Tiny car, huge win: Grande Panda wins Best Small Car Award
Fiat will offer the Grande Panda with two combustion powertrain options: the Hybrid tested here and a pure-ICE version driven through a six-speed manual – although the latter has yet to be confirmed for the UK. As an aside, Fiat has also shown off a 4x4 concept, which is set to go into production and will probably use a version of this hybrid powertrain.
The T-Gen3 hybrid powertrain comprises a 1.2-litre three-cylinder turbocharged engine that's linked to a 48V battery and a six-speed e-DCT dual-clutch automatic transmission. A 29bhp electric motor is integrated into the e-DCT system, along with an inverter and central control unit.
Fiat claims the unit enables the car to run on electric power alone during low-speed manoeuvres, with up to 0.6 miles of EV-only driving at speeds below 18mph. So we're talking a pretty mild system here, basically.
The hybrid clearly can't match the EV when it comes to smooth power delivery or instant pick-up, but it's closer than you might expect for a small three-cylinder unit. In fact, it's actually quicker than the Electric version on the 0-62mph sprint, although we're talking 10sec rather than 11sec here.
Still, the engine delivers its 109bhp pretty smoothly, with the hybrid unit working nicely to both smooth the gaps in power delivery and for a bit of electric-only running at lower speeds. The e-DCT box syncs reasonably well with the powertrain and it'll rarely feel short of shove in real-world use, and it doesn't feel out of its depth at motorway speeds.
The powertrain isn't the last word in refinement and, like Shaggy, it can get a little raspy and gruff if you ask too much of it. Hard acceleration can leave the wheels scrabbling for traction, especially in wet conditions, but for untroubled daily use, it's a decent package.
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