Tom's Guide's Mike Prospero drove the 2024 Fiat 500e for a week to see just how good is the company's second attempt at an EV. It's one of the smallest EVs around, and one of the less expensive models, too, but its range and storage are on the skimpy side. Could this be the ideal EV for city and local commuters?
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00:00I don't have to drive a lot, but I still need a car for getting around town to pick up groceries
00:04and my kid from school. That's why something like the Fiat 500e caught my attention. This
00:10is one of the smallest and cheapest EVs around. I've been driving this car for a week. I've
00:19taken it into New York City from the suburbs of New Jersey and back, and I've only needed
00:23to recharge it once. Right now I've got about 95 miles, and that's more than enough if you're
00:29all you're doing is going to the grocery store and back a couple times a week.
00:34It's motor here. It's a 118 horsepower producing about 162 foot-pounds of torque. Not the biggest
00:40motor by any stretch of the imagination, but because this car is so small, it's actually very
00:45peppy on the highway. I'm driving over cobblestones right now, which isn't the smoothest in the world,
00:51but the Fiat handles them pretty well. It has smaller tires than a typical car, about 17 inches,
00:57so you do feel potholes a little bit more. But otherwise, it's a fairly smooth ride.
01:04One thing I like about the Fiat 500e is that there's manual controls for things. All the
01:09environmental controls are laid out in a row right in front of me here, so you can sort of reach
01:14things by feel and not have to worry about, you know, going to the touch screen and finding stuff.
01:18You can, of course, do things on the touch screen, but it's nice to have physical controls as a
01:23backup. One of the things I really like about the Fiat 500e is a little shelf that's right underneath
01:30the dashboard here, and you can slot your phone in there, and it'll automatically recharge your
01:35phone if you have wireless charging. It's a little feature, but it's a handy one. The 500e has a large,
01:41but not overwhelming, 10-inch touchscreen, which lets you control everything fairly easily. It has,
01:46you know, CarPlay if you have iPhone or Android Auto, and there's also media controls, you know,
01:53for a serious satellite radio. You can control the climate here, and there's also navigation.
02:02The drive controls for the 500e are also pretty straightforward. You just have four buttons here,
02:07right in front of the dashboard for park, reverse, neutral, and drive. One of the other major
02:12considerations with the Fiat 500e is its range. This car is only rated for about 139 miles on a full
02:20charge. I was able to get it to maybe about 140-ish, 149, but it is something you can consider,
02:27especially if you take a lot of longer trips. The 500e's charging port is in sort of a traditional spot
02:35where you'd usually find a place to refill a gas car. Pop it open, though, and you have the plugs to
02:41recharge the car here. And there's also a nice little status symbol on the side that lets you know
02:46just how full the car is. Like all Fiat 500s, this is a small car. I'm about six feet tall,
02:53and as you can see, I can easily get over the top of it. If you're sitting in the front seat of the
02:58Fiat 500e, you'll find plenty of leg room, but it's a different case if you're sitting in the back.
03:05I'm going to sneak a slide in here and close it up. The front seat is moved almost all the
03:11way forward, and I still feel a little claustrophobic. It's pretty tight for me.
03:16Of course, one of the drawbacks having such a small car is that there's limited storage space.
03:21Unlike some larger EVs, there's no frunk for the Fiat 500e. You've got room for maybe
03:26two carry-on suitcases, but not much more. Back seats do fold down, but if you're doing a large
03:33Costco run, you'll probably need a larger car.
03:42When it comes to customizing the 500e, you're fairly limited in your choices. Fiat offers
03:47the car in white, red, black, and sort of a mist gray, but there's not much more you can configure
03:53in terms of motor, for example, or tires, or trim packages. As you can see, it has a nice 500
04:00styling logo on the front here. Nice attractive headlights, too, that were plenty bright at night,
04:05and you can adjust them, obviously. It has a nice red, white, and green of the Italian flag here,
04:10because after all, this is an Italian car. The styling of the Fiat 500e is simple but elegant.
04:16I do like on the seats here, it has the Fiat logo stitched into it. There's a nice sort of fabric
04:22dashboard here. Nothing feels cheap. Nothing feels overly ostentatious either.
04:32So that's a look at the Fiat 500e. It is a fun little affordable EV. It starts at just $32,500,
04:40making it one of the least expensive EVs that you can afford. However, there are a few compromises at
04:45this price. For one thing, the small size, which is great for cities, also means you don't have a lot
04:50of storage space. And its range, about 139 miles, is small compared to most other EVs. But if all you
04:59need to do is drive around the city or around your town for groceries and things like that, then this
05:04could be a great little fun electric car for you. What do you think about the Fiat 500e? Leave your
05:10thoughts in the comments below. And be sure to follow us on Instagram, TikTok, and other social
05:15media sites. For Tom's Guide, this is Mike Crosswell.