Overview

The Fiat 600e is here – and we’ve been to Italy to drive it ahead of its arrival on UK shores in early 2024. It’s a new family-sized electric car designed to lead the charge on Fiat’s electrification strategy and steal some customers away from the ever-popular Ford Puma.

In fact, Fiat reckons the 600e will become the driving force for its transition into the electric era. The company wants to eradicate petrol-powered cars from its showrooms by the end of the decade, and it hopes its quirky, fun and colourful assault on the small SUV segment will lead it to success.

Fiat’s plan for the 600e was to take the design and the character of the Fiat 500e city car and upscale it to a more practical package better suited to family life. The firm made its task as easy as possible by pinching the 600e’s platform, motor, battery pack and interior technology from the Stellantis parts bin. As such, it has much in common with the new Jeep Avenger.

Using existing components isn’t such a bad thing, though. Competition in the compact electric SUV segment is fierce right now – and that means buyers simply aren’t prepared to tolerate poor quality or iffy reliability. By borrowing parts from existing cars, Fiat is eliminating some variables. The trouble is that the components Fiat used to build the 600e have, until this point, only delivered average results. None of the Stellantis electric SUVs are particularly inspiring to drive and they all offer decidedly average range figures, which means this little Fiat has its work cut out if it’s aiming for the top of the class.

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What’s more worrying for Fiat is that, if the 600e doesn’t deliver, drivers will simply shop for one of its many rivals. Key competitors include the Kia Niro EV, the new Hyundai Kona Electric and the equally funky Smart #1. And that’s before we dissect the countless list of in-house competitors from Stellantis. There’s the Citroen e-C4, DS 3 E-Tense, Peugeot e-2008 and Vauxhall Mokka Electric, along with smaller electric hatchbacks like the Peugeot e-208 and Vauxhall Corsa Electric.

Fiat is confident its strong branding will see it right, though. The 500e is currently the best-selling electric car across Stellantis, raking in 60% of the group’s total EV sales – and Fiat is hedging its bets that the public response to the 600e will be equally popular. But will the company’s gamble bear fruit? Or is the 600e just as average as its sisters? Scroll down to read our review and find out.

What’s it like inside?

It’s a lot like the Jeep Avenger. The 600e’s centre console, 10.25-inch infotainment system and digital gauge cluster are all identical to the Jeep’s. Fiat has tried to distance its car from its closest sibling, though, by fitting it with a daintier dashboard panel and a curvier instrument binnacle, both of which it says are nods to the original Fiat 500.

It’s certainly an attractive setup, especially when teamed with the cream leather upholstery offered on the range-topping La Prima model. Practicality is hit and miss but, to be fair to Fiat, we’ll start with the good bits.

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Fiat says the 600e’s various cubbies and door bins amount to an extra 15 litres of storage space, which means it should be easy to keep the cabin looking tidy. We’re especially fond of the storage bin between the two front seats. That iPad-style magnetic flap hides a cubby large enough to lose your arm in – and it even features a wireless smartphone charger.

Space in the back is less impressive. If you’re a passenger behind even an average-height driver, your knees will press far enough into the front backrest to function as their lumbar support. Boot space isn’t fantastic, either. At 360 litres, its a whopping 115 litres smaller than the Kia Niro EV and 110 litres smaller than the bargain-basement MG ZS EV. However, if you fold the rear seats flat, the Fiat 600e’s boot space expands to a perfectly respectable 1,231 litres.

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Quality is good overall, although you can see where Fiat has cut some corners. The dashboard and centre console storage tray lid feel high quality, but the plastic used on the centre console and door cards feels like it was pulled from a 1980s econobox.

Fiat has also very obviously raided the Peugeot/Citroen parts bin for switchgear – and it hasn’t done a convincing job of integrating the parts into the 600e’s cabin. The drive mode and electronic parking brake switches on the centre console, for example, look like complete afterthoughts.

What’s it like to drive?

Again, it’s a lot like the Jeep Avenger. Only softer. But that’s to be expected given the mechanical similarities between the two cars. The 600e’s wheelbase (the distance between the front and rear axles) is identical to the Avenger’s – and Fiat’s lead engineer for the told us she didn’t design any new suspension components for the Fiat. All her and team did was tweak what was already there.

Despite this, the 600e is noticeably softer than the Avenger which we think is a good thing. The Jeep is slightly too harsh for Britain’s battered road network but because Fiat has softened off the 600e’s dampers, it glides over imperfections with greater ease.

