Sporting Panda limbers up

Fiat may be concentrating its efforts on the new Punto, but that doesn't mean it has ignored its little brother, the new Panda. On sale this week is a new limited-edition version of the Panda 1.3 Multijet turbodiesel, which revives the 'Sporting' tag favoured by the Cinquecento and Seicento.

Priced at £8995, the new variant is £1100 costlier than the 1.3 Dynamic, but offers twin racing stripes over its red or black paint and a bodykit comprising deeper bumpers, side skirts and a tail spoiler. Inside there is the Panda 4x4's red and grey cloth trim, a leather steering wheel and gear knob, CD player, embossed sill covers and carpets and aluminium trim for the dashboard.

The 70bhp diesel is the fastest Panda currently on sale, yet still returns a claimed fuel consumption of 65.7mpg.