Fiat 600e vs Vauxhall Astra

The Vauxhall Astra costs £3,000 more than the Fiat 600e. For that premium it adds 27 miles more WLTP range. On EVcarsguide's combined category scores, the Vauxhall Astra comes out ahead overall.

The Fiat 600e is £3,000 cheaper to buy. Running costs are almost identical - about £168 a year either way, at 8,000 miles on an off-peak home tariff. Add 5 years of charging and the Fiat 600e comes out roughly £3,000 cheaper overall. These figures cover list price and home charging only - insurance, servicing, tyres and depreciation will move the real total.

EVcarsguide estimates a real-world motorway range of about 176 miles for the Fiat 600e and 191 miles for the Vauxhall Astra - both below their WLTP figures, because sustained high speed is the hardest case for an EV. The Vauxhall Astra goes roughly 16 miles further between charging stops. Both rapid-charge to 80% in a similar time, around 26-27 minutes.

The Fiat 600e is the easier car for tight UK car parks: it is 81 mm narrower than the Vauxhall Astra. In a standard 2,400 mm bay that leaves about 621 mm of total clearance for the Fiat 600e and about 540 mm of total clearance for the Vauxhall Astra.

Over a 8-year ownership window EVcarsguide's degradation model projects roughly 84% battery health for the Fiat 600e and 84% for the Vauxhall Astra. That is close enough that capacity loss should not decide between them. Both use NMC-type cells, so for daily use keep the charge limit near 80% to slow degradation. Both batteries carry a 8-year manufacturer warranty.