General Stilo abarth? should I or shouldnt I? help!

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General Stilo abarth? should I or shouldnt I? help!

I know im a bit late to the party here but if your going for an Abarth personally id say go for a manual, the selespeed does 'seem' to have a few problems!

My next Stilo is either going to be the Multijet 150 of a manual Abarth oh the decisions!
 
have to agree with all said in thread this far - my summary as below;

Well i,ve got a Abarth selespeed and i love it full auto when cruising and paddle when hint of road rage occurs...lol nice toys on the selespeed sat nav (telephone system brilliant) 20V enigine note good to.

above is the all of the abarth positives in a soundbite that i couldn't quite formulate!

PNL is fairly scathing about the abarth and selespeed reliability - partly justified. In all honesty i am fully aware of issues experienced by many members, especially on earlier cars. Yet - even though i have a later, 54 plate, "selespeed prestigio" - i have never had any problems in 9k miles during 6 months of driving. Just shows how you can get good and bad, the bad tends to slur reputations.

Having said all of that - and despite the quotation above - I would sway towards the tuning flexibility and economy of the diesel if I was buying again tomorrow....
 
I think this thread has had lots of useful information too (y)
You should by now have a pretty clear idea of which Stilo model to pick...!

As standard, the Abarth does have more power than the diesel - end of story, 'underpowered' or not. It's the fastest. I don't see where the complaints about the engine being 'underpowered' come from - it has more than twice the power of the Stilo 1.2!When comparing against other manufacturer's products, you have to consider the torque and power delivery. And the sound of the five-cylinder is great.

At the same time, other Stilo models have advantages that the Abarth does not; the 1.6 handles best, the JTD models have the best economy AND nearly the best performance, and the 5-door versions are less embarrassing if you ever want to carry more than one passenger.

I sold my Stilo Abarth because I felt it was losing too much value, using too much fuel, and it was surplus to requirements. In other ways, it was a great car.

Probably a main reason why I 'chose' the Abarth was that there isn't much choice on our market - the JTD was never sold here (because Kiwis don't like diesels) and so the only other model available was the five-door 1.6. And I prefer three doors (except, as I mentioned, the occasion where friends had to clamber over the seats to get in the back).

We could carry on addressing other inferiorities of the Stilo Abarth, but I suggest that you take a few different Stilo models out for a drive and make up your own mind :) Let us know which you decide?

Cheers!
-Alex
 
Yea cheers for your help guys you have all been really honest and have opened my eyes to many other stilo options. How much is an engine remap on the 1.9 jtd. There is one for sale at my local fiat garage with the abarth bodykit on it in that really cool blue colour.
I think ur adivce on just test drving a few is a good idea cos u can read all the bad and good reviews u like but its all opinion at the end of the day so I will definatly be going for a few test drives.
Im still edging a bit towards the abarth tho just cos of all the toys.
Then again like my boss said its a lot of money to pay for a sat nav with wheels lol so i will consieder all the other options.
Thanks again guys any more advice is most welcomed.
 
thats not too bad. The main thing that put me off about the jtd was the sound it made. It sounded a bit like a truck however that maybe cos it was sat there for a while and not very warm, but is there ne thing you can do to make them sound a bit more sporty or less truck sounding
 
I keep saying this I know, but my Stilo Multijet 150 Sporting was remapped to something in the region of 200bhp and 300 lb/ft torque. Needless to say it surprised many a more exotic car, and after fitment of a full set of Eibach springs it handled very well too!
The last thing on my mind when effortlessly passing a sports car on the motorway was the fact that at idle it sounded a little bit like a London Taxi cab :rolleyes: No, I was always ready to look out for the expression of disbelief on their faces that they had just been passed by a Fiat - and a diesel Stilo at that! LOL.
If only I'd had a passenger to photograph those muppets! (y)

And with group 11 insurance, tax band C, and 50 mpg + it was a no-brainer for me.

I shall be doing the same mods to my Bravo, once it done 1,000 miles - that you can be sure of...

Dave.
 
Lol when u put it like that the engine sound is irrelivent lol! arnt the multijet somewhere in the region of £10,000? If so its a bit out of my price range lol
 
True, but I've seen low mileage examples change hands for as little as £8000.
And of course any of the Multijet or JTD models would be fine - they all offer similar performance / gains / economy. - 16v Multijet '150' is simply the most powerful "stock" model they made, and therefore the most desirable (y)

Dave.
 
There was a Stilo 150 Multijet on here for sale in the classifieds for 6k i think (y)

Was the sporting model in black.

The diesel was the best for me due to it being cheap to insure, run, tax, and fast enough for my needs :D

once warmed through it is a lot better sounding, and it settles down at a motorway cruise :p
 
i've never had any problems with selespeed since i bought my abarth two years ago, and never had any light on my dashboard that i couldnt turn of myself
for the fuel economy - mine does 22.4mpg (on shell v-power) - cos i drive it like it should be driven - for couple pouns more a week than jtd owners i get better sound and power from the engine - just try it over 4k rpm - thats where it comes to life

for depreciation - think how long you want to own that car for - if its a year or two - than its not the best investment, but if its for longer, than i wouldnt worry about it
the choice is yours(y)
 
I would probably own it for about 2 years unless i find it really special cos i get bored of cars easily lol! the depreciation doesnt really bother me because i wud be getting a lot of car for very little money and a garage is always going to give you more than its worth when buying a car from them!
After alot of thought im going to go for the abarth selespeed with the claw alooys and the moon roof (if thats what is called) in black or sprint blue.
Now all i got to do is find one lol
 
There are a few 150 Multijet's on Autotrader for around the 8k mark last time I looked! I still cant make my mind up as you cant argue with the Multijet for pulling power running costs etc... but I do fancy driving the top model in the Stilo range! (please dont think im dissing the Multijet!) The thing for me is youll pay a higher initital price for the Multijet but pay lower tax/insurance and in the long run fuel, compared to lower initital cost but higher insurance/tax/fuel costs for the Abarh!

Arrrrgggghhh! :bang:
 
moonroof at night, skyroof in the day :D

whichever model you go for its a cracking car, just dont expect to change headlight bulbs in a bloody hurry :p:eek:

be sure to post some pictures up when you get her (y)
 
I had mine for 5 years, looked after it well. I know some people love them, i didn't.
I'd say the following things to a prospective owner.
Good
The interior wore well
It's comfortable
styling is good
It's an intersting car

Bad
The gearbox is shocking, slow and jerky.
The car is not all that fast.
The handling is dull at best.
The Nav+ is poor compared to similar systems
It rusted
Electrical very poor all round
Fiat Customer service is the worst i have experienced anywhere
People laugh at how bad it is
at 123,000 miles, mine was at the end of its life
You will loose money at a phenominal rate
I would never consider another one
 
It rusted

Now that does surprise me. Mines 4 and there's not a spot of rust anywhere on it and I live on the coast where it's salty spray and road water all year round.

As with all Stilos, if you look after it it'll look after you, just don't cheap out on servicing/parts etc. I can't comment on Selespeed as I only have the 1.2 6 speed box, but it's actually a very good gearbox inho, far better than the other vehicles in it's class (Astra, Focus etc) that I've driven.
 
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