Fiat 500e drive review. In the city, and even at the beach, small is beautiful!

The diminutive Fiat 500e is an EV that strays into a niche that we rarely see filled these days, given Australian car importers insist on offering us an almost exclusive diet of medium to large electric SUV.

It was therefore a breath of fresh air to recently be offered a 4-day loan of the tiny electric hatch from Fiat. At 3.6 metres long, weighing only 1290 kg and 42kWh battery (37.5 usable) with 311 km of WLTP range: on paper it looks the ideal vehicle for one or two people to buzz around the city, or even take out of the city bounds for the occasional day trip.

As I am following up on Tim’s earlier report on the 500e here at TheDriven – I will stick to a short write-up of my impressions during my 4 day stint.

First-up, as a homage to the original Fiat 500 (built from 1957 – 1975), in looks it stacks up well. However, it dwarfs the original. That version was a mere 2.9 metres long and weighed barely 500 kg! Mind-you, the 500e would have to be a lot safer than the original: in 2021 the 500e scored a 4 star ANCAP safety rating.

Over the four days I had with it, I used it as my city commuter plus, to give it a good testing out, my partner and I took it for a drive outside the city limits for a day trip to Sorrento. (For non-Victorians reading this, Sorrento is around Port Phillip Bay, near the tip of the Mornington Peninsula).

For two people, the car felt roomy in the front and even at highway speeds did not feel like it was out of its comfort zone. At a round-trip length of 200 km, it should also have been well within its 311 km WLTP range, which proved to be the case – although the proper range after the trip would probably be more in the range of 270-ish km.

The Fiat is a fun car, but it isn’t the most efficient with its electrons compared to some others. However, for trips like this there is now a network of DC chargers (and even more AC ones) so even if we hadn’t started with a full charge, top-up options were available in many places.

Size

For one to two people to zip around town or the occasional day trip – the Fiat 500e is a really good option. Boot space with the rear seats up may only be 185 litres, but a bit of ‘packing Tetris’ allowed me to squeeze in a picnic basket, box of food, blanket, charging leads, etc for a picnic day out.

Even for a weekend away, the back seats fold down to provide a useful 550 litres of boot space. On the other hand – don’t try to squeeze an adult into the back seat!

Even my 175 cm tall frame meant I bumped the roof when in the back …. plus it took a contortionist act to squeeze in and out through the door and around the front seat.

Fit and finish

Inside and out, the fact that the Fiat isn’t totally a budget car showed. The interior had a quality look and feel and was well put together, plus the interior colour scheme was attractively different without being ‘busy’, garish or Spartan.

The dash was also a pleasant surprise. The drivers display contained all the information needed (speed, drive selection, range, charge level and power level used) whilst remaining a compact size.

Same for the centre display. Smaller than most at 26.7 cm (10.5 inches), at first glance one thinks it will be hard to see or use. Instead, you ended up feeling the grand 39 cm … and even 43 cm screens in cars like the Ford and Tesla EVs of this world were monuments to excess!

Another breathe of fresh air was the use of tactile buttons for all the major functions. Ventilation and air conditioning were directly under the centre screen, drive functions below that.

Lighting was controlled from the right hand side of the dash – all within easy reach without the need to spend time looking away from the road to scroll through menus or to hit the right spot on the touchscreen.

Driving

For a small car, it naturally does skip around a bit more than a large, heavy SUV. However that nimbleness is its advantage for around-town driving and I for one liked the feel of it for both city and occasional highway use. Yes, it does feel firm on its 45 profile tyres, but sadly that is the current fashion and low profile tyres result in a harsher ride. 

Summing up

For those who want a small car instead of a bulky SUV (and whose vehicle budget isn’t constrained) the Fiat 500e would be a worthy contender for your EV dollar. On the other hand – if you carry teenage to adult 3^rd or 4^th passengers or want to travel longer distances regularly – this isn’t the car for you.

So there it is: that’s my brief take of the Fiat 500e. For a fuller report and alternative review of it – see Tim’s October report here.