At a time when electric vehicles come in such strange forms as the GMC Hummer or Tesla Cybertruckit’s refreshing to drive around in something as simple and charming as the Fiat 500e. It’s basically a two-seater. It doesn’t fit much luggage and its range is poor compared to most other electric vehicles today. It’s not fancy, but it is Terribly stylish and fun. This is how Europeans drive — pretend you’re driving (literally) through the sunny Italy. The most important thing is that it is cheap to operate and easy to use. Unfortunately, it is not That cheap to buy, but more about that later.
While I spent a week driving around Seattle in this electric Italian tomato pictured above, which represents the base INSPI(RED) model, News Editor Joel Stocksdale was in Detroit testing an “Inspired by Beauty” version painted rose gold. No one ever said Italians don’t appreciate a nice, vibrant paint job. Here are my impressions, followed by Joel’s.
It doesn’t matter that much that it doesn’t have much range
People are fixated on how much range they can get out of an EV. 300 miles? 400 miles? But a small city car like this is where an EV really shines. The 500th has only 42 kWh battery (although it is still larger than the Mini Electric Hardtop or their grandfather the standard Nissan Leaf). With a smaller battery, you don’t have to spend money on extra capacity that you don’t really need. In addition, the battery is easier to charge.
I drove it around town all week to run errands: I drove it 48 miles to the big city and back, plugged it into a 120-volt outlet, and the next day it was back on the road; I drove it 65 miles, then trickle-charged it again, and the next morning it was full again; and so on and so forth.
How did it perform on a public Charger? I don’t know. It can DC charging (at a rate of 85 kW), but the point of the car is that you never have to go there, assuming you live in a house with electricity. No need for a public charger, no need for a Wallboxno 220 volts needed. Just pull a lamp or something like that out of the socket and plug in the car.
One advantage is that the charging cord is relatively light and easy to handle.
If you’re ever going to get close to the 500e’s 141-mile range rating in a day, then this isn’t the car for you. And if you’re so busy that you don’t stop to eat, relax, or sleep so the 500e can charge, then not only is it not the car for you, you’ll probably need to seek out assistance. But for most people, a more basic EV like this can do a fair day’s worth of work, like running errands or commuting, and still come home with some range to spare.
The car is cute
This was the Fiat 500e INSPI(RED) Edition. Emphasis on red. The paint is non-metallic and vibrant. There are cool little details like the Italian flags in the side markers. In a traditional look for a Fiat-500that red bodywork also dominates the dashboard. The interior is filled with red accents such as piping on the seats, and there is a “Fiat Fiat Fiat” pattern in the fabric.
You’re going to love parking this thing
Talk about a “Mission Impossible”: I drove the Fiat into the basement of a parking garage. Down, down, down we went, but there were no spaces available. On the way back, three guys were struggling to squeeze pickups into the tiny spaces that had become available, and the aisles were swarming with drivers on the hunt. Finally, I found a spot the size of a Fiat that everyone had turned down. If you’re a city dweller, you’re going to love parking this thing.
It rides rough
What do you expect? It’s tiny. The wheelbase is 7.5 feet – my riding mower’s wheelbase isn’t much shorter. It’ll beat you up on regular roads, but it’s not bad on smoother surfaces either.
You might expect to feel a little intimidated when driving on the highway among larger vehicles, but the 500e immediately takes hold and you quickly forget how small you are.
Can you hear the tires on the highway now? Yes, they are quite loud. But of course you are sitting very close to all four.
It is exceptionally economical
See that readout on the instrument panel down there? The FWD 500e is EPA-rated at 116 MPGe. This one got 143 MPGe – that’s 123% overperformance.
If you’re still struggling with a range of 140 miles (155 miles on summer tires), know that the car can certainly surpass that and look good doing it.
Visual simplicity where you want it
The driver’s readout is cleverly done and tells you pretty much everything you need to know in a compact space. Nothing fancy here, it’s just simple, readable, effective. A BMW with their fancy double-chevron display, the Fiats in my driveway went first. I preferred the small Fiat dashboard.
A button so beautiful I pressed it twice
Several times I got in, pressed the start button, and found that the car would not shift into Drive. After pressing the start button a second time, a pop-up appeared on the dash indicating that the car was ready to drive and the shifter was cooperating. So I was prepared to say here that for some reason the car requires two presses of the start button – except that sometimes one press was enough. Maybe it was operator error, maybe I didn’t press the brake kick hard enough. But Zac Palmer had the same problem in Detroit with the 500th that Joel is going to discuss.
