What's Bad
Only 3 stars in for occupant safety in NCAP crash test, 1 star for pedestrian impact safety and 2 stars for child protection. 250,000 a year might not be enough to meet pan-European demand. Looks astonishingly like a slightly scaled-down Hyundai Matrix. Standard rear seatbacks don't double-fold, so to make a lot of space in the back rear seats need to be unbolted (a folding rear seat is a £200 extra).
Have been leaks through badly sealed front windscreens.
Basic spec of Panda 1.1 Active omits any sort of power point for a Tom Tom or to charge a phone.
What to Watch Out For
Quality problems such as old Punto fault of brake master cylinder washer reversing itself, causing pedal to stick to floor and have to be hooked up again.
Reports of poor fuel economy and heavy engine oil consumption of Multijet contradicted by other reports of excellent economy.
One report of engine mounting collapse, on a 2004 1.1 Active. Also on 54 reg 1.2 Dynamic, faults by mid 2007: 5th gear rebuilt, complete failure of the electric power steering and currently in the garage with a split front caliper slider pin causing overheating and squealing.
Loud banging noises from mid front underside of car on wet roads traced to water getting into parking brake assembly, which gets hot, and boiling off, causing the banging noise. Fixed under warranty after lengthy investigation.
By later 2009 power steering column motor failures were becoming increasingly common.
Complaint of Multijet diesel misfiring and losing power on hills in the wet.
Clutch master cylinder prone to eventual failure.
More Feedback Welcome.
Recalls
February 2008: TSB on Indian built 1.3 Multijet diesel engines to replace the head gaskets. Engines affected are serial numbers 2451169 to 2582915. Parts to fix in FIAT dealers from 3-3-2008.
August 2009 TSB to re-programme ECUs of 1.2s (no further details).
