I’ve got a long history with Fiats. While living in Italy my first car was a 1967 Fiat Giardiniera, bright blue, with suicide doors and a soft top that rolled all the way back. I then ran a fleet of Fiats for tourists out of Florence. Good times.
So having the opportunity to test drive both the Fiat 500e and the Abarth 500e was something I jumped at. Thanks to Fiat and Zagame Motors I was able to try both variants, and appreciate their subtle and not so subtle differences.
The Fiat 500e exudes Italian style and elegant design, in a compact city car built for luxurious comfort and smart efficiency.
The Abarth 500e is all of that but caffeinated, drawing attention with confident body colour, edgy trim and high quality audio inside, and a deep rumbling sound effect outside the vehicle, just in case you’re not attracting enough attention already. The sound effect is mercifully optional.
The most obvious difference is the exterior colour options, with the Fiat 500e available in pastel and classic shades, while the Abarth 500e comes in Poison Blue or Acid Green. I had the green for two days around Melbourne, and to say we were turning heads was an understatement.
Both vehicles sport a neat 42kwh battery, but the Abarth boasts 113kw electric motor, for a 253km range (WLTP) vs the Fiats 87kW electric motor, for a 311km range (WLTP) The difference is evident in the vehicles electric driving modes, with the more demure Fiat offering ‘Normal’, ‘Range’, and ‘Sherpa’, while the performance Abarth offering ‘Scorpion Track’, ‘Scorpion Street’, and ‘Turismo’ options. Both Sherpa and Turismo offer the experience of single pedal driving, which is a delight in city traffic.
Both cars have the same dash configuration, with a digital instrument cluster display and a mid-dash 10.25inch infotainment unit, buttons for air conditioning and drive controls.
The steering wheels are slightly different, with the leather of the Fiat 500e replaced with a leather and suede feel wheel in the Abarth. Both have audio controls at your fingertips behind the steering wheel, which was elegant and comfortable.
Between the front seats are two decent storage areas, with lit USB A and USB C ports, which connect your phone to the cars Apple car play or Android Auto systems. The mid console has the emode toggle, park brake and the volume adjuster.
The Fiat 500e does include an assisted cruise control, with lane management and traffic distance management, and autonomous emergency braking, which worked well for me and were intuitive to engage. The Abarth has less assistance but does have cruise control and some lane departure warnings, but it is very much a car that you are driving, rather than a vehicle that is driving you.
Often it seems that EVs and passenger vehicles in general, are getting overengineered (cameras instead of wing mirrors as an example) but the 500e is an exception. The wing mirrors don’t fold, and the seat controls are manual. It is elegant, and well designed, but nothing I consider necessary is missing.
The interior trim is different between the two cars, with the Fiat continuing the elegance with embossed eco-leather beige trim, and the Abarth sporty seats and interiors in a black eco leather/ suede feel and acid green and blue double stitching.
Both have a wireless phone charging pad, with the Torino skyline etched in it, and the door pulls hide a vintage Fiat 500 image. The button door release is the only unnecessary aspect in my opinion, with a manual door release lower in the door.
There are two rear seats, but it would be a struggle to get four adults in this car, and there are two isofix child seat points, though with only two doors, it would not be the easiest vehicle for a family.
When test driving cars I like to imagine who I would be to buy this car, and with the Fiat 500e, I would be a child free, inner city professional woman, perhaps in a creative industry. She would care deeply about aesthetics and timeless design, and also be interested in making environmentally sustainable decisions without sacrificing my comfort. She’s drinking an oat milk latte.
The driver of the Abarth 500e on the other hand, is a disciple of design and performance, confident in their decisions and not afraid to stand out in a crowd. They’re a double espresso, no doubt.
