• Panda’s boxy body is quite practical
• Headroom in abundance
• Boot is square and useful, but small

How much space is there?

The Panda’s square body and tall dimensions mean passenger space isn’t actually bad. Legroom is a little tight in the rear but headroom is abundant and the seats encourage an upright position that makes the most of this. It’s not exactly palatial, but four adults can travel inside for surprisingly long journeys without complaint – and if your friends are shorter than average, they’ll be perfectly comfortable.

A standard four-seater, Fiat will let you upgrade the Panda to five seats, which may be useful to have in emergencies – but don’t expect to seat three adults across the rear bench unless they’re very slim.

Boot space and storage

With 225 litres of space on offer, the Panda’s boot lags behind rivals such as the Volkswagen Up and Hyundai i10, both of which have more than 250 litres.

It’s a practical space, though, as the Panda’s large tailgate is perfectly square and leaves a nice low opening, in contrast to some rivals that have a huge lip to hoick bags over. The seats fold easily – in a 50/50 split for four-seat versions or 60/40 for five-seaters – and the metal cladding on the seatbacks leave a hardwearing surface. They don’t go totally flat, though.

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Storage for oddments in the cabin is also lacking. The glovebox is small and deep, and though there’s a large open shelf above it you wouldn’t want to leave anything there as it’ll be on display when parked and insecure when moving.

The Panda also suffers from tiny and oddly-shaped cupholders, better suited to a dinky Italian espresso than a bucket of Starbucks’ finest frappacappalatte.

Is it easy to park?

Tiny dimensions and a square body combine with fairly good all-round visibility to make the Panda very easy to park. Rear parking sensors are only available as an optional extra, though, and a reversing camera isn’t available at all, so you’ll need to be happy turning your head.

One item standard to all Pandas is the ‘City’ button. Press this and the already-light steering becomes truly featherweight, making low-speed manoeuvres effortless.

Safety

• Zero star Euro NCAP rating
• Panda isn’t necessarily unsafe…
• … but rivals do perform better

When it was first tested in 2011 the Fiat Panda scored four stars in the Euro NCAP crash testing procedure. However, when it was retested in 2018, that score was dropped right down to the lowest possible zero-star rating.

This score reflects Euro NCAP’s constantly-shifting goalposts and the Panda’s lack of advanced safety equipment. Autonomous emergency braking is a cost option, as are front side airbags, and though the Panda’s general crash structures aren’t necessarily as unsafe as the low score may suggest, rivals will hold up better in an impact.

The fact is that a car’s safety should be measured by what else is available in the same category, and compared to its rivals, the Panda is an unsafe car.