Fiat Stilo Problems

Advantages: Nice drive, lots of space, tons of features, fuel on motorways
Disadvantages: Too many computer problems, fuel in town driving

...My experience with my Stilo, which I bought 4 months ago, is somewhat depressing. I have had it in the garage 3 times now. Shortly after I bought the car it started to report airbag failure and also told me, mainly at high speed, that my engine had failed (scary!). I took it into the fiat garage, who cleared some errors off the computer and replaced the sensor on the passenger seat - £180 Next visit to the garage was a couple of months later when the computer light came on and told me I had engine failure, ABS failure and traction control failure. Took it to a non-fiat dealership this time who said it may need a service (and as the MOT had a week or so to run got both done). They told me the spark plugs were mashed even though it had been serviced only 1k miles and 6 months earlier - £150 Two months go by and it runs fine...

gavinburke 23.05.2008 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Fiat Stilo

Fiat - it's a Stilo (a steal! - geddit?)

Advantages: Economical to buy and drive, many added extras and gadgets
Disadvantages: Plenty to go wrong, a bit square to look at

...I bought my Fiat Stilo 16v 1.6 Dynamic in May 2006 for £5800 from a private dealer, using the Autotrader website (www.autotrader.co.uk) It was just two years old and billed as 'under 3 year warranty' It is a nice looking car, although quite sensible looking with nice paintwork and alloys. The interior is impressive, with a cloth interior, comfortable seating and the most interesting thing is that the back seats are adjustable to allow either very generous legroom in the back or a very large boot. Even if you go for the middle ground you still have a decent boot size for a hatchback and enough legroom for your average to tall adult. It has nice little touches like cupholders in the rear centre console/armrest and a pull down picnic tray on the back of the passenger seat. It will seat five adults. The front seats are very...

Mericat 14.11.2006 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Fiat Stilo 1.6 16v

Stilo- looks good but looks can be deceiving

Advantages: looks sporty
Disadvantages: where should I begin ?

...I bought my fiat 1.6 active sport in January and its been a nightmare, so far its been back to the garage about 6 times , first it was the electrics, then it had to have a new instrument cluster fitted, then the engine management light kept coming on, which stoped after a while. Then I took it for a service and during the service, they noticed that the all the breaks needed replacing and they also noticed that the gearbox was leaking. I took the car back to the garage where I got it from and they said they would fix the problem with the leak but I would have to pay half for the breaks to be replaced. I have had the car back about two months or so now and I've noticed something strange happening when its going up hills, so my partner drove it for me the other night and he said that the clutch is slipping. I have spoken to a mechanic who...

fmac1973 21.08.2009 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Fiat Stilo

Fiat Stilo 1.2 Active

Advantages: looks, economy, free revving engine, space, Good size boot, 0% interest
Disadvantages: Value after turning the key for the 1st time, plastic

...The 1.2 is a small engine and can when fully laden struggle up hills. However, keep it in the rev band and its fun to drive and better than rivals. My wife has the three-door version which is stiffer and more sporty than the hidious 5 door. It has a more agile feel and more responsive feel. Roadholding is good, the ride is comfortable and at times it can feel quite entertaining when trown around. A very practical and capable car for the money. I'd recommend the full length sunroof fitted by Fiat over air con (which only gets used for the 2 days of summer we get) looks good and the kids love it. Space is good for a Fiat and a 3 door car. We drove to Spain last year in it. Five of us with all the junk you take with you when you have kids. It will cruse down the motorway doing 90 and still did 40+ m/gal. Issues: Dealers...

dogard 04.01.2005 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Fiat Stilo

Stilo-ish it aint

Advantages: Spacious, Cheap
Disadvantages: and nasty

...Fiat's new Stilo is another new entrant in the small- medium car market. It's competition is the Golf, Arosa, Mini, Focus, Astra type of car and to be honest, I can't see it competing very well with them. We were given it as a hire car for 4 days whilst in Ireland a few weeks back and to be honest, weren't impressed one bit. Looks - Superficially, not great, especially from the rear, it reminded me of a French car from the 80's. You'll notice on all adverts that it is shown from the front or side which make it look better. The 3 door is slightly more refined than the 5 door. 8 colours are available, none of them anything special. Cost & Models - (from fiat.co.uk) from £11,300 - 16135. A lot of money, especially as you can get an imported Golf for nearly the same or a lower range Mini. There are a number...

