The peppy electric motor makes it a hoot to drive in the city and makes it complacent on the highway as well. It all combines to make the 500 feel grown-up yet still cheerful and characterful. The instant torque means quick acceleration to avoid slow Uber drivers or lumbering construction trucks.

Now 13 years old, it has sold more than two million cars globally. Get today's most important stories delivered to your inbox. Rear passengers will be cramped with 4 inches less legroom than in other 500 models, due to the placement of the battery.

The short wheelbase and quick steering ratio make for nimble handling, and the ride is soft enough to battle the mean city pavement. How does it stack up? The 500e doesn't have the capability to charge at a level three fast charger, which enables some of its rivals to replenish their battery power back up to 80 percent in 30 minutes. Fiat offers an eight-year limited warranty on the battery. Jeremy White, By The inclusion of a stand alone TomTom navigation system is outdated. By This site uses cookies to improve your experience and deliver personalised advertising. Range mode and the delightfully named Sherpa mode both deliver one-pedal driving, which – as on the Nissan Leaf and Honda e – is a setting designed to remove the need for the brake pedal around town.

The latest 500 is a ground-up new model, complete with a pure-electric powertrain and a 199-mile range. The Fiat 500 has been a phenomenal success. The 2015 Fiat 500e has enough juice for most people's daily commutes, and it evokes high style rather than polarizing design.

Charging the 500e takes around four hours bring the battery up to 100 percent using a 240-volt level two charger. The Bad The inclusion of a stand alone TomTom navigation system is outdated. It’s a classic, made modern and tech-savvy without losing its classless appeal. The 500e does not support level 3 quick charging. A driver's knee airbag is also standard on all 500 models. If the car is plugged in, you can preheat or cool the cabin using grid power, and even delay charging to off-peak times. So you can charge at the coffee shop for 30 minutes, then again while at work with no reduction in battery life. Until I remembered what I had parked in the garage: a 2015 Fiat 500e. 15-inch aluminum wheels are wrapped in low-rolling-resistance rubber. Carly Page.

The ‘My Remote’ app also allows you to control your charging and nav route from your phone. The actual transaction price depends on many variables from dealer inventory to bargaining skills, so this figure is an approximation. That’s resulted in more room inside, which is great news since the ICE 500 (which we’ll refrain from calling the Old 500) is far from commodious, even by small car standards. The 500e does not support level 3 quick charging. Please refresh and try again. It will take a slow, 24 hours to fill the batteries from a regular 110-volt outlet. The 500e weighs around 600 pounds more than the 500 hatch due to the liquid-cooled lithium-ion battery. The Fiat website says the TomTom is a touchscreen with over 7 million points of interest. The systems we used weren’t the finished article, so we’ll refrain from delivering a formal verdict – but it is safe to say that, prototype or not, this system is the Millennium Falcon to the older 500’s bi-plane. The real joy, however, is in the city. The Fiat 500e delivers 111 horsepower, putting its output between that of the naturally-aspirated 500 and and the turbocharged 500, but I was able to cruise comfortably on the highway at speeds of 70 mph. Jeremy White. Some trips you win, some trips you lose. The NHTSA gave the non-electric 2016 Fiat 500 a four-star overall safety score (out of a possible five stars). It’s unlikely to be a deal-breaker, and our cabrio’s 17-inch wheels certainly won’t have helped – the smaller 16- and 15-inch wheels that will arrive on cheaper models will likely make for more relaxing about-town transport. The Fiat Access app is more useful, with the ability to view battery life, current range, and location of the vehicle, all from your smartphone. Those retro details are tempered with super-modern touches like push-button door releases and upholstery that’s made from recycled ocean-waste plastic. You can opt out at any time or find out more by reading our cookie policy.

Fiat New 500 review: smart pricing makes it a rival for all urban EVs The latest 500 is a ground-up new model, complete with a pure-electric powertrain and a 199-mile range.

There is only one gear in this baby, and it's Drive. Rear-seat passengers and utility both suffer a lack of space due to battery placement. We delete comments that violate our policy, which we encourage you to read. Those interested in going electric without sacrificing style could also look at the Kia Soul EV. Volvo XC40 Recharge first drive: an impressive EV, but who’s it for? Compared to its competitors, the 500e has one of the best ranges in its class and is only surpassed by the Kia Soul EV, which can travel up to 93 miles before recharging, and the 107-mile 2016 Nissan Leaf with the 30-kW-hr battery pack. Normal offers a very mild regenerative braking setting that is barely noticeable and lets the New 500 glide quite freely off the throttle. If envelope-pushing design isn't your thing and you have some time to wait, try holding off for the 200-mile range Chevrolet Bolt.

