Test: under the spell of the Fiat 500E electric

If I had been told one day that I would fall in love with a Fiat 500, I would have had trouble believing it. And yet … This new Fiat 500E makes me revise my point of view on the famous Italian city car.

Fiat 500 electric 3+1, the 500 with an additional door !

The city car offers an additional door to be more practical than ever !

By: Francesco Barontini

It’s now official: the new electric Fiat 500 also makes its debut in its version with an additional door, the Fiat 500 3+1. Announced as a concept and as a name – even if until today rumors gave this figure written in letters, that is “Trepiuno” – here it is in broad daylight !

The car has an additional door on the right side, “hidden”, with a so -called antagonist opening, or suicide, without handle: it only opens if the front door is open. The principal objective ? Facilitate access to the rear seats.

No bigger

The big news compared to all rumors is that the 500 3+1 retains the same external dimensions as the 500 electric sedan and convertible with which it shares the platform and technology. We thought of a longer wheelbase, but it is not. In Turin, we preferred to keep the aesthetics of the vehicle.

Gallery: Fiat 500 electric 3+1

However, thanks to the arrival of the additional door (which means an increase in weight limited to 30 kg), the practicality of the model has increased. It is offered to ideally accompany those who bought the Fiat 500 at the launch and who, ten years (or more) later, now have different needs. In short, this 500 3+1 is aimed at young people who grew up with the 500 but who may now have founded a family.

“Prima” finish

The 500 3+1, from a mechanical point of view, initially adopts the most powerful motorization of the 500 on the market. It has a 42 kWh battery and an engine of 118 hp and 220 Nm, a range of 320 km WLTP and the possibility of recharging up to 85 kW.

She made her debut, just like the 500 electric sedan and convertible, in the launch version “the prima”, which is distinguished from the outside by its 17 -inch alloy rims with diamond finish, its chrome inserts and the three Special colors of bodywork: pink gold, glacier and black onyx blue. Standard equipment is particularly rich.

• Intelligent adaptive Cruise Control (IACC) and centering in the track
• Recognition of panels
• Autonomous emergency braking with recognition of pedestrians and cyclists
• Intelligent Speed ​​Assistant
• Lane Control
• High resolution back camera
• Automatic twilight sensors and road lights
• Emergency call
• Automatic parking brake
• Adjustable front seats in six positions
• Electrochromatic interior mirror
• Parking sensors with 360 -degree views
• Automatic air conditioning
• Uconnect 5 infotainment system with satellite navigation and 7 -inch touch screen

Learn more about passion and icon

The Fiat 500 3+1 will complete its range with the arrival of the other two @passion and @icon versions, which represent the intermediate and high -end equipment available on the electric 500. They are distinguished by the different alloy rims (15 “on the first and 16” on the second) and by many aesthetic details which differentiate them inside and outside the car.

The@icon also has a key door opening and a larger touch screen, a 10.25 inch diagonal.

For the moment, the prices of this Fiat 500 3+1 have not yet been revealed.

Find out more about the electric Fiat 500:

Test: under the spell of the Fiat 500E electric

If I had been told one day that I would fall in love with a Fiat 500, I would have had trouble believing it. And yet … This new Fiat 500E makes me revise my point of view on the famous Italian city car.

I tease the 500 a little, but apart from its Abarth 595 version, I never really appreciated the thermal engines available on the Fiat 500. It has this practical aspect in town, but it is limited a little too much to this use. This new electric Fiat 500 is dying this with brilliant in my opinion.

500th: an evolution of successful style

The restyling of icons is always a particularly complicated exercise, because it involves designers to find the compromise between what has always pleased the model and what will have to please in the near future.

The bet seems successful on this new generation of the 500th. The model keeps all the markers who have attracted buyers over the generations, while adding a few novelty touches that value it even more.

A special mention for the new front side: from the “500” logo replacing the Fiat logo, to the new integration of the lights, there is a real personality which was added to this 500th. Relief flasing rehearsals, the handles dug in the body, the new rims, the new colors will also contribute to the favorite effect of this new generation.

3 bodywork + 1 old generation coexist

The new 500th was created on a fully thought out platform for 100 % electric motorization. Moreover, the thermal version with light hybridization will continue to be produced on the old platform until it disappears, purely and simply, from the catalog. There will therefore be two generations of Fiat 500 on two platforms and two different designs that will coexist in concessions.

If the 500th remains a city car, it grows significantly with this new version, + 6 cm in length and width for this new opus. It is not negligible when we talk about a vehicle that will evolve mainly in urban areas. On the overweight side, it is also on the weight of the vehicle that the difference will be noticeable (around a 1.4 ton), even if at driving, we will absolutely not feel that.

The strength of this new generation of the electric Fiat 500 is above all to be available both in sedan (more than 2/3 of sales), in a convertible, and in a new alternative called “3+1”. The “3+1” version is a way of finding a compromise for those who regret that the Fiat 500 does not exist in a 5 -door version. Then on the passenger side, Fiat created a small antagonistic door (without central amount) allowing to facilitate access to the rear. It is quite clever and very well integrated without distorting the model.

