you had joined this forum before you decided. I got one about a week ago , it's got it's share of problems, all of which are far too common on here. I really wish I had joined about a fortnight ago and spent a week reading up on them first. I know all cars have some degree of minor , and in some cases , major faults from new which need to be corrected , but having owned many different cars from Fords , Renaults and some prestige BMW Mercedes etc I have to say that Fiat are by far the worst I have encountered . Top Tip then , before you buy your next car , whatever make or model , join a forum before hand and find out what you are letting yourself in for, it might save you a fortune.

Most people with a brain cell find out about a cars faults before they buy them, I read about the variator issue with hgt's and it came in handy when haggling.

i always advise people to do some research before buying, but the stilo's faults arent that hard to fix so some research should make you want one even more. you can use a long list of common faults when going to buy a car to your advanatge. finding faults will lower the price. then you fix the faults with the help of a forum like this and you get a fault free car for cheap.

bit late to use the info for haggling now, but you can still fix them easily with the help of the forum.

what faults do you have?

I bought mine blind, problem is if you look at any car dedicated forum most people will only post if they have a problem thus giving you an unfair opinion of the car.

activematt said:

I bought mine blind, problem is if you look at any car dedicated forum most people will only post if they have a problem thus giving you an unfair opinion of the car.

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I also bought mine blind I have always like the fiat stilo and when I thought "Well its time for a change " I saw three in the car shop and picked out mine as the others were 3dr then when I got it home started to use a PC to look on ebay to see what was available for the car did a bit of googling and found fiat forum read for quite a time an thought What the hell have I bought had some issues with the car but I'm not sorry now that I bought it "I LOVE MY STILO"

activematt said:

I bought mine blind, problem is if you look at any car dedicated forum most people will only post if they have a problem thus giving you an unfair opinion of the car.

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Spot on

.....and as many members will tell you - had they'd stayed with the forum for a few months then they most likely wouldn't have bought a Stilo anyway.


.....which most admit would be at their loss

i brought mine because i liked it! Didnt do much research before hand apart from pricing and seeing if i was getting a good deal, etc.. checked the normal things you look for on a car to make sure it hadnt been in acident,etc... But didnt look on this place till after having the car for a while and coming across a few niggles! No car is perfect - they all require some periodical work, which is general wear and tear! And other things can be down to how you treat your car...

Personally the stilo is a great car and its different - which suits me

........although ive lost a ridicously amount of money on the car as i found out when i was looking at trading it in! My losses were calculated around nearly £3k for each year ive owned the car :bang: and owning the car for two n half years it was not a happy site! i suppose its due to the car now just coming out the 3year warrenty which is when it'll probaly loose the biggest %

But then on the otherside, when i brought the car it was six month old if that and i got a lot of toys, etc for my money in comparison to over cars!

I see you own a renault megane, my freind brought a clio 182 sport around the same time a few years back when i brought my stilo. Cost him a few more K and is still only worth that few more k so i suppose the depreciation has been around the same. But theres one thing his car spent half of that time in the garage being repaired..

I take all your points on board , the main reason for buying the stilo for my daughter was the fact it was an 02 plate car for v plate money (£1950) I thought the newer the car the less likely it is to need constant repairs in the future, and now that I have sorted most of the niggles out hopefully this will be the case , and she is very pleased with it, although it was a birthday surprise , she had been hinting at a car , but I think she was expecting an older corsa or saxo 1.1 , so an 02 1.6 active [a/c] was a real bonus. Having read a large number of posts , I think I am more disappointed with the level of dealer service and satisfaction, particularly when it comes to warranty work, but as the warranty has expired on the stilo I wont have to go near a fiat franchise. I saw an article on Men & Motors a couple of weeks before I got her the Stilo , saying that you would only get £4500 in p/x at a dealer , on a 12 month old car , making it the fastest depreciating car in the uk , and at the same time one of the best used car buys. Anyway enough ranting for now but whatever my next car will be I will definately join a forum before I buy. One last point , about the Clio 182 , I had one before the Megane, got a new 05 plate and kept it for exactly one year to the day , lost £2500 after selling it privately with less than 7,000 miles, great car , just a bit small for everyday life, never went back to the dealer once.

