Stilo Schumacher GP - 1 month on

Hi All,

I've had my Stilo Schumacher for just over a month now, so I thought it might be useful if I posted my experiences/feelings.

Got the car with 2000 miles on it (reg'd Feb 06) from a dealer in Leicester (I live in Bristol). Since then, I've done 2,000 miles in it.

Just over a week into ownership, the brake lights got stuck on, and there were spurious ASR & ESP faults. Luckily, the useful info here about that prevented me from having a heart attack! I dropped into the FIAT dealer and they sorted it out while I waited.

Other than that, it has been totally reliable, and hasn't set a foot wrong.

The positives of ownership for me so far:
-Fantastic sounding engine & exhaust
-Suprisingly good handling. Much better than my old SEAT Leon Cupra IMO.
-Nice bass response from the subwoofer in the boot
-Absolutely fantastic looking car
-Some really cool features on the My Car bit of the trip computer
-Interior trim quality much better than I expected
-Reasonable fuel economy for the size of the engine (I'm getting about 26MPG)
-The OZ alloys are simply incredible!
-So far (touch wood), the reliability is excellent

The negatives:
-The brakes are appalling
-The seats are pretty uncomfortable - I spent about 6 hours driving the other day which put me in quite a lot of pain
-The mid range response of the stereo is so-so, and the MP3 playing mode is a bit iffy on CDRWs
-It takes a bit of getting used to such firm suspension when hammering up and down the motorway (but worth it for the handling)
-No foot rest for my left foot. It's a really easy thing to design into a car (especially a fairly modern one) and it makes a huge difference to comfort on the motorway. Its pretty annoying to have my foot behind the clutch.
-Could do with a bit more power - my old Leon had bags of it and was a wolf in sheeps clothing. In comparison, the Schumy is a sheep in wolf's clothing. Might get it remapped, but I'm a bit concerned about the warranty.

Anyway, I just thought I would list that for any peeps looking into buying one themselves. Overall, I am very satisfied with my purchase and look forward to a good few trouble free years (hopefully)! Excellent value for money, and a generally well engineered vehicle.

Cheers!

Great review and welcome to the forum. Take a look at the Rolling Road thread to get some idea of power gains to be had with the 2.4

Thanks for an honest objective review, take you it didn't get the job with Autocar or What Car then

I love my GP warts and all....

I undertand your issue with motorway driving but fitting cruise control will make a huge difference to comfort and economy.

I drive to Kent from Birmingham every week on cruise set at about 82ish and get an average of 31.4 for the return journey which is a lot better than when im in control of the gas pedal. (ps with 95oct fuel if i use 99oct shell i get about 33ish) dificult to be totaly sure as i cain it more with good fuel.

It's really easy to fit and pretty cheap, in the guide section it tells you how. Oh and don't worry about invalidating your warrently as it won't i confirmed this with fiat before fitting.

Enjoy...

Glad you are to an extent happy with the car the shoowee is basically just an Abarth with a few extras added more so in the GP trim.
I agree with the lack of brake power on the stilo in general and its one issue that I sorted out as soon as I bought mine . You will find that a simple disc upgrade and use of better pads will go a long way to improving the braking I recently supplied to a fellow Abarth owner a disc and pad upgrade as I have a very good relationship with a shop I use and I saved him near or damn it £50 on the parts and as you are just over the seven bridge away from me then this might benefit you as well

Now the remapping of the 2.4 engine is a big + and many of the owners of another site I am a moderator on have had this done with an induction kit fitted at the same time resulting in 204/5 HP out put is that enough for you this can also be done as well for you if you wish it or see the site www.stilosport.com good luck with you car and hope you make some meets [the Welsh meets are fun and just again over the bridge from you

Thanks for the comments guys!

Mycos, cruise control sounds like a really good idea - I will definitely look into that. I still think the seats leave a lot to be desired, especially as I am a not out of the ordinary 5'11"... That said and done, I could have bought a repmobile if I wanted an easy life!

PNL, a brake upgrade sounds like an excellent idea, and I would imagine near-on essential if the car is remapped. My concern is that someone might get a it picky in the Simonstone Service department at some point, leaving me with a warranty based headache! I'll definitely give it some thought (when I have some cash again in a few months!!) - it would be nice to burn off a few Type R's!

Hopefully I'll be able to make some meets. In fact, I was at Autoitalia @ Brooklands last year with Courtster. A good day IMHO!

Anyway, one final thing I forgot to add in my initial mini review - the Stilo has absolute power to put a smile on my face whether I am driving it or looking at it. That hasn't happened since I had an Alfa 155!

Totally agree with you.

Totally agree - the 3-door Stilo with the right wheels (17") looks sooooperb....
Totally under-rated...........In true Italian style if it don't look good it ain;t worth nothing

Yeah I am already planning my next purchase - do I save up for a shiny new Brera, or do I buy a classic Alfa for the weekends? Hmmm......

Jeezo, I thought I'd written that....!
My next car will be a Brera, just have to way up which model, my heart says the V6 but my wallet says not.

I used to have an Alfa Romeo Alfetta GTV6 and have been looking at a few recently with a view to having a little project car for the occasional run out. the downside is that I live way up here in North Scotland and my choice is very limited.

I put Shell Vpower petrol in my Schumi last week and it did feel a little better, but it could be my imagination as it was 10p a litre dearer than the usual fuel I use. I also drove without the ASR the other day and by christ do you need it on normally. A little careless with my right foot and I sat spinning my front wheels at a rounabout.

I want one of this!!

AROC meet Stanford Hall?

I must have missed something on the power front....my Abarth feels over powered for the cars ability. It torque steers, wheelspins and understeers and thats with standard power! It also has quite good brakes....and I think I am a fair judge of cars having owned 40 now (including 9 Alfas and several race cars)

Alrightmarlow.......buy a classic car for the weekend. 2 cars is most definitely more fun. Ive not had just one for years now! Modern Alfas are decent cars, but they lack the sparkle of something like a Giulia GTV or GTV6. My last 2nd car was a Renault Alpine GTA....they are seriously cheap, fast and rare. Outstanding OC as well.