Fiat Panda celebrates 40 years with a bit of a TITIVATE

The Fiat Panda gets updated to celebrate its 40th anniversary, with cosmetic tweaks, new models and extra technology.

If you’re looking for a good, budget city runaround, the Fiat Panda may seem a bit old hat, but it’s still a surprisingly decent car and not expensive to buy or run. It’s also now, at least officially,  even cheaper to run after Fiat added a mild hybrid option to the Panda earlier this year.

That new mild hybrid is now Hobson’s choice for the Panda (well, apart from the 4×4 which still gets the 0.9 litre TwinAir) as Fiat gives the Panda a facelift to celebrate its 40th, with new front bumpers, new wheel designs and a revamped line-up.

There are now three basic models on offer, Life, Sport and Cross, and six trim levels – Panda, City Life, Wild 4×4, Sport, City Cross and Cross 4×4.

Entry-level Pandas get 14″ steel wheels, Air Con and DAB, with Panda City Life adding Fogs, different front bumper, titivated side skirts, 15″ alloys and black trim on the outside, with two-tone grey seats, DAB, Bluetooth and Smartphone mount.

The Panda Wild 4×4 tops the Panda Life range by adding four-wheel drive with rear diff locking and skid plates. Prices for the Life range start at £11,895 and rise to £16,295 for the Wild 4×4.

The Panda Sport (from £13,295) gets 16″ alloys, red brake callipers, privacy glass, body-coloured door handles and mirrors, eco-leather door panels, new seats, red stitching and techno leather steering wheel.

The Panda Cross range is the butch option (from £13,995) with rugged styling and, on the Cross 4×4, all terrain modes – Auto, Off-road, Hill Descent Control – rear diff lock, rear parking sensors, silver skid plates and grey two-tone seats.

The new Fiat Panda range goes on sale in the UK next month (November 2020).