Fiat 500C Review 2024

The Fiat 500C is unusual in lasting as long as it has without an all-new model. There have been updates along the way, and the current version is now only available with a 1.0-litre petrol engine with mild hybrid assistance. What’s kept the Fiat 500C ticking along are its neat retro looks and cute appeal, which is enhanced by the simple roll-back canvas roof. It’s not very spacious, but you can still buy this convertible for less than £20,000 new. Read on for our full Fiat 500C review.

The Fiat 500C is exactly what you expect it to be – it’s a Fiat 500 with a convertible roof.

That means it packs in all the charisma of the regular Fiat 500 hatchback, but with the added bonus of top-down motoring in the summer and not too much impact on practicality. However, there is no all-electric version as there is with the MINI Electric Convertible.

The roll-back roof mechanism is simple enough. It folds electronically and can be stopped wherever you like, so you can have a little bit of a breeze or the proper experience with it retracted fully.

Obviously this isn’t a true cabriolet, but on the go with the roof back and the windows down, you get almost the same experience, although rearward visibility is obscured.

The roof can be operated on the move at up to 37mph, which is great around town. It does mean, though, that you can’t fold it up and down on national speed limit roads, but this is not exactly a hardship. With the roof up, the Fiat 500C is decently refined.

The engine range is identical to that of the non-electric hard-top, with a 1.0-litre petrol engine that comes with mild hybrid assistance to help it to deliver reasonable economy and emissions figures.

However, neither figure is as good as you’ll get with a lot of small cars that have been launched more recently than the Fiat.

If you like the Fiat 500 and want to enjoy soft-top motoring, it’s easy to recommend the Fiat 500C. The Citroen DS3 Cabriolet was a more accomplished driver’s car and feels more substantial, but it is now only available as a used car and doesn’t quite have the same charm.

The MINI Convertible is more expensive, as is the Volkswagen T-Roc Cabriolet. For many, charm will be the deciding factor and the Fiat 500C has it in abundance.

Fancy a second opinion? Read heycar's Fiat 500 review.

On the road, the Fiat 500C drives like its hard-top stablemate, which is no surprise at all. It’s not the sharpest handling car on sale, but it has light steering and is easy to drive.

It’s ideal for shorter drivers, thanks to the high mounted gear lever and high seats. On the road it is fairly composed, but at high speeds on rougher surfaces the ride gets unsettled.

The Fiat 500C is not the most comfortable car for long-distance driving – the fabric roof isn’t as quiet as a hard-top, and the footwell is cramped.

There is nowhere to rest your left foot when cruising, and the pedals are close together, so those with wide feet will have to be careful until they are used to the car.

It doesn’t take long to get used to the quirks of the car, though.

After that it is easy to live with, particularly in town where the compact dimensions, light controls and a tight turning circle make stop-start traffic and tricky parking spaces very easy to deal with.

Fiat now fits just a single engine to the Fiat 500C, so you get a 999c petrol unit with mild hybrid assistance and that’s it.

It comes with a six-speed manual gearbox that has a light shift action, so you don't need to worry about there being no automatic transmission.

The engine feels nippy enough around town and up to 30mph, but beyond that it does begin to feel out of puff.

This is confirmed by a 0-62mph dash, if that’s the right word, of 13.8 seconds. However, the 70Ps motor propels the Fiat along the motorway and down country lanes without being too noisy or coarse.

The ageing design of the Fiat 500C really tells when it comes to the safety kit it has as standard.

You do get twin front, side and curtain airbags, and a driver’s knee airbag, plus ESC traction control, and a tyre pressure monitoring system.

However, only the TOP version comes with rear parking sensors included, which are needed when backing into a bay with the roof open.

Surprisingly, the Fiat 500C can be used to tow, although it’s limited to 440kg with an unbraked trailer and a modest 800kg when the trailer has brakes fitted.

If practicality is your prime concern when buying a car, the chances are you’re not in the market for a Fiat 500C.

If, on the other hand, you want a stylish small convertible with more than two seats, the baby Italian is one of the very few cars that fit the bill at the affordable end of the new car spectrum.

The rear seats are best reserved for younger children as they are tight on legroom, even with shorter front seat occupants in place.

Taller drivers will find it tricky to achieve an ideal driving position, but vision with the roof up is as good as in the hatch version. Roll the roof back electrically, and rear vision becomes negligible as the roof takes up the space behind the rear seat headrests.

The Fiat 500C’s boot can just about handle a trip to the supermarket, but it’s tight for holiday luggage at just 180 litres in normal use.

Drop the back seats and you free up 550 litres of space, which is hampered by the fixed parcel shelf needed to strengthen the car because of its convertible roof.

Fiat has made a virtue of the Fiat 500C’s simplicity inside. There are plenty of painted body colour surfaces, which give the car plenty of charm. It’s also as well put together as most small cars at the same price point.

What’s less impressive is the feel of some of the Fiat 500C’s controls, which are not as precise or have the same sense of substance found in rivals, notably the MINI Convertible.

Besides the folding roof, the Fiat 500C is just like the hatchback inside with a cute, retro design.

There are no fancy soft-touch materials, but the car doesn’t really feel any worse for it thanks to the handsome body-coloured dashboard cover. There are problems, though – the radio unit and buttons feel out of date compared to more recent cars.

From 2014, the Fiat 500C was made available with a new digital instrument display which, despite adding some modernity, fits with the retro design.

It’s much clearer and easier to read than the traditional analogue display fitted to all early Fiat 500 models, which has a combined rev counter and speedo.

The seven-inch infotainment screen is small, but easy enough to use. TOP models gain sat-nav as standard.

There are only three versions of the Fiat 500C, starting with the standard model at £19,940. For £1000 more, you can have the TOP version with its extra equipment, while the RED model splits the difference at £20,440.

Used Fiat 500C models can be found in good nick and with low miles on the clock from £4000, if you go for an early version.

A facelifted car from 2015 will cost from £7500.

There are no nasty surprises when it comes to running a Fiat 500C, as all three of the latest versions use a 1.0-litre petrol engine and mild hybrid assistance.

This results in a WLTP-rated combined economy figure of up to 61.4mpg. Add in carbon dioxide emissions as low as 106g/km, going up to 118g/km depending on specification, and road tax for the Fiat 500C comes in at £185 to £210 for the first year and £180 thereafter, at the time of writing.

Insurance is another attraction with the Fiat 500C, as it sits in groups 12 to 13, so even young drivers should find it affordable to get covered.

The Fiat 500C comes with a three-year, unlimited mileage warranty and servicing costs are as reasonable as for any of its city car rivals.

The three trim levels for the Fiat 500C start with the standard model that comes with electric front windows, remote central locking, 15-inch alloy wheels and electrically adjusted and heated door mirrors.

There’s cruise control, too, plus air-conditioning, a height-adjustable driver’s seat, a seven-inch colour touchscreen for the infotainment and compatibility with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

The Fiat 500C TOP gains rear parking sensors, privacy glass, climate control, a fancier seven-inch main dash display and sat-nav for the infotainment set-up.

The Fiat 500C RED model improves on the standard 500C with its cabin air filter system, and bespoke details for the inside and out finished in red paint and with RED logos.