Fiat 500E

Ionised

There seems to be little to no discussion on the Fiat 500E thus far (I did do a search).

My wife is expecting delivery in the next two weeks of a new 'LaPrima' spec 500E and I was wondering if anyone else here has one and what might be their overall impression of the car.

The short test drive we had was very positive. Interior quality appears quite good and certainly better than my '08 500 would have been. Car is certainly larger than the ICE 500.

Power seems very good and certainly adequate. Nippy would be the word that springs to mind. One pedal driving in range mode worked well on the sort test.

The dealer we used has a number arriving in the next few weeks in various specs and colours.

It is going to look very small parked next to my Ioniq 5!

fafy

its a very small car, but suitable for some, reviews are very good, they have really upped the quality in this model, nice screen, and range is reasonable at 320km ‘ish.

It would totally unsuitable for anyone with small kids etc, but is a lovely looking car,very stylish, good luck with it.

the_amazing_raisin

Like the regular 500 it fails the stepladder test 😁

However in all other respects it seems like a great car. Between the good range and small size it seems great for someone in a city with no access to a private charger

Some reviews saying not quite as nippy as rivals but in mainly city driving it should be fine.

The small boot would annoy me and access to rear seats uncomfortable compared to something like the Honda e.

On the positive side Given the shocking high prices of second hand 10 year old ICE 500s you’re possibly assured excellent re-sale values in the coming years until competition emerges from brand new city models that have both style and substance

Mad_maxx

The ICE Fiat 500 held its value well so this one will too ,my mother and one of my sisters has a 500 ( 2015 and 2016 ) , great little car ,love driving when I get the chance

baldshin

We test drove one when my wife was changing from a petrol 500. Needed something that would do 200km no bother on the motorway with a good buffer to suit her work. The day we had it was decent weather wise, but only managed around 220km with a few percent left of motorway driving, so had to rule it out.

Car was much more premium than the petrol versions I have to say!

Ionised

Update - Car due for collection today.

Mad_maxx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119370917#Comment_119370917

What colour did you choose may i ask ?

Ionised

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119371678#Comment_119371678

Ocean Green. I quite fancied Celestial Blue but was outvoted.

Mad_maxx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119372673#Comment_119372673

Oh dear

Ionised

In hindsight, Ocean Green is a better choice. Plus I'm not paying for it so have little influence 🤐

Ionised

Photos as promised.

unkel

Such a class design, can't believe it's been around for 15 years already (and the original came out 65 years ago)

Well wear!

Dibble

Stunning car!

Let us know how you get on 😀

Mam1996

Really interested to see how you get on, I'm on my 2nd 500 and seriously thinking if upgrading to the 500E. Looking forward to your updates, well wear

fafy

its a small car, but very well designed, its actually, its probably the perfect “EV 2nd” car, for those who are not carting kids around at least.

Mad_maxx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119392747#Comment_119392747

Sorry I questioned the colour , I was dead wrong , love it , my sister has a shade of green but it's very different to that

Ionised

Initial impressions in no particular order..

It is a slightly larger car than the ICE 500. More space inside for sure. Driver footwell is a bit cramped though.

Software seems to be quite good. No lag on the screens and a sensible UI.

One pedal driving is smooth in 'range' mode.

Economy stats so far after 500km - 13.2kwh/100km. It has been driven enthusiastically to be fair.

Interior material quality is a step up from previous 500's.

Love the interior- what model is that? Looks plush - happy motoring

Ionised

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119402411#Comment_119402411

It is the La Prima spec. Very well appointed inside.

KrisW1001

Bumping this thread to add my own experiences.

We (finally!) took delivery of a 500e soft-top in La Prima trim in July, and after 4000 km, I am very happy with it, despite “downsizing” from a five-door compact hatchback. Here’s a summary.

There’s lots of headroom (I’m over 6 feet tall), seats and driving position are good even for long journeys. It’s a short car, and the 19" wheels on the La Prima model are probably a little too firm for typical Irish town roads with cracks and uneven patching, but it stays well planted on the road. Seats in the back are strictly for those under 5’5” or so, or very short journeys.

