SA Roadtests
South Africa
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This is the home of automobile road tests in South Africa. I drive South African cars, SUVs and LCVs under real-world South African conditions. Most, but not all, the vehicles driven are world cars as well, so what you read here possibly applies to the models you get where you live.
My most recent drive is on the home page. Archived reviews and opinion pieces are in the active menu down the left side. Hover your cursor over a heading or manufacturer's name and follow the drop-down.
This is a launch report. In other words, it's simply a new model announcement. The driving experience was limited to a short drive over a preselected course. We can therefore not tell you what it will be like to live with over an extended period, how economical it is, or how reliable it will be. A very brief first impression is all we can give you until such time as we get an actual test unit for trial. Thank you for your patience.
Posted: 18 August 2017
The numbers:
Prices range from R184 900 to R249 900
Engine: 875cc Fiat Twin-Air, two-cylinder, turbopetrol
Power: 63 kW (66 kW Cross) at 5500 rpm
Torque: 145 Nm at 1900 rpm
Maximum speed: 166 to 177 km/h, model dependent
Claimed average fuel consumption: 4.2 to 4.9 l/100 km
Tank: 37 litres
Luggage: 225 to 870 litres
Warranty and service plan: Three years / 100 000 km
“That could have stopped a Fullback,” said John Kroeger, one of three off-road driving instructors shepherding journalists through a section of the Killarney 4x4 course at Shongweni near Durban.
“That” was a half-metre deep stream with a soft and squishy bed, while the Fullback in question was Fiat’s most basic pickup, or any other 4x2 without difflock.
Panda Lounge
A few seconds later, our diminutive Fiat Panda Cross made light work of a stretch of soft, dry sand. We hadn’t taken the usual precaution of deflating its tyres to one bar or less, because there was no need to. It’s a serious lightweight with some pukka off-road gear, making it the least expensive, four-door, adventure vehicle in South Africa at present.
Unlike hard-core bundu bashers loaded with bells and whistles, Panda Cross weighs only 1090 kilograms, still making it the “heavyweight” of the new, four-car, local range announced recently.
There are two city cars, Panda Easy and more luxurious Panda Lounge and a pair of all-wheel drivers – Panda 4x4 and Panda Cross. All use an 875cc turbocharged, twin-cylinder petrol sipper with manual gearboxes. City Pandas have five speeds while 4x4 and Cross versions use six, including a lower first ratio for grunt work.
Fiat decided on the unusual naming order of its awd Pandas because it could - and because there‘s a certain weird logic to it – they are Italian, after all. Four-by-four is what most others call all-wheel drive. It uses ESP with electrically locking diff (ELD) and a torque sensing transfer box to distribute power from left to right and from front to rear, as it is needed. Buy one for better roadholding on gravel and for negotiating mud, slush or snow. It stands a bit higher, thanks to bigger wheels, than the city pair does. It still clears only 150 mm, but it’s getting there.
Cross refers to cross-country capability. Wider tyres, without reducing aspect ratio, help it stand 11mm taller. It adds underbody protection and a locking centre differential that keeps front-to-rear power distribution at 50:50. Then there’s dirt road ABS and automatic switch-off of the ESP. That’s part of what made it so clever in the sandbox. It allows wheels to spin slightly to engage the ELD. A rotating controller lets you choose between “Auto”, Off-road” and off-road with downhill speed limiter. Fiat calls this “Gravity,” again because they’re Italian and they can.
We asked the obvious question: Why not fit the 1.3-litre Multijet ll diesel that Fiat conveniently has in its parts bin? The answer is that the engine is, in fact, used elsewhere; it develops more torque at (slightly) lower revs, 1500 vs. 1900, and everybody sort of expects awd and diesel engines to be married to each other.
Fiat SA opted to use the little turbo for two reasons; rationalisation of its product range and because European car writers declared the petrol engine to have a better balance of properties for daily use. Furthermore, surprisingly, it burns almost as cleanly – 114 gm/km in the awd application vs. the diesel‘s 104.
In keeping with Panda‘s youthful image, all versions use steel wheels with convincingly alloy-look caps (the real thing is optional) and cloth upholstery. An Italianate sporty growl and lively performance are standard too. The Easy hatchback offers air conditioning, a two-speaker radio and CD unit, four airbags, ABS with EBD, Vehicle Dynamic Control, ISOFix, electric front windows, hill holder, tyre pressure monitoring, automatic stop-start, and remote central locking.
Upper levels add Panda U-Connect, a smartphone bracket with charging dock, fog lamps, automatic air conditioning, running lights, electric mirrors and options that vary according to model.
Information gathered at a manufacturer-sponsored press launch
Phone not included
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This is a one-man show, which means that every car reviewed is given my personal evaluation and receives my own seat of the pants judgement - no second hand input here.
Every test car goes through real world driving; on city streets littered with potholes, speed bumps and rumble strips, on freeways and if its profile demands, dirt roads as well.
I do my best to include relevant information like real life fuel economy or a close mathematical calculation, boot size or luggage space, whether the space is both usable and accessible, whether life-sized people can use the back seat (where that applies), basic specs of the vehicle and performance figures if they are published. In the case of clearly identified launch reports, fuel figures are of necessity the laboratory numbers provided with the release material.
If ever I place an article that doesn't cover most things, it's probably because I have dealt with a very similar vehicle already, so you will be able to find what you want in another report under the same manufacturer's heading in the menu on the left.
Hope you like what you see, because there are no commercial interests at work here. There are no advertisers and no “editorial policy” rules. I add bylines to acknowledge sponsored launch functions and the manufacturers or dealerships that provide the test vehicles. And, as quite a few readers have found, I answer every serious enquiry from my home email address, with my phone numbers attached, so you can see I do actually exist.
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SA Roadtests
South Africa
ctjag8