30 Oct 06
Other outside 100 HP identifiers are the lower ride height and the tinted rear-side and rear windows, which have the unlikely effect of making the 100 HP look a bit coupe-like once you've expunged 'SUV' from your head. Inside, the decor is dark, the seats are laterally supportive, the steering wheel's rim is leather-covered and the dashboard is sparkled-up with some chrome detailing.
Start the engine, drive off and there's an intake of rorty induction breath like a souped-up Fiat 127's. The accelerator response is very keen, especially if you've pressed the Sport button - it replaces the regular Panda's City button - which sharpens the car's reflexes by making small accelerator movements have a bigger effect up to 3000rpm. It also reduces assistance in the electric power steering by 20%.
There's no dyspepsia at low engine speeds, no point at which the engine suddenly lights up, just an even spread of torque right up to the 7000rpm limit. With that, plus those six closely stacked forward gears to choose from, the 100 HP is always pulling well. The outright performance figures might not be startling but the pace is extremely easy to exploit. Besides, if the bald figures were feistier the insurance wouldn't be so cheap.
Besides, also, there's the matter of cornering. Arrive briskly at a bend in a normal Panda and the body will lean hard, the front tyres will protest, and you'll soon learn to be gentler in your treatment. It's fun but it won't be hurried. Things are as different as they could possibly be in the 100 HP. The front end feels super-precise, the body leans little and the balance is fabulous. There's lots of grip and fine feel through the steering to tell you about it, and you can scoot through twists massively faster than you can in a gentler Panda.
'We wanted to create a sporty but safe and stable car,' says the Panda's engineering chief, Lorenzo Baroso. 'And we wanted to create the highest effect with the lowest changes in hardware.' So the springs are 25% stiffer and lower the ride height by 25mm, the front anti-roll bar is thicker (there's no rear one), and all the suspension's bump stops are longer and have been made out of Cellasto polymer instead of rubber. They come into play much more and have the effect of stiffening the springs further during big compressions.