On the road, the soft-top is a good bit louder inside than the hard-top, because of the extra wind noise, but on a sunny day, you don’t mind so much. Even at 80 km/h it’s pretty pleasant with the top down (providing it’s actually warm out, and not raining!).

The cabrio model’s official range is 305 km. In the real world, I get about 240 km when driving exclusively on roads with 100km/h and 120 km/h limits. I’ve noticed a big difference between driving at 100 and 120 km/h in terms of consumption though, so I’d imagine the range on motorway would be more like 200 km - it’s a short car, and that means more aerodynamic drag. On the other hand, being small means that when driving around town the battery takes forever to go down - FIAT claim this model has over 400km of range solely on the urban cycle, and I’d actually believe that: this is where the car is really at its most efficient.

AC charging is limited to 11 kW, so you’ll get no benefit from the public AC chargers offering 22 kW rather than 11 (or those rarer 30 kW ones): DC is the way to go for fast charging, and it’ll work at up to 80 kW then, which is plenty for this size of battery. However, I charge at home overnight on a 7kW charger, and (via a 3-pin plug) at work, so I haven’t needed to use a DC charger since I bought the car. A three-hour home charge puts about 50~55% onto the battery, using 21 units of electricity. If you pick a good electricity plan (ours has three hours in the early morning at around 7c/unit), that makes this extraordinarily cheap to run. On a regular 13 Amp mains plug, it’s around 5% per hour of charging.

Like the previous 500 models, driving is “fun”, rather than “performance”, but it’s not slow either. It drives like a regular car in “Normal” mode, with a gradual coast down when you release the accelerator. I’ve tried the one-pedal “range” mode, but I don’t like one-pedal driving in general, so I can’t say much except that it’s better than some others I’ve tried - speed control is smooth and easy with no hopping or lurching. The car is perfect around town, but it’ll also keep up with motorway traffic: I came from a 150 bhp diesel, and this car’s acceleration from 80km/h is impressive by that standard, and overtaking is not a problem: you can get close to 140 km/h very quickly if you’re not watching the accelerator (I haven’t hit the 150km/h speed limiter, but I get the impression that it’s there mainly to save battery, and without it, the car could go a good bit faster).

The in-car entertainment system is simple, responsive and easy to use. I cannot fault it - for sheer usability, it’s the best system I’ve seen in any car I’ve test-driven (that’s most cars and nearly all EVs). The Sat-Nav is good (it’s TomTom), with live traffic, and good display of charge-points along the route. It occasionally can’t find some addresses by Eircode, but as the unit does Apple CarPlay and Android Auto you could always use your preferred navigation app instead. The La Prima models also come with lane-keeping automatic cruise control (the car will steer itself to stay in lane, and keep its distance from the car in front), which really does work, and makes longer journeys a little more relaxing. There are limits, though: it doesn’t like very wide road lanes or roads without good lane markings (as you’d expect).

In the end, you can’t get around the fact that this is a small car, so you won’t be loading it with building materials or moving house using it. On the other hand, this is a small car, so you can park it on-street in the kind of space that other cars just can’t use (well, except for other 500s). The boot is the same size between hard-top and soft-top, but the soft-top has a much smaller hatch opening, which could be a problem. The seats go down if you need extra space, but that’ll get you only the sort of space you’d have in an estate car with the back-seats up.

If you don’t need a big car, or if you have the use of one for those occasional long trips or heavy loads, then this is a great choice.

unkel

Lovely car, good write up, well wear!

How much was the car on the road?

KrisW1001

Thanks!

Total price was somewhere around €37,500 key-in-hand, including the Government EV grant and dealer delivery charges. Prices have gone up €750 since we ordered in January.

unkel

Ouch! 😁

ELM327

Yes the base model is good value but the la prima trim is quite expensive especially in cabrio.

