Fiat 600 Electric Review

Like the look of the stylish Fiat 500e but need a little more space? The Fiat 600e is the car for you. It's a small electric SUV that's based on the same platform as the Jeep Avenger and Peugeot e-2008, while rivals include the Smart #1, Hyundai Kona Electric and MG ZS EV.

While we'd dispute that the Fiat 600e is big enough to be a true family car (the Skoda Enyaq would be a better bet if that's what you're after), the market for stylish small SUVs is strong and the 600e will be easier to live with than its city car relation.

Talking of 'easy to live with', the Fiat 600e comes with a 54kWh battery which means it can travel 254 miles between charges. Rapid charging abilities mean you can quickly top it up on a long journey, too, although most buyers will plug it in overnight for fuss-free charging.

It's hassle-free to drive, while the comfortable ride quality will be very welcome on UK roads. There's just one 'engine' option - a single 156PS electric motor that provides steady if unremarkable performance.

The Fiat 600e line-up is refreshingly simple: there are just two trim levels and no optional extras to choose from. The entry-level Fiat 600e Red covers the basics with a 10.25-inch infotainment system, rear parking sensors and climate control, while the top-spec La Prima adds such niceties as heated massage seats, diamond-cut alloys and a wireless phone charger.

Scoring highly on the value for money front, the Fiat 600e is priced from around £33,000, while the range tops out at £37,000. That puts it at the budget end of the electric SUV market, undercutting the Vauxhall Mokka Electric and new Hyundai Kona Electric. The MG ZS EV is cheaper, although it lacks the style of the Fiat 600e.

The true challenge for electric car buyers at the moment is deciding which - if any - of the numerous Stellantis models suits them the best. We suspect many buyers will prefer the chunky looks of the Jeep Avenger, although the Fiat 600e makes a good case for itself in terms of equipment levels and value for money.

For most buyers, the sweet spot is the Fiat 600e Red.

That recommendation is mainly about value. All versions use the same 54kWh battery and 154PS motor, so you do not need to spend more to unlock extra range or performance. The Red already gets the key electric drivetrain, useful safety kit and the core infotainment setup, which means it covers the essentials well enough.

La Prima is more desirable and certainly better equipped. It brings alloy wheels, parking sensors, a reversing camera, heated front seats, a powered driver’s seat, a hands-free tailgate and a few extra convenience touches. Some buyers will decide those extras are worth the jump.

But the Red is the one that best preserves the 600e’s value argument. With no options list to muddy the waters, it is the trim that most clearly delivers the car’s core appeal without pushing too deep into premium small-EV pricing.

The Fiat 600e range starts at £29,995 OTR for the Red and rises to £32,995 OTR for the La Prima.

That is not cheap in absolute terms, but it is competitive enough within the current small-EV market. The issue is not so much the entry point as how quickly the top trim nudges into the territory of larger or more polished alternatives.

Used examples improve the picture a lot. There are already cars filtering into the market at a clear saving over list, and that makes the 600e much easier to justify if you like the look and the character but want to avoid the steepest part of the depreciation curve.

The Jeep Avenger Electric is the most obvious alternative because it is so closely related underneath. The Peugeot e-2008 and DS 3 E-Tense also sit nearby in the Stellantis family, while the Vauxhall Mokka Electric and Peugeot e-208 can overlap depending on whether you want a hatchback or a crossover shape.

Outside that group, the Hyundai Kona Electric and Volvo EX30 are the obvious mainstream alternatives if you are willing to go a little bigger or spend a little more. The MINI Aceman also enters the conversation if style is high on your priority list.

What the Fiat offers over many of them is warmth. It feels less stern than the Jeep, less generic than some rivals and more design-led than several obvious alternatives.

There is enough space in the front for taller adults to get comfortable, and Fiat has made sensible use of the cabin footprint with a decent amount of storage around the centre console and glovebox area.

The rear is less impressive. Knee room is tight if taller adults are sitting in the front, the footwells are cramped and the cabin is too narrow to carry three across the back with any real comfort. Headroom is acceptable, but access is not especially graceful because of the relatively tight rear door openings.

Boot space is respectable at 360 litres, which is good enough for everyday duties and not far off the sort of figure you would get in some larger hatchbacks. Fold the rear seats and capacity rises to 1,231 litres, although the resulting load floor is stepped rather than flat. The La Prima’s movable boot floor helps a little, and it also gives you somewhere better to stash the charging cable.

The Fiat 600e measures 4,178mm long, 1,779mm wide and 1,523mm high.

That puts it squarely in the compact crossover bracket. It is noticeably bigger than a 500e, but not so large that it loses the easy manoeuvrability that helps define Fiat’s smaller cars.

