Thread: Top 12 cars of 2012: Fiat Panda

Peppy new city car with bags of character went straight to the top of the classBold, loveable, agile and peppy, we said in our road test verdict. Everything a city car should be. More often than not, such statements are built on quicksand – correct and concrete for the week in which they are written, before sinking into three feet of shifting ground, waiting to be downtrodden and downgraded by a successor.
But the current Fiat Panda, already, after only eight months of exposure, feels like it might just be one of those cars whose reputation continues to swell over time rather than contracting.
Why? Well, those adjectives, what we think a city car should be, are not going to change until the planners rip up our towns and start again. The successful criteria are set in stone, and the Panda ticks them off with relish. Its inexpensive, is cheerily robust inside, swallows four adults, is cheap to run and looks cute.
Most important, it drives with a singular sense of itself. It doesnt aspire to be a scaled-down saloon car like the VW Up; its a rough n tumble tyke with nimbleness and attitude to overcome its rivals po-faced refinement.
Fiats boss has called the new model the official car for doing whatever the hell you like, and that sentiment rings true again and again. Certainly, the year ends with us having driven objectively better cars, but very few were as attainable or as easy to enjoy in a crowd as Fiats future classic.