Sam drives a FIAT 600e Red Edition 54kWh 2024.

This is Sam’s fourth electric car, he’s been driving the FIAT 600e less than a year and drives 5,000-10,000 miles annually. The current mileage of the car is between 1,000-5,000 miles and he achieves 200 miles from a full charge.

Why did you choose the FIAT 600e?

We have it on loan to replace our FIAT 500e whilst it’s being fixed. I’m a bit of an EV nerd so I thought your readers might be interested in my take on it.

Positives

• Has buttons for the important stuff like the fan, heat & volume etc. which is a good thing as I don’t like it all via a touchscreen
• wireless Apple CarPlay/Android Auto
• good visibility
• functional app
• good stereo
• decent comfort and leg room – I’m tall and there’s space for me and my legs in the rear as long as the driver isn’t too lanky
• boot space is good.

Negatives

• Weak regen and no one-pedal option
• Mediocre performance (feels pretty slow) but fine for a city car
• 100kW DC charging – not earth-shattering
• The standard options on this entry level Red edition are underwhelming, especially for the money (£33,000). Not even a wireless phone charger pad or reverse camera. You don’t even get keyless entry, it’s weird having to press unlock/lock on the key fob.

Compared to when you first bought the car, does your battery still charge at the same rate & do you still get the same range?

Too new but I don’t expect any battery issues in these and we’ve had none in our 500e or any of our other cars. It’s a myth that needs to be put to bed now with modern EVs.

What are the standout technological features of the car?

• The user interface is OK, clear and responsive enough
• wireless CarPlay is good
• I can’t think of any ‘standout’ tech really, it’s very much a middle-of-the-road effort from Stellantis. A ‘meh’.

Tell us something people wouldn’t readily know about this electric car

• It’s nicer to look at in the flesh and isn’t too flashy or over complicated
• new EV drivers would take to it very easily as it’s very much like a petrol automatic to drive
  It’s a Stellantis platform which is also used for the ICE versions – shared with the likes of the Jeep Avenger, Peugeot 2008, Vauxhall Mokka & others.

What’s the biggest or funniest myth you’ve heard about EVs?

• Battery degradation
• they catch fire – this is utter nonsense as EVs are many times safer than fossil fuel cars
• you can’t go anywhere/there’s no infrastructure – there’s loads of infrastructure and a road trip in an EV is easy.

What electric car(s) are you interested in next and why?

Love to try a Renault 5 EV and a NIO ET5T – both ‘different’ and great looking cars. The NIO is an estate car which we’re missing here.

Home charging unit

Easee One untethered – very neat and reliable with an excellent app.

Electricity supplier & tariff

Octopus Go – brilliant company and a great tariff giving 5 hours of very cheap rate electricity overnight for the whole house.

What public charging networks would you recommend to others and why?

My favourites are:

• Osprey
• Be.EV
• InstaVolt
• Mer
• GRIDSERVE.

Manly because these are super reliable and usually sited where there are good facilities for a break, food and maybe even a dog walk.

Insurer

AXA (via a broker, Howdens) – seem good and responsive/helpful.

Please itemise where you’re saving money (or not) owning & running a FIAT 600e

• Dirt cheap or free to run (solar panels)
• minimal maintenance
• no petrol station visits
• when we had petrol cars we were spending £100-£200 a month on fuel for each car, now it’s maybe 10% of that.

See other FIAT Owner Reviews here