sjl02 30.09.2002 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Fiat Stilo

SMALL FAMILY CAR - FIAT STILO

Advantages: Cheap Tax, Cheap Insurance, Nippy little number
Disadvantages: Electronics and Cost of FIAT Dealership

...Fiat Silo. This is one of the easiest cars I have driven and the interior is not too shabby either. The 1.9 JTD has quite a bit of power under the bonnet, looks deceptive. Plent of cup holders and storage space. The boot can easily fit prams, golf clubs or a months worth of shopping. The build quality is exceptional. The four door car which i have can easily handle 2 adults and 2 children quite easily. Any electronic problems are displayed behind the steering wheel with a full description of the icons displayed in the Owners Handbook. The downside i would say is when it comes to maintenance the bonnet is quite enclosed and very fiddly. Changing a lightbulb may require a trip to the main dealer unless you have tiny hands, although i would recomment a local garage as FIAT Dealerships can be quite expensive. However the customer...

steph1705 07.09.2008 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Fiat Stilo 1.9 JTD

Fun and funky Polo 1.4

Advantages: Great fun to drive, nippy and reliable
Disadvantages: Strange pedals!

...The Polo 1.4 was the first car that I ever bought myself so will always be quite special in a weird kind of way! I traded in my old battered Fiesta that my mum and dad had bought me and purchased a VW 1.4 Polo Match special edition for around £10000. The car came with quite a few extras for the money including manual air conditioning and an electric sunroof (very nifty gadget on such a small car!) I am not too sure why the car had both a sunroof and air conditioning though as you only really needed one or the other! It also came with metallic paint and I chose the Silver colour which was great as it hardly shows up any dirt at all and comes up very nicely when it's polished. I owned the 3 door version and you did have to be careful with the front doors as they are very big and heavy and can sometimes blow away in heavy wind...

nickjj78 23.12.2003 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Volkswagen Polo 1.4

Fiat Grande Punto dynamic Sport 1.4

Advantages: Looks like a nice car and is well specified
Disadvantages: could turn out to have niggling faults and local dealership is useless

...I bought a 12 month old Grande Punto Dynamic Sport 1.4 from Picadilly Motors in Wakefield and the experience was a good one. However since owning it for just over a month it has developed a rattle in the rear off side door and the door lock in the same door has gone intermittent. Sometimes it will not lock sometimes the outside handle doesn't work. I booked it into a Fiat Dealership locally, in Stockport, with a 10 day lead time, telling them of the lock and rattle problem and they diagnosed it needed a new lock and i would have to come back when the lock was obtained. Several days later I took it in for a fix while i wait and 11/2 hours later they notified me that they had got the wrong lock, the one for the nearside rather than offside.it has to go back again. i can see this is going to be fun. The rattle was supposed to be fixed...

Eddybangbang 04.08.2008 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Fiat Grande Punto

STILO Part 2

Advantages: Well Priced Lots of room
Disadvantages: none

...Stilo Part 2 Some months ago I submitted an opinion on the Fiat Stilo car, The op was based on what I had read about the car and the 2 test-drives I had in it . Some members quite correctly pointed out that an opinion should be based on personal experience over a length of time so hopefully this op should now correct this. I bought The Fiat Stilo 1.6, 16 valve Dynamic in metallic blue, in July and have been putting it through its paces ever since. I must admit I didn't buy a brand new one as this would have cost me £12000.00, what I got was a one year old model with 11000 miles on the clock for £8400.00, which in my opinion was a bargain. Now to the important bit, How the car drives . The first thing you notice when getting into a Stilo is how high up you feel ( this is with the seats at there lowest setting) , this in...

NIGSY 21.05.2003 (05.11.2003) · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Fiat Stilo 1.6 16v

Clio 1.4

Advantages: Very comfortable & v.good drive
Disadvantages: Reliability

...My first car was, or more specifically, is an L-Reg Clio 1.4 RT, second hand, and although it does have it's ups and downs, like any hatchback does, it is predominantly a good drive. Comfort - this is one of the first things you can analyse from a car, and the Clio comes out well. It's seat patterning appears to be from the Picasso sketchbook (not that that hinders the comfort mind!), but the seats are shaped perfectly and produce optimum comfort for the driver and passengers Space - this is always a touchy subject with hatchbacks, due to the simple reason being the lack of it! Although the front seats are adjustable, and therefore the space for those two in the car is fine, if people are in any of the rear three seats, particular grown-ups, they mind find it uncomfortable, and be mighty relieved when the journey is over! Although...

CarlMcQ 03.04.2005 · Read review
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Review of Renault Clio 1.4