Fiat 600 review: Practical and compact SUV with low running costs

The Fiat 600 is the bigger sibling to the Fiat 500 city car. The family spirit is clear, because this is an equally charming small SUV, with five-door practicality and a boot big enough for growing families.

With a generous 54kWh battery, it has a range of over 250 miles, which is more than ample for the sort of daily driving it’s likely to do. There’s enough there for easy weekend trips to the seaside too, with Fiat even including fairly speedy rapid charging to make on-the-go top-ups quicker.

The Fiat 600 isn’t the most dynamic car to drive, but that’s not what it’s about. The focus here is on refinement, practicality and ease of use. And you can enjoy it all from a stylish interior that combines retro-style body-colour trim with the latest in touchscreen tech.

That it’s a practical small SUV for growing families, with a big enough range that you don’t have to worry about it, enhances things further, particularly when combined with prices that start from an affordable level.

I spent several days with the Fiat 600, driving it first on the beautifully mixed roads of lower Austria, then spending a full day putting it through its paces on a private testing facility, which included both speedy dynamic tests and city-style usability assessments.

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Independent rating: 8/10

The Fiat 600 uses a 54kWh battery, which gives a range of up to 254 miles. For a car primarily aimed at small families, this should be more than ample. They could probably get away with charging it just once every week, and still not suffer any range anxiety.

Charging on the move is aided by standard 100kW DC rapid charging capability. Fiat explains that this means it can go from 20 per cent capacity to 80 per cent in under half an hour, when you use a suitably powerful public DC charger. That helps make longer motorway trips a lot more reassuring.

With a surprisingly powerful 156PS electric motor, the Fiat 600 has sprightly performance. It will accelerate from 0-62mph in around 9.0 seconds, and the responsive electric motor helps add a feeling of dynamism. It soaks up bumps around town well too, thanks to the soft and supple suspension, although this does mean it leans a bit around corners. The ultra-light steering that makes it so easy to drive won’t impress keen drivers, either.

The Fiat 600 has a beautiful interior that blends retro simplicity with plenty of modernity. It’s an uncluttered design, that’s set off by a body colour strip that runs across the full width of the dashboard. At night, ambient lighting brings this to life in the darkness, too.

The flat-bottom steering wheel and high-set seats give a good driving position, and there’s loads of stowage space, including a neat centre cubby that has a flexi-fold cover – a bit like one of those covers for an iPad or tablet device. Fiat actually claims best-in-class stowage space, which gives you a flavour of how practical it is. The displays are electronic, but there’s a good array of buttons in the centre of the dash too, with yet more easy-to-fathom buttons on the steering wheel.

The Fiat 600 feels safe and confident to drive, because the driver gets a good view out. The rear seats are well-positioned as well, although legroom can be a bit tight unless taller people in the front move their seats forward a little. A 360-litre boot should prove more than ample, as it’s not that much smaller than a Volkswagen Golf.

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The Fiat 600 has a friendly and welcoming appearance inside, but it still manages to pack in some of the latest tech. It has all the latest safety assist technology, for example, which will help keep you and your family safe on the move.

It also has a 10.0-inch touchscreen as standard. This includes both Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, so it will pair easily with your mobile phone. But it also runs Fiat’s latest core software, which brings interesting added extras hidden within the many menus. You can configure your own ‘favourite’ screen, to make things easier.

The standard four-speaker stereo is OK, but nothing special. At least the posher La Prima version comes with wireless smartphone charging, so you can take advantage of the wireless Apple CarPlay and stream your tunes to your heart’s content, without having to worry about cables.

The Fiat 600 is competitively priced, with the entry-level Red model costing from under £33,000. That’s pretty good for a model with a battery this size, which offers a range of over 250 miles.

Running costs should be much lower than a petrol-powered small SUV too, particularly if you can charge at home. Select a special EV tariff and you’ll pay just a few pounds to top up the battery overnight. This will save you a fortune compared to a petrol car.

Insurance costs should also be reasonable, with the Fiat 600 having official ratings that are just a few groups higher than a regular petrol model.

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Fiat reckons the 600 will charge from 20 per cent to 80 per cent in under half an hour, at a DC rapid charger capable of a 100kW rate.

The Fiat 600 is pretty affordable for an electric small SUV. The entry-level Red version has all you’ll ever need for an entry-level price.

The Fiat 600 is such a charming car to look at, it’s easy to see why people fall for it. It’s a happy car, that puts you in a good mood, and its silent, fuss-free drive merely enhances this further.