All versions of the 600e use the same core infotainment layout, with a 7.0-inch digital instrument display and a 10.25-inch central touchscreen.

The system looks smart enough, screen responses are reasonably slick and Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are included. It is easy enough to get along with once you are familiar with it, though some of the icons and menu structures are not as intuitive as they could be.

There are also a few ergonomic oddities. Fiat has kept some physical ventilation controls, which is welcome, but certain climate functions still require the touchscreen. Heated-seat operation in the La Prima is a good example of something that could have been handled more simply.

The 600e feels solid and functional rather than plush. The brightly coloured dashboard fascia helps lift the mood and there is enough visual interest to stop the cabin feeling drab, but most of the underlying materials are hard rather than tactile.

That is not unusual at this end of the market, and the Fiat does not feel cut-price. It just does not quite deliver the richer impression that its exterior styling might lead you to expect.

There is still enough personality here to make the cabin a pleasant place to spend time. It simply does so through colour and design rather than through expensive-feeling materials.

All Fiat 600e models use the same 54kWh battery and 154PS electric motor. Fiat quotes 0-62mph in 9.0 seconds, a top speed of 93mph and a combined WLTP range of 252 to 254 miles.

There are three driving modes. Eco reduces available power most noticeably, Normal gives you the broad everyday setup and Sport unlocks the full output. Even then, the difference between modes is not dramatic. The 600e feels brisk enough rather than fast, which is entirely acceptable for this kind of car.

Real-world range is unlikely to get close to the headline figure in mixed British use. In warmer weather and gentler driving, something around 200 to 220 miles is a more realistic target, with less than that in winter or on faster motorway journeys.

The 600e is generally comfortable enough. The suspension deals with poorer surfaces fairly well most of the time, and the overall setup is tuned more for calm, everyday use than for anything sporty.

There is, however, quite a lot of vertical movement over undulating roads, and bigger bumps can make the rear axle feel a little abrupt. If those bumps arrive mid-corner, you can feel the back of the car hop slightly sideways. It is never truly wayward, but it does remind you that the 600e is not a particularly sophisticated small EV.

The steering is accurate enough, but it does not offer much in the way of feel. That is fine in town, where the Fiat is easy to place and simple to thread through gaps, but it means the car never becomes especially enjoyable on more demanding roads.

Refinement is mixed. At lower speeds the electric drivetrain keeps things nicely hushed, but road noise becomes more noticeable than you might expect once speed builds. Wind noise is controlled reasonably well, yet the overall experience is not as whisper-quiet as some electric rivals.

The amount of safety kit you get on your 600 depends on which of the trim levels you go for. As standard, the base/Red versions come with kit including emergency call, autonomous emergency braking with pedestrian and bicycle detection, traffic sign recognition with intelligent speed assist, drowsy driver detection, lane departure warning, lane keeping assist, and an emergency call function.

Upgrade to the La Prima, and you also get blind spot detection, along with adaptive cruise control with stop and go that allows level 2 autonomous driving, allowing the car to essentially drive itself in motorway traffic so long as you keep your hands on the wheel. It’ll speed up and slow down while keeping a safe distance from the car in front, and it’ll automatically steer to keep the car centred in its lane.

The car hasn’t yet been crash-tested by Euro NCAP, but the Peugeot 208 and 2008 with which the car shares its platform have both been awarded four out of five stars, although that was back in 2019 when the testing thresholds weren’t as tough as they are today.

Sure enough, when the related Jeep Avenger was assessed more recently, it scored a disappointing three stars.

The 600e supports DC rapid charging at up to 100kW, which is enough for a 20 to 80 per cent charge in 27 minutes.

At home, Fiat quotes 16 hours 10 minutes from empty to full on a 3.7kW supply and 5 hours 45 minutes on an 11kW AC connection. A typical 7.4kW home wallbox will mean an overnight charge in roughly eight hours.

Those are solid numbers for a small EV in this class. The 600e is not a charging leader, but it is quick enough to be easy to live with.

Fiat covers the 600e with a three-year or 60,000-mile vehicle warranty, which is fairly standard rather than generous.

Battery cover is more important here, and that runs to eight years or 100,000 miles. That is the part most EV buyers will pay closest attention to, and it is in line with what you would expect.

Insurance sits in group 25 for the Red and group 26 for the La Prima.

That is fairly middle-of-the-road in the wider market, even if it is not especially cheap for a compact electric car.

The 600e now pays the standard annual VED rate, currently £200.

The useful point here is that every 600e sits comfortably below the expensive-car supplement threshold, so there is no additional annual charge to worry about.