MIAMI – It’s been hard times for Fiat fans. The brand discontinued its 500 model line after 2019, leaving only the four-door crossover-ized 500X on sale, and while it planned to introduce the alternative for its 500e electric city automotive around that point, just a little pandemic threw a wrench within the works. Now, in 2024, the parents from Turin are finally able to let Americans taste the Dolce Vita offered by that latest 500e. Has the wait been price it? I went to Miami to search out out.
As you’d expect, the 2024 Fiat 500e is once more a completely electric city automotive. Unlike its predecessor (2013-2019), this 500e seems like a more complete EV package than a “compliance car” meant to satisfy regulations in states like California. The “New Fiat 500” has been on sale in Europe since 2020, so while it is a latest model for the United States, it’s by now a well-established platform.
Like the old 500e, the 2024 500e contains a front-wheel-drive layout, with a everlasting magnet motor providing a whopping 117 horsepower and 162 pound-feet of torque. That motor is paired with a 42-kilowatt-hour battery (around 38 of which is usable, per Fiat engineers) for an EPA-estimated range of 149 miles (or 116 with summer tires). That doesn’t sound like lots – and it is not – but this is not a vehicle designed for long road trips or super-commuters. Fiat claims a 0-60 time of 8.5 seconds and a top speed of 94 mph, but I believe that driving at that speed could be trouser-browningly sketchy.
Not that the 500e feels unstable around town (Fiat didn’t include any highway driving during my temporary stint with the automotive). It offers the form of quick, accurate steering and subcompact agility that made the unique 500e so rather more fun to drive than it needed to be. The steering is light but not overly so and offers a really tight turning circle of just 31.5 feet, making the “Oh wait, there’s a parking spot! Get it!” maneuver much easier than it could be in a bigger vehicle.
While the steering is awesome, the 500e’s ride is not as nice. It’s not unladen-full-size-truck brutal by any means, but calling it busy over broken city streets seems like a charitable way of putting it. This is not an expensive automotive with sophisticated suspension, and, again, given its intended use case, I would not count the ride as an enormous point against it.
One of the most important leaps forward from the old 500e to this new edition is the addition of DC fast charging capability. The 2024 model uses a CCS (combined charging system) plug for fast charging at as much as 85 kilowatts. That sounds more like a drinking straw for electrons than the everyday 150 or 350 kW firehose-like charging capabilities of most up-to-date EVs, however it beats the Mini Cooper SE by 35 kW, and Fiat claims it’ll charge from 10% to 80% in 35 minutes. Fiat can be leaning hard into Level 2 charging by giving 500e buyers a alternative between a free Level 2 wall charger or $600 in charging credits with Stellantis’ partner Free2Move.
Being a straightforward automotive overall, the 500e offers three drive modes. There’s Normal, Range and the questionably named Sherpa. Normal is fairly self-explanatory, Range chills out the acceleration for higher efficiency, and Sherpa is like Range mode plus. It shuts down the HVAC system and offers you the least responsive accelerator pedal and maximum regenerative braking. Or in Fiat’s words, Sherpa mode takes “charge of the whole expedition and guides it to the destination” by adjusting those above parameters. Unlike EVs from other brands (taking a look at you, Germans) the 500e offers one-pedal driving, which is right for intra-city commuting.
The 500e has a skateboard-style chassis with the battery pack situated under the ground of the passenger compartment. This is pretty standard stuff for nearly all built-to-purpose electric vehicles and offers the good thing about a really low center of gravity, which makes for a fun, agile driving experience. That’s good, because agility is what the 500e is all about.
The latest 500e has grown in nearly every direction from its predecessor, but not by much. The difference is generally felt inside, and that is a great thing. Up front, the brand new 500e offers up 39.3 inches of headroom (up 0.4 from the old 500e), 41.8 inches of legroom (plus 1.1 inch) and 49.8 and 51.1 inches of hip and shoulder room, respectively (plus 2 inches and 1.7 inches). That increase is welcome, especially as a really tall – 6 feet, 4 inches – individual, though as a passenger, I’d like it if its seat had the identical height adjustment as the driving force’s seat. Back seat legroom can be up by 2 inches, but that also doesn’t make it anywhere you’d want people you wish to spend an prolonged time period. Cargo volume is predictably piccolo at just 7.5 cubic feet, up a half cube.
