• Panda’s interior is distinctively styled
• All models come with touchscreen
• Not everything is intuitive

How is the quality and layout?

The Panda’s styling is all based around a ‘squircle’ motif – a square with rounded corners – and this shape is everywhere on the interior, from the dials to the dashboard to the storage bins. It’s just one of several quirky styling features. Some of these are charming – like the ‘Panda’ script on the tops of the doors – but others, like the awkward, oddly-shaped handbrake, just seem like style over substance.

We do like that Fiat’s used some unconventional materials in order to make the dashboard more interesting – though the plastics are cheap, befitting the car’s entry-level status, they’re often textured and do a good job of disguising this.

Infotainment and tech

All new Pandas come with a seven-inch infotainment touchscreen that replaces an awkward radio and smartphone mount combination.

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Pandas get Apple Carplay and Android Auto, two features we consider essential for a connected, modern car aimed at young buyers. The touchscreen isn’t the most feature-rich or easy-to-use system we’ve ever seen, but it is a cut above the standard offering on, say, a Volkswagen Up, which doesn’t get a touchscreen at all.

Comfort

• High-set driving position
• Great visibility
• Seats not the best

The Panda’s seats are quite firm and the headrests are rock hard, so don’t go expecting pillowy comfort. They are set quite high, though, making ingress and egress easy.

Climate control is standard on higher models but you can’t specify extra niceties like heated seats, and refinement isn’t the best with rather a lot of wind and engine noise.