KrisW1001

Yes, exactly that. Our car was basically every box ticked, with the exception of the tri-layer Celestial Blue paint (we have Ocean Green, same as @Ionised above). You’ll get a very nicely-specced hard-top in the middle Icon trim-level for about €31,000.

LasersGoPewPew

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119766207#Comment_119766207

I hope you have many years of happy motoring. It seems very expensive given the size of car, I would have guessed 30k max

mailforkev

I applaud anyone who puts their money where their mouth is and takes the plunge on something a bit offbeat like one of these (I say this as the owner of a Honda e). They bring a bit of joy to your life.

unkel

You would say that 😁

But yeah anytime I see a Honda e, I have a smile on my face. Still way overpriced for what it is but I also admire people having enough dough and not giving a fukc and buying one anyway because they like it

Love the 500 too, did it from the day it was launched (as an ICE). For years you could pick a 3-4 year old fully electric one up in California for no more than $6-7k, amazing (I know the current one is far superior)

Oafley Jones

Saw one in rose gold today and thought it looked amazing. Really surprised me.

KrisW1001

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119766575#Comment_119766575

Size, as they say, isn’t everything.

@mailforkev I love the Honda-E! The low battery range ruled it out for me, but it’s the only other EV on the market with any kind of character to it. Well wear!

mailforkev

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119769501#Comment_119769501

Like unkel above, I've always liked the 500, considered buying an Abarth at one point a few years ago (partially just for the exhaust note).

I just wish the 500e had a bit more power, the Honda is up 30+ bhp and 100 Nm on it. Looks great though, is cool and stylish, and your La Prima model is very nicely equipped. Enjoy it.

KrisW1001

Well, wishes come true sometimes. There’s an Abarth 500e on the way: Abarth 500 elettrica: uscita, foto spia, anticipazioni e caratteristiche - Quattroruote.it translation of the powertrain bit below:

The electric Abarth 500 will have a specific set-up, an upgraded braking system and, almost certainly, a power injection. The powertrain of the electric 500 consists of a 118 bhp and 220 Nm (front) engine powered by a 42 kWh battery (or 23.7 on entry-level versions). The batteries should remain the same, although there will be no 24kWh version (that is reserved for Fiat), but the powertrain should change. At the moment there are no precise indications on the matter, but the Scorpione's small car will certainly exceed 140 bhp and it cannot be ruled out that in its highest-performance versions it could reach the 200 bhp area (the current thermal range runs from 165 to 180 bhp). Performance will thus be in line with that of the current thermal Abarths, with a WLTP range that could be around 300 kilometres. A value that, driving it as befits every Abarth, will drop precipitously.

Personally, I don’t feel like I need more power when driving, so I can’t imagine how insane a 200 bhp motor in a car this size would be - but Abarth has form when it comes to putting stupid amounts of engine power in small cars, so I wouldn’t rule it out as wishful thinking by the magazine authors (Quattroruote is usually pretty well informed when it comes to the Italian manufacturers).

unnamed

Hi,

I got the 500e as well, the La Prima Cabriolet. I absolutely love it, it's fun, fast, and easy to drive; I wouldn't swap it. However, for anyone considering it, it does have some negatives.

• It's a perfect city car, but it's a bit bouncy on back roads in Ireland. Passengers prone to travel sickness won't like it.
• The stated range (320km) is in "Sherpa Mode", which turns off climate control and limits the car's speed to 80kph. For me, about 250km is more accurate and closer to fast 200km for motorway driving.
• We have another car (diesel) that we use for longer trips, if you need to make longer trips regularly, this probably shouldn't be your only car.
• If you put the back seats down, you can store a lot (even a step ladder), but on the Cabriolet version, the boot entrance is very small. Getting a medium luggage case in there requires some Tetris thinking.
• There is no elegant or graceful way to get into the back seats.

Ionised

My wife loves her 500E so much she won't let me drive it, and can't be tempted into my Ioniq 5!