Folks,
Just returned from darkest Dorset after a weeks course, the deep joy I had was two hire cars when I was down there, one to get me where I was going and the other to get me back to the airport.
1st hire car was a Renault Megane TD. Nice things - very quiet, 6 speed box. Bad things? Myriad.... try crap seating position, dodgy electrics (on a '55 registered car I ask you?!) and it just felt "cheap" Hated the key/card thing - autostart gives me the creeps
2nd hire car: New Focus TD. I was looking forward to this as I was always impressed by the previous Focus Inside it's nice enough but it's not all that good. Fine to drive, headlights are good but compared to either the Megane or the Stilo what a gutless wonder! Quick enough on the up take but no grunt in 5th and frankly pretty unimpressive as a package on the whole.

Got back to Aberdeen and the wife picked me up in the Stilo - I drove home. Felt grand, went like stink and all together more "involving" than what could arguably be considered two of it's prime competitors. So my question is this - why haven't Fiat sold many many more of them? It really is a good car compared to the two competitor examples I drove. Now all I have to manage is a test of all the remianing competitors.... yikes, that could take a while

I supose it's because it's a Fiat
People who are clueless look at Fiats from sh*t tinted spectacles, at least we know how good they are and we can laugh at them driving their more expensive lesser equiped motors.

I like it that way tbh, it's what gives us that extra warm feeling when we see another one on the road

KoArAnG said:

I supose it's because it's a Fiat
People who who are clueless look at Fiats from sh*t tinted spectacles, at least we know how good they are and we can laugh at them driving their more expensive lesser equiped motors.

I like it that way tbh, it's what gives us that extra warm feeling when we see another one on the road

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I think you just about sumed it up there Mark people look at ford/vauxhall and many other makes but they also have many faults and in many cases are well over priced [LONG LIVE FIAT] :woot:

Yep, Mark you got it right. I could have bought an Astra or similar but, to be honest, didn't even look at them. I like my cars to be a little unusual and rare. Having a Fiat is a 'choice'.
Choosing the Stilo, 3dr, and then confounding it with yellow paint on top has made my car truly a bit of an oddity round these parts. I love that feeling and every time I see another Stilo just wanna wave :wave:

Fiat are still suffering from the rust disasters of the late 70s. Even my dad goes on about it periodically and he had a Tempra before I ever had any Fiat.

People conveniently forget that all Jap cars were rustbuckets too.
Also there's a lot of people who would prefer to pay over the odds to get an overrated German car rather than save a packet and buy a Fiat.

I've nearly always owned a Lancia, so when the opportunity came to replace my deer-smighted Renault (thank you insurers ) I was set on either a Stilo (which I'd always liked), an Alfa (147 or 156 JTD) or remotely a Honda or SEAT.
But that was it, none of the others really caught my eye..... ofcourse, everyone still thinks I'm barking for buying a Fiat but I always have been eccentric (see opening line - Lancia enthusiast ). So are we all completely and utterly barking mad, or perfectly sane???

Might just have to go and have a quick pint ot think that one over

Best competitor to the stilo currently in my eye is the citroen C4 only car that has the looks and a similar amount of specs to be in the same area. Plus has a 138bhp diesel if thats what your after. or a 180bhp petrol engine. So is rather similar to the JTDs and Abarth performance wise too.

why hasn't fiat sold many stilos???

when was the last time you saw a decent ad campaign for it??

if noone knows about it - how can they sell it

Unfortunatly the Stilo is selling pretty poorly, is pretty much seen as the weakest in class (even if it isn't) and has terrible residual values. Fiat are desperate to replace it.

Has anyone seen the new Honda Civic, now that looks like a great car from what I've seen.

thepottleflump said:

Has anyone seen the new Honda Civic, now that looks like a great car from what I've seen.

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Yes, the good lady wife has it in mind to replace her 1.4 'R' reg Civic (125K miles, no breakdowns and in the last 7 years 100% reliable) with one of the new ones which do look very smart indeed - as usual with Honda, a tad on the expensive side. Demand is high up here for them so I suspect residuals will stay on the high side for a bit

Kev1 made a point about advertising - have to agree, Fiat/Alfa group (perhaps less so Alfa) seem to have problems marketing their mid and large sized models. As the Fiat delaer in Inverness put it to me when we were Stilo shopping (I may have para-phrased a bit) "Fiat have always a good name for small cars, I can sell the new Panda and Punto until the cows come home. But anything else with a Fiat badge is a bar steward to shift".

Good for all Stilo owners, a bit of exclusivity Not so good for the trade in price however