The Fiat 500e Abarth Is A Great Hot Hatch That Argues Engines Don’t Matter

The Fiat 500 is one of those storied models. It sold in the millions and became a cultural icon, virtually guaranteeing it would be born again one day. It’s come back not once, but twice, with the model going electric for the third generation. It raises a question—could an EV version deliver the same magic as those that came before? The answer, given by the Fiat 500e Abarth, appears to be a resounding yes.

Of course, when it comes to Fiat, it can be difficult to know what to expect. Italian charm? Sure. An effervescent driving experience? Quite possibly. Quality issues? The modern cars look great out of the box, but you wouldn’t be surprised.

Get behind the wheel of the Abarth, though, and you’ll instantly know what’s up. We’ve been waiting for the first real electric hot hatch, the one that sparks a fire and shows us what’s possible—and it’s finally here. The only thing I’m worried about is whether a certain little pain point will stop the world appreciating this car for the glorious achievement it really is.

[Ed Note: I haven’t driven the 500e, but I strongly disagree with this headline. -DT]. 

Bright Yellow Cocaine

Fiat has a great legacy when it comes to hot hatches. When the 500 Abarth dropped back in 2008, it got rave reviews. It barked like a terrier and hung on like a German Shepherd. It was turbocharged, it had dope wheels, and stripes that told everyone you were driving the angry version. By its very nature, it dared you to drive like you were in a high-speed chase every time you leaned into the throttle.

The 500 Abarth of old was brimming with character. The kind of character you wouldn’t expect to carry over to the EV world. Thus far, electric vehicles have mostly shown up in the larger segments, in vehicles where hauling around a big heavy battery pack isn’t such a disadvantage. Fiat did deliver the all-electric 500e in the last generation, but there was no Abarth. Range was short enough without trying to get any real performance out of the thing. It laid the groundwork for what was to come.

Everything changed with the third-generation model, officially known as the New 500. This time around, Fiat planned for electric drive from the outset. What’s more, they found a way to not just build a compact electric car, but a true performance model, to boot. In true Fiat fashion, they made it aggressive, they made it perky, and they slathered the thing in go-fast tuner-style bits and scorpion motifs. Abarth style, baby.

I’d tell you what it’s like to walk up to the Abarth, but the experience starts before that. The lurid Acid Green paint ensures you saw this thing clear across the carpark. It’s ridiculously bright; it draws more eyes than sports cars that are twice as expensive. When you do get in, you’ll be pleased that the appropriate attention has been given to detail. You’re treated to a wheel wrapped in Alcantara, and firm sports seats that promise they won’t let you go, no matter the lateral Gs. The only thing left to do is hit the start button and fire it up.

This is an EV, of course, so you’d expect that turning it on would be a fairly subdued affair. And it would be, except Fiat gave this thing an oddball feature right out of left field. This is where it gets amusing. You see, it’s become common for some automakers to pipe fake engine sound into the cabin, subtly trying to trick you that it’s the real deal. Fiat went further, though, putting in an incredibly loud sound system to treat you, your passengers, and everyone around you to the approximate sound of a busted outboard motor.

I’m not even kidding, I nearly went to return the car immediately after picking it up because I thought there was something wrong with it. The external sound generator is somewhere in the rear of the vehicle, and is as much for the benefit of outside listeners as those in the cabin. It’s meant to mimic the engine sound of the original 1960s model. When you’re just sitting there, it’s an irritating “idle” rumble, but as you accelerate, the tone changes to a degree where it’s not so bad. “I don’t think I can go anywhere else with you in this,” my girlfriend told me after ten minutes in the car, a look of pained frustration on her face. Thankfully, I was able to find the setting to turn it off (it’s in the dash cluster menus), and all was well.

When I picked up the Fiat 500e Abarth, it made such a weird noise I nearly took it back out of concern something was wrong… pic.twitter.com/adOHDiQHUF

— Lewin S. Day (@rainbowdefault) October 25, 2024

Forget the sound, though, because once that’s dealt with, it’s the driving that matters. And oh boy, does it matter.

You know that feeling when you’re driving a really sporty car with a manual transmission? You’re somewhere in the middle of the rev range, exhaust note wailing with bated breath. You squeeze the pedal to the floor, and you’re given that delicious wave of torque that shoves you in the back and the horizon floods towards you. The Abarth will give you that same feeling, but better. And everywhere. Because there is no rev range, no transmission, no worrying about what gear you’re in. There’s just a juicy fat wad of electric torque ready to fling you down the tarmac whenever and wherever your right foot wills it.

