Crossing to new territory

Evening Chronicle (Newcastle, England), August 15, 2008

Byline: By STEVE HUGHES

WANT to know how to make a Panda Cross? It's nothing to do with putting pepper on a Panda's bamboo shoots but rather modifying an existing Fiat car.

The Cross is a new version of the Fiat Panda 4x4 with a pounds 11,995 price to make it the cheapest diesel-powered 4x4 in the UK.

The 1.3-litre turbocharged engine produces 70bhp of power and 145Nm of torque or pulling power from 1,500rpm.

This enables the Panda Cross to haul itself around effortlessly, with the engine's flexibility and permanent four-wheel drive ideally suited to off-road excursions on moderate terrain.

On tarmac the performance is adequate but the fact that the company declines to offer any figures for either acceleration or top speed is telling. In standard guise the Panda 1.3 Multijet Dynamic has a top speed of 98mph and takes 13.6secs to reach 60mph but that is without the additional drag of permanent four-wheel drive.

The company is more forthcoming with figures for economy and CO2, which are claimed to be in excess of 50mpg and 136g/km in comparison to 65mpg for the front-wheel drive only version, which has a CO2 figure of 114g/km.

Electronic stability programme and electric power steering are standard and it gets the full treatment, with new round light units front and rear, side protection strips in contrasting colours, roofbars, 15-inch alloy wheels and new bumpers.

Inside there is air conditioning and a radio with MP3-compatible CD player and steering wheel audio controls.

CAPTION(S):

POWER APLENTY - Fiat's Panda Cross can handle off-road rides as well as the more normal routes