Fiat 500e review

The Fiat 500e's interior feels like home – streamlined but not too minimal, chic and a little flamboyant.

The two-tone rose gold and silver dash in the 500e Icon trim makes the materials look more expensive too.

It’s one of the best-designed city car interiors – everything is just where you need it.

Tech and features

The buttons for air-con, seats, and windows are below the central touchscreen and instantly accessible, and the drive selector buttons (P, D, R) are large and central on the lower dash.

It’s spacious upfront, but as there are only two seats in the back, you do have to compromise there. It's similar in size to the VW e-up!

The 10.25-inch infotainment system is one of the easiest we’ve tried, with quick response times and intuitive menus.

You don’t get a million windows open like some systems, so you can always get back to the home menu in a click or two.

The driver's set-up is nice too, and the journey summary and clear battery percentage is particularly helpful for first-time drivers.

Electric motors and power

With the 500e, you get everything you’d want and expect from an electric city car. It’s small, it’s nippy and you can weave in and out of traffic like a breeze.

Parking, U-turns are dead easy, and the instant acceleration makes it quick to slip out of junctions.

One-pedal drive makes running around time a very stress-free experience – just take your foot off the accelerator and the car will come to a stop.

You get a 42kW battery with a claimed range of 199 miles, and we’ve found it only really takes one full charge for an average week’s worth of driving in the city.

Handling and ride comfort

It’s a little bit jolty over speed bumps, as are most small cars, so you should slow down to a sensible speed, but that’s really our only complaint.

The safety assists like Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB), hill start assist and lane assist make you feel taken care of and come as standard.

There’s no beating about the bush – a city car isn’t going to be an endless palace of space, but the 500e is surprisingly decent with upfront room.

Those over six feet can stretch their necks and there’s lots of legroom.

Rear seats

The back is cramped and there are only two seats, but that makes it better for two kids.

Plus, because the Fiat doesn’t need a gearstick, the area between the front seats is now a storage area, with cubby holes and handy USB ports.

Boot space

The boot is small but you probably don't need to get more than the shopping in any way.

One of the biggest bonuses of owning an electric car is saving money on running costs.

Range

The Fiat has an acclaimed range of 199 miles, and during our week of reviewing, we didn’t even use that up.

It costs us less than £10 to publicly charge overnight in London, and in current times when petrol and diesel are at record prices, it's very nice for the bank account when you pay that once a week.

The average UK commuter drives a roundtrip of 23 miles or less a day, so for most people, you can go to work and back on a single charge for the whole working week easily.

Electric cars tend to be more reliable than petrol or diesel cars too (there are fewer parts to go wrong, for starters), so you’re likely to save money on maintenance costs too.