Hi,

My daughter is looking for a replacement for her Seicento, she's travelling a fair way to work now and her Sei's having issues coping with steep hillls!

Been to see a Fiat Stilo 1.9 JTD Dynamic 3dr Diesel Hatchback today and liked it, seemed to have a bit of power compared to the Sei, had all mod cons and low mileage too!

However when my daughter drove over speed bumps, (not fast) there were fairly loud bangs or clonks that appeared to come from the suspension, is this 'normal' - is this just sports suspensions?? The car is a 55 plate car and has full service history with all the stamps in the service book, VOSA history and receipts for work carried out over the years.

Is the car a sensible buy?
Does the Stilo have any known faults that I should be aware of?
Is the suspension noise worrying, is it likely to cost buckets - should I ask for a reduction off the price?

Fingers crossed for a big response here

Best regards

Jon

There's a buyer's guide fo the Stilo here: https://www.fiatforum.com/stilo-faqs/273562-buyers-guide-fiat-stilo.html

"bangs or clonks" from the suspension will depend on whether it's from the front or back. If from the front, it's likely to be drop links which is an easy cheap job to fix. If it's from the rear, it's likely to be the rear axle bushes which would be more expensive.
.

Hi JOn,


ok, to start off, I LOVE my Stilo. I've had some corking cars over the years, and believe it or not I LOVE the Stilo more (only just), and here is why:


Looks stunning - I have the 3 door Sporting
Easy to upgrade - I fitted all leather
Drives smooth
brilliant engine, loads of power/torque, mines on 106k miles
mostly cheap/reasonable parts
great brakes, very effective
great interior, I love its design


I suppose I could go on but perhaps that's silly. Im not saying its the best car in the world, but what I am saying is it is a seriously underrated car and so they can be bought so cheap!


The loud clunk, as Davren says, really does depend. We cant possibly diagnose it BUT there are TWO main common failures on these. As Davren says, front drop links - very easy fix, I did mine when I bought it and fitted new links with the wheels still on! The other is the rear bushes. Those are expensive (labour) and you will be looking at around £300, maybe more, maybe less, but once done you wont be doing them again. Mine do knock a tiny little bit, but not enough for me to open my wallet - drive sensible over bumps, and there are no knocks, simple. As for haggling the seller, yes, tell him you know a bit about these cars and that its likely the rear bushes (you can see if you get down and look up towards the front of the rear wheels - BIG chunky cylindrical things both ends at an angle) and tell him that's about £350 because the whole axel has to come off to replace those and requires a special extractor to get the bushes out.




If it is suspension or shocks, then the costs are no more than any other car, and no more difficult to do - probably around £50 a side all in.


other common faults really does depend on the model you buy - sunroof is a common failure, air con has a common failure in the pressure sensor but that's easy fix. Check all 4 settings on the heating, and check the temp gauge gets to half way after a good drive - test drive should be minimum 30 mins and also look out for any smoke out the back when flooring the accelerator (make sure you do that as well). If the temp gauge doesn't move, or is so slow, then I have to say its a new thermostat. I had this issue, car worked fine, but never got to temp - I fitted a new thermostat and it was a PIG of a job - costs in a garage id say at least 2 hours labour and £70 for the part (82degree thermostat, not 88 if possible) fitting requires removal of the EGR -


EGR is another common problem, though that's the same for any diesel car. The solenoids can fail, or the egr can stick - options are to blank it, or buy a new one but if you aren't competent its a garage job - over £100 for the part complete and at least 1 hour labour. Cheap option is to blank it using three blanking plates.


LIGHTBULBS, I cant stress enough, ensure all light bulbs are working because changing them is a pain. The proper way to change them, is bumper off, remove the headlight, change the bulb. Also, ensure the head light adjusters work - access controls are on the panel to your right, up/down buttons - make sure BOTH headlamps go up and down - if stuck it will likely fail MOT if one is pointing up.


all other mechanicals id say are reasonably basic and easy to fix, and easy to spot if faulty. If you look in the guides section, then select Stilo, you will see a lot of the common issues and how to fix them. Don't let anything I have said put you off, but do use it as a guide if you don't want any problems that will cost you more. Go armed to the seller, and see what you can do with the price if you suspect any of the above. Inspect the car for as long as you can - take a torch, even in the day light, so you can see all engine components in the engine bay, and underneath the car - I know they are low, but get the torch in there and inspect all nooks and crannies. Look for oil leaks, coolant levels, brake fluid level etc. When you test drive it, floor that pedal, slam those brakes, if it doesn't feel right walk away.


best of luck sir, do enjoy shopping, don't let the above worry you - there are some great Stilo's out there for little money because a vast majority of people don't know what they are and most people go for Golfs in this class. This only helps buying power because the prices are so low when compared to an equivalent Golf or Focus - use that to your advantage.

having owned 3 so far (im sure im on my last). the stilo is a very good work horse, especially the diesels.
Avoid the 1.6 (had two - would never recomend this unit - sorry 1.6 owners).

