2024 Fiat 500e Review: I Liked It So Much, I Added One to My Fleet

I recently had the pleasure of spending a week driving a 2024 Fiat 500e in the Inspired by Music trim. A few days into my time with the test car, I contacted Golling Fiat to inquire about their current inventory and on my final day with the test car, I drove it to Golling Fiat to pick up my own new Fiat 500e Inspi(Red). I was so impressed with the little electric Fiat, that I literally went out and got one of my own.

Now, I understand that EV tech has become a political football of sorts, but before I get into why I added a new Fiat 500e to my personal lineup, I want to point out a few things. First and foremost, I am not an “EV person”. Prior to the Fiat joining my fleet, I had five vehicles in my driveway – a 1972 Dodge Demon 340, a 1983 Dodge Mirada powered by a 340, a 2006 Dodge Ram 1500 powered by a 5.7-liter Hemi, a 2017 Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat powered by a supercharged 6.2-liter Hemi and a 2025 Ram 1500 with the new Hurricane inline-six engine. I like big vehicles with big engines, but I have always been a fan of the tiny little Fiat 500.

When the Fiat brand first returned to the US market a little over a decade back, I enjoyed driving the standard gas-powered models, but I fell in love with the performance-minded Abarth. When the first electric 500 was introduced, I enjoyed driving that as well, but it was not offered in my area, so I had limited exposure to the car, but the new 500e is offered nationwide. As a result, when I quickly found that I enjoyed driving the test car, I was able to go check out local inventory at the dealership.

Before we go on, I imagine that many of my regular readers are wondering how or why someone who owns a bunch of V8-powered muscle cars and trucks has any interest in a tiny compact EV. From time to time, I have to go into Detroit for work, where parking is often a headache – especially in a full-sized truck. I do not take the Challenger Hellcat to Detroit due to theft concerns. The 500e is the perfect vehicle for trips to Detroit or anywhere else that has tight parking, and with it being an EV, there are often designated spots that are closer to the building or venue in question. Also, I have a child who drives and for him, the Fiat 500e is the perfect car for his daily tasks.

I understand that the vast majority of my friends who drive a Hellcat car or some other large vehicle will never have any interest in a subcompact EV. However, I also understand that Hellcat owners are very small portion of the overall market and many, many people across the United States drive subcompact cars. When reviewing the 500e, I have to think about what the target buyer would want from the car – not what an average Hellcat owner wants from a car. When it comes to the things that a subcompact car shopper would want in a 2-door daily driver, the new Fiat 500e is just about perfect.

A Nimble Little EV

What I have liked about every modern Fiat 500 I have driven is that they are small, light and easy to toss around on a twisty road. Even though the new 500e isn’t marketed as any sort of performance car, the low center of gravity, short wheelbase and quick steering provide this car with impressive handling and a surprisingly sporty feel when pushed hard. I understand that many people who will buy the 500e may not be interested in how well it handles when pushed to its limits, but the simple fact that it is fun to drive in the twisties is one of the reasons why I decided to get one.

That nimble nature makes the 2024 Fiat 500e easy to drive, whether you are on a curvy country road, the open highway or a packed parking garage. Also, while it isnt going to tear up the local street racing scene by any means, it can sprint from a stop to 60 in the high-7-second range and cover the quarter mile in the low-16-second range – making it quicker than a great many average commuter cars. Again, I understand that most buyers won’t care about acceleration numbers, but as a subcompact EV engineered for efficiency goes, the 500e will get up and go when asked. Ultimately, while the company might not love this comparison, I have always loved driving go karts and the 500e gives me “go kart on steroids vibes”. It isn’t the best-handling car in the world nor is it the quickest or fastest, but it handles well enough and accelerates quickly enough to be fun to drive in the right driving conditions.

