First foray back to The Smoke from my home in Gloucestershire, and I happened to be standing on a Marylebone kerbside when some lucky bloke drove by in a latest-spec Fiat Panda 4x4, painted in that special burnt orange that I believe should be the default hue for every one. Not having driven one for a while made me realise how much I miss the Panda, which is now in its 40th year, even though there have only been three editions.
Years ago, I had a lovable red Panda TwinAir as my daily driver, and I remember sitting in my airliner seat on those unlamented day-return trips we journalists used to do to Germany or France, knowing that I would hear the throb of that dopey little engine again in an hour, and all would be right with the world.
No one seems to know what Fiat plans for ‘the Panda space’, as marketers would doubtless put it, but that Marylebone moment set me fondly remembering the TwinAir launch, when engineer Paolo Martinelli marched on stage carrying an engine block as if it were a briefcase, and realising that this is one car I want to last a long time yet.
TUESDAY
What a relief to spend a couple of hours with TVR’s three enthusiast principals – chairman Les Edgar, COO John Chasey and new CEO Jim Berriman – after a fairly long and at times ominous silence. As you’ll have read in the news section, the trio are reconstituting the company, having discovered that starting from nothing in the automotive industry is tougher than even they had ever imagined. However, the positives are many: their expertise is now far greater (helped by Berriman’s automotive track record), their plan is cannier, their Griffith prototype is still convincing, their supporter body remains intact and their dream is undimmed. My tenner still says they will succeed.
WEDNESDAY
Peugeot design boss Gilles Vidal, interviewed this week, is well known for making wise observations, but his interesting justification of “heritage models” – which he admits his firm is thinking about – broke new ground for me. I’ve always thought the likes of the Mini and Fiat 500 are created simply to feed buyers’ nostalgia, but Vidal believes there’s more to it than that.
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Previous Panda better looking
I've been a fan of Pandas ever since the red original I owned in the 80s. I've always felt that the styling of the current one was a step backwards from its more chiselled predecessor. I'm looking forward towards the next one whether its just electric or not and even though it'll probably be much larger.
Fiat Panda 4x4
I've always thought that the Panda is an excellent car in it's own right and the 4x4 and the Cross versions are really something special,it does look special in Sicillian Orange or Tuscany Green. At about £16k it's pretty good value and quite useful of road.with the imminent demise of the Suzuki Jimny it's well worth a look at. The other 4x4 the Cross is pretty good as well ,choose it in Tropicalia Yellow and there's absolutely no way it'd get lost in a car park
Panda 4x4s do look great,