Fiat 600e Review: A Jeep Avenger That Chooses Retro Over Macho

To be honest, I could probably get away with copy-pasting much of this review from our test of the electric Jeep Avenger. Such is the breadth of Stellantis’ platform-sharing, it could save me a whole lot of typing.

Take this, the Fiat 600e. Arriving as a sort-of successor to the 500X, it sits on the same box of bits as the Avenger and the upcoming Alfa Romeo Milano, a second-generation version of Stellantis’ Common Modular Platform for small cars.

The Avenger, let’s not forget, was the surprise winner of 2023’s European Car of the Year award. That means the 600e should be a good little car, but it’s the Jeep that got the gong. What does the Fiat do differently?

Well, it’s cheaper, for a start. An electric Avenger starts at £34,800, while the 600e, in its basic RED trim level (a tie-in with the medical charity of the same name), is £32,995. Not only that, but Fiat will currently knock another £3,000 off that with its ‘e-Grant’, a response to the UK government ending its own electric car grants last year. The price rises to £33,995 (grant included) for the top-spec La Prima model, tested here, which nets you 18-inch wheels, sat-nav, massaging seats and a few other extra bits of equipment.

So it’s the exact same powertrain and chassis as the European Car of the Year for less money. Job done, right? Well, it depends. If you like the Avenger’s macho, honey-I-shrunk-the-Cherokee looks, then the 600e’s coochie-coo retroism might not be your thing.

The continued success of the ancient 500 and its new electric sibling suggest it is a lot of people’s thing. Fiat is leaning heavily into its Italian identity to make itself stand out in an increasingly crowded market. As a result, you can’t get near its promotional material without running into the phrase ‘la dolce vita’ and images of sun-drenched, pastel-coloured streets.

There’s a lot of marketing going on here, but at its core is a very good little EV. We know from the Avenger that this is a solid drivetrain, and it’s totally unchanged here. The motor makes 152bhp and 192lb ft when in Sport mode, reduced to 108bhp in Normal and 81 in electricity-sipping Eco. A 9.0-second 0-62mph time and 93mph top speed exactly match the Jeep.

It’s not particularly quick, then, but as with all EVs, acceleration is smooth, linear and responsive at all speeds.

It’s in the corners where the 600e really surprises. Pietro Orsatti, Fiat’s UK head of product, told me the brand’s engineers worked to make sure it had its own character next to platform-mates.

That character makes itself known when you drive it like an Italian – you can subject the 600e to a remarkable amount of silliness without it complaining. Body roll is kept nicely in check, and it turns in keenly and stays planted throughout. The steering, light and twirlable when manoeuvring, weights up to become accurate and progressive at A-road speeds.

None of this is remotely relevant to the 600e’s use case, but it does bode well for the upcoming Abarth version. With a basic chassis this sorted along with 240bhp and a proper limited-slip diff, it could prove a genuinely engaging electric hot hatch.

What if you drive it the way normal people drive small electric crossovers? Most of the time, the 600e’s ride is pliant without being wallowy, although it gets a bit crashy over speed bumps. Thanks to a kerb weight that’s kept down to a healthy (for an EV) 1520kg, it never feels sluggish despite the modest power output.

Inside, it’s generally quiet, comfortable and refined, though there’s sometimes some boominess from the tyres that reverberates through the cabin over rougher roads. The interior nicely updates the sort of clean, retro design Fiat’s done well since the new 500 launched in 2007. Some of the plastics feel a little cheap, but it’s nothing terrible, especially when the 600e’s price undercuts so many of its rivals. Big practicality points come from some nice deep storage bins and a big bank of physical buttons.

The quoted range is 250 miles, which in the real world is likely to hover around 200. After a couple of hours haring around the Cotswolds on a chilly February day, it had used just under half a ‘tank’ of electricity. I wasn’t able to take it on a motorway, but you know the score with EVs: a steady 70mph cruise is going to chew through your range like a food-crazed Labrador. On a fast charger, going from 20 to 80 per cent takes a quoted 27 minutes.

Recognising that smaller EVs like this can sometimes have limited usability, Fiat will launch a hybrid 600 later this year, with Stellantis’ widely used 1.2-litre, 99bhp turbocharged three-cylinder. That’ll start from £23,695, again undercutting the equivalent Avenger. Unlike the Jeep, don’t expect a pure combustion version: Fiat very proudly points out that its whole European lineup has been at least partially electrified since 2022.

The nature of platform-sharing means that the 600e’s biggest rival is its own close relative, the Avenger. What both the Fiat and the Jeep manage to offer more of than most other cars in this small electric crossover class are character and value.

Since they’re based on proven components, it boils down to which character (i.e. marketing approach) pulls you in more, and whether you want to cough up the extra few grand for the Jeep. Or, if image and cost make zero difference to you, then consider this: the Fiat’s 360-litre boot is a whole five litres bigger than the Jeep’s. Think about that next time you need to cram a few big bottles of fizzy drink into a fully loaded Avenger.