Fiat likes durability. In the most literal meaning of the word, that is. Things lasting long. Take the Fiat Panda for example. It has been...
around for nine years now, but instead of coming up with a successor the the Panda, Fiat has released an entirely new engine family.
The Firefly 1.0-litre 3-cylinder, which is a hybrid. Or that's what Fiat says, because it really is a mild-hybrid.
Anyway, an entirely new drivetrain, and with that drivetrain it's supposed to be able to take on the newer competition. The Hyundai i10 for example.
The new engine in the Panda is very simple really. It's a 1.0-litre 3-cylinder with a single camshaft, two valves per cylinder and...
Multipoint-injection. Not particularly rocket science. And the hybrid system is relatively simple as well.
It has a relatively big 12V-battery pack, which is placed underneath the seat. That supports the starter motor with energy and...
it's connected to the combustion engine with a belt. That has two advantages. Or three, actually. First of all, you can do more...
start-stop-cycles because of the bigger battery pack. Second, because it's connected to the combustion engine with a belt, it's much smoother...
than with a toothed axle. Also, because of the belt, it's able to support the combustion engine when it's accelerating.
You shouldn't expect it to shoot off the line at warp speed when you press a button. It's still a 12V-battery, so the power...
output of the starter motor will be a couple of horsepower and 15 Nm of torque or something.
However, the 1.0-litre 3-cylinder produces 92 Nm of torque at around 4.000 RPM. That's when those additional 15 Nm of torque are very...
handy. You don't really notice it, but if you compare it to the lighter Hyundai, setting off in the Panda is much easier.
It's not a dragster and it doesn't really make a difference when you're measuring the 0-100-times, but it's much more comfortable...
to not have to keep your foot down if you're driving it with two people. It's easier to keep going now.
It's connected to a six-speed gearbox as well, which means it's got one additional gear compared to the i10.
That makes it easier to keep going as well. Up to this point, there's nothing wrong with the new engine.
Then, the gearbox. Fiat has clearly chosen for a cubical design with the Panda, which isn't a problem at first. It looks nice and funky...
but they've applied it on the gear lever as well. That means you've got some kind of cube in your hands. And a cube doesn't feel as good...
as an orb. That means operating the gear lever isn't as nice as it used to be. Also, the clutch feels a bit weird. I've been driving...
it for three days now and I'm still not able to set off smoothly. There's still room for improvement there.
Unfortunately, the same goes for the chassis. This is the Launch Edition, which is only available on the CityCross.
It's not a 'real' Panda Cross with 4x4, it's just raised. And usually, the drive of a car isn't really improved by raising it.
The Panda isn't an exception. Because it's higher, the springs and dampers have to be sturdier to prevent it falling over.
That means the comfort will suffer because of it. Also, the handling is only to be called decent, but not spectacular or anything.
And that's too bad, because the chassis is one of the strong suits of its competitor today.
And the chassis isn't the only strong suit of the i10. The offered space is incredibly good for the A-segment.
If I get on the rear seat in the i10, I've got more leg- and headroom than in the Panda. Also, because of the mild-hybrid system underneath...
the drivers seat, you can't fit your feet beneath it. You can do that in the i10. And it's the same with the boot.
It's bigger, even though the difference is smaller. But as a whole, the i10 clearly is more practical. Also, it's from a newer generation.
In the front, the interior is a tad better qualitatively speaking. It's much more modern as well. Safety systems, a satnav with Apple CarPlay,
a seating position which is adjustable in more ways than in the Panda, so as a whole, this i10 feels a lot fresher. And we haven't even driven...
it yet...
I think that if this i10 was released ten years ago, it wouldn't have done bad in the B-segment with this chassis.
It's much more comfortable than the Panda, the handling is better... Sure, that might be because of the tires,
but it's just better in a lot of ways. You can partially solve that by getting the regular Panda instead of the CityCross,
which means it won't be as bumpy. But still, this i10 will stay out of range. It's a very nice car to drive.
The steering is better, the gear changes are smoother, and the only thing you could critique is the engine. Just like in the Panda,
it's a 1.0-litre 3-cylinder producing 67 horsepower and 96 Nm of torque. That means it produces three horsepower less...
and four Nm of torque more. However, it's not supported by an electric motor, which means you're constantly looking for the 4.000 RPM-mark.
Back in the day, there was a road safety-campaign called 'The New Driving', which advocated changing gear at 2.500 RPM.
It still counts for this i10, but instead of changing up, you should change down. You'll be changing gear non-stop to keep it up to speed.
Especially if you're in it with two people. You're pretty much driving with your foot all the way down. Luckily, the gearbox is very smooth,
because you'll be using it a lot. When it comes to the price, we have to conclude that the A-segment has become incredibly expensive.
This i10 is a Premium, with two-tone metallic paint. And we're talking about more than €18.000 here, which is a lot of money for a car like this.
It's also €1.700 more than the Panda, but you do get a lot of gear for that money. Some of those features are very handy;
cruise control, satnav with Apple CarPlay and several safety systems. Other features, like a rear-view camera,
don't have a lot of added value in the A-segment. You won't see much more than you're able to see in the rear-view mirror in a short car like this.
If you were to choose the Comfort-version, you get about the same amount of gear as you'd get on the Panda, with a very similar price.
For that money, you get a car which does everything a tad better. Except for the engine unfortunately. However, even though the engine...
makes the Panda a whole lot better, it won't make it better than the i10.