Monstermunch
New member
I’m a newbie on here because this is the first Fiat car I’ve owned other than an older Ducato based motorhome a while back. It is a March 2023 U.K. registered 500e Red in the 42kwh version, bought new. It is also the first EV I’ve owned, so I thought I might share my experiences of ownership so far because sometime in the future it does now look like we all might have to make this decision.
We are lucky enough to be retired and still own two cars. My wife’s is a 1300cc petrol Toyota Yaris that currently complies with all the various emissions regulations. This formed the basis of my decision to try an EV as my car. I swapped my 6 year old VW Tiguan diesel for it.
We always had another vehicle as back up and the way I’ve chosen to use the Fiat is a car that we will both use for all local trips and always re-charge it at home. For home charging I use Fiat’s so called ‘granny charger’ which simply plugs into a standard 13 amp home mains socket and slow charges overnight from a minimum decided by me at around 60% battery left and around 80-100 miles driven on average. That costs around a fiver currently on our standard tariff. We have used it for longer trips within its dashboard displayed range, but we always re-charge at home.
Now for that ‘range’. Fiat say it is capable of a 199 mile range, but of course that is dependent on many factors such as weight carried, outside temperature and road conditions. During the summer months I have achieved that range, but I have to drive it carefully, less than 50mph, in its ‘Sherpa’ mode, and without the climate control active. Now we are in winter the range has reduced somewhat due to colder weather and having to use the climate control heating. I estimate I now get 140 miles on average. Due to the way I’ve chosen to use the car though, that is all irrelevant as I just re-charge overnight at home once it drops to 60%.
The car has 3 driving modes. Depending on which one used, reflects the car’s range. ‘Normal’ and it drives just like any other car, using air conditioning or heating. ‘Range’ mode allows the climate controls to be used, but slightly restricts performance. ‘Sherpa’ mode restricts top speed to 50mph and by default won’t switch on climate control, although this can be overridden. I always use either Sherpa around town, or Range on a motorway trip. You can change mode while driving, should you join a motorway for example. You can also set schedules to have the car pre-warmed on climate control while still plugged into mains prior to a journey. You just type in your departure time into the car’s phone app. Driving the car is fantastic. It is silent, very sporty and very ‘nippy’.
That brings me to the car’s technology, all controlled either in the car, or through its phone app. 5 subscription services came activated for a 3 year ‘trial’ on purchase. These relate to the phone app remote control, the entertainment and TomTom satnav system etc. it also has a sub section to the entertainment system which controls connectivity to the internet via the inbuilt eSIM and the built in Alexa app. This is called Connect Plus, and is free to use for only 6 months, which I only found out about last week. After that it’s £3 a month, plus having to pay Fiat’s partner, Ubigi for a data plan of your choice. At the end of 3 years ownership all these services will be expensive subscriptions.
The entertainment service which includes the TomTom satnav enhancements will be £79 annually for example. Pay for the lot and your annual bill for all the technology extras will be over £200 after the 3 year trial period. In my opinion, a rip off, but this is the way things appear to be going.
I actually love the car, as does my wife. It is a joy to drive, and the way we’ve chosen to use it suits our purpose very well.
We are lucky enough to be retired and still own two cars. My wife’s is a 1300cc petrol Toyota Yaris that currently complies with all the various emissions regulations. This formed the basis of my decision to try an EV as my car. I swapped my 6 year old VW Tiguan diesel for it.
We always had another vehicle as back up and the way I’ve chosen to use the Fiat is a car that we will both use for all local trips and always re-charge it at home. For home charging I use Fiat’s so called ‘granny charger’ which simply plugs into a standard 13 amp home mains socket and slow charges overnight from a minimum decided by me at around 60% battery left and around 80-100 miles driven on average. That costs around a fiver currently on our standard tariff. We have used it for longer trips within its dashboard displayed range, but we always re-charge at home.
Now for that ‘range’. Fiat say it is capable of a 199 mile range, but of course that is dependent on many factors such as weight carried, outside temperature and road conditions. During the summer months I have achieved that range, but I have to drive it carefully, less than 50mph, in its ‘Sherpa’ mode, and without the climate control active. Now we are in winter the range has reduced somewhat due to colder weather and having to use the climate control heating. I estimate I now get 140 miles on average. Due to the way I’ve chosen to use the car though, that is all irrelevant as I just re-charge overnight at home once it drops to 60%.
The car has 3 driving modes. Depending on which one used, reflects the car’s range. ‘Normal’ and it drives just like any other car, using air conditioning or heating. ‘Range’ mode allows the climate controls to be used, but slightly restricts performance. ‘Sherpa’ mode restricts top speed to 50mph and by default won’t switch on climate control, although this can be overridden. I always use either Sherpa around town, or Range on a motorway trip. You can change mode while driving, should you join a motorway for example. You can also set schedules to have the car pre-warmed on climate control while still plugged into mains prior to a journey. You just type in your departure time into the car’s phone app. Driving the car is fantastic. It is silent, very sporty and very ‘nippy’.
That brings me to the car’s technology, all controlled either in the car, or through its phone app. 5 subscription services came activated for a 3 year ‘trial’ on purchase. These relate to the phone app remote control, the entertainment and TomTom satnav system etc. it also has a sub section to the entertainment system which controls connectivity to the internet via the inbuilt eSIM and the built in Alexa app. This is called Connect Plus, and is free to use for only 6 months, which I only found out about last week. After that it’s £3 a month, plus having to pay Fiat’s partner, Ubigi for a data plan of your choice. At the end of 3 years ownership all these services will be expensive subscriptions.
The entertainment service which includes the TomTom satnav enhancements will be £79 annually for example. Pay for the lot and your annual bill for all the technology extras will be over £200 after the 3 year trial period. In my opinion, a rip off, but this is the way things appear to be going.
I actually love the car, as does my wife. It is a joy to drive, and the way we’ve chosen to use it suits our purpose very well.
