Fiat 500 Electric Convertible Review & Prices

If you want to buy an electric car but don’t want to give up the glamour of good looks and an open roof, then the Fiat 500 Electric Convertible is one of very few options available to you. Based on the regular Fiat 500 Electric hatchback, but with a fabric roof that opens back past the rear window, it’s one of just three electric convertible cars you can buy in 2025 - joining the MG Cyberster and the Maserati GranCabrio Folgore.

If the regular 500 Electric is a glittery shoe, then the Convertible model is the open-toed version. Unlike the MG or Maserati, it’s not a ‘full’ convertible as the doors and roof rails stay in place - but it’s still a great way to get the wind in your hair without sacrificing much everyday usability.

The more natural alternative to the 500 Electric are other small electric cars, such as the Mini Cooper Electric or Peugeot E-208.

Styling-wise, there’s little to separate the Convertible from its hatchback sibling. In fact, from the front, there are no changes at all - the only difference is the Convertible’s fabric roof and its smaller boot opening. You still get the same retro-cool styling, with a minimalist look and a rounded silhouette.

You also get a selection of eye-catching colours, ranging from a bright acid green more suited to the Abarth 500e to classy metallic pale blue or rose gold. With lots of shiny chrome trim, the 500 Electric Convertible is a real jewellery box of a car.

Fiat 500 Electric Convertible: electric range, battery and charging data

Range: 185 miles
Efficiency: 4.4mi/kWh
Battery size: 42kWh
Max charge speed: 85kW
Charge time AC: 6hrs 0 - 100%
Charge time DC: 30 mins 10 - 80%
Charge port location: Right rear
Power output: 118hp

And just like a jewellery box, there’s not much room inside for anything bigger than a necklace. As with the 500 Electric hatchback, while the front seats are reasonably accommodating for adults, the rear seats are suitable only for the smallest of children.

Interior storage is also pretty poor while the boot is a minuscule 185 litres accessed through a tiny rear hatch.

But a convertible car isn’t really about practicality, it’s about the experience. The 500 Electric Convertible’s roof has two positions - one where it acts like a big sunroof, and another where it rolls back over the rear window to give a real open-air feeling.

While it’s not as bracing as a proper convertible, it’s still a great way to get the wind in your hair, and is actually fantastic in terms of refinement and wind intrusion - you could happily have the roof fully open on the motorway and still have a conversation with someone inside.

There’s just one battery and motor combination for the 500 Electric Convertible, which provides a maximum of 185 miles of range and a weak-sounding 118hp. In reality, performance is ample, with a zippy feel around town and more than enough grunt to tackle the occasional faster road.

However, the tiny battery pack and relatively slow charging mean that repeated longer journeys in the 500 Electric Convertible are best avoided.

Head on over to our best Fiat 500 Electric Convertible deals to see how much you could save, or see our other best Fiat deals here. You can check out used Fiats for sale here, and remember that when the time does come to change your car Carwow can even help you sell your old one through our network of trusted dealers.

With a starting price of more than £30,000 nobody’s going to accuse the Fiat 500 Electric Convertible of being a bargain - you’re paying a lot for those cool looks when you consider that a larger, more powerful and longer-range MG4 EV costs around 2/3 of that with Carwow discounts. Even the brilliant Kia EV3, a proper family-sized SUV, only costs an extra couple of thousand pounds.

All 500 Electric convertible models come with keyless entry, a big infotainment screen with wireless smartphone connectivity, digital instrument cluster, cruise control and a premium sound system, its status as a city car means you miss out on some of the ‘big-car’ equipment you might expect for the price, such as electric seat adjustment, ambient lighting or dual-zone climate control.

Fantastic to drive around town and capable on faster roads, but a bit bouncy for regular long trips

In town

You’d certainly expect the Fiat 500 to be a great car for driving around town - it’s practically made for nipping around the city centre of Rome. The steering is ultra-light and very responsive, so it’s really easy to manoeuvre through tight gaps or into tiny parking spaces - helped by the turning circle of less than 10 metres.

Visibility out of the front is very good thanks to a big windscreen and large side windows. The view rearward isn’t quite as good as it is in the hatchback - the rear window is smaller, and when the roof is down it becomes totally obscured - but thankfully there are nice big door mirrors and standard rear parking sensors that mean you don’t feel the sting of it too much.

The 500 Electric Convertible has plenty of power off the line - it’s really nippy up to 30mph, and with no gears to worry about it’s an absolute doddle to get up to speed. There’s also a neat one-pedal drive mode which means you rarely have to put your foot on the brake, making things even easier. And while the suspension is quite bouncy, that’s mostly a product of the car being so short - it does deal pretty well with lumps and bumps, at least as neatly as a Hyundai i10 or Mini Cooper.

On the motorway

The 500 Electric Convertible isn’t in its natural environment on the motorway, but it’s not all bad. For such a small car, it’s remarkably stable and settled at high speeds, and despite having just 118hp on tap it can accelerate smartly up to speed on a short sliproad.

However, wind and road noise are pronounced, and the light steering can feel a little twitchy when you’re changing lanes. The La Prima trim level comes with adaptive cruise control, lane-keeping assist and traffic jam assist, which are quite sophisticated features for a small car, and generally work well.

The more limiting factor for motorway driving is the range, which while it’s pretty good around town or in mixed mileage does plummet to around 100 miles on a cross-country motorway run.

On a twisty road

On bumpy country roads the Fiat 500 Electric’s short wheelbase and firm suspension do mean it’s a bit of a bouncy ride. It’s an improvement over the petrol Fiat 500, but any physically larger electric car of a similar price - such as the MG4, BYD Dolphin or Peugeot E-208 - feels much more settled and reassuring in the bends.