Don’t get me wrong. This is not the fastest car in the world. It’s not even in the top 50. But in the right environment, in the land this car is supposed to live? It feels like a weapon. 

The Fiat 500 has always been a city car. It’s small, peppy, and an absolute dream to park. Now imagine you took that same formula, but replaced a decent small engine with the instant-on torque of an electric motor. Combine it with super direct steering with a quick-ratio rack, and you have a glorious combination. The suspension is great, too—firm but never crashy, with just enough ground clearance to keep you out of trouble. Add on a great turning circle as well, because of that gloriously short wheelbase.

Believe me when I say this is the greatest city car ever made. It’s a highly-tuned laser scalpel for carving up the streets. It wants to scramble like the red telephone just rang. No matter where, no matter when, a jet of forward thrust is under your command from the instantly-responsive throttle. You want to carve your way through traffic like a hot knife on a butter destruction mission every time you go out for coffee.

Numerical Matters

I find it instructive to compare the new 500e Abarth with the original from 2008. The little ICE-powered scamp boasted 132 horsepower and 151 pound-feet of torque, and weighed just 2280 pounds. It would do zero to 60 mph in around 7.9 seconds. Later special edition models would gradually up the power closer to 200 hp, which was a wild number for a car the size of a large dog.

The 500e Abarth is an altogether different beast where the numbers are concerned. It boasts 151 horsepower and 173 pound-feet of torque. However, the weight of its 42 kWh battery does up the heft, with the model coming in at 2943 pounds.

You’d think that heft would dull the experience, but it never feels like that in practice. The electric Abarth is limber and lithe, never laggardly, bulky, or heavy. The trick is that the instant torque of the electric motor makes a huge difference, easily making up for the weight penalty. You’re never stuck in the wrong gear or waiting for the engine to come on song. You’ve always got the shove that you need, you need only twitch your foot to activate it. Indeed, this thing will happily hit 60 mph in 7 seconds flat, which feels plenty swift on the roads it’s designed for.

As for range, the simple fact is a small car only has room for so much battery. Out of that 42 kWh pack, you get a WLTP range of 157 miles (253 km). I’d say it’s more like 136 miles in my experience, and probably a touch less if you’re out on the open road without any regenerative braking stops to put juice back in the battery.

Living With It

Of course, for all my effusive praise, it’s not to say the Abarth can’t behave when it needs to. This is one of those vehicles where the drive modes actually mean something. If you leave the thing in the most aggressive Scorpion Track mode, it will leap at the chance to run off down the road. However, you can dial down to the more reasonable Scorpion Street mode if you want to tone it down a touch and have some proper regenerative braking. The calmest mode, Turismo, enables the most regenerative braking and lets you drive in one-pedal mode if you so desire. It also limits power and torque to 130 hp and 160 pound-feet respectively—but it still feels quick if you punch the pedal in excitement.

The Abarth, is quick to steer, too, but thankfully not twitchy. It’s actually surprisingly calm on the highway, though it will occasionally be a little too eager to accelerate when you flick the cruise control onto a higher speed. It’s a very livable car, just one that will spark up at the slightest hint it feels you’re in the mood for some fun. Parking is particularly joyous because the car is just so petite, with an excellent turning circle a rewarding bonus of the short wheelbase design.

Overall, the quality of the vehicle felt really good. The seats feel appropriately premium for a top-end sports model, the touch surfaces in the interior were all good, and the paint was amazing. The dash and controls are all well laid out, too. The only thing I’d say is you want to be aware of the fact there aren’t a lot of cup holders. Really, you’ll want to keep the door pockets clear if you’re regularly making trips down to KFC to pick up a Zinger Stacker Box and a Mountain Dew.

Cargo space is… adequate for a trip to the shops with two people. Don’t expect to get your Ikea furniture home in this one. The back seats are pretty much a no-go zone, but the sub-six-foot set could fit back there if they really wanted to. I’d pretty much forget I had them, they were that small.

Equipment-wise, the Abarth had a solid infotainment system. It was responsive and came with wireless Android Auto and Car Play as standard. There’s also a well-located wireless charging pad to keep your phone topped off. You also get the usual automatic safety equipment as is common on all modern cars, though it’s only got regular cruise, not radar cruise.

There was one awkward quality issue, though. The rear windscreen wiper was installed backward or something. Just observe:

Have the Italians figured out how to make cars yet?

