2024 Fiat 500e First Drive
The concrete below is hot, heat-soaked enough pedestrians can feel it through the soles of their Converse All-Stars. To the right, the pastel classic hotels line the street — the Colony, the Starlite, the Beacon South Beach — and beyond that the sea, teal, stretches to infinity. And I’m in my miniature electric car, surveying it all.
Even though I’m technically behind the wheel of the all-new 2024 Fiat 500e, I’m lucky enough to be able to admire each edifice and storeys-tall palm tree. Not that I set out intending to do so, but because we … are … crawling along. Ahead of me a Miami Beach tour bus is double-parking every three car lengths; there’s road work to the right so we’re down to one lane and, such is life here, pedestrians don’t tend to wait to cross; they just go. So, I have to take my time behind the wheel and why not get some sightseeing done while I’m at it?
Not to mention that this little 500e is fun. It looks fun, with its standard 17inch alloy wheels, “eyelash” daytime running lights above the LED headlights, and tall-yet-pinched profile.
It feels fun inside, with the colourful dashboard, two-tone seats and big display.
And it’s fun-to-drive as well. Not in an all-performance sense necessarily — power is rated at 117 horsepower and 162 pounds-feet of torque (motive force), not exactly sky-high figures — but the way Fiat has tuned the steering and suspension makes it a veritable joy to wind through clogged Miami streets.
A car with such a short wheelbase and tall roof shouldn’t ride this well, but there you have it. It helps, of course, that one of the heaviest elements — the battery — is buried deep within the chassis, so there’s less body roll through turns and less bounce over bumps.
Indeed, the brand is not afraid to say that the little 500e subcompact “supermini” is a city vehicle, through and through, and has been developed with making our drives through the urban jungle that much less stressful.
For starters, it’s a fully-electric car with a 42 kWh battery that provides a range of 227 kilometres — so no worries about your fuel economy in gridlock. With EVs pushing into the 450-plus-km range these days, however, it does seem somewhat paltry.
Perhaps, but that’s really only the case if you plan on undertaking long road trips with many kilometres between charging stations. If you’re going to be using the 500e for what it’s intended for — drives to work, weekend day trips and so forth — almost 230 clicks should be fine. Especially considering that if you are able to find a public high-speed charger, you can charge the 500e’s battery from 10 per cent to 80 per cent in about 35 minutes. It can also be charged via a home 240V charger from 0-100 per cent in six hours and you can use the charge cable included to plug in to a standard household outlet as well. That’s a luxury Canadian models get that U.S. cars don’t.
Also helping 500e drivers on the daily are its compact dimensions. These make threading through city traffic that much easier. Don’t think its small footprint means a cramped interior, though; it’s bigger in almost all dimensions than the older, gas-powered 500 which translates to more interior space, which is helped along by the fact that it’s an EV. Vehicles like that don’t require as much running gear — no gearbox, no driveshaft — that normally intrude into the cabin on traditional gas-powered vehicles. There’s plenty of headroom, legroom up front is fine and there are few hard edges on which to strike a knee or an elbow. The rear seats are somewhat more cramped, of course, but they can fold flat and make room for two adult-sized hockey bags, if that’s your, er, bag.
That’s a good thing, because, unlike other EV models, there’s no front trunk, or “frunk,” so you’ll want to be able to cram as much as possible into the rear hatch. Which, by the way, has a nice, big opening and low floor for easier loading.
Other smart interior tweaks include a cupholder that flips down from the central armrest — so it doesn’t take up space when you don’t need it for your caramel macchiato, you see — four buttons instead of a traditional shift lever, standard wireless charging, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, 10.25-inch widescreen infotainment display and a digital speedometer. The one thing I’d wish to see is a sunroof option, but there isn’t one on either of the two trims: (500) RED and La Prima. (Even the model names are funky.) It starts at $39,995, which makes it the least expensive EV you can buy in Canada and both trims qualify for federal EV rebates.
I did have the chance to sample the acceleration on the highway, and, while I still wouldn’t call the 500e “fast” in that environment, there’s enough on-tap there to get you through your commute with little worry.
It’s a taut, well-designed package, this 500e and with the pricing Fiat’s offering, it’s rather good value. Even today, as EVs become more popular, the cost of entry is prohibitive for many.
This is a breath of fresh air.
Note: The new Fiat 500e is available first in B.C. and Quebec, and, later this year, in Ontario and the rest of Canada.