The 500 Electric doesn’t lean very much, though, which is often a problem with cars that are both narrow and tall. You can thank the batteries for that, as they’re placed low down in the car’s structure to give it quite a low centre of gravity.

The light steering doesn’t provide much feedback and the driving experience is more tolerable than it is enjoyable. A Mini Cooper Electric is much more fun to hoon about a good road with.

Roomy front seats, but that’s about it - the 500 Electric Convertible is not a practical car

In terms of interior space, the Fiat 500 Electric Convertible offers exactly what you’d expect from looking at it. This is a very short, quite narrow car, and instead of being an efficient box it’s curvy and shapely - so you shouldn’t expect MPV-like levels of interior room.

What you do get are two quite accommodating front seats that support even larger drivers well. There’s a reasonable level of adjustment, and the steering wheel moves for reach as well as rake. But the seat base is set quite high due to the batteries underneath it, so taller drivers may find their head brushing the roof - and that their hair is particularly susceptible to being buffeted about when the roof is down.

Interior storage is moderate. The door bins are quite small, but there’s a reasonable glovebox. The centre console is set low and has some of the driving controls as well as the USB inputs, while a cupholder is set deep into it. A second one flips out from the front. However, without that one flipped down, the 500 Electric does provide step-through access, which is really useful in the city, allowing you to easily slide over and get out on either side of the car.

Space in the back seats

Nothing big or clever about the 500 Electric Convertible’s back seats. Access is quite tight through the front doors - and unlike most convertibles, because the door frames stay put, it’s no easier with the roof down either.

Once back there, you’ll find room for only two very short adults. There are ISOFIX points on both rear seats (as well as one in the front) but reaching back to fit a child seat requires a fair bit of contortion.

Boot space

With just 185 litres of space the Fiat 500 Electric Convertible’s boot is about as small as they come. It’s accessed through a tiny hatch, making room for the electric roof mechanism. You’ll be able to fit maybe three supermarket bags-for-life’s worth of shopping, or a couple of carry-on suitcases. Anything larger and you’ll have to make use of the back seats.

The rear seats do fold easily and lay relatively flat, though there’s a bit of a step from the boot floor. They’re also clad in metal, which is nice and hardwearing and means it’s easy to slide items around. Just remember everything’s either going to have to fit through the boot’s little letterbox slot, or be loaded in through the open roof.

Stylish, easy to use and well-built - but doesn’t quite feel up to the price

The Fiat 500 Electric’s interior feels much more upmarket than the old petrol 500’s did. It’s dominated by two screens - a wide 10.0-inch display for infotainment, and a smaller, square 7.0-inch screen for driver information. Underneath the central screen sits a set of climate control buttons (hooray!) as well as four buttons for the drive selection in place of a stalk or gear lever.

The centre console houses the electric handbrake, the volume control and the drive mode selector, allowing you to choose ‘Range’ mode (which ramps up the regenerative braking) or ‘Sherpa’ mode (which limits your top speed, turns off the heating and air-conditioning, and reduces performance all to get you the best possible range).

You do get some quite nice touches. The wireless charging pad has a silhouette of the Turin skyline etched into it, while the door pulls have little Fiat 500s in them. Speaking of the doors, they’re fitted with electronic latches which open at the press of a button - though there are physical releases in the door bins should these break.

Build quality is up to snuff with very few creaks or rattles, but materials do feel quite cheap considering the 500 Electric Convertible costs more than £30,000. The dashboard plastics, door cards and seat upholstery are on the scratchier side, while a cheaper MG4 has soft-touch materials in these places.

The Fiat 500 Electric Convertible officially returns a range of 185 miles. With plenty of town driving, you’ll probably get quite close to that figure.

The problem is that on faster roads, the range tumbles to the point where on a long motorway run you’ll likely see around 110-120 miles - which means 100 miles between charges so that you’ve a little in reserve. That can quickly become tiring and means the 500 Electric is much better suited for working in a city or as a second car, rather than a primary vehicle for long drives.

Compare that to an MG4, Peugeot E-208 or BYD Dolphin, all of which will comfortably return over 200 miles for the same or less money, and the 500’s range starts to become problematic. Even the Citroen e-C3, which costs barely 2/3 of the Fiat, has a longer range.

The maximum charging rate is only 85kW, but since the 500 Electric’s battery is quite small, you should still see a 10-80% top-up in just 30 minutes.

Other running costs are minimal. The 500 Electric Convertible is in a much higher insurance group than the old petrol 500 but it doesn’t pay road tax due to being an electric car, and if you can get it as a company car you’ll enjoy the same low BIK rates as any electric vehicle.

The Fiat 500 Electric hatchback scored four stars when it was tested by Euro NCAP in 2021, and the Convertible shares that rating. The fact that Fiat retains the roof rails and door frames between the hatch and Convertible means the two should perform very similarly in an accident.

Standard safety equipment includes all the basics such as autonomous emergency braking, traffic sign recognition and lane-keeping aids, though if you opt for the La Prima model you also get some semi-autonomous driving functions such as adaptive cruise control and lane-following assist - quite rare to find on such a small car.

Fiat came next-to-last in the 2024 Driver Power owner satisfaction survey, which isn’t a very good sign - and Fiat’s reputation doesn’t stand it in good stead for future dependability.

The 500 Electric is at least a fairly simple car, electric vehicles having far fewer moving parts than their petrol or hybrid counterparts. It’s been recalled once, in 2022.

Warranty cover is just three years with a separate eight-year, 100,000-mile warranty on the battery pack. That’s pretty poor compared to the MG4’s seven-year cover.