company, an organisation that partners with brands to raise money to fight AIDS. It features 16-inch white steel wheels and a Red logo on the B-pillar. 

The hybrid Fiat Grande Panda is also available in two trims – Icon and La Prima. The Icon model has LED healights and tail lights, 16-inch black alloy wheels, roof rails and skid plates, manual air conditioning, tinted windows and a central armrest. The La Prima model has 17-inch alloy wheels and a bamboo finish on the dashboard called Bambox.