Double bolts
The latch on the door handle looks like a starter button. Hit it and the door pops open. But wait, lower down in the door pocket is another latch. What’s that for? The one at the top is electronic, for the cool factor. But just in case the car loses all its juice, Fiat had to provide a manual release, which is the one at the bottom. Use whichever you like, they both worked fine. The manual release is easy and obvious to find (unlike some Tesla’s where you supposedly need to be tear off a speaker cover).
And now I’m going to remove the manual release of this post and give the floor to Joel Stocksdale to see if he was indeed inspired by beauty.
The styling details are superior
Yes, indeed! This rose gold 500e is absolutely adorable, but I was more impressed by the complexity and thoughtfulness that went into every design aspect. The way the hood splits the headlight cluster in two is slick. The bright winglet indicators not only match the character line on the side, but they also house little Italian flags. And inside, there are easter egg accents like the original 500 in the door handles and the Turin skyline in the wireless phone charger. The Fiat logos stitched into the seats are also fantastic, and were even included in the base INISPI(RED) trim that Rasa had in Seattle.
It’s impressive how retro everything feels
Sure, the exterior is still curvy and cute, but the interior sticks to classic elements like the two-spoke steering wheel and the small round instrument panel. It’s integrated into the clean dashboard, which has been spruced up with some neat textures. And all of these details are important, because they help spruce up an interior that otherwise feels a little cheap. There are enough hard plastics elsewhere that give away that this must be a cheap vehicle.
It’s more spacious than you would expect
The 500e is still quite small. It’s actually a few inches shorter than the old model, but it’s also 10 inches wider (more on that later). The layout of the car has been drastically improved, however, and it feels surprisingly spacious. In fact, there’s over 16 extra cubic feet of interior space (for a total of 101.2), and that pays off with plenty of room for the driver in every direction. Shockingly, the back seat is somewhat usable by adults—okay, maybe “an adult” would be accurate, as the front passenger is more likely to slide their seat up far enough for someone in the back and still be comfortable than the driver. In terms of cargo, the official capacity is down 2 cubic feet to 7.5, but at first glance it seems more usable than the numbers suggest. Since it’s a hatch, the seats fold down, allowing you to fill up more of that 101.2 cubic feet of interior space.
The riding position is funny
As before, the 500e’s driving position can best be described as a motorized bar stool. It’s extremely high and feels enhanced by the Fiat’s diminutive size. In other words, it’s a kind of extremely small vanIt’s not necessarily good or bad, it’s just very clear.
It’s a fun driving experience that’s clearly meant for cities
Easy, light and agile are the hallmarks of the 500e. The steering is ultra-light, clearly intended to ease all the wheel-flipping that goes into navigating tight city streets, multi-storey car parks and parallel parking. It doesn’t do much in the way of feedback or cheerful driving, but it doesn’t get in the way either. The 500e’s extra width and floor-mounted battery pack bring its stability more in line with the old Abarth, and as a result it feels like it really wants to carve corners. That is, if it had the tyres to do so. There’s not enough grip to do so, and the traction control is quite controlling. It’s a little at odds with the torque of the electric motor. All of which is to say that while the regular 500e is fun enough, we really, Real I want to try the Abarth version, which probably addresses some of the limitations of the standard model.
It’s not the bargain we were hoping for
One of the reasons we felt there was a niche for the 500e a few years ago was the fact that it promised more range than a base Nissan Leaf, based on European figures, and had an attractive price in Europe. It undermined both the Leaf and Mini Cooper SE, the latter having a smaller range.
Now it’s here, and with a base price of $34,095, it’s more expensive than either the Leaf or the Mini. Tax breaks are also limited for the Fiat, since it’s not built in North America. And its range is just 141 miles (again, 149 on summer tires), essentially identical to the aforementioned Leaf, but with far less room inside. That’s a real shame, and it significantly diminishes the 500e’s appeal.
But there’s still some appeal, even against those two options. The Fiat still has more range than the Mini, literally miles. And with a liquid-cooled battery pack and CCS fast-charging compatibility, the Fiat can be fast-charged in more places, will maintain its range better in extreme temperatures, and will likely outlast the base Nissan Leaf. It’s also a lot more stylish than the Nissanto boot. So yeah, it’s not quite the bargain we were hoping for, but if you’re shopping in this space, there’s still a reason to check out the little Fiat.