(G) So the question to be asked.........

What can the Stilo Abarth be compared to?

A Focus RS?
New Astra?
Golf GTI?

please god nooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well for a start the 3 contenders there are all 2 litre turbo charged.

I can only speak for the Focus RS as it's the only one I've had a spin in, but I would say the Stilo wins luxury wise, but speed wise the RS pisses all over it!

The new Golf GTi is supposed to be pretty well on the button too.

I would say the only one it's really comparable to is the new Astra.

Oops meant to put it in stilo sectio can a mod move it please

Sorry sammi

Seems to me the Astra is a blatant rip-off of the Stilo design. And not as good either in my opinion.

No idea about any of the Abarth/RS versions but i suspect based on the hype the focus RS must be good... meanwhile the Stilo gets next to no media coverage.

Skoda, i see a 04 volvo the otherday that looked a bit like it was trying to be a stilo dunno what model it was though

Where's Samico? He'll compare it to his 1984 Fiesta 1.0.

Hear hear.....

Why compare it to anything - I feel the car is in a niche market, loved and enjoyed by owners, albeit with the odd niggle.

ODD NIGGLE (brilliant Stu!)

That's no way to talk about Savi!

If you look at cars with more or less the same performance, and similar pricing (in South Africa), I would say the Abarth can be compared to
Ford Focus ST170,
Mini Cooper S,
Peugeot 206 GTI,
Renault Clio 2.0 RS,
Alfa 147 2.0,
and maybe the Subaru 2.5RS (even though it's not a hatch).

I would think it's closest rival would be the Focus ST170, purely because the are both hatches with the same power output and almost identical 0-100Km/H time. They also compare quite well when it comes to interior finishes, and even the handling is very alike.

But none of them have that distinct 5 cylinder engine sound

Good point about the 5cyl engine. I have to agree with some of the other posts here - while it's fun and interesting to compare different cars; as Stu pointed out we all love the Stilo for one reason or another - threre will always be better cars than what we may driving at any particular point in our lives (whatever car you drive in whatever price/spec/style catagory) and there will be some that are worse...that's life I suppose. But what driving a Stilo does do, is add a bit of variety to said life. Not having a moan at this post, just thought it was worth saying.

Oh a good compare to the Stilo is the new Citroen C4VTS (similar output spec/weight/ 0-62 etc).

that's it stu!! you've got your finger on the buzzer, the stilo abrath is a car apealing to the niche sector of this car catagory. its for the poeple who want to have a car not like everbody else. for example my mate was interseted in the new astra, but once i explained that all the cid and every disabled person on benifits would have one he changed his mind. same as the focus and golf good cars but just for those people are pretty boring. i know we were talking about the likes of the rs and gti but still.

The above is what i'm tryin to point out what is there to compare the stilo abarth to?

How many other brand new 2.4litre cars can you get for 14k???

Exactly ! Well said mate..

Since havin this car i get followed and aproached by so many GTi type owners who wanna know what it is... The amount of people that go out of their way to drive past one more time is just unbelievable...
Not many people know this car and when they see it you can tell by the look on their faces they're impressed... you know the look if you own one.. eyes/mouth wide open...
The motorsports shop i took the car to for the new exhaust and springs were totally gobsmacked by the look and especially the sound of the car...
There's not any other car in that price bracket that you'll get that sort of response from. ??