Even by electric vehicle standards, the unique Fiat 500e wasn’t exactly an enormous success. The Italian EV was mostly available in California, and sales peaked in 2015 with 6,194 units dropping to 2,250 by 2018. Former CEO Sergio Marchionne also famously claimed the corporate lost $14,000 on every 500e sold, which meant the less successful it was, the higher. So we weren’t exactly surprised when Fiat killed it off together with the gas-powered 500 in 2019.
An electric subcompact with only two doors, limited range and a price tag that began north of $30,000 just wasn’t a automotive that lots of Americans were curious about, and on a certain level, we couldn’t blame them. It worked best as a city automotive, but for those who lived in a city where the 500e’s small size would have been useful, there was an excellent likelihood that you simply didn’t have anywhere to park it for those who even needed a automotive in the primary place.
And yet, a number of years after Fiat redesigned the 500e, it’s decided to again offer the little automotive within the U.S., this time in all 50 states and without losing money each time someone buys one. So if you ought to buy one to drive around Houston, you’ll have the opportunity to. You might get crushed by a lifted Chevrolet Silverado HD, but Fiat isn’t going to stop you. I recently got a likelihood to drive the 2024 Fiat 500e in Miami, and while I didn’t get a ton of time behind the wheel, it’s clear that Fiat put loads more effort into making its tiny EV a greater automotive.
Full disclosure: Fiat flew me to Miami, paid for one night in a hotel room, fed me a pleasant meal, bought my drinks, provided the automotive and thankfully resisted the urge to feed me to the alligators.
Before we will get into the review of the brand new Fiat 500e, we’d like to rewind back to 2020. I used to be living in LA’s Koreatown neighborhood and needed a automotive. I used to be working for a brand new site that was too small to get press cars, and the thought of going electric was fascinating. After considering a number of other options, I ended up buying a 2015 Fiat 500e. Was it one of the best EV available on the market on the time? Not in any respect. Was it one of the best EV I could afford, though? Oh yeah.
While it wasn’t as fun to drive because the Abarth version, man, that little 500e had charm. It was so dang practical, especially with the rear seats down. Charging was mostly free because I discovered an electrical outlet in my garage that my landlord didn’t know I used to be using, and I could navigate tight parking situations with ease. Heck, I even strapped a Christmas tree to the roof a number of months later. It had its flaws, sure, however it really was the proper automotive for me on the time. Plus, unlike a heavily depreciated Nissan Leaf, it wasn’t hard to get 100 miles out of a charge.
Sadly, life happens, and I now not have my old 500e, but that did mean I had a specific interest in driving the brand new one. There’s still a Fiat-shaped hole in my heart, and the 2024 500e gave the look of the proper recent automotive to fill it. On paper, that shouldn’t have been hard to do. The recent automotive offers more range from its 42-kWh battery pack, now getting 149 miles in comparison with the old automotive’s 87, and it makes more power, too. The 117 horsepower and 162 pound-feet of torque the electrical motor sends to the front wheels isn’t much by today’s standards, however it’s still an improvement over its predecessor’s 111 hp and 147 lb-ft. It’s also barely longer, wider and taller for more passenger room without losing the previous automotive’s charming styling and small stature.
When it involves charging, you’re probably going to wish to be sure that you may have a Level 2 charger nearby. If you follow Level 1 like I did with my old automotive, Fiat says it would take 37 hours to completely recharge from five percent. With a Level 2 charger, you’ll be able to reportedly go from empty to a full charge in six hours. Stick it on an 85-kWh fast charger, though, and you’ll be able to get an 80-percent charge in about 35 minutes — the old automotive didn’t offer fast-charging from the factory. You still probably don’t wish to attempt to road trip the brand new 500e, but at the very least this time around it’s kind of theoretically perhaps plausible.
This time around, the 500e also has features. I didn’t exactly mind not having much beyond a radio, air-con, power windows and power steering, but I also bought my automotive for about $6,000. People spending greater than $30,000 on a brand new automotive, alternatively, are probably going to expect something somewhat more modern, and while there aren’t any Mercedes Hyperscreens dominating the dash, having features akin to Apple CarPlay and Android Auto integrated into the infotainment system, multiple drive modes and an updated driver display are definitely nice upgrades.
