Even by electric vehicle standards, the original Fiat 500e it wasn’t exactly a huge success. The Italian EV was available mostly in California, with sales peaking in 2015 at 6,194 units, falling to 2,250 by 2018. Former CEO Sergio Marchionne also claimed the company loses $14,000 on every 500e sold, which meant that the less successful he was, the better. So we weren’t particularly surprised when Fiat killed it off with the 2019 petrol 500.
An electric subcompact with just two doors, limited mileage, and a price that started north of $30,000, it just wasn’t a car that many Americans cared about, and on a certain level, we can’t blame them. It worked best as a city car, but if you lived in a city where the 500e’s small size would be useful, there was a good chance you wouldn’t have anywhere to park it if you needed a car at all.
Still, a few years after Fiat redesigned the 500e, it was decided to once again offer the small car in the U.S., this time in all 50 states and without losing money every time someone buys one. So if you want to buy one to drive around Houston, you can. You might be crushed by the lifted Chevrolet Silverado HD, but the Fiat won’t stop you. I recently had a chance to drive the 2024 Fiat 500e in Miami, and while I didn’t spend much time behind the wheel, it’s clear that Fiat has put a lot more effort into making its little EV a better car.
Full disclosure: Fiat flew me to Miami, paid for a night in a hotel room, fed me nice food, bought me drinks, secured the car, and thankfully resisted the urge to feed me to the gators.
Before we can get into the review of the new Fiat 500e, we need to go back to 2020. I was living in Los Angeles’ Koreatown and I needed a car. I was working for a new facility that was too small to receive press cars, and the idea of going electric was fascinating. After considering several other options, I ended up buying a 2015 Fiat 500e. Was it the best EV on the market at the time? Not at all. Was it the best EV I could afford? Oh yeah.
While it wasn’t as much fun to drive as the Abarth version, man, that little 500e had charm. It was so practical, especially with the rear seats down. Charging was mostly free, as I found an electrical outlet in my garage that my landlord didn’t know I was using, and I was able to navigate tight parking situations with ease. Heck, I even hung a Christmas tree on the roof a few months later. It had its flaws, of course, but it really was the perfect car for me at the time. Plus, unlike the heavily damped Nissan Leaf, it wasn’t hard to go 100 miles without a charge.
Unfortunately life happens and I no longer have my old 500e, but that meant I had a particular interest in driving the new one. There’s still a Fiat-shaped hole in my heart, and the 2024 500e seemed like the perfect new car to fill it. On paper, this shouldn’t be hard to do. The new car offers more range from its 42kWh battery pack, now going 149 miles compared to the old car’s 87, and it also makes more power. The 117 horsepower and 162 pound-feet of torque the electric motor sends to the front wheels isn’t much by today’s standards, but it’s still an improvement over the 111 hp. and the predecessor’s 147 lb-ft. It’s also slightly longer, wider and taller for more passenger space without losing the charming styling and diminutive stature of the previous car.
When it comes to charging, you’ll probably want to make sure you have a Level 2 charger nearby. If you stick to Level 1, as I did with my old car, Fiat says it will take 37 hours for a full five percent charge. With a level 2 charger, you can go from empty to full in six hours. Put it on an 85-kWh fast charger and you can get an 80 percent charge in about 35 minutes—the old car didn’t offer fast charging from the factory. You probably don’t want to try cruising the new 500e just yet, but at least this time it might be theoretically plausible.
This time the 500e also has features. I didn’t mind not having much more than radio, air conditioning, power windows and power steering, but I also bought my car for about $6000. People spending more than $30,000 on a new car, on the other hand, are likely to expect something a little more modern, and although there’s no Mercedes Hyperscreens dominating the dashboard, having features like Apple CarPlay and Android Auto integrated into the infotainment system, multiple driving modes and an updated driver display are certainly nice upgrades.
It’s also more spacious inside than you’d expect. Priority is of course given to the front seats, but I was able to fit my 6ft tall partner behind me without having to amputate his legs. The cabin materials also feel much better than before. I wouldn’t call it luxurious, but it’s a nice design, and nothing I touched felt like Fiat had cut corners. It’s also not like other cars in the sub-$40,000 price range, which offer open-pore wood, aluminum trim and Nappa leather seats.
One thing that struck me as a former owner is that the rear seats on the new car don’t fold as flat as before. It’s far from the end of the world, but at the same time it seems like it will make the new 500e a little less practical if you’re trying to transport larger items.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have much time to actually drive the new 500e, so as much as I wish I could go more in-depth here, you can learn so much in less than two hours. According to the car’s computer, I drove the 2024 Fiat 500e for 41 minutes, all in Miami traffic. Without a chance to get it up to highway speed, I can’t tell you anything about wind or tire noise, nor do I have any idea how it handles in corners or how comfortable the seats are beyond my initial impression that yes, they are quite comfortable and a significant improvement over the old ones.
Then again, it’s not like the 500e was designed for canyoning or cross-country travel. Ultimately, it should be a tool that gets you from point A to point B with enough style and charm that it doesn’t feel like just another appliance. Sure, you could mock Fiat for highlighting the 500e’s 3.1-second 0-30 mph time, but on the other hand, I’d say it shows that the Italian automaker understands that owners probably don’t to be hitting highway speed regularly. They will be driving around town in traffic just like me. One of the things I loved about my old car was the fact that if you, say, tried to back out of a parking lot too quickly, it would spin the tires. I’m not one to do this intentionally on a regular basis, but it was part of the car’s charm.
It’s not great for tire wear, though, and most people probably don’t find it as fascinating as I do. The new car is apparently set up to prevent that from happening. While the 500e no longer tries to squeal its tires every time you pull out of a parking lot, it felt like it had plenty of power for what it was. It doesn’t exactly encourage enthusiastic driving, but if you give it some work at low speeds, it at least feels some quickly. Plus, if you happen to have a heavy foot, Fiat will let you opt for a set of summer tires too at no extra cost. Tires are also one of the few options you can choose on the 500e Inspi (red) I drove. Plus, you just decide if you want red, white, or black paint. Take the red one. This is a good red.
Sport mode would be appreciated, but that’s what the Abarth is about, too. (And you definitely bring the new Abarth to the US, right Fiat? Right?) Outside of the normal setting, you get two other driving modes that Fiat calls Range and Sherpa. Range mode is basically an Eco setting that gives you one-pedal driving, while Sherpa is even more aggressive, killing the A/C and ensuring you get as much range as possible. I doubt most people will use Sherpa mode regularly, but if your battery is dead and you’re looking for a charger, it’ll probably be nice to have.
Since it’s a single speed, there’s really not much to say about the transmission either. Fiat has stuck with a push-button shifter that looks a lot better than in the old car, but the downside of the horizontal layout is that putting the car in Drive is a bit of a reach. You’ll probably get used to it pretty quickly, but a slight irritation is still a slight irritation.
Given that the 2024 Fiat 500e starts at $34,095 with destination included, I have a feeling it’ll carve out a nice little niche for itself among city drivers who find its diminutive size a feature rather than a fault. At the same time, though, since we were only allowed to drive the car for such a short time, I’ll need a rental car to drive for at least a week before I can get to know it enough to write the review the new 500e probably deserves. Either that or I’ll just have to wait five years for depreciation to get cheap enough to afford, buy one and test it good old fashioned long term.
