Fiat 500e Electric Vehicle | Review - video Dailymotion

Tom's Guide

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?

Transcript

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.

00:10This is one of the smallest and cheapest EVs around.

00:17I've been driving this car for a week. I've taken it into New York City from the suburbs

00:21of New Jersey and back, and I've only needed to recharge it once. Right now I've got about

00:2695 miles, and that's more than enough if all you're doing is going to the grocery store and back

00:32a couple times a week. It's motor here. It's 118 horsepower, producing about 162 foot-pounds of

00:39torque. Not the biggest motor by any stretch of the imagination, but because this car is so small,

00:44it's actually very peppy on the highway. I'm driving over cobblestones right now, which isn't the

00:50smoothest in the world, but the Fiat handles them pretty well. It has smaller tires than a typical

00:55car, about 17 inches, so you do feel potholes a little bit more, but otherwise it's a fairly smooth

01:02ride. One 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 backup.

01:25One of the things I really like about the Fiat 500e is a little shelf that's right underneath the

01:30dashboard 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.

01:59The 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 consider, especially

02:28if you take a lot of longer trips.

02:31The 500e's charging port is in sort of a traditional spot where you'd usually find a place to refill a gas

02:37car. Pop it open, though, and you have the plugs to recharge the car here. And there's also a nice

02:43little status symbol on the side that lets you know just how full the car is. Like all Fiat 500s,

02:50this is a small car. I'm about six feet tall, and as you can see, I can easily get over the top of it.

02:56If you're sitting in the front seat of the Fiat 500e, you'll find plenty of leg room,

03:01but it's a different case if you're sitting in the back. I'm going to sneak slide in here,

03:08close it up. The front seat is moved almost all the way forward, and I still feel a little

03:13claustrophobic. It's pretty tight for me. Of course, one of the drawbacks having such a small car

03:19is that there's limited storage space. Unlike some larger EVs, there's no frunk for the Fiat 500e.

03:25You've got room for maybe two carry-on suitcases, but not much more. Back seats do fold down,

03:31but if you're doing a large Costco 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 the car in

03:48white, red, black, and sort of a mist gray, but there's not much more you can configure in terms

03:53of motor, for example, or tires, or trim packages. As you can see, it has a nice 500 styling logo on

04:01the front here. Nice, attractive headlights, too, that were plenty bright at night, and you can adjust

04:06them, obviously. It has a nice red, white, and green of the Italian flag here, because after all,

04:11this is an Italian car. The styling of the Fiat 500e is simple but elegant. I do like,

04:17on the seats here, it has the Fiat logo stitched into it. There's a nice sort of fabric dashboard

04:23here. Nothing feels cheap. Nothing feels overly ostentatious either.

04:27So 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 media sites.

05:15For Tom's Guide, this is Mike Crosswell.

Fiat 500e Electric Vehicle | Review

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