The clunks are not normal for any car (i know the clunks your talking about, as do ALL stilo owners), i would ask the owner to get it sorted before you make any sort of contract, it maybe something cheap like the droplinks - brilliant if it is, -it could also be gearbox mount (fiddly and time consuming job), -but if its the rear bushes its a bit of a job that took this board many years to finally sus the correct way of fitting them - even now its still pricey job when you add the cost of the tools into the equation.

If the seller wont get the clunk sorted walk away, its a buyers market, the stilo is dirt cheap to purchase and another will turn up.

Something that is strange on the stilo range is the 1.6 petrol and 1.9 jtd are the same insurance class, but the tax is cheaper on the diesel.

Insurance is also the same from the 3dr to the mw (well it seems there is negligible difference) as well so dont limit yourself to just the 3 dr.

All in all the stilo is a very cheap motor to run in comparison to the fords and vws etc. they are very well equiped, excellent round town (parking(returning around 46mpg)) and just as good on the motorways (returning 50-60mpg depending of your right foot).
We now also own a peugeot 407 sw 2006 and i still opt to drive the stilo which is 3 hard years older with over double the mileage.

Ive owned a stilo from new since 2003 and have generally been happy, in just over 280,000miles ive had 2 breakdowns where the car had to be towed, both of these failures was the gearbox on the 1.6. Ive covered over 160,000 in the diesel and have always got home even when the clutch went (dmf).

Sadly for fiat the stilo was underated, in fact most long time owners like myself swear by the car, i think the badge put a lot of reviewers off, if it had been a alfa badge it would have scored much higher reviews.
Personally i would feel a lot happier having my daughter drive a car that is 4* ncap than the 1 1/2* the seicento got.

JTD Stilo is solid, fast and safe. Like Roy, I've done 250k in two of them. If you find one in good condition, it's a bargain.

I too love my stilo, I have the 1.9 jtd 115 in multiwagon vareity, yes the climate fan is not working (next on the list) the sunroof blind motor has burnt out (I have one ready to go in) and the glow plug warning light come on on startup, again another job I shall do soon. The alarm has stopped (its the siren common problem), but I have had it 2 years.... and I have to say I love it, it drives great, handles well, looks lovely compared to other cars out there.

This is my second stilo, I had a new one in 2003 a 5 door 1.2 active which I had 5 years, never had a issue, my dad has had his for 10 years and the only thing that went wrong was the brake light switch (easy to sort) and the dash cluster power loss which is now fixed, been a brilliant car.

Fairly easy to work on, did my rear brakes and even with a sticky piston only took an hour, as clivvy says headlight bulbs are a pain, but no different to alot of cars out there now. When I bought mine the fog lights did not work and only 3 of the 4 side lights, it took me 3 hours to get the bumper off first time round (lots of plus gas trying not to break a bolt) but once off and headlights off, I replaced all bolts with stainless steel ones and some copper slip. I can now get the bumper off in 10 minutes now very easy and simple to do.

I would recommened one, great value car for the money mine has 121k onit now, drive great, pulls well, it has fsh and I am the 3rd owner, mine came with so many options ticked and for the price I paid, it would cost me 3 times as much for a vauxhull or a ford with the same options and year

Ive got both a Cento and a stilo jtd ,

the banging will more than likly be the Arb links , think the ones i got were £8 each ,
mines got 201k on the clock now i love it , its comfy on the road , plenty big enough and can get good mpg on a run

I would agree with what has been said. The 1.6 is to be avoided, yet is fun when it works! Overall quality on the Stilos is as good as the German and Jap equivalents, which surprised me when I drove mine for the first time. Certainly comfortable on longer journeys and has plenty of power especially from the diesel which is a proven engine.