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.