a bit of research would have helped as the stilo was introduced on an 02 plate and like any brand new model, manufacturers rush to get the cars into the showrooms and there are always problems at the beginning.All makes and models are prone to this whether it be a lowly fiat or a rolls royce phantom (recall recently issued due to possibility of airbag going off unannounced).

as for depreciation, yes fiats do suffer a bit more than most but they are no means the worst (citroen c5 anyone???), but it works both ways as the buyer can get into a newer car cheaper - try finding a decent 02 plate focus for £1950 and then you'll see how much car you get for the money!!

before you reply that i would say that to defend my car, I can only speak as I find as my car has never developed any faults (haven't even used the warranty), has never let me down ,dealer is fine, and yes i will lose money when it comes to replacing it but this wont be for a few years yet so will start to level off

as for renaults, i regard them in the league as fiat (reliability wise) - you get good ones and bad ones and i bet their forum has just as many horror stories as this one.

anyway my fingers now hurt so i'll stop except to say MULTIWAGONS RULE !!!!!!!!!:slayer: :slayer:

kev1 said:

.....i would say that to defend my car.....

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Think you're being unnecessarily defensive there Kev

Given a choice of a Ford, Renault, BMW, Mercedes or Fiat:

I'd drop the Ford & BMW straight away (just too common and bland)
The Mercedes 'A' series does at least share the Stilo's fancy sky roof but otherwise I can't get that excited about it. This leaves the Fiat and the Renault. I don't dislike Renaults (had a few in the past) but when you put the Stilo and Megane side by side I'd say the Stilo wins both on looks and feel of quality

Rob N/West said:

you had joined this forum before you decided. I got one about a week ago , it's got it's share of problems, all of which are far too common on here. I really wish I had joined about a fortnight ago and spent a week reading up on them first. I know all cars have some degree of minor , and in some cases , major faults from new which need to be corrected , but having owned many different cars from Fords , Renaults and some prestige BMW Mercedes etc I have to say that Fiat are by far the worst I have encountered . Top Tip then , before you buy your next car , whatever make or model , join a forum before hand and find out what you are letting yourself in for, it might save you a fortune.

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Well I bought two after I found the forum. The first was a fantastic 1.6 Dynamic and it only ever had one airbag failure in the 18 months I had it. It was just too slow and the wrong colour. Picked up a 04 JTD in yellow and had 1 fault apart from the airbag that cleared itself. I have had Vauxhalls, Audis, Fords, Rovers, Mitsubishi and the Fiat is the only manufacturer I have gone back for a second helping. I know the risks and as said before, all manufacturers have issues with cars and dealers but unless you go on a specialised forum you may not get to hear how bad they are. Sort out the faults and you might get to like it

stilo or megane , megane everytime , looks and build quality.

added a few pics of cars gone by so you know what I base my opinion on

All nice apart from the pug. It's down to personal preference which looks better but I have never looked twice at a Megane unless it was that 3 litre jobby. I don't dislike them, quite nice that one in the pic. My Stilo turns heads, people stop to look at it as its not that common. Something must have attracted you to in the first place?

I don't see a Stilo in your pics.

I bought my Schumy after reading the info here, and I think most complains had to do with second hand neglected cars.
I believe that with due maintenace and good care my Schumy will be a superb car!!

got the clio for my wife, she said after a couple of weeks she would have preferred a megane, sold the clio after a year ,waited a few weeks , til she said "those 206 soft tops look nice" , saw one cheap enough on ebay , got it , 2 days later " I dont like it " Sold that , middle of summer , made a small profit so got her the blue Megane in the picture, she loves it. I liked it so much I sold the merc as I wasn't using it, preferred the Megane also. Got a bit put by now for MY next car but haven't decided what to get yet

Athos said:

I don't see a Stilo in your pics.