Way More Space and Tech than You Expect

After people ask me why I like the Fiat 500e, the next question is usually “and you fit in that tiny car?” The car is smaller than almost any other vehicle that I encounter on the road, but on the inside, it is basically all front seat. There is a back seat for two people, and you can adjust the front seats in a way that allows some leg room for people in the front and rear, but realistically, to fit four people comfortably, they would need to be four relatively diminutive people. On the other hand, without any concern of rear seat leg room, the front seats will comfortably accommodate two people over 6-feet tall with plenty of head room as well.

In addition to plenty of space for a comfortable ride, the 2024 Fiat 500e Inspired by Music is packed full of premium tech bits, including a digital gauge cluster, a big touchscreen infotainment system, multiple USB/USB-C charging ports and a huge wireless charging pad. The digital gauge cluster provides an array of vehicle information that includes battery charge level, miles remaining with the current state of charge, a bar that shows the level of power output compared to charging input from the regenerative brakes, the drive mode chosen, the local speed limit, vehicle speed and information on the lane keeping system.

The large infotainment screen has all of the functions of the UConnect system, allowing you to make changes to the media player, the climate control system, the navigation system and Android Auto, but there are also hard buttons below the screen and on the steering wheel. The buttons on the steering wheel control the media player while the buttons below the screen offer the ability to make changes to the climate control system quickly, without going to that menu on the screen. Finally, while you will rarely hear me rave about a wireless charging pad, I am jealous of the unit in the Fiat 500e. It is a tray-style charger and it is huge – easily big enough to fit a Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra in a bulky Otter Box case. That same phone is barely fits in the wireless charging station in my 2025 Ram 1500, requiring to be in a very specific spot to work.

Some other higher end features of the Fiat 500e include push-button start, push-button door actuators inside (rather than a handle) that match the start button and other buttons on the steering wheel that allow access to the hands-free phone system and the class-exclusive Level 2 semi-autonomous driving system. Of course, as part of the Inspired by Music package, my 500e test car featured the “JBL Premium Audio mastered by Bocelli” 7-speaker sound system, which sounds fantastic in this tiny subcompact hatchback.

Range and Charging

When my 2024 Fiat 500e Inspired by Music model was fully charged, it stated that I had between 155 and 158 miles of driving range. I found that during an average 34-mile commute with highway speeds around 60 making up about a third of that, I would use around 29-30 miles of range on a 70-degree day. Even when I drove the 500e harder around town, actual mileage exceeded the number of miles that came off of my range to empty. I did not attempt to stretch the range to see how far I could really go on a single charge, but based on my experience, I believe that on a warm day, I could go around 160 miles – especially if my speeds stayed below 65. Highway driving with speeds exceeding 75 do seem to burn through range a bit more quickly, but I would expect at least 140 miles of range at those speeds in my area (which is very flat). Actual mileage will vary based on topography, climate, driving style, traffic levels, etc.

As for charging, my own Fiat 500e came with a Level 2 charger, but when I had the Inspired by Music test vehicle, I only had the basic Level 1 charger that plugs into a normal 110v wall socket. Using the Level 1 charger, I found that the 35 miles that I used for my daily commute was easily recovered overnight. With the Level 2 charger that came with our new Inspi(Red) model, the car will charge from 0 to 100% in about 5 hours, but for our regular uses, we have no problem charging with the Level 1 cord (that does not come with the 500e when you buy or lease one, only the Level 2 is included – you need to buy the Level 1 charger from Mopar for around $249.) With a DC fast charging station, it will charge to 80% from 0 in about 35 minutes.

So, why did I like the Fiat 500e enough to add one to my personal fleet? It is a comfortable commuter car with plenty of EV range for our daily drive, it has loads of interior space and an impressive level of technology across the trim levels and as subcompact EVs go, it is fun to drive. Best of all, with current EV incentives, you can get into the base Inspi(Red) model in the mid-$20,000 range or the low-$30,000 range for the Inspired by Music models – making them among the most affordable new cars on the market today.