It’s also more spacious inside than you may expect. Priority is, after all, given to the front seats, but I used to be capable of fit my 6-foot-tall drive partner behind me without having to amputate his legs. Cabin materials also feel much nicer than before. I wouldn’t call it luxurious, however it’s nicely designed, and nothing I touched felt like Fiat cut major corners. It’s also not like other cars within the sub-$40,000 price range offer open-pore wood, aluminum trim and Nappa leather seats.
One thing that did stand out to me as a former owner is that the brand new automotive’s rear seats don’t fold as flat as they did before. It’s removed from the top of the world, but at the identical time, it does seem to be it could make the brand new 500e a bit less practical for those who’re attempting to transport larger items.
Unfortunately I didn’t get much time to really drive the brand new 500e, in order much as I wish I could go more in-depth here, there’s only a lot you can learn in lower than two hours. According to the automotive’s computer, I drove the 2024 Fiat 500e for 41 minutes, all of which took place in Miami traffic. Without the chance to get it as much as highway speeds, I can’t really let you know anything about wind or tire noise, nor do I actually have any insights into the way it handles within the corners or how comfortable the seats are beyond my initial impression that yes, they’re pretty comfortable and a marked improvement over the old ones.
Then again, it’s not just like the 500e was designed for carving canyons or cross-country road trips. At the top of the day, it’s imagined to be a tool that gets you from A to B with enough style and charm that you simply don’t feel like just one other appliance. Sure, you might poke fun at Fiat for highlighting the 500e’s 3.1-second 0-to-30-mph time, but alternatively, I’d argue that it shows the Italian automaker understands that owners probably aren’t going to be hitting highway speeds frequently. They’re going to be driving around town in traffic similar to I used to be. One of the things I enjoyed about my old automotive was the undeniable fact that for those who, say, tried to drag out of a parking zone too quickly, it could spin the tires. I’m not the type of guy to try this intentionally on any kind of a daily basis, however it was a part of the automotive’s charm.
That’s not exactly great for tire wear, though, and most of the people probably didn’t find it as charming as I did. The recent automotive has clearly been tuned to maintain that from happening. While the 500e now not tries to chirp its tires each time you pull out of a parking zone, it did feel prefer it had loads of power for what it’s. It doesn’t exactly encourage enthusiastic driving, but for those who give it the business at low speeds, it at the very least feels somewhat quick. Plus, for those who occur to have a heavy foot, Fiat may also let you choose for a set of summer tires at no additional cost. Tires also occur to be one among the few options you’ll be able to pick on the 500e Inspi(red) that I drove. Beyond that, it’s just deciding whether you wish red, white, or black paint. Get the red. It’s an excellent red.
A Sport mode would have been appreciated, but that’s also what the Abarth is for. (And you’re definitely bringing the brand new Abarth to the U.S., right Fiat? Right?) Outside of the Normal setting, you get two other drive modes that Fiat calls Range and Sherpa. Range mode is essentially an Eco setting that provides you one-pedal driving, while Sherpa is much more aggressive, killing the air-con and ensuring you get essentially the most range possible. I doubt most individuals will use Sherpa mode frequently, but in case your battery is low and also you’re trying to find a charger, it would probably be nice to have.
Since it’s a single-speed, there really isn’t much to say in regards to the transmission, either. Fiat stuck with a push-button shifter that appears loads higher than it did within the old automotive, however the downside of a horizontal layout is that putting the automotive in Drive is a little bit of a reach. You’d probably get used to it fairly quickly, but a slight annoyance continues to be a slight annoyance.
Considering the 2024 Fiat 500e starts at $34,095 with destination included, I get the sensation it would carve out a pleasant little area of interest for itself amongst urban drivers who find its small size to be a feature, not a bug. At the identical time, though, since we were only allowed to drive the automotive for such a brief period of time, I’m going to wish a loaner to drive for at the very least per week before I can get to understand it enough to write down the review the brand new 500e probably deserves. Either that, or I’ll just should wait five years for depreciation to make it inexpensive enough for me to afford, buy one and provides it an excellent, old-fashioned long-term test.
Credit : jalopnik.com
