I used this car for my time on Lanzarote. I deliberately selected it because I run classic Citroen cars (XM, GS, DS (the original) & have had classic Fiat cars in my personal collection.

Fiats historically have been good handling, zippy cars. With great regret the (new shape) Fiat Panda is a let down on many fronts. I thought I would love this car.

At the limits the handling became scary. Completely the opposite of my 1990 Fiat Uno which is a handling joy and stable on the limit of grip. I have considerable car experience. This was one car that left me wondering what was going to happen on the limit of grip.

The other major disadvantage that I noticed, particularly on the twisting narrow roads of Lanzarote...is the fact that the windscreen A pillar blocks ones vision around the curves in the road. This left me waving my head around inside the car in an attempt to see what was around the twisting country lanes. Simply put the pillar architecture is terrible and in the wrong position. I have never noticed this much vision interference on any car. It also obscured the low walls found on Lanzarote mountain roads; leaving me wondering how close I was to the edge!

In 'normal' straight road driving you may not notice this windscreen pillar issue so much. But think of kids and bikes in city driving, and I think this 'city car' leaves much to be desired.

These factors really let the car down for me.

Coupled with this the door lock was in the drivers door only. In tight parking on tiny streets when the drivers door was against a wall, (meaning I had to move across the car to get out the passenger door), presented me with a locking car problem!

I felt like I was circus act trying to push my arm between the car and the wall to try and lock and unlock the car.

My opinion is they are a let down for Fiat. Legendary historic Fiat handling and practicality has been lost in this car. They are not as good as they appear to be.

I handed this car back, and got another Fiat Uno again for myself. A 23 year old 1990 Fiat Uno, that is more practical and does return 58 miles per gallon when not pushed all the time for performance, and is a far better car to use than the new model Fiat Pandas.