We North Americans have a big-car problem. We’re addicted to ground clearance, riding up high, and blinding everyone with LEDs. The 2025 Fiat 500e asks, e se ci fosse un altro modo?

Admittedly, I’ve always been charmed by the plucky little Cinquecento. They’re adorable, they fit everywhere, and the Abarth was a particularly angry and fun little elf. Obviously being a small car, it never really caught on, but corporate overlords Stellantis are taking another shot at the small-car-in-big-North-America pitch with this second-generation Fiat 500e. Yes, the e is for electric. Depending on how you look at it, the Fiat 500e is either a seriously flawed car, or a brilliant alternative to paying for gas.

What’s new for 2025?

The second-generation Fiat 500e debuted in 2024, so there isn’t much new for 2025 — or 2026, for that matter. Fiat introduced the Giorgio Armani edition, a top-trim package that adds a flair of Armani throughout. You get a unique set of wheels, Giorgio Armani signatures and logos inside and out, and a unique trim piece across the dash that looks like wood, but is actually fabric. The 500e Giorgio Armani is available in two colours — our tester’s metallic green, or a metallic “Greige,” and each colour is locked to a matching interior. Alas, our dreams for a green-on-tan spec have been shattered.

Elsewhere, the mid-range La Prima trim gets a few new colour options, including classy Ocean Green, icy Marine Layer Mist, and loud Tennis Ball. The base 500e Edition Red trim is unchanged; your only option here is whether you want white, black, or red.

Powertrain, range, and charging

Believe it or not, the Fiat 500e is built entirely on a new platform, despite the body sharing nearly identical styling and proportions with the old one. A relatively smallish 37 kWh battery pack works with a 117-horsepower electric motor up front to power the 500e. That doesn’t sound like much, and it isn’t, but its 162 pound-feet of torque makes the 500e feel zippy and punchy around town. On the highway, you’ll have no trouble keeping up with the flow of traffic, but sailing in the left lane at 130+ km/h will eat into your range faster.

Ah, range. That isn’t the Fiat 500e’s forte. It’s rated for up to 227 kilometres on a full charge, but winter and cold temps will cut that down. You’re looking at 180 kilometres in the cold, maybe 200 if you’re lucky, and going on long highway jaunts will eat into that further. You can buy some more distance with the car’s Range and Sherpa drive modes; the former activates regenerative braking to put some juice back into the battery, and the latter limits you to about 80 km/h and turns off climate control.

When it comes to replenishing those zappy little electrons, you can plug the Fiat 500e into a Level 3 DC fast charger, but the car is capable of “only” 85 kWh. Yes, that’s a lot less than the Ioniq 5s and Taycans of the world, but in our real-world experience, every single “fast charger” we’ve used thus far levels off around the 90-100 kWh mark, anyway. Fiat claims a zero-to-80 per cent charge time of 35 minutes, though our tester estimated an hour-plus to 100. You can use a Level 2 charger as well, but more on that later.

Don’t do it if…

…this will be your only car. For all intents and purposes, the Fiat 500e has many flaws, some of which are probably dealbreakers for most buyers. Range is a big one, especially in winter, but we’re curious to see how close we can get to 227 km in the “ideal” nice-day conditions everyone loves. And as zippy, punchy, and playful as the 500e is, it loses the Abarth attitude by going electric. It’s also pretty bouncy; you’ll feel more bumps in the road and hear more wind than you’re probably used to, but the Fiat 500e rides well for what it is.

The Fiat 500e is also very small, measuring 143 inches bumper-to-bumper, or about three and a half metres. It’ll fit pretty much anywhere you’ll take it, but that comes at the expense of usable cargo space. You get 185 litres with the back seats up, but fold them and that grows to a decent-for-a-pocket-car 585 L. You might as well keep them folded; there’s next to no legroom, and getting into and out of the rear seats requires yoga lessons and stretches.

Ergonomically, the new 500e is an improvement over the old one, but there’s a big asterisk. There’s a proper armrest, the wireless charging pad works reliably and actually keeps your phone in place, and there’s a row of physical switchgear for the climate control under the 10.25-inch infotainment touchscreen. Speaking of, the 500e runs Uconnect 5 for infotainment and it remains as easy-to-use as ever, but some icons — like the heated seats — can be hard to see. It’s augmented by a seven-inch digital gauge cluster in front of the driver that’s attractive and easy to navigate via the steering wheel controls.

But that comes at the expense of touch points; the 500e has some nice dash trim to brighten up the space, but the doors are thin, there’s a good bit of flex to the dash panels and headliner, and it feels like you sit on them rather than in them. You also hear a lot for an EV; the absence of an engine note emphasizes wind noise, road noise, tire noise, and the squelch every time you use the rear wiper, as if Giorgio here is spit-polishing the salt off the back window. Hey, who said Italian cars didn’t have personality?

Do it if…

…this will be a second car. In this role, the Fiat 500e is brilliant, especially when you pair it with reliable access to Level 2 charging. In that second-car role, a lot of its shortcomings suddenly weigh less. Range, for instance, isn’t much of an issue when you’re running around town grabbing a few grocieries, hitting the gym, or even commuting to work if you live close enough and don’t go on the highway. When was the last time you drove 100 kilometres to go to the dentist, anyway? Pair that with a Level 2 charger at home or at work, where the 500e can fully recharge from empty in about five hours, and you’re not as anxious about range anymore.

Size? Well, it’s not an issue as long as your primary car is practical enough. Nobody will want to contort themselves into the back seats of the 500e, but they’re a handy-enough shelf for your bag, snow brush, and a washer fluid jug wedged between the front seat. The cargo area will easily take a week’s worth of groceries, but you’ll need to drop the seats for a Costco run. Still, you can make it work. If you need to run to Home Depot, take the big car.

And here’s where things get really interesting. At $42,290 to start, plus another $6,000 for the Giorgio Armani threads and $595 for the colour, we’re at $48,885 for our tester. That is absurd for how objectively little car you get. There’s no way around that. But the thing is, Stellantis practically can’t give these things away, so they’re putting a lot of cash on the hood of these things to move them. We’re talking $300-a-month-with-zero-down for a base 500e lease for three years. Seriously, look it up.

The Nissan Versa sedan may be Canada’s cheapest car based on MSRP, but in the real world, people do payments. For roughly what I spend monthly to fill up my personal car, a 15-year-old ticking time bomb BMW wagon with an N54 and 180,000 km on the clock, I can lease a brand-new and zippy electric Fiat with heated seats, CarPlay, and a warranty, then park a bun  Crazy.

Parting thoughts

It’s easy to see why the 2025 Fiat 500e would otherwise be a tough sell. It’s small, its range is limited, and its base pricing without any deals is quite high for what you get. It takes a very specific use-case for the 500e to really make sense, but if you can swing it, it may very well be wild enough to actually work.