(G) Advice on New Stilo

I currently have a 1.8 3 door Dymanic Stilo (that is mine and my misses) which is really nice but I'm thinking of replacing my other car (currently a clio) with a slightly faster car. How good is the performance in the Abarth in comparrision to the 1.8 and does the latest Stilo have less gremlins than the first few years of production as I'm now on first name terms with the service guys at the garage which is worrying. Just not sure if I get 2 I should move closer to my local fiat dealer who I have to say has been really good.
Thanks
Graham

I got a 1.8 stilo when they first came out to replace my Bravo HLX, loved the stilo in relation to the Bravo ( in which I had 2 of them ) but the niggly damm suspension squeek pi$$ed me off no end, did get fixed in the end.

Had the chance when I went in for 2nd year service to test drive the 04 Abarth, had read that they had changed some things notably the suspension, plus I was always angry at myself for not getting an Abarth to start with.

Loved it the power delivery was vastly superiour and it just felt all together smoother, the suspension felt stiffer, not stiff enough tho for me tho, on the 20min test drive I took in an various types of roads and just started thinking... ooh should I get this car ( was thinging of the quarterly trips to the dealers to get things fixed, as you I'm on first name terms with most of the dealership ) got back to dealers and haggled a bit and I'm now the owner of a 04 Stilo Abarth manual...

Went to dealers to book 1st yr service the other week and thats been the first time I have been in the dealers since I picked the car up.

The suspension is still un-squeeky and with all the damm speed bumps by me thats a suprise its not broken yet, plus I'm not encountered any of the small gremilins as in my last stilo and what gets posted on FF in relation to the early stilos.... I will be honest and say the only thing that was wrong was a loose passenger side door which just needed screwing in tighter & the CD was also not fully pushed in.

Glad I decided to get the Abarth it has grinability

Thanks for the reply. The abarth looks great too with the skirts. The only thing is there are so many hot hatches around to choose from not sure if it's worth having 2 cars the same unless there is a massive difference in performance. It's when it gets to 50-60 I feel the 1.8 needs a bit more power.

Best bet is to write a list of cars down and test drive them all, I still if I pass a dealers and have nothing better to do try and test what they have new... last one was New Focus!

The Abarth has the power from 50-60+ great for overtaking on motorway, again take one out for test drive as its the only way to judge, TBH when thinking about my next car just before I got the Abarth I lookied in best bang for £££ and ok the TypeR, FocusRS, Megane225 and New Golf GTI are all more powerful but at what cost.

You get a fair bit of kit for your cash from an Abarth plus with sales being slow after christmas dealers are ripe for haggling with and you have something out of the norm with an Abarth or any Stilo... look in any supermarket car park and all you see are Focusi

Well thats exactly where you will notice most of the difference with an abarth.
You will notice a big change from the 1.8 in terms of pulling power and engine sound. You really wouldn't be disappointed.

Graham, whereabouts in the country are you? You can PM if necessary.

The mid-range pull on the Abarth is immense - brings a smile to my face every time

I'm down near Worthing in Sussex.

Ok, not really local to me, although I am down in Surrey on the 5th for paintballing....

Not to worry I'll go to my dealers in the next couple of weekends and take one for a run. Hopefully it won't be as embarassing for the salesman as last time I took a test drive and the door on this 1.6 stilo won't open. He went a fantastic shade of red I can tell.

Rule one of showing the customer the car :- Make sure they can get into it !!!

Will your dealer have one available then? That does surprise me....

Not sure but I work with one of the salesman's wife so they will hopefully find me one.

id love to be in a position to buy an abarth, but will have to wait at least a couple of years just have to make do with my JTD unless anyone fancies a swap?! lol