To these three bodywork variations are added the different finishes:

• Action and Action Plus for entry -level only available in sedan and with the small battery of 23.7 kWh
• Passion, icon, icon plus, prima on all bodywork and with the 42 kWh battery.

A resolutely more modern interior

Our test models corresponded to the highest finishes, and generally well endowed with optional equipment. Inevitably, if you opt for a 500th in action or passion finish, your perception of the interior will be somewhat different.

Until the icon finish, you will not have the central screen, or a lower screen (7 ″ against 10.25 ″), the dressing of the dashboard will not resume the bodywork shade (which gives pep inside) and the seats will display less sexy shades.

I must admit, I had a crush on my icon version plus in its “rose gold” dress and its interior with the gray/black seats in Seaqual (fiber based on recycled marine plastic waste). The interior is quite refined, but the perceived quality is up compared to the second generation 500. Wands at the first 500 and in Turin hide in several storage elements, which are rather well thought out for a city car.

The detail that has its small effect is the control button for opening the door. No, the new electric Fiat 500 does not have an ordinary door handle inside, but a small button that operates the opening, and a manual control if ever … (yes we are in an Italian, we must always to expect).

Comfort, sobriety, space and trendy technological equipment, you no longer feel like you are in what we have known about the Fiat 500. It is clearly more chic and could even dare to hunt on the land of the mini is.

Handling of the new electric 500

The new 500th is not just a cute electric car, it is also a model whose technical characteristics seem relevant to its use. On this, Fiat with his 500th seems to have succeeded better than Renault and his Twingo Ze.

The features of the Long Range version icon Plus:

• Power: 87 kW / 118 hp
• Couple: 220 nm
• Vmax: 150 km/h
• 0 to 10 km/h: 9 seconds
• Rising diameter: 9.7 m
• Battery: 42 kWh / 37.3 kW of useful capacity
• WLTP autonomy: 312 km (combined) and 446 km (urban) [variable depending on the finish]
• WLTP consumption: 14.4 kWh/100 km
• Plant time on domestic socket: 3:15 p.m
• Load on AC 11 kW terminal: 4:15
• Maximum DC load: 85 kW
• Charging time on DC 85 kW terminal: 35 minutes (0 to 80 %)

This new 500 is ultimately the most powerful of the 500 (excluding Abarth). With its instant couple, the 500th becomes much more fun to drive, far from thermal models that one could sometimes find a little asthmatic. Of course, the more you adopt dynamic driving, the more your autonomy suffers, there is no miracle.

Even if we talk about the 500th as an urban model, it will also adapt very well to other environments. Our essay led us from the heart of Paris, to the slightly hilly roads of the Chevreuse valley, then on a few sections of fast tracks. At no time did I tell myself that the 500th was not in its place, on the contrary I was surprised by its versatility.

The fact remains that on the highway, the efficiency of the 500th (and its acoustic comfort) reaches its limits, but this is also the case with the 500 with thermal engine. It can therefore do it, but its autonomy will melt like snow in the sun. On the other hand, I found it particularly relevant in urban and peri -urban driving, with 12.6 kWh/100 km recorded for our 128 km loop, it is a rather encouraging result for Fiat. I would have liked to have it for a longer test, just to see if my first impressions of the consumption of this model were confirmed.

This new electric 500 is really quite pleasant to drive, its road behavior is good thanks to the batteries located in the floor. She has energy to resell, stands well in the curves, no, there are only the awful slowders who will spoil our wanderings at the wheel. I mainly rolled in “rage” mode which offers a fairly powerful regenerative brake, almost like a “one pedal”, this mode is particularly suitable for the city, I did not have to use the Sherpa mode to be able to save Autonomy to get there safe since I returned with more than 53 % battery.

Against competition

I would have borrowed this electric 500 for a long time, but the Fiat press service probably would not have agreed. It is far from perfect, but I find it rather successful when compared to what can be considered as its competitors:

• E-UP/MII or Citigo are cut for the city, efficient and affordable, but we forget the sexy side and technology (another generation, more old-school)
• The Honda E is attractive and technological, but its pricing positioning and its high consumption can weigh heavy, it reserves a more restricted target
• The mini is the closest in style and driving pleasure, but with a smaller battery, higher consumption and especially more than € 10,000 more to pay, also addresses an easy target.
• The Twingo Ze is a little below side characteristics and driving pleasure, for a price not much lower.
• The Smart EQ is the urban par excellence, but the technical choices limit it too much for a not very affordable rate.

If we could have the electric 500 at the price of the 500 thermal, then there, the question would not even arise, it would be the “must have” of the moment. It is inevitably a little expensive for this template, you have to deal with its small trunk, and some faults of youth.

Compared to her competitors, she is doing well, in any case if I had to buy a VE of this type it is the 500th that I would choose without too much. Finally, his real competitors are rather in the B segment, that of the E-208 and the Zoé for example.

I was going to forget, Fiat 500 electric with its 42 kWh battery begins from € 27,500 (passion finish) or € 24,500 for the entry -level version with the battery of 23.8 kWh. My test model was flirting with the € 33,000 (before bonus).