I bought my Schumy after reading the info here, and I think most complains had to do with second hand neglected cars.
I believe that with due maintenace and good care my Schumy will be a superb car!!

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No Stilo in the pics , its my daughters , she is always out in it , only had it a few days , will post some if SHE ever cleans it and leaves it on the drive long enough

Rob N/West said:

got the clio for my wife, she said after a couple of weeks she would have preferred a megane, sold the clio after a year ,waited a few weeks , til she said "those 206 soft tops look nice" , saw one cheap enough on ebay , got it , 2 days later " I dont like it " Sold that , middle of summer , made a small profit so got her the blue Megane in the picture, she loves it. I liked it so much I sold the merc as I wasn't using it, preferred the Megane also. Got a bit put by now for MY next car but haven't decided what to get yet

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I gave a try with the Megane turbo Sport and test drive it but as they say the Megane 3 doors coupe is a love or hate it!!

For me it was hate. :devil:

I bought my Stilo blind, again because of the price of a pre reg one and the stuff in it compared to other cars of the same price, and the fuel economy. My mate paid the same at the time for a y plate focus, which wasnt as nice inside. Really want an Alfa next but its likely to be a ford as I can do without trips to a garage all the time.

I agree with the comments about the reliability of renaults and the randomness of it all, my old man has a new shape megane saloon (ugly monster!) and that has had failures on its electrics, ECU and coil packs meaning had to be towed by the AA- something my stilo hasnt (until my gearbox exploded friday) everything my stilo has had done to to it has been little niggles, which before the box exploded had stopped cropping up. Ny uncle also has a megane (estate, new shape) and nothing has gone wrong with that at all. Same as the user on here whos stilo never failed them.

Our Kids got the new shape Micra and even thats broken down 3 times since he got it and thats on a 55 plate- and thats a nissan.

Out of the 3 dealers nissan have been the best, getting things sorted without argument or questioning, giving a courtesy car. Old mans renault is through Arnold Clark, and i dont think the old mans to keen on them now. My dealer has been ok but FIAT UK have been absolute pigs about my whole gearbox issues, and it took it till it exploded for them to resolve a complaint, 6 months after passing it.

£ 1950 is great value Rob/West , where did you find it ? I think Meganes look cool and also have the left foot rest. The Stilo 5 door however is very spacious, excellent value and quite economical with reasonable performance. I bought mine at a car auction and couldn't believe how cheap it was at one year old; i've since found out why , but only had the usual Stilo problems. ie engine cutting out , airbag, worn tyes, water pump ,water in lights and radio packed up.

ricardo said:

£ 1950 is great value Rob/West , where did you find it ? I think Meganes look cool and also have the left foot rest. The Stilo 5 door however is very spacious, excellent value and quite economical with reasonable performance. I bought mine at a car auction and couldn't believe how cheap it was at one year old; i've since found out why , but only had the usual Stilo problems. ie engine cutting out , airbag, worn tyes, water pump ,water in lights and radio packed up.

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Got mine from a girl of ebay , by chance , the same girl who I got the 206 from. She is trying to become a trader , but she is not very good. I was looking thru the listings and the Stilo came up, it was on about £1100 with an hour to go , clicked on it and noticed it was the same girl , knew she was a bit wet behind the ears so I went to view. She had got it from auction about a month ago , showed me the receipt, £2215 . In the month she had it she MOT'd it and had it valeted. She told me she had lost heart in the trade and was getting fed up , she just wanted to make her money back, offered her £1800 and we carried on haggling to £1950. How it passed the MOT with a broken spring I dont know, maybe it happened just after , checked the mot on the dvla / vosa website and it checks out ok.