Panda Cub

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The headline with Fiat’s TwinAir Panda is ‘frugality’ but there’s so much more to this stylish Italian city car. With Petrol prices soaring past $3 with plenty of upward momentum, the opportunity to buy a two cylinder, 875cc Fiat is pretty timely. And this clever Panda is not expensive either, in fact it could be positively cheap. Read on... 

Fiat’s most famous two cylinder car was the brilliant 500, or Bambina as it was known in NZ. But as brilliant as the Bambina was its meagre horsepower and crash gearbox make it a less than ideal commuter car today. And while on paper the tiny engined Panda TwinAir may not sound like a big improvement over its distant cousin the reality is the little hatchback is more than meets the eye. 

The multi-award winning two cylinder turbocharged engine pumps out a respectable 85hp and if you drive like a Nana you can get 67mpg out of it. And it’s actually quicker than the 4 cylinder 1.2 model. Add to this the clever dual logic semi auto/manual transmission, the spacious interior, copious storage and plenty of techy stuff and you have a very cool city car that’s just a bit different to the competition. 

But what’s really appealing about the Panda is the price. When you consider it’s basically a Fiat 500 under the skin then the auction estimate of this 2015 Lounge model with just 48,000kms on the clock is just $4000-$5000 seems astonishingly good value to both buy and run. 

It may not be beautiful but like the panda of the hairy variety, it is cute only with a much smaller appetite. More detailshere.