MIAMI – It has 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 substitute for its 500e electric city automobile around that point, a bit of pandemic threw a wrench within the works. Now, in 2024, the oldsters 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 automobile. Unlike its predecessor (2013-2019), this 500e appears like a more complete EV package than a “compliance automobile” meant to satisfy regulations in states like California. The “Recent Fiat 500” has been on sale in Europe since 2020, so while it is a latest model for the USA, it’s by now a well-established platform.
Just like the old 500e, the 2024 500e includes 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 does not sound like rather a lot – and it’s 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 think that driving at that speed can be trouser-browningly sketchy.
Not that the 500e feels unstable around town (Fiat didn’t include any highway driving during my transient stint with the automobile). It offers the form of quick, accurate steering and subcompact agility that made the unique 500e so way 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 is a parking spot! Get it!” maneuver much easier than it might be in a bigger vehicle.
While the steering is awesome, the 500e’s ride is not as nice. It is not unladen-full-size-truck brutal by any means, but calling it busy over broken city streets appears like a charitable way of putting it. This is not an expensive automobile with sophisticated suspension, and, again, given its intended use case, I would not count the ride as an enormous point against it.
One in all the largest 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 standard 150 or 350 kW firehose-like charging capabilities of newest 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 also be leaning hard into Level 2 charging by giving 500e buyers a selection between a free Level 2 wall charger or $600 in charging credits with Stellantis’ partner Free2Move.
Being a straightforward automobile 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 provides you the least responsive accelerator pedal and maximum regenerative braking. Or in Fiat’s words, Sherpa mode takes “charge of the entire expedition and guides it to the destination” by adjusting those above parameters. Unlike EVs from other brands ( 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. That is pretty standard stuff for nearly all built-to-purpose electric vehicles and offers the advantage of 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 brand new 500e has grown in nearly every direction from its predecessor, but not by much. The difference is usually 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 adore it if its seat had the identical height adjustment as the driving force’s seat. Back seat legroom can also 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 many places to store all of your stuff, though only having one cupholder appears like a misstep for a vehicle within the U.S., regardless of how small the automobile could also be. The 500e also gets a wireless charging pad as standard.
From a tech standpoint, the 500e is similarly basic. The bottom 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. Should you want 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 attentive to 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 amazingly 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 be able to hearken to below, is named “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 may have to attend for one more day.
One nice thing in regards to 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 in the USA. 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 isn’t completely egregious either. That is reinforced by the undeniable fact that the one options available on the RED or “Inspired by” trim levels are tire selection (summers or all-seasons) and which of the previously mentioned charging perks you wish. Unfortunately, since the 500e is inbuilt Italy (specifically, Fiat’s famous Mirafiori factory in Turin), it’s 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 another way, 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 for those who 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 well worth the four-year wait? Briefly, 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 a bit of rough around the perimeters, it’s a wonderful selection for drivers fitting the 500e’s narrow intended use case.
It’s nimble, super-attractive (subjective, but vital), offers an honest enough cabin and enough range and performance to not feel like a hindrance to traffic or a burden to your lifestyle. Should you live in a densely populated urban area like Recent York or Los Angeles, the little Fiat will make life easier and more nice, but for those who’re somewhere with big distances between destinations, it isn’t the automobile 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 in search of a bit of little bit of La Dolce Vita.
This Article First Appeared At www.autoblog.com
