(G) A guide to buying a cheap 2.4 Stilo Abarth!

hello every 1.

i have been reading this forum for quite awhile now, last nite i decided to register.

In a few months i want to change my w-reg 1.4 16v megane for a 2.4 selespeed abarth stilo.

i've been doing alot of research on stilos, and ive even gone into look at how to mod the engine for applying a turbo or supercharger (but thats a different topic).

rito, your all stilo veterans now. so i was wanting to start up a guide on what to look out for, when buying a stilo.

i heard that after 2003 the stilo reliablity issues where resolved due to contruction changes and relocating to newer factories..

but while reading the forum i think i might of missed some thing more obvious, some member mentioned a fiat stilo faclift...? is there such a thing? i thought all stilos where the same...

im un sure what this is but on some stilos i notice that the bonnets are more defined than others, this maybe a optial illusion with different colours or it could be me being stupid.. is this what theyre on about.. or isit anouther issue, HELP im confused..

p.s. remeber i also want tips on buying 1 too a shinny silver one

The face lifts were very subtle (appearance wise anyway). The bonnets didn't change. I know the 5 door's rear lights were changed, and, er, I think that's about it cosmetically. But like you say, a few of the niggles were 'ironed out' in 2003, and the 1.2 was replaced with a 1.4.

Hi John,

They also changed the badging on the rear in 2004.
The Abarth lost the matrix display, which is a colour multifunction screen in between the rev counter and the speedo, it was replaced with a small LCD display which does pretty much the same stuff but it's not so fancy.
Although the matrix dash can be retro fitted as proved with my 54 plate selespeed.

Oh yeah they also changed small things like the gear stick, the vents and the sat nav surrounds. They went from a shiny silver to a matt silver.
Also the washer jets and the roof strips are now black plastic instead of painted plastic, but these are really not noticable.

Thanks for the info guys.

i've noticed that certain models have the abarth icon on the side skirts and on the back boot and some do not- and ive heard that only the yellow colour (which isnt my cup of tea) comes with these icons..


also which is the best source on the net to keep my eye out for stilos for sale, im normally check up on autotrader

http://atsearch.autotrader.co.uk/msn...FIND+IT+NOW%21


my budget is anything under £6000

what about ebay???

few examples here for you kidda

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/2002-FIAT-STIL...QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/52-FIAT-STILO-...QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/2002-FIAT-STIL...QQcmdZViewItem

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Fiat-Stilo-2-4...QQcmdZViewItem

sorry to hi-jack, but how do you retro fit the colour matrix??!!

Could well be you were looking at some 3 doors along with 5 doors and multiwagons. The front end is slightly different on the 3 door

Not worth the effort IMO. I was never impressed with it though, wasted opportunity.

I like my colour matrix, with it showing oil pressure/temp details 99% of the time.

Just ask fiat for a replacement dash, and tell them you want the older one I didn't ask for mine, I got lucky when I had my damaged dials replaced. But the system will have to be fully linked to the sat nav unit so that it shows all the correct info from each screen, I don't think it would be cheap.

cheers for the responce guys, im normally useless with ebay, can't find a thing.. when i did a search for stilo's it came up with seatbelt and key chains..

but i did notice that most of those on ebay are abit over priced.

i'm aiming for some thing between 30k-50k so all the parts should me broken in, the engine temptered harder and most of the easy parts either changed or about to be changed, alternator belts, disks, breaks, timing belt's, spark plugs, oil, all filters.. etc..

any 1 know what other sources there are... btw we should keep this thread going or make anew called BARGIN OF THE MONTH, and put in the cheapest stilo abarth or JTD on there...

I used the cruise control a huge amount of the time and basically showed a blank display. They could have done so much more with it!

Or just keep a watch out in the Auction Watch section of the forum, where all eBay links get moved to

Don't forget Classifieds on here.

ooooooooooooh that is posh, i didnt know about that function of the forum yet..

thanks guys! :SPAM: