Luciel
Member
Hi Everyone,
Admitedly it´s been a few year since I last posted here. So, my beloved Stilo Sting 1.4 6 Speed baby is now 6 years old. I´m still as much as in love with it as the day I bought it.
Unfortunately, it´s reached the point where I find it´s 1.4 95Hp "fire" engine lacking. I don´t care much for top speed as the fastest I go is 140Kph on the motorway (I think that´s something like 85 mph) and the stilo will reach that quite happily while keeping it a very comftable ride and not throw a fuss but I do find it´s acceleration very poor.
I have a decent job, and lately I´ve been thinking of changing cars, I´ve had 2 fiats in my life and I´m happy with it so I´ve been looking at what fiat currently has to offer. To my surprise, it seems they´ve really been trimming down their engines, was it my imagination or didn´t there used to be a bravo 1.4 with 140+hp? Right now, fiat (at least in Spain) has nothing to offer which even matches mine (in the petrol range, don´t care for diesel) which is dissapointing.
I took a look at the abarth offerings and to start with I don´t care for the 500. Plus I´m 6 feet tall and I think I´d just look stupid in one of those. The Punto Evo is nice but it doesn´t drive me crazy and starting at 21000€... well... no.
So, I took a look at the second hand market, and started looking at alfas... lancias... and other whacky stuff and I came to a conclusion.
The only reason I want to change my Stilo is because I find it lacking in power but I´m so in love with how it looks that... I really don´t want to get another car, not to mention the so many things I´ve been through with this car that just the massive sentimental value alone sways me not to change it for another, hell I think I may keep it till the day it dies beyond repair.
So I started looking at second hand abarth stilos...I can´t quite put my finger on it but I think there´s some minor styling changes in the Stilo Sting that when I see other stilos, they just don´t have the same effect on me, it may be the "my car" effect but... dunno (feel free to take a look) so Abarth Stilos our not an option either...
...All that and sentimentalism aside. I need some advice on what can I do to improve the performance. I have a decent ammount of money saved up so I´m not looking to save a penny, I´m looking for what would be best and most reliable (aside from not doing anything to it of course).
I went down to my local Garage to which my family has taken our cars for mantenance, repairs and other for years, so I guess what I´m saying is I trust them to give me decent advice. I also know they´ve played with amateur race-day cars so I feel they know their way around performance parts.
I went through the options with them. They adviced me against changing the engine for a bigger one (which was my first obvious option). As they think with the stilo it will just cause me a lot of issues down the road. What do you guys think about that?
The second thing we considered was a complete induction and exhaust system + ecu remap. However they feel that while this will give me some improvement it may not be what I´m looking for as, in their words "It´s more of a tuneup for a car you´re already happy with rather than a tuneup expecting to make you happy with a car you´re not".
The third and final option we came up with was either a Turbo or a Supercharger. I personally don´t understand to much how it works but they explained that while a turbo would provide more power, the supercharger does not have lag and it´s continous power rather than at certain points in the rev range. So they called around and what not and they recon the right turbo may give me 200+hp (which again I don´t understand much about this but it does seem somewhat unbelieavable you could get over 100% performance increase from 95hp). This of course begs the question of if the clutch, gearbox, etc can take this kind of power as they where not designed for this. I don´t know the model numbers but if it helps the gearbox in this stilo is a 6 speed model which I believe was later used in the higuer end bravos.
So, if I went for the third option, would I need to change other parts within the car? What kind of problems am I looking at down the road?
Are there any other options you guys can think of?
Thanks for reading and replying guys!
Admitedly it´s been a few year since I last posted here. So, my beloved Stilo Sting 1.4 6 Speed baby is now 6 years old. I´m still as much as in love with it as the day I bought it.
Unfortunately, it´s reached the point where I find it´s 1.4 95Hp "fire" engine lacking. I don´t care much for top speed as the fastest I go is 140Kph on the motorway (I think that´s something like 85 mph) and the stilo will reach that quite happily while keeping it a very comftable ride and not throw a fuss but I do find it´s acceleration very poor.
I have a decent job, and lately I´ve been thinking of changing cars, I´ve had 2 fiats in my life and I´m happy with it so I´ve been looking at what fiat currently has to offer. To my surprise, it seems they´ve really been trimming down their engines, was it my imagination or didn´t there used to be a bravo 1.4 with 140+hp? Right now, fiat (at least in Spain) has nothing to offer which even matches mine (in the petrol range, don´t care for diesel) which is dissapointing.
I took a look at the abarth offerings and to start with I don´t care for the 500. Plus I´m 6 feet tall and I think I´d just look stupid in one of those. The Punto Evo is nice but it doesn´t drive me crazy and starting at 21000€... well... no.
So, I took a look at the second hand market, and started looking at alfas... lancias... and other whacky stuff and I came to a conclusion.
The only reason I want to change my Stilo is because I find it lacking in power but I´m so in love with how it looks that... I really don´t want to get another car, not to mention the so many things I´ve been through with this car that just the massive sentimental value alone sways me not to change it for another, hell I think I may keep it till the day it dies beyond repair.
So I started looking at second hand abarth stilos...I can´t quite put my finger on it but I think there´s some minor styling changes in the Stilo Sting that when I see other stilos, they just don´t have the same effect on me, it may be the "my car" effect but... dunno (feel free to take a look) so Abarth Stilos our not an option either...
...All that and sentimentalism aside. I need some advice on what can I do to improve the performance. I have a decent ammount of money saved up so I´m not looking to save a penny, I´m looking for what would be best and most reliable (aside from not doing anything to it of course).
I went down to my local Garage to which my family has taken our cars for mantenance, repairs and other for years, so I guess what I´m saying is I trust them to give me decent advice. I also know they´ve played with amateur race-day cars so I feel they know their way around performance parts.
I went through the options with them. They adviced me against changing the engine for a bigger one (which was my first obvious option). As they think with the stilo it will just cause me a lot of issues down the road. What do you guys think about that?
The second thing we considered was a complete induction and exhaust system + ecu remap. However they feel that while this will give me some improvement it may not be what I´m looking for as, in their words "It´s more of a tuneup for a car you´re already happy with rather than a tuneup expecting to make you happy with a car you´re not".
The third and final option we came up with was either a Turbo or a Supercharger. I personally don´t understand to much how it works but they explained that while a turbo would provide more power, the supercharger does not have lag and it´s continous power rather than at certain points in the rev range. So they called around and what not and they recon the right turbo may give me 200+hp (which again I don´t understand much about this but it does seem somewhat unbelieavable you could get over 100% performance increase from 95hp). This of course begs the question of if the clutch, gearbox, etc can take this kind of power as they where not designed for this. I don´t know the model numbers but if it helps the gearbox in this stilo is a 6 speed model which I believe was later used in the higuer end bravos.
So, if I went for the third option, would I need to change other parts within the car? What kind of problems am I looking at down the road?
Are there any other options you guys can think of?
Thanks for reading and replying guys!
Last edited:
