MIAMI – It's been hard times for Fiat fans. The brand discontinued its 500 model line after 2019, leaving only the four-door crossover-ized 500X on sale, and while it planned to introduce the replacement for its 500e electric city car around that time, a little pandemic threw a wrench in the works. Now, in 2024, the folks from Turin are finally ready to let Americans taste the Dolce Vita offered by that new 500e. Has the wait been worth it? I went to Miami to find out.
Not that the 500e feels unstable around town . It offers the kind of quick, accurate steering and subcompact agility that made the original 500e so much more fun to drive than it needed to be. The steering is light but not overly so and offers a very tight turning circle of just 31.5 feet, making the"Oh wait, there's a parking spot! Get it!" maneuver much easier than it would be in a larger vehicle.
Being a simple car overall, the 500e offers three drive modes. There's Normal, Range and the questionably named Sherpa. Normal is fairly self-explanatory, Range chills out the acceleration for better efficiency, and Sherpa is like Range mode plus. It shuts down the HVAC system and gives you the least responsive accelerator pedal and maximum regenerative braking.
The 500e’s interior is basic with some unfortunately cheap-feeling materials, but it's aesthetically pleasing and not a horrible place to be. The seats are firm and lack real bolstering but are clad with cool-looking, embossed Fiat logo upholstery. There are plenty of places to store all your stuff, though only having one cupholder feels like a misstep for a vehicle in the U.S., no matter how small the car may be. The 500e also gets a wireless charging pad as standard.
One nice thing about the 500e is that the 2024 is slightly cheaper than the old model despite being better in nearly every measurable respect. It’s not cheap per se, given that Fiat thinks of itself as a premium brand in the United States. Still, with a sticker price of $34,095 for the base version and $37,595 for the"Inspired By" versions, it's not completely egregious either.
Source: Entertainment Trends (entertainmenttrends.net)
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