It's cliché to describe an Italian automaker as operating on a slower, more laid-back timetable than its rivals, but that seems to be the case with Fiat's North American product planning.
The outgoing Fiat 500 brought the brand back to the United States in 2011, but it had been on sale in Europe since 2007. An electric 500e arrived after the gasoline models, but as then-CEO Sergio Marchionne was quick to point out, that was only to satisfy California's zero-emission vehicle mandate.
Now the 500e is back, once again later than the European version (which was first shown in 2020), but this time, Fiat is skipping the gasoline engines for the line. The 2024 Fiat 500e is no compliance car—it's now the only version of this retro hatchback you can get and the only Fiat model available in the US—nor is it a mass-market item.
"My ambition is not to replace your sedan or [S]UV," Fiat CEO Olivier Francois said in a presentation during a 500e drive program in Miami. The new 500e was designed with the same ethos as its predecessor. It is intended to be a stylish second car (Francois calls it the "ultimate fashion accessory"), sharing garage space with something more practical.
That once again puts the 500e in the competitive crosshairs of the modern Mini, which gets redesigned gasoline and all-electric variants for the 2025 model year. But the Fiat's styling has stayed closer to its inspiration than Mini's, which seems to have lost the plot. The rounded two-box shape remains, along with the distinctive "face" created by the grille-less, flat front end. New headlights with eyelash-like upper elements give that face a somewhat disapproving look, though. Engineers also tried to tidy up airflow with a few subtle features, including recessed door handles borrowed from Maserati.
Ours has a 42kWh battery and is the 116hp motor version. There is also a smaller 24kWh / 92hp version available, but at the time we chose the faster and longer range version.
Real world range (in range mode) is approximately 180 miles , if you charge it to 100%, it will indicate 199 miles, but usually after about 50-60 miles it will drop to a total of 190 ish, as you get right down the battery it will stick you in sherpa mode. In Normal mode I have never seen more than on 170 on the display when first getting in at 100%. Real world that is 160ish.
The standard tyres are eco friendly things with low grip and minimal feedback - upgrading to something sticky and short life vastly improves things.
We have taken ours on track days and it is certainly not lacking in terms of handling, the battery / motor cooling is adequate for a 20 minute fast group session, but it will not quite run a double stint - partly because the battery will not quite cope and partly because cooling is marginal after about 30 minutes of thrashing. Track range is about 45-50 miles 80-10%
10-80% charges take around half an hour - we have road tripped ours and at 80% you still have a 140 mile real world range as long as you are not trying to sit at 80mph, at 70mph it needs electrons every couple of hours.
When we moved a few months ago, I drove the 500E while my misses had my Golf GTE, we stopped at the 140 mile point and charged up over a coffee and bathroom break, we got to the new place two hours and 110 miles later with around 20% of battery.
Around our new locale's country lanes it is a blast to drive, I find myself grabbing the Fiat keys over the much faster Golf, simply because it is more fun.
Two adults and two dogs fit beautifully, if we need to carry a passenger or two thats possible too - it is a little tight in the back.
If I had to commute, I would take this every day, the seats are comfortable(I am 6-2 and 170lbs), the drive-train is fantastic, the handling is amazing and even the stereo / car-play setup is brilliant.
The downsides ?
It eats tyres for breakfast, its a heavy little thing that demands to be driven really hard, the motor is extremely torquey and the front tyres take a lot of abuse. The rears basically hold up the back of the car, but because corner speeds are high and the chassis is setup for a little lift-off oversteer, they too take a lot of abuse we are on the second set at the moment and I assume that we will been set three before we reach 30k miles.
My old Fiat dealer was a little difficult to work with, there was a recall for something minor and it took forever for them to get in a position to do it. While it was in they fixed a piece of exterior trim that a rock had destroyed and that was pretty expensive for a bit of plastic.
Generally though I absolutely love the thing - it is likely that we will trade it in for the Abarth version in the next year or two...