Fiat Panda Cross (2014) first official pictures

By Ollie Kew

First Official Pictures

19 February 2014 11:20

This is the new Fiat Panda Cross – a Panda 4x4 with a Bear Grylls attitude and a dual personality. Fiat claims this high-riding city car is as happy in city traffic as it is taking on ‘the toughest off-road conditions’. Is this really a credible off-roader, or a cutesy crossover? Read on for more about Panda Cross, which will be exhibited at the 2014 Geneva motor show.

Stifle your guffaws for a moment. The existing Fiat Panda 4x4 is already a rather good little off-piste-mobile: its skinny tyres, low mass and generous ride height mean it’s less likely to get stuck off road in a sticky patch than a bigger, bluffer 4x4.

The Panda Cross rams home this advantage. The all-wheel-drive system remains an on-demand drivetrain, splitting power between the front and rear axles via an electronic locking differential. However, the driver can override the automatic brain, locking the Panda Cross into AWD mode at speeds of up to 30mph. Still slipping? The car’s brakes intervene if one wheel is struggling, forcing more power to the tyres with the most traction.

There’s more. If you’re tackling a really steep drop, there’s a ‘Hill Descent’ mode – no prize for guessing it automatically brakes each side of the car to keep the Panda Cross straight on a nasty slope.

A shorter front gear in the six-speed transmission acts like a low-range gearbox, offering easy access to the torque band when driving uphill and making the Panda Cross easier to modulate when descending. It sounds a bit Heath Robinson, but the Dacia Duster uses an identical solution to improve its own off-road credentials, rather successfully at that.

‘Squircle’-themed body cladding also adds to the Panda Cross’s rough-and-tumble attitude – and makes it less susceptible to parking dings. To us, it looks like a Panda 4x4 wearing a scuba mask, while that holey front bumper takes the Nissan Juke’s ‘wine rack’ frontage to extremes. Somehow, it’s still a charming little upstart – and it should have the grip to match the show.

Pick a Panda Cross and your little 4x4 comes as standard with chunkier rubber than a standard Panda 4x4: those are 185-section, 15in tyres. With up to 16cm of ground clearance, the Panda Cross will reportedly scramble up a 24-degree climb, manage a 20-degree breakover angle, and climb a 31.5-degree gradient. Enough for even the steepest of driveways!

You can spec two engines: the 89bhp 0.9-litre two-pot Twinair, or a 1.3-litre four-pot diesel with 79bhp, 140lb ft and a claimed 60.1mpg economy figure.

You’ll be able to buy your own Panda Cross in the UK in time for the weather to turn nasty – it’ll reach our shores in autumn.  Official prices, expected to be around the £15,000 mark, will be announced nearer the on-sale date. Is this the world’s most politically correct 4x4? Add your thoughts in the comments below.

By Ollie Kew