Obviously, I brought this on myself, but looking at how gorgeously cuddlish the new Fiat 500e is, perhaps you should all thank me. Just a week before going on the launch of the all electric version of the classic Italian city car, I had written a piece for this august website asking why all EVs had to be ugly and why not a single one was good to look at.
Sod’s Law suggested that the very next one I stepped into would be a gorgeous riposte of all my whinging, and sure enough that was the case.
Tiny things are just cuter by nature, but the clever, bumper-free, honeycomb-chinned design of the iconic Fiat 500 is a real winner, on an anthropomorphic scale. It looks like it’s smiling, buzzing, happy to take you places, and it even has little LEDs above the Smartie-like headlights, designed to look like expressive eyebrows.
So far, so Italianate stylish, then, but straight away on paper there are some issues – starting with the range (something this big is not packing a lot of battery), stumbling over a warranty that lasts just three years, and ending with the price, which, at $52,500, is going to be a real passion killer for most people, no matter how much they like the look of it.
What does the Fiat 500e cost and what features do you get?
Right, I’m going to smack you with that price again, because it really does take some believing – $52,500 for a car that makes a Mini look like a family sized proposition.
For that price you get a very small but loveable machine, with heated seats, for the first time ever in a Fiat 500, lots of cool Easter eggs (the charging tray for your phone has the skyline of Turin, Fiat’s home city, etched into it, for example), e-latches instead of door handles, two cupholders, and wireless phone charging.
This new EV version – built on an entirely new BEV platform from Fiat – is also taller, longer and wider than previous models, but not my a lot; we’re talking 10mm more headroom. It’s still tiny.
Without doubt the feature owners will talk about the most, however, is the Acoustic Alert, the point of which escapes me entirely. Basically, the first time you set off after restarting your Fiat, it will, once you hit 20km/h, play a merry little operatic tune – a song from the film Amarcord, by Federico Fellini – on the OUTSIDE of the vehicle.
That’s right, as jaunty and uplifting as it is, it’s designed to make people on the street happy, not the car’s owner, who might just hear it if they have the window down and stereo off. If it was there to warn pedestrians you’re coming, it might make some sense, but the fact is, no one knows what it’s for, except pure joy. And because Italy.
What is powering the Fiat 500e?
The Fiat 500e must make do with a 42kWh battery and its single electric motor, which drives the front wheels – quite a shock for an Italian car company, frankly – produces just 87kW and 220Nm.
Still, in a vehicle that weighs just 1290kg and seems to be sitting about as high off the road as an egg, it’s enough to push it through the air from 0 to 100km/h in nine seconds flat, which is… not fast, yet quick enough for a city car.
Fiat claims the 500e will deliver 311km of range on the WLTP measure, but I would seriously doubt your ability to hit that number. We were looking far more like a range of 280km, at best, and we mainly drove it around town, where regen would be at its most potent.
The car does offer three drive modes, however, one called Normal, which is meant to feel like ye olde combustion-engined version of a Fiat 500, and thus not scare people driving an EV for the first time; another called Range, which gives quite the opposite experience, offering one-pedal driving; and an amusing third called Sherpa, which “always gets you home”, maximising possible range by offering a “smoother and lower response”, and by shutting off your heated seats, climate functions and auxiliaries.
What is charging like for the Fiat 500e?
The 42kWh battery on the Fiat 500e can be recharged from zero to 80 per cent full in 35 minutes on an 85kW DC charger.
If you’re using an 11kW home charger, it will take four hours and 15 minutes to get from zero charge to 100 per cent.
And with a notional range of not far over 300km, you’ll be charging it quite regularly.
Still, we should be fair and say that this is a city car, and thus it’s designed for taking short trips and being charged at home regularly. Taking it on the open road does feel a bit like asking your pet cat to bring down an antelope.
What is the ownership of the Fiat 500e like?
In a word in which the Koreans are regularly offering seven-year warranties and even the Germans have come around to the idea that a five-year warranty seems reasonable, or minimum standard, the fact that Fiat is bringing the 500e to market in Australia with just a three-year offering seems quite strange. Or bold.
Considering that they proudly announced the car is now being made in Italy again, perhaps a longer warranty would make it more attractive.
Servicing, however, is a better story with 12 months intervals and pricing capped at $250.
How does the Fiat 500e drive?
One of my learned friends was quick to declare the 500e the best Fiat 500 he’d ever driven, and for what it is, it’s hard to fault. It’s fun, frisky and with a tiny wheelbase that gives it that true go-kart feeling.
Fiat says it’s made an effort to avoid the kind of pitch and roll you get with “other EVs”, and it does seem to handle well, with sharp steering that makes you feel directly connected to the road.
For me, though, I must admit I’ve always had a soft spot for the old combustion one with the manual shifter on the dash, and a spirited, almost desperate sounding engine note. It was not quick, but if you thrashed it through the gears it felt like it really wanted to be.
The lack of sound bothered me more in the Fiat 500e than it normally does in other EVs. It feels like it wants to sing, but perhaps that’s just what I expect from Italian cars.
There is certainly little to fault about its driving dynamics as a city car, and it has the kind of mid-range punch and instant torque delivery that makes electric cars so fun. Fiat claims this car was always going to be electric, that it was born to be an EV from day one, which sounds like marketing malarkey to me. Certainly, there will never be another 500 that’s not electric, but the idea that the people who created the first, tiny versions in 1957 were always thinking “if only we had batteries and silent cars” seems a stretch.
While I missed being able to change gears, the biggest single issue is that the Fiat designers have left no space for your left foot. Even with my dainty feet, I found my left foot brushing the brake pedal, or being squeezed by it, and the foot rest feels like an afterthought.
That would annoy me, although probably not enough to stop me buying one as a fun runaround if I lived in a suburb with tight parking spaces and narrow streets, like Sydney’s inner west, or Milan.
The Fiat 500e Verdict
While I might like the idea of owning one, or giving a Fiat 500e to my kids to drive – mainly because it feels more like a child’s toy than a serious car – I can’t imagine even thinking about doing so with a price north of $50k.
If this thing was cheaper, like a lot cheaper, it would no doubt sell like crazy, even with its slightly limited range, because it would be bought by people who have other cars for leaving town in.
But at $52,500, and with just three years of warranty, there are probably more sensible options out there.
Although, it is the fairest EV in all the land…
The Fiat 500e score
Score: 6.8/10
Fiat 500 Specs
Price: $52,500 plus on-road costs
Drivetrain: Front-mounted electric motor
Power: 87kW
Torque: 220Nm
Battery: 42kWh
Range: 311km (WLTP)
DC charging: 85kW
AC charging: 11kW
