As someone who uses public transportation to get to work, my car doesn’t get used all that much. With the exception of an occasional road trip, the furthest we usually go is a few minutes down the road to the grocery store. Since picking up a Honda CR-V in 2016, we’ve averaged around 10,000 miles per year.
We don’t need one yet, but we’ve often said that if we needed a second car, it would be something small for those around-the-town tasks, so I was really interested to test the Fiat 500e, which seems tailor-made for this. And, with a starting price of $32,500, it’s also one of the cheapest electric cars around.
Of course, it’s also one of the smallest electric cars, and has one of the shortest ranges. Are these compromises worth the price? I drove the Fiat 500e around for a week to find out.
Fiat 500e: Price
The Fiat 500e starts at $32,500, and comes in four configurations: Inspi(red) which comes in Red, white, or black, Inspired by Beauty, which has a rose gold exterior and cream trim, and Inspired by Music, which is black. An Inspired by Los Angeles model has a blush gray “mist” paint job, and JBL Premium Audio mastered by Bocelli — as in the tenor Andrea Bocelli.
It’s not eligible for tax deduction if you buy the car, but it is if you lease it, which drops the price from $32,500 to $25,000.
Fiat 500e: Design
The 500e hews to the same familiar design language made popular by the cinquecento all those years ago. While not quite as iconic as a VW Beetle or a Mini Cooper, it’s definitely recognizable zipping around town.
Like its forebears, the 500e is a compact car, but even as someone who’s six feet tall, I was plenty comfortable sitting behind the wheel. I can’t say the same about backseat passengers. My 5-year-old daughter fits fine, but anyone over five feet is going to find things get cramped, and quickly. I tried squeezing my frame into the back seat, and felt like a sardine.
Similarly, trunk space is at a premium — a Costco run is out of the question, unless you put down the rear seats — but I was able to fit a good amount of groceries in the back.
There are a few concessions made in the name of economy. For one, there are no electric controls to move the seats; it’s all done manually. And while the 500e has Level 2 autonomous features (active lane management, adaptive speed control) as well as blind spot monitoring, I missed the blind spot camera from my Honda CR-V. I also found the 500e’s door made a hollow sound when I slammed it closed.
A 7-inch screen in front of the steering wheel displays your speed and other driving info, while a 10-inch touchscreen mounted in the center of the dashboard hosts the infotainment system, which works with both Android Auto and Apple CarPlay; I especially liked the small recess underneath the touchscreen, which has a wireless charging pad, so you can just pop your phone in. Even better, the car reminds you if you’ve left your phone on the pad.
Drive and environmental controls are arranged in two rows underneath the infotainment system; they’re easy to reach and aren’t too complicated to use. On the front of the armrest are two switches, one to change driving modes, and one to adjust the volume of the radio and mute. In between is a button to engage the parking brake.
Fiat 500e: The drive
I drove the 500e for a week in New York City, the New Jersey suburbs, and the highways in between, and for the most part, enjoyed the ride. It’s a peppy little car; despite the small motor, it was quick to accelerate to highway speeds, and was very responsive when changing lanes.
I was particularly impressed with how quiet the cabin was, especially when driving at 65 MPH+ on the New Jersey Turnpike; there was very little wind noise. While the 500e is small, I didn’t feel as if I was dwarfed by the semis and oversized pickups surrounding me on the road.
The ride was smooth, but I did feel bumps a bit more, which is to be expected when you’re riding on 17-inch tires. But, even going over a cobblestone street wasn’t enough to rattle the fillings out of my teeth.
Three settings for regenerative braking - Regular, Range, and Sherpa, the last being the most aggressive; the car almost acts like a golf cart, and almost immediately comes to a stop once you let off the accelerator. Most drivers may want to start off on regular, then slowly move up to the other options once they get a feel for how it handles. Regenerative braking has its merits, like helping to increase an EV’s efficiency.
The 500e’s lane assist features also worked very well to keep me centered as I drove on the highways of New Jersey, and it was able to speed up and slow down intelligently to keep up with traffic. It even managed a tricky merge well, but had a little trouble as I was exiting from express to local lanes — the car veered towards a low concrete divider.
Fiat 500e: Range and recharging costs
This is not a road-trip car: The 500e’s advertised range is 139 miles, which is better than the first-generation Fiat EV, but still pretty short by today’s standards. That being said, I drove the car for a week all around town, to New York City and back, and on a few other trips, and only needed to recharge it twice. I found that I could squeeze a few more miles out of the car when I was driving locally rather than on the highways, which is a common trait that EVs share.
Using a Blink Level 2 charger that was providing a mere 6.7kW, it took about 4 hours and 45 minutes to recharge the car from 30 to 100 percent; this particular charger didn’t offer a particularly good rate, so it cost me $17.13. However, if you happen to have access to DC fast charging, Fiat claims it can get upwards of 40 miles in 5 minutes. And of course, you’ll get the most savings by charging at home.
Should you get the Fiat 500e?
While the 500e is one of the cheaper EVs you can get, it’s not without competition. Among other electric cars that start at less than $35,000, the Hyundai Kona ($32,675) has a range of 200 miles and is roomier overall.
The Nissan Leaf starts at an even cheaper $28,000, and while it has a similar range to the 500e, can also fit more people and cargo. And, if you can find it, you can probably get the 2023 Chevy Bolt, which has a range of around 260 miles.
But, there’s something to be said for the Fiat 500e. While it’s designed for the narrow passageways of Italy rather than the expansive roads of suburban New Jersey, this tiny little EV isn’t lacking for charm.
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