Fiat 500e 2024 Long-Term Review

Electric cars are all about the environment… That’s what we’re told, but the 2024 Fiat 500e hatchback turns that tenet on its head.

It’s not so much about the environment, rather an environment – the city environment – where we can vouch, after a couple of months behind the wheel, it is 100 per cent at home. And still as quirky as ever…

But the hard part first… It’s expensive – too expensive with the solus 500e La Prima model grade starting at $52,500 plus on-road costs. That makes drive-away closer to $60K – about $20K too much by my estimate.

Stellantis Australia has aggressively repriced its Jeep portfolio; for the 500e to get buyers, the company needs to look hard at this impasse.

At least for the money you get a well-equipped and likeable city-slicker. It turns heads – ironically in some cases because it’s near to silent – and makes observers smile. The schtick works…

If you’re looking to make more of a statement and blast away from the hook turns even faster (those from out of Melbourne, look it up!), then Stellantis has also released an Abarth 500e version that starts at $58,900 plus on-road costs – a $6400 premium.

There’s also a Scorpionissima launch edition. Just 219 units for Australia (or 1949 worldwide – for the year of Abarth’s founding) from $60,500 plus ORCs.

Living in Melbourne’s inner north – perfect EV territory – I grabbed the 2024 Fiat 500e for a mini long-term loan. If it wasn’t going to work for me, it probably wouldn’t for anyone.

The good news is, despite some initial hiccups (read below), I fell for it.

For starters, I wasn’t expecting the comprehensive level of equipment the 500e boasts. The spec sheet includes 17-inch diamond-cut alloy wheels, LED headlights, a fixed glass roof (with sunshade) and tinted windows.

Ice Beige decoratively stitched heated front eco-leather-trimmed seats are standard, along with a decent six-speaker sound system, wireless phone charging and a two-tone, two-spoke steering wheel.

There are push-button electric releases for the doors (and mechanical ones too – in case, like me, Fiat electrics scare you) and ‘Easter Egg’ design nods to both the original 500 and Turino, Fiat’s hometown.

Outside, it’s very clearly a 500 but there’s clever aero treatment and badgework has a retro bent that’s cool rather than tacky.

Alas, our 500e’s colour is one of those axed by Fiat in the first year of production. It’s a shame – it’s one of the things about our 500e that attracted the most comment.

Also a shame is Fiat’s sub-par three-year/150,000km warranty. Aussies don’t need excuses not to buy French or Italian cars…

At least the battery is covered for eight years/160,000km. Services are due every 12 months/15,000km and cost $250 per service for the first eight years.

The Fiat 500e was awarded a four-star safety rating (out of five) by Euro NCAP in 2021, which is also recognised by ANCAP in Australia. No changes for 2024 builds.

Despite the rating, the Fiat 500e offers a comprehensive suite of safety and driver assistance features. These include six airbags, autonomous emergency braking (AEB), lane keep assist, blind spot monitoring, lane departure warning, driver fatigue detection, tyre pressure monitoring, adaptive cruise control and auto high beam.

Additionally, the car features traffic sign recognition, though it proved somewhat inconsistent.

In normal use we found the forward collision warning (part of the AEB suite) was very over-eager, although at least the car didn’t initiate any actual braking episodes.

The other glitch that seemed to depart after a home software update was occasional spurious passenger airbag warnings. When this happened it also disabled one-pedal driving functionality… Didn’t actually get to the bottom of this one…

Stellantis designers clearly took inspiration from the original Fiat 500 inside and out with its cute ‘face’ and internal round dials. But in realty the 2024 Fiat 500e delivers quite a high level of tech integration.

Rather than a gear lever, the 500e uses dash-mounted buttons which assist in packaging and maximising space inside the cabin. It took us a month or so to remember to push the start button twice to get any gear action…

As noted above, the doors open via the push of a circular button on the door trim – think Tesla.

A positive is the fact the Fiat 500e retains physical buttons and switches for the climate control. There’s still some functionality via the main touch screen – including that for the heated seats. I found the symbols too small and at times it was hard to register whether they were on or off – at least until your bum started toasting…

The 7.0-inch high-resolution digital instrument cluster behind the steering wheel clearly displays essential information.