Well… this is awkward… pic.twitter.com/Q1VinFktyI

— Lewin S. Day (@rainbowdefault) October 25, 2024

Sticking Points

My initial thought was that this would be an amazing car for apartment dwellers. It’s tiny and super easy to park, and you’re rarely driving or going far so the small range isn’t a big deal. But at the same time, it presents a problem. It’ll do maybe 140 miles in practical terms. If you live in the city core, that’s not so bad, until you try to figure out where you’re going to charge it. Maybe you’re lucky and your apartment has car parking and EV chargers. This is exceedingly rare, though.

If you don’t have juice, your alternative is that you have to go and drive somewhere once a fortnight and park for an hour or two while it charges up. That’s kind of a pain; you’d want to schedule it for your weekly shop or something. The Abarth will charge at 11 kW on AC, or up to 85 kW from a fast DC charger. Fiat says it’ll go from 0-80% in about 35 minutes. During my test, though, I found it took about 40 minutes to top off that last 20 percent. It’s not always necessary, but worth keeping in mind.

Funnily enough, with the Abarth’s battery being so small, you could totally get away with just a regular power socket and a slow Level 1 charger at home. This wouldn’t be such a difficult retrofit for an apartment carpark, and it would let you keep the thing topped off overnight and whenever you’re not driving it. Only, anyone with a bigger EV would find that painfully slow, particularly in 110-volt countries like the US. Retrofitting a carpark with more powerful chargers is an incredibly expensive undertaking, though, often involving upgraded grid connections, too. So don’t hold your breath on that happening any time soon unless you and your building mates are incredibly wealthy.

This car could work well in the suburbs, though, depending on who you are and what you do with your life. If you had your own charger in your garage, it would be great. That is, as long as you’re not commuting 50 miles to work and 50 miles back again on the daily. However, when you live suburban, you do tend to rack up more miles on the regular, and you’re more likely to face anxiety with the Abarth’s limited range.

Charging is one pain point, but there’s another. I’ve been able to ignore the elephant in the room thus far because I didn’t have to pay for this car. That’s good because it’s not even slightly cheap. This thing costs $59,890 Australian dollars as you see it here. That’s around $39,000 USD at current exchange rates because the Australian dollar isn’t doing great these days.

I love this car to death, but that’s a lot of money. This is going to sound juvenile, but if I’m spending that kind of load on a vehicle, I probably want something bigger that isn’t so limited. The Abarth is a triumph, it’s absolutely exquisite, but for that kind of cash, I’d want it to do everything.

Summing It Up

I drive a good number of cars every year. Some with lots of horsepower, some with lots of storage, some with lots of ground clearance. They all have something to offer. But in all my years as a car journalist, I’ve never sat in a car and simply wanted one this bad.

If you live in a city, this car is the exotic ideal you should be lusting after. Hot as hell—dynamically and aesthetically. Except, I should probably be more specific. You also probably shouldn’t have kids or a big dog, because the back seats are tiny and not particularly easy to access. So that fritters down the target audience a little further. There’s also the awkward consideration of range. Without a charger at home, the 500e Abarth becomes a little more fussy to deal with. That could see many potential owners cross the car off their lists.

If I was rich, though, and I mean, like… own an inner city apartment rich… this thing would be hard to ignore. I can’t imagine anything else I’d rather whip around town when I’m going to shows and visiting friends. This thing has the magical ability to turn even an average city drive into something a little bit exciting. It’s gleeful, and it made me happy every time I got in it. If cash wasn’t an issue, I’d have one of these for my daily and get myself a Porsche Cayenne for the journeys beyond town. It’d be a sweet life.

Fundamentally, I think the Fiat 500e Abarth is one of the best cars I’ve ever driven. Electric drive didn’t make a compromised hot hatch, it made a scintillating one. Fiat topped it off with audacious styling that screams “HEY, LOOK AT ME” in exactly the way it should. A car this small shouldn’t be this intoxicating to drive. It shouldn’t urge you to be naughty, it shouldn’t get you in trouble. But I feel like with me and this thing, it would only be a matter of time. That throttle response, I tell you. It’s addictive as hell.

Gotta coordinate your look, fam. pic.twitter.com/RQfh9dUgJx

— Lewin S. Day (@rainbowdefault) October 15, 2024

We’re supposed to be together.

My fears may be overblown. Fiat is moving the 500e in real numbers. It sold over 60,000 last year in Europe alone. I can’t tell you how many were Abarth models. I suspect, however, that they’re out there and putting plenty of smiles on plenty of faces.

Still, the only thing that I worry about is whether these things will find homes in the real world. If you’ve got a power socket in your garage, a surging bank balance, and there’s room in your life for some angry Italian zap zap?  I strongly advise you to investigate the possibilities. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

Image credits: Lewin Day, Fiat