Another time I drove 24 miles to run errands, resulting in only a 16-mile drop in the car's estimated range. As a result, the New 500 now offers more shoulder room inside as well, as there is much more seat and wheel adjustment, so the Fiat New 500 is now comfortable for normal human-sized humans even on a longer journey, which couldn’t be said of its predecessor. Mostly thanks to the new Uconnect 5 infotainment system, which perches a 10.25-inch touchscreen on top of the dash as a window to Android Auto and wireless Apple Carplay. Learn what owners have to say and get authentic consumer feedback before buying your next car. Insert the key -- yes, an actual key -- push the "D" button, and off you go. Those full LED headlights that bi-sect the clamshell bonnet are the most striking new feature, but there are plenty of neat touches including protruding ‘torpedo’ side indicators that hark back to the iconic 1957 Fiat 500. The app also lets you unlock the doors, flash the lights, and start the car. Although the car may tell you one thing, real-world range depends on how you drive, and it's hard not to mash the accelerator of the 500e to push all the 147 pound-feet of torque to the front wheels. The front seats come heated standard, but I found it's not a steady heat. The way the New 500 drives has also been refreshed. The hard tires do take a bit of fun out of the 500e, but allow for better efficiency. In addition to a revised exterior design, the refreshed 2016 Fiat 500e gains Fiat-Chrysler's UConnect infotainment system featuring a five-inch touchscreen, Bluetooth connectivity, and voice command. The little Fiat has a range of 87 miles per charge. In a 2014 Quick Drive review, we said that driving the 500e isn't very different from driving the gas-powered version and excels as a city car. After a quick math check I realized I could easily make it to Oakland, home, and back to CNET the next morning with miles to spare. After that, I decided to stop keeping track. That results in a te to 80 per cent top-up in around 35 minutes if you can find a CCS ultra-rapid charging station of 100kW or more, or around 30 miles of range added in five minutes. Passengers sit fairly upright in the cabin, which may be a problem for taller folks, especially in vehicles equipped with the optional sunroof.

However, strictly for comparison's sake, its US price converts to slightly less than £21,000 or just over AU$44,000. Rear-seat passengers and utility both suffer a lack of space due to battery placement. For a start, the New 500 is unmistakably evolutionary, yet is also distinctly different. Vicky Parrott. Further, space under the hatch is reduced to a tiny 7 cubic feet. Our test car came with the optional eSport package, giving us black-trimmed lights, orange mirror caps, orange accented wheels and some nifty side striping. The 2015 Ford Focus Electric lowers its price by thousands of dollars to compete with the newer competition. The 2016 Fiat 500e is the electric vehicle variant of the 500 hatchback. Sure, it’s unlikely to win favours with those who carry rear passengers (even children) very regularly, since the back seats are pretty cramped. You will hear from us shortly. Will Bedingfield, Good range; styling; feature-filled touchscreen, Busy ride; pricey next to ICE alternatives; cramped rear seats, £29,000 (after UK plug-in car grant of £3,000).

The Good The 2015 Fiat 500e has enough juice for most people's daily commutes, and it evokes high style rather than polarizing design. Our prototype car’s touchscreen worked well and bodes well for screen responsiveness, as long as the fussy menu layouts are addressed. Unfortunately, our test car seemed to be missing the GPS unit. And it is wieldy, too; light steering and a turning circle of 9.6m means that you can execute cheeky u-turns or navigate awkward car parks with smug ease, although in the Cabrio the terrible rear visibility (literally non-existent if you have the pram-style hood scrolled all the way down) can be off-putting in tight quarters. You have successfully subscribed to our newsletter. Due to the stiffer suspension setup used to accommodate the 500e's heavier curb weight, the car doesn't have much body roll and handles relatively well, even on twisty roads, thanks to it having better weight balance. With up to $14,000 in credits or rebates available, the 500e is fun and engaging city car that many can afford. Fiat's voice-activated Blue and Me system lets you pair your phone for hands-free calls and audio streaming. When new friends asked if I wanted to join them for dinner in Oakland, about 15 miles from CNET headquarters in San Francisco, I was totally game. The boot space (in the convertible, particularly) is very limiting, too, even if it does have underfloor space for one or other of the standard Type 2 and three-pin domestic charging cables – you won’t get both under there. One 11-mile trip home dropped my range only 3 miles, but the reverse, in similar traffic, took a whole 36 miles off the meter. By You can cut that to 4 hours with a 240-volt outlet, the same that powers your clothes dryer if you're lucky enough to have one. Visually the 500e is pretty close to its gas-powered siblings, save for a few tweaks. © 2020 MotorTrend | MOTOR TREND GROUP, LLC. Standard safety features included in the 2016 500e include dual-front, front-side, and side curtain airbags. Cargo space in the 500e is seven cubic feet with the split-folding rear seats up and 26.3 cubic feet with them down. And the Fiat’s got a good chance of mopping up a lot of sales from both ends of that spectrum, going on the evidence of our Italian pre-production experience. There is no infotainment system, merely a stereo with a one-line analog readout. The torque-rich electric motor comes provides plenty of punch for around town driving while the regenerative braking enables the driver to maximize the car's range. And if that doesn’t sell, we are forced to wonder what will. Underneath is a new EV-specific platform. Our test car with eSport package, sunroof, and destination came to $34,475. TRIAL OFFER: 3 Issues for £1. In comparison, the 500 hatch has 9.5 cubic feet with the split-folding rear seats up and 30.1 cubic feet with them down. The power-regenerating brakes have a linear feel and are not as grabby as other electric- and hybrid-vehicle brakes. Three drive modes are offered, which also control the two brake-regen’ modes. Let the fun commence! On a single charge, the 500e can travel up to 87 miles.