The central 10.25-inch touch-screen offers decent wireless smartphone mirroring. I used CarPlay 99 per cent of the time in the 500e with no complaints save for the fact that some of the on-screen elements end up very small for fat fingers.

The cabin includes two USB ports – one USB-A and one USB-C.

Forget the Goggomobil, the 2024 Fiat 500e is the quintessential wee ripper…

Thanks to decent initial power and that small footprint, in terms of 0-40km/h and the ability to fit in almost any gap, it takes some beating in the traffic light Grand Prix…

The 500e might look just like its previous petrol counterparts, but it is built on a dedicated EV platform, exclusively used for the Fiat and Abarth 500e models, at least for now. The electric motor which powers the front wheels is rated at 87kW and 220Nm.

Officially, the 500e can accelerate from 0-100km/h in 9.0 seconds and has a speed-limited top speed of 150km/h. However, behind the wheel, the 500e feels more athletic than that. Even urban freeways are a happy hunting ground…

Fiat has recently confirmed it will add a hybrid version of the 500e to its line-up. The platform was developed to be compatible with ICE, but it still seems like a backward step to me…

The 2024 Fiat 500e packs a reasonably sized 42kWh lithium-ion battery, offering a claimed range of 311km (based on the WLTP cycle).

In the real world we struggled to get much more than 220km per charge – although this may be a function of the fact that I consistently drove it like I stole it.

During our total ‘ownership’ period, the car averaged 17.7kWh/100km – a theoretical range of 247km…

Range anxiety is a funny thing. It’s way less of an issue once you own an EV – especially so if you’re city based, and doubly if you charge at home. So that 220km range never featured as an issue.

Our 7.7kW charger at home quickly topped up the 500e, but DC fast-charging up to 85kW is supported. Fiat claims 10-85 per cent in 15min…

As I’ve already alluded to above, the 2024 Fiat 500e is plenty fast enough to deal with most challenges in the city. In fact, the more I drove it the more I liked it…

The first week or so was unconvincing and then the thing started to put a smile on my face – it really is the perfect city car in many ways.

One chink in the armour is its ride – and suspension travel. Like the petrol 500, the electric Bambino’s suspension set-up is deeply compromised and there is virtually no travel on the rear axle. This means speed humps are a chore, and I should know – I have around 18 between home and the office…

My colleague Ali Lawrence commented positively on the 500e’s manners at the launch. Her piece is worth a read.

The 2024 Fiat 500e might look tiny but it’s worth noting here that it is actually usefully larger than the petrol car with which it shares its badge (but not its underpinnings).

At approx 3.6m long and 1.6m wide, the EV is 61mm longer, 56mm wider and 39mm taller. A wheelbase boost of 24mm makes it easier to fit people in the back seats – although it’s more a three- than four-seater if the driver are themselves more than ‘petite’.

The cabin is quirky but classy, with the materials used of good quality. You can’t escape some hard plastics, and that’s a shame given the price tag. It’s comfortable (suspension remarks aside) and bright and airy – those big windows help.

Luggage space is what you’d expect of a city car. Need more space? You bought the wrong EV, bucko.

Whether a Fiat 500e suits you is probably not the question. It’s more a case of do you want one?

It’s that sort of car. Indeed, unless you’re an inner-city style maven, no pocket-sized $60,000 EV is a rational purchase.

But during my three months with the 500e the amount of interest it generated from friends, family but moreso the (wo)man in the street was eye-opening…

The sticking point for nine out of 10 enquirers – the price.

Style-conscious battery buyers will have some additional choices soon thanks to the reintroduction of Smart models to Oz.

With that in mind and post my direct experience, as much as I personally fell for the 500e’s charms, I can’t hand-on-heart recommend it at its current price tag…

Trim that number to one starting with a low four, however, and I’d be tempted.

2024 Fiat 500e at a glance:
Price: $52,500 (plus on-road costs)
Available: Now
Powertrain: Single permanent magnet synchronous motor
Output: 87kW/220Nm
Transmission: Single-speed reduction gear
Battery: 42kWh lithium-ion
Range: 310km (WLTP)
Energy consumption: 14.4kWh/100km (WLTP)
Safety rating: Four-star (ANCAP 2021)