The 500e’s interior is basic with some unfortunately cheap-feeling materials, however it’s aesthetically pleasing and never a horrible place to be. The seats are firm and lack real bolstering but are clad (in my base test vehicle) with cool-looking, embossed Fiat logo upholstery. There are loads of places to store all of your stuff, though only having one cupholder seems like a misstep for a vehicle within the U.S., irrespective of how small the automotive could also be. The 500e also gets a wireless charging pad as standard.
From a tech standpoint, the 500e is similarly basic. The base RED model lacks features like adaptive cruise control or energetic lane keep assist, but still gets things like automatic emergency braking, blind-spot warning and lane departure alert. If you would like more driver assistance features, jumping as much as the “Inspired By” trims is the one method to get them. Infotainment is handled by Stellantis’ typically excellent Uconnect 5 system, including a big-for-the-cabin 10.25-inch touchscreen I discovered to be crisp and conscious of touch inputs. Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are standard together with a superbly serviceable stereo system; “Inspired By Music” models get a seven-speaker JBL system, but we’re not driving those.
Something that Fiat is incredibly pleased with but that seemed absent on our test vehicles is the “Acoustic Vehicle Alert System,” which plays a song on exterior speakers to warn pedestrians. This song, which you’ll take heed to below, known as “The Sound of 500” and was written by Flavio Ibba-Marco Gualdi. It’s alleged to play each time you set off until 12 mph or at any time when you dip below that speed, then give method to a more typical white noise. Sadly, despite my best efforts, I used to be unable to trigger it. Perhaps it was a pre-production issue, but either way, the bumper concert could have to attend for one more day.
One nice thing concerning the 500e is that the 2024 is barely cheaper than the old model despite being higher in nearly every measurable respect. It’s not low cost per se, provided that Fiat thinks of itself as a premium brand within the United States. Still, with a sticker price of $34,095 (including a $1,595 destination fee) for the bottom (RED) version and $37,595 for the “Inspired By” versions, it is not completely egregious either. That’s reinforced by the proven fact that the one options available on the RED or “Inspired by” trim levels are tire alternative (summers or all-seasons) and which of the previously mentioned charging perks you would like. Unfortunately, since the 500e is inbuilt Italy (specifically, Fiat’s famous Mirafiori factory in Turin), it is not eligible for the federal EV tax credit.
While not horrible, that price is greater than you’d pay for the much quicker Mini Cooper SE and its 181 hp. You pay for that extra performance otherwise, though, with an EPA-estimated range of just 114 miles. The Mini starts at $31,895, however the base spec is somewhat barebones with 16-inch wheels and no Android Auto versus the Fiat’s awesome-looking standard 17-inch units and wireless smartphone connectivity for each Apple and Android devices. The Mini also only fast charges at 50 kW, so when you plan to make use of public DC fast chargers, plan to spend more time waiting around within the Mini (and annoying everyone else waiting to charge).
Fiat 500e Inspired by Music
Now, the reply to the nice query: Was the 2024 Fiat 500e definitely worth the four-year wait? In short, yeah. Fiat claims that it took the time between the initial announcement in 2020 and now to search out and fix bugs with the vehicle and ensure it was as ready for the U.S. market as possible. In driving it, I discovered that, while still just a little rough around the perimeters, it’s a superb alternative for drivers fitting the 500e’s narrow intended use case.
It’s nimble, super-attractive (subjective, but essential), offers a good enough cabin and enough range and performance to not feel like a hindrance to traffic or a burden to your lifestyle. If you reside in a densely populated urban area like New York or Los Angeles, the little Fiat will make life easier and more nice, but when you’re somewhere with big distances between destinations, it is not the automotive for you.
I would not call the refreshed 500e a house run or a shoo-in for huge sales, given its highly specific purpose, but I enjoyed my time with it and would recommend it to someone on the lookout for just a little little bit of La Dolce Vita.
Credit : www.autoblog.com