It’s reasonably refined, too. Wind noise is kept in check well (thanks in part to the car’s aerodynamic egg-shaped body) and road noise isn’t too intrusive. Wide expansion joins and deep craters will send a judder through the cabin, but the impact felt through your backside is less severe than you get in an Avenger. Or a Cupra Born, for that matter.

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There is a trade-off for this comfort, though. Body roll. The 600e really leans over in the corners if you attack them enthusiastically. Push it into a corner especially hard and the stability control system will come down on you like a tonne of bricks, snatching at the brakes to extinguish your fun. It’s certainly a stark contrast to small Fiats from the turn of the century, which would applaud you for trying to tear their tyres from their rims.

Happily, the car feels planted when driving quickly, although the steering will quickly discourage you from driving too hard. It was set up to be as friendly as possible to city drivers which means, even with the car in Sport mode, there’s way too much assistance.

The steering really doesn’t inspire confidence. There’s very little feedback and its weight doesn’t build in line with your speed which makes it incredibly hard to judge how much lock to apply when cornering on faster roads. We often found ourselves underestimating our inputs, then over-correcting to prevent the car from straying over the white lines. We’re sure you’d get used to the system with time, but it was a little unnerving upon first encounter.

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At least the electric motor is a proven unit. It’s the same 156hp electric motor found in the Jeep Avenger and the updated Vauxhall Corsa Electric – and it’s perfectly adequate. Fiat says it allows the 600e to sprint from 0–62mph in nine seconds flat before reaching a top speed of 93mph.

Rivals such as the Kia Niro EV and Hyundai Kona Electric are noticeably faster in a straight line. The fastest Kona, for example, has 218hp and it can get from 0–62mph in 7.8 seconds, so it feels much spryer. Still, the 600e has more than enough poke to carve up your average petrol-powered hatch at the lights. We found its 0–30mph capability particularly useful on Turin’s chaotic streets.

Like most EVs, Performance tails off as you build speed, but it has just enough power left in the tank to consider an overtake at motorway speeds. You can also control the response and performance of the electric motor by cycling through the car’s drive modes. The motor’s maximum output is limited in Eco and Normal modes to conserve battery power – but in Sport mode you get the full 156hp.

Range, charging and efficiency

The 600e is based on the same e-CMP2 architecture found under most Stellantis small electric cars, but it’s powered by the company’s new 54kWh battery pack. The Italians reckon that’s enough to give the 600e a maximum range of 250 miles with a mixture of motorway and city driving, or up to 375 miles if you’re just dithering around town.

We haven’t yet driven far enough in the 600e to run its battery flat, but our initial impressions suggest it’ll struggle to achieve its maximum range in the real world. Like the Avenger, we expect you’ll get a range of around 200 miles between charging stops.

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There’s one crumb of comfort, though. The 600e charges much more quickly than the older Stellantis EVs based on the previous version of the e-CMP architecture. The Vauxhall Mokka can only accept speeds of up to 50kW, whereas the 600e supports 100kW DC rapid charging. As such, its battery can charge from 20 to 80% capacity in less than half an hour. Slower 11kW AC charging is also supported – and that can fully recharge the car’s cells in around six hours.

What else should I know?

Fiat has decided it won’t sell the 600e (or any of its new cars for that matter) with grey paint. That’s a bold move, especially when you consider that grey is currently the most popular colour for new cars in the UK. But Fiat reckons UK buyers are wrong and the colour grey is boring. From now on, it’ll only allow its customers to choose from a range of bright colours. You can read more about Fiat’s new paint palette on our sister site, CAR magazine.

There are just two specifications to choose from. The most basic (RED) model is priced from £32,995 which, most importantly, undercuts the cheapest Jeep Avenger by around £2,700. The (RED) specification continues Fiat’s long-lived partnership with the international charity of the same name. It comes with a reasonable amount of standard equipment, including LED headlights, rear parking sensors, keyless go, cruise control and traffic sign recognition. You also get the 7.0-inch digital instrument cluster and 10.25-inch infotainment system with wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. But it still has steel wheels, strangely.

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The flagship La Prima model is a bit pricier at £36,995. You do get a lot more equipment for your money, though. Upgrades includes an electrically adjustable and massaging driver’s seat, a wireless smartphone charger, a rear-view camera and cream leather upholstery (with a rather natty embroidered Fiat motif). Both front seats also have heating elements and there are a few more charging ports dotted around the cabin. Most importantly, the upgrade unlocks 100kW DC charging.

Now click through to our verdict page to learn whether the Fiat 600e is worth waiting for, or whether you should opt for one of its rivals instead.