lent my beloved stilo to a good friend yesterday, as his car was due for MOT today. Hes never driven any fiat ever in life and when i asked him about it he could only fault the 'light' steering. Comfortable, responsive, powerful brakes, surprisingly good handling. He says the driving controls were perfect for him, not too far away, not too close, not too high, not too low.

This is coming from a man who has driven BMWs, Mercs a whole host of new and old VAGs, fords, VX, Toyotas, Hondas and thats just the ones that i know about. He openly admitted thinkin it would be a typical fiat and be crap but he was 'genuinely surprised' at how good it was even compared to his 03 Mondeo... Ill keep workin at him to join the following and push him to get a JTD

That's a polite way of saying:

"I ragged the tits off it to the redline in every gear and nothing blew up"

:slayer:

Damn skippy too!

yay for positive praise.

I have to admit, im more or less of the same opinion. ive never had a Fiat before this Stilo, and i flipflopping love it...only been three weeks.

next on my list is either an X-19 or a Triumph Spitfire, but the X-19 will be a cheaper buy-i like classic cars. Alwasy liked the look of the x-19, and now ihave at least some experience of a Fiat, im less put off-even though i wasnt really ever put off, but you know whta i mean!?!

Always liked the look of the X1-9. I had a Spitty though, MKIV.

X1-9s are great. I am toying with getting another. Problem i have is space. Great fun to drive but choose one carefully.

The stilo was always seriously under rated, it was a real quality product and fiat missed a trick in discontinuing it they really should have kept making cars under the stilo name and let it develop the reputation it deserved.
I would say it was better than the mk3 mondeo and as good as many of the comparable cars like seat and skoda even the passat.

Sadly only the stilo was this good and your mate probably wouldn't have been so kind about a punto, multipla etc from the same era

richie you are truly a brave man. i was taught by my wise old grandad to never lend your wife or your car out unless you expect them to come back shagged. working with cars most of my life i have driven everything from porsches to kia's and i still end up back with a fiat. my bravo before the stilo i have now replaced a merc and that replaced a 4x4 sierra cosworth. i still to this day say the most fun car i ever owned was my strada 130 tc abarth.(when the bloody thing ran right that is.):slayer:

Clivvy said:

yay for positive praise.

I have to admit, im more or less of the same opinion. ive never had a Fiat before this Stilo, and i flipflopping love it...only been three weeks.

next on my list is either an X-19 or a Triumph Spitfire, but the X-19 will be a cheaper buy-i like classic cars. Alwasy liked the look of the x-19, and now ihave at least some experience of a Fiat, im less put off-even though i wasnt really ever put off, but you know whta i mean!?!

Click to expand...

My X1/9 (my first car) lives in the shed next to my mums Spitfire (her first car.)

bludvl_x19 said:

My X1/9 (my first car) lives in the shed next to my mums Spitfire (her first car.)

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oh now thats just one big tease....

bludvl_x19 said:

My X1/9 (my first car) lives in the shed next to my mums Spitfire (her first car.)

Click to expand...

Git.


Pics or i don't believe you just a little jealous

Ive driven a Mk3 mundane-o and i was gobsmacked by Its road holding and smoothness i hate fords as a rule Ive owned a ka (first car cost me 50quid kept it 3 months and bought a cinq) Ive never been taken by the new stuff the seats resemble church pews and the interior styling is too bland they have Just never interested me

fords are average at everything, i wouldnt say they are poor in any respect other than rust... they do have such a bad habit of rusting.

the stilo is great, many a times it shocks people the quality and toys that it has

clock34 said:

fords are average at everything, i wouldnt say they are poor in any respect other than rust... they do have such a bad habit of rusting.

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Tell me about it... In a moment of weakness, I bought Focus (an offer you cannot refuse - good friend, complete history, a lot of investments during the last year of his ownership). The doors are already rustier than those on 1992 Tipo I scrapped last year, the interior design is tragically unergonomic, the quality of materials used substandard and the car generally feels "cheap". It is now primarily driven by my wife, I have returned to my beloved and battered Punto 55.

yeh, but they are cheap and where to buy new... well in comparison.

i had a focus 1.6 and it was ok tbh. felt very smooth to drive and handles ok. but it didnt have any flare.. like the italians



that said in 5 years it never broke down or even had a single fault.

i want my cars to have faults... it makes life interesting!

'but it didnt have any flare' my thoughts exactly! Nothing to make it interesting, no passion was ever even considered when designing them... Or so it would seem

rattystilo said:

Git.


Pics or i don't believe you just a little jealous

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Ok, maybe not right next to each other, but they share the same shed.
Here is my X1/9:


And here is the Spitty: (Sorry about the crap photo, 30sec exposure with no tripod. Best I could do in the low light.)
This is also next on the restoration list.

(Re first post) thought the same before driving my mum's Cinqueceno S for a while. Ended up buying and driving a Sporting for 7 or so years, and now have a 100HP.