Fiat Panda 1.2 Easy 5d Owner Review

It's spacious inside for a small car, decent boot space, and pretty economical. I've found it fairly quiet inside, even at motorway speeds, and also comfortable on long journeys. There are a few niggles: The specs are pretty basic. Mine is a mid-range car but it didn't have any kind of bluetooth or an aux point, which surprised me for a car that's not so old. (But there is an aux connection point at the rear of the radio and I had a lead fitted.) It's the only car I've known with no intermediate ignition position, ie if you are parked with the engine off you can only listen to the radio if all the electrics switched on and lots of red lights showing on the screen. There is no lever to open the boot from inside the car - you have to use the key. And I don't know whether it's the radio or aerial, but I can't get AM channels in any location even though there is an AM setting. I can't swear to this but from what I recall there is no alarm to tell you you've left your headlights switched on, which can easily happen, for example driving with lights on in rain, the weather brightens up and you forget they are on by the time you park.Those alarms have saved me many a time in other cars. In terms of driving it, the first thing I noticed is that it's slow, even for a 1.2. Doesn't come close to matching cars I've drive with similar sized engine, including Fiat's Punto. I'm no boy racer but I was moving 'up' from a little car with a 1 litre engine and expected at least a little more - but the old car was more responsive and accelerated quicker. When I changed from that to the Panda the accelerator pedal felt 'spongey' - you put your foot down and the engine thinks about it for a second then ambles off. It feels like first gear only gets you about five yards forward before running out of puff. Worst of all, the old car ran out of steam going uphill and I was hoping for better - but this does too. On motorways at 65-70 mph, if you don't want to lose 10-20 on an uphill stretch you have to plan ahead and increase your speed to 75-80 to give yourself enough umph to maintain your speed, but on a long stretch even that effect doesn't last long. Joining a motorway, it takes a long time to build up to speed, so you will often be among the lorries till you can get it going. In summary, there is a lot to like about it and it's great for cruising around town - smooth, comfortable, economical. It's also pleasant to drive on long journeys once you've got some momentum going, but sometimes when you need a bit of acceleration it can feel like you left the handbrake on. And in hilly country you will have to change down the gears more than in many similar sized cars.