(G) Has any Uno owner thought about buying a Stilo?

Well,
I've been reading messages in the Stilo forum for the past few hours. It has almost put me right off buying a Stilo.

If I was to replace all three of my Italians with just one, it would be a Stilo Abarth 3-dr. The price for a 2002 example is $18,000, which is £5931. The advertiser said that "trades are welcome". I rather cheekily offered my Alfa 164 - can't wait to hear what he offers for that I'm guessing $2000.

<sigh> This seems like an enormous decision to make, because for the price of that Stilo I could buy 20 good Unos. Has anyone else here been through this before? If I remember correctly, thepottleflump has - and yet he now owns an Uno Turbo!

So to briefly summarise some of the Stilo's 'character' that I've learned from the forum:
- Selespeed (hydraulically-operated manual) often jerks, sometimes stops dead, opening and closing driver's door ten times may reset the fault warning but usually requires replacement ECU, replacement clutch speed sensor (clogged with debris) or sometimes just the connector under the battery needs to be cleaned/waterproofed. Other times it is the brake pedal switch that immobilises the car...
- Reverse sensors/airbags often flag up a fault
- Stereo cannot work with iPod interfaces that are available
- Abarth version does not handle as well as base 1.6 version, due to extra weight and soft springs
- Manual versions tend to lose a piece off the synchroniser causing a third-gear crunch

I presume that owning a Stilo is therefore a lottery of avoiding expensive disasters? There have been so many stories that my FIAT, my Bertone, and my Alfa Romeo begin to look very reliable...

Is it likely to go around corners as fast as my Uno Turbo or my 164? What about acceleration? Rust resistance?

I can't really afford a Stilo - but anything is possible given the enthusiasm...

Thanks,
-Alex

Alex
Stick to the old unos that you can easily tinker around with at ease.
Not one of these modern cars that need to be plugged into a mainframe computer to change a light bulb.
What about if you get hit by another car without insurance as happened to us on our tour of your lovely island last year.
To be told it was not compulsory made our jaws drop.
Pete

I was wrong - he offered $1500 for my Alfa
He then saw my X1/9 on Trademe and offered the full $4000 reserve... quite tempting, that! Here is a car that cost $6000 that he's offering $4000 for, vs. the $1500 offered on a car that cost $8000.

As for driving without insurance... would I ever...
Basically if you have a 'nice' car that actually gets driven (like my Alfa used to) then you have 'full' insurance which was about $1000/year for me. Problem solved (and it covered the $1200 windscreen for my 164, too). This is one of the reasons why I would like to have one car rather than three.

Otherwise you get third-party insurance, which as you rightly point out leaves no recompense in those situations where you are hit by an uninsured driver. Thankfully, the only times I've been hit have been by people with insurance, though in one case the insurance company refused to pay out because they couldn't contact the driver. I had full insurance, but because my insurance company couldn't be bothered either, I ended up forking out for the repair myself! Naturally I cancelled the insurance soon after. No-one's hit me in the three years since. The savings thus pay for a complete replacement car...

I wonder if you fell foul of our wonderful give-way-to-the-traffic-turning-across rule?

Cheers,
-Alex

Of course I meant the other party not having insurance not you Alex.
We were hit by a on a one way bridge heading towards Greymouth just as we were exiting a hillbilly in his car with bald tyres going too fast skidded 40ft then hit us as we stood stationary on the bridge.
The local police knew him well as did the body shop we booked the campervan in to get fixed.
We had to pay a massive excess because of him with no re course as he is broke.
At least he was done for dangerous driving not that we will be back just for a court case.
Pete

Hello again Alex.

I jumped directly from the Uno to a 2002 model 1.6 Stilo.

It handles very well, but are softer than I had hoped. The seller (Motor Forum in Norway is owned by FIAT, and very professional) recommended an Eibach kit for appx. 30 mm lowering (including shocks). This would improve handling, and decrease roll.

It's Jet Blue color coded by the way...

So why not?

Morten.

I love the look of the 3 door Stilo, especially the Abarth version. But like Morten I've heard the suspension is a bit 'soft' as standard. Also like PeterG, I am wary of modern cars because of all the electronic wizardry. My friend's Multipla developed an 'Engine Control Fault' according to the display, and the only way to deal with it was to take it to a dealer with diagnostics. The diagnostics cost almost as much as I bought my Uno for

But sooner or later I'm going to have to bite the bullet and get a more modern vehicle. In fact, I already have...

Got myself a 1996 Punto 75SX! Very cheap, and needs a bit of work to get back on the road. But I'm keeping hold of the Uno in case A. I don't like the Punto and B. so I can carry out all my planned modifications to it

Oh, and I just did a drive from the East Midlands earlier tonight. 120 miles in approx. 1 hour and 50 minutes. My 20 year old Uno 45 didn't miss a beat and spent most of the journey sitting at 80mph

The Punto has a VERY tough act to follow

But I do like the look of the 3 door Stilo, so maybe in a few years time when they get cheap enough I might well get one. And I'll make sure it has the Eibach suspension kit on it to tidy up the handling...

New cars are wonderful to drive compared to old cars........Till things go wrong with them!!!!!!! My Golf has had problem after problem such as glass falling inside door, central locking problems etc nothing major but a proper ballache when the glass fell inside it was pissing down with rain outside and i had to store the car in my mates garage till i had the problem fixed. Also had various sensors malfunction causing it to cut out on braking which is a common fault i've heard. And people always say Its a VW or its German etc and its the most reliable car in the world blah blah blah. The truth is every car will have its fair share of problems at some stage in its life and the stilo is no exception to this rule. Moral of the story is just remember the more advanced technology a car has the more it will cost to repair when things do eventually go wrong.

F R O $ T Y

no stilo in israel
only
tipo
uno
tempra
punto
panda

Really, I assume the Tipo is cheaper to make than the Stilo hence why they don't sell it there. Tipo is still a cracking car.

The 3 door Sedicivalvole Tipo is also a gorgeous looking car as well as a bit of a road burner

I had an Uno about 14 years ago. It was a 70SX with brown cord trim, and went pretty well. I never serviced it, put £3 of fuel in it at a time and it wouldn't die. In the end a bag of carp pellets spilled in the boot (which leaked) some flies got in... and you can guess the rest!

but I digress, the Stilo is a brilliant car (although we have only had ours a couple of weeks) it feels completely different, much more 'mature'. I can't believe I own the same car that is written about here actually, she feels solid.

go for it mate.

no Stilo in israel
we only have
UNO - untill 1996
Tipo
Brava , Bravo
punto
coupe

Umm... yes, I did go for it That was about four or five months ago now.

I like it very much and I think it is 'me' as well. It dawned on me the other day that while the 'performance' model from any other manufacturer would have drilled aluminium pedals, red mesh on the seats, chequerplate floormats, etc. (and nothing wrong with any of that!) my Stilo has a simply-styled beige leather interior with none of the sporting pretentions - it's just a very nice place to be.

I should get around to doing something about the wheels (that a previous owner scratched) but apart from that, it's polished up really well and I'm proud to drive it around.

-Alex