Goes from 0 to 60 mph in 17 seconds

Goes from 0 to 60 mph in 17 seconds.Daihatsu Charade: from £5,995 Smaller than the previous Charade and powered by a little, three-cylinder, one-litre engine, it is capable but less complete than the Fiat. Yes, Fiat’s future starts here.THE RIVALSDaewoo Matiz 1.0 SE: £6,895 Still a cute-looking car after several years, and backed by a company now on a stable financial footing, the Matiz seemed great value until the Panda came along. There is a fine tally of airbags, incidentally.Otherwise, this is a truly great little car, a Fiat with Fiat-ness’s best aspects and possibly the most comfortable ride of any supermini So cheap, yet so complete. Worse, this sliding seat has just two seatbelts, one for each symmetrical folding half of the backrest.

That may herald the arrival of a three-door body alternative which replaces the lacklustre Seicento, and could be the cheapest semi-hot hatchback of all. Like the Seicento, the titchy Panda is made in Tychy, Poland.So, are there any snags with this wonder-Panda? The boot is as small as the truncated tail suggests, although the higher two trim levels – Dynamic and the absurdly-named, fully-kitted Emotion (Active is the base model) – can have a slideable rear seat which liberates more space at the expense of legroom and a gap in front of the tiny rear shelf. And talking of Pandas to come, we can expect a 4×4 version with a properly permanent drive connection to all wheels via a viscous coupling, the same idea done up in off-roader dress with a Simba name, a convertible (recently shown as the Marrakech concept car) and probably a souped-up Sporting, with a bigger engine and firmer suspension. Joining it later will be the 1.3-litre Multijet turbodiesel, with more power, massively more pulling ability and much better fuel economy; this is the optimum engine, although it will be more expensive. This is a small car which can cope with big roads.This engine will be standard fare for the Panda’s UK debut in January. This is how small cars should be, their responses uncorrupted by delusions of grandeur.It is especially encouraging that a Fiat can feel so good, because other recent Fiats have suffered the twin negatives of stodgy, inert handling and a lumpen ride.

The Panda’s 1.2-litre, 60bhp engine is not a provider of massive power but keen enough to pull from low speeds and able to energise a relaxing cruise. It leans over rather like an old Renault 5, yes, but the steering is always keen so you can make the most of the modest grip.All of which makes the Panda the sort of fun we had largely forgotten about. You brake for a tight bend, come off the brakes, turn hard, feel the tail move round, catch it with the accelerator as you straighten the steering, all in one smooth, interactive movement. It feels the way French cars used to feel in the days when French roads were worse than ours, except that the Panda does not abandon its bend-rounding quest in a soup of gripless squidge, tyre treads tortured in the unequal struggle. The driver’s seat has a giant height-adjuster lever whose internal ribbing merely adds a geodesic functionalism to the experience.So I start driving.