Well, it's been a couple of months now since I get rid of the 1.8. I made a hefty loss, but I'm still certain I made the right decision. I've got to say the main problem was the dealer, who were totally useless.
The car was undriveable in the snow, due to the tyre/suspension problem, and I wasn't going to put yet another set of front tyres on with no compensation whatsoever. The dealer struggled to sort even the simplest of faults, and with a long long list I was sick of going back.
A week after selling it the dealer rang to say it had been recalled due to front tyre wear/steering/suspension. After going back time and time again for a year with baldy tyres and getting nowhere, you can imagine what i said !
So...I lost 5K in two years, but now I have a slightly smaller car that's nearly as fast, does 60MPG, is more fun to drive and the build quality is amazing compared to the Stilo.

Your advice is going to fall on deaf ears all the lot round here like fiats for some reason

No mention of this superior car...

Yeah do tell

stilos are one good car, even if your new car is a bit better built we all know it doesnt look as good as the stilo, also im not to sure why people say fiats are not well built, my sisters had her punto for 5 years and its very well made, its hardly like the door handles and steering wheel comes everytime you use it, infact nothing has ever fallen apart and people say how well built the stilo is too.

uno_94 said:

we all know it doesnt look as good as the stilo,

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His new car might be an Alfa GT JTD

Nothing ever fell off the Punto I had, but it sounded like something was about to all the time!!

wolfracepunto said:

His new car might be an Alfa GT JTD

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no he said better build quality

Is there any point to this post? Says how rubbish the Stilo is but doesn't say what car he has replaced it with; hidding something?

I agree. I read this earlier and didn't comment.

What is your point exactly? Did you come on here just to stir up trouble and slate peoples cars?

well im going to guess a focus

Each to his/her own, some people genuinely do have very big problems with their new cars. I have to say I've driven many cars including mk1,2 & 2.5 puntos bravo/a and mereas, I find the build quality similar to that of the compettitors. but some times a really naff one falls out of the factory.

Also in my experiance with franchise dealers (I used to work for toyota) its really hit and miss, even within dealer chains (e.g. curry motors or inchscape or whatever) ther are good and bad ones, its a shame, but you have to be lucy to live in the right area and to hope the people who put your car together hadn't had a few sherberts at lunch time.

custard boy said:

well im going to guess a focus

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whats wrong with that?

Alex said:

whats wrong with that?

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um and i said?

He appears to be saying that all Fiats are rubbish as he apparently had a bad one and I can sympathise to a certain extent as my Punto has been a nightmare since I bought it new 2 years ago and the last lot of problems are now in the hands of a solicitor as Fiat have refused to honour the warranty regarding an unrectified fault which was first reported a month after buying it and has been for repair 7 times but to no avail, but there are loads of Fiats on the road and they cant all be bad.

Two people at work have Stilos and one is on his second having rejected the first and the second one is showing similar problems as the first and as I liked the style of the Stilo it looked like being my next car but I'm not sure that I want to take the risk now

I think that the Fiat range APPEAR to be more problematic than other makes but then this may just be relative to the vast amount of Fiat's on the road

I had four excellent Fiats in the past which were totally trouble free and my Sporting is, in my opinion, a beautiful looking car and when it is running right it is great to drive but the dealer has had it for nearly 3 months out of the 2 years I have had it.

Final point is that the Fiat marque is let down badly by the amount of poor dealerships (but I have found a realy good one now) and also Fiat HQ don't do themselves any favours. As one mechanic said to me "you can't say the words electronics and Italian in the same sentance" and i have to agree as we also have Iveco (Fiat) 44 ton trucks at work and they are forever off the road with electronic faults, mainly semi auto gearbox failures

FIAT dealerships have, in my experience, been pretty dire. They aren't often prepared to take responsibility for problems. FIAT themselves, including their call centres have been fantastic. I've had a couple of problems with my stilo, which have eventually been rectified, for free I might add. For the price I got my car, I have no problems, I love it.
My dad has just sold his Merc, and that has been riddled with problems, and that cost nearer the 30k mark. Merc has a name for itself for being really good quality, to that extent however, my dad has had 3 mercs 2 of which were a nightmare. It goes to show that it just happens.

And to set another thing with FIAT build quality, we had a FIAT UNO SX which is still running smoothly to this day, and it's about 19years old.

BTW< good find on the focus thing... can't be afocus though cos that's a bigger car... if it is and he thinks his focus will get 60mpg he's in for a shock...

custard boy said:

well im going to guess a focus

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LOL,nice detective work

Focus is a great car,let down by poor Ford customer relations though

Oh dear, we seem to be getting a lot of these threads recently, disgruntled owners losing patience with their Stilo.

Come on Fiat, its not a bad car, its how the problems are dealt with which seems to p*ss everyone off!

James M said:

Oh dear, we seem to be getting a lot of these threads recently, disgruntled owners losing patience with their Stilo.

Come on Fiat, its not a bad car, its how the problems are dealt with which seems to p*ss everyone off!

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Look on ANY car forum it's not just Fiat.You only read the unhappy customers here not the hundreds that get work done on their cars everyday that are happy!

Fiat dealers do tend to have a slightly worse reputation than most, according to most customer surveys (e.g. Top Gear). The cars themselves, however, seem to be pretty well built, or certaintly no worse than other manufacturers.

I traded the wife's 04 plate Abarth in a few months ago now. It was a familiar story of little niggles, poor dealer support etc but to be fair the final decision to get rid of it was due to the wife's pregnancy and the lack of 5 doors....................................................Well I lasted just over two weeks untill i swapped my Mondeo back for another Stilo Abarth. A 5 door this time and it is now out of warranty which is in some way less stressful as I don't have to deal with Fiat anymore! Believe me I have hated owning a Fiat at times but the good points definately outweigh the bad.