hello everyone, i have finally joined your fantastic forum after about a year of DAILY browsing. you see, i just didnt want to join before i actually had a stilo, thought of it being rather pointless otherwise.
iv been a stilo owner wannabe for nearly two years now, i dont care if it breaks down every week, i just love it to bits for all its good and bad, because its got one thing almost all cars miss out on, and thats character. im sure all you guys appreciate that too :slayer:

round about june last year everything seemed set to buy me a stilo, so i went hunting for one, and i stumbled upon an advert for a fiat dealer in scunthorpe that they were doing an interest free finance option with no deposit for a limited time only on all their used cars. not believeing myself i went all the way up there (6 hours driving!) and spent an hour choosing the car i liked, it was an 04 stilo 1.4 3 door sporting (i know theres no such trim, but dealer said they added the 17" claws and the cd changer on top of the active trim so they gave it a sporty tag that was soft on the insurance) with 14000 miles on the clock for £6250. then i took the stilo for a 45 min test drive, and it was fantastic, really for a 1.4 it was better than my mates 1.6 mk5 golf, it pulls in every gear, even 6th!

anyways after decisions were made we sat down to do all the paperwork, and thats when i found out that the finance deal was a big fat lie, the manager then had a bit of sympathy for me driving all the way there from cardiff said that i can have 0% finance if i paid a deposit of £4250!!!! and in all honest that on its own would have bought me a nice stilo. to say i was fuming is an understatement :bang:

anyways, enough of the storytelling, i need your help everyone to find me a nice stilo.

now my budget has dropped a bit to a max of £3500. i know its not much, but a bit of searching the interweb showed me that i can still get something nice.

i really want a JTD, but i think a decent one would be out of my budget. i dont want a 1.6, so i guess its either a 1.4 or 1.2

now i know how the 1.4 drives, but could someone with a 1.2 plz tell me what its like, im a bit wary of the small engine big car theme there.

now my preferences in ORDER :

1) Skyroof
2) Yellow, if not then BlackBerry (that dark purple colour), if not then black, then anything other than non metallic red :yuck:

oh, and it has to be a 3 door

so if anyone has one that fit my needs, or has seen anyone then gimme a shout plz, then i would really be part of the stilo massive:slayer:

thanks everyone, and sorry bout the long post

TBH I think you could get a decent JTD for around the £5k mark (i got my JTD for £5.5k with 40k and 03 reg)
something tlike this http://atsearch.autotrader.co.uk/www/CARS_popup.asp?searchform=&modelexact=1&lid=search_used_cars_full&photo=1&state=none&sort=3&hassearched=Y&make=FIAT&min_pr=75&source=0&model=STILO&max_pr=6000&agerange=&mileage=&miles=1500&trim=jtd&keywords=&postcode=ng17+7ff&ukcarsearch_full.x=35&ukcarsearch_full.y=14&start=5&distance=54&adcategory=CARS&channel=CARS&id=200650261823416

plus a JTD is the same insurance group as a 1.4

See the post just come up in this section as an owner is selling his 53 plate 1.6 and I'm in cardiff as well would be nice to see you at some meets

£3500 for a JTD is more Bravo territory than Stilo.

thx guys for your replies,

dan and hellcat, i know £3500 isnt a lot of money, but a bit of searching shows it can still bag a lovely stilo, theres a metallic red 1.2 02 3dr with claws and skyroof with average miles on autotrader for less than that. its all about searching well and being patient.

pnl, il have a look at that 1.6 although i dont really fancy one, but id love to come to the meets as soon as i get m' stilo :slayer:

Hellcat said:

£3500 for a JTD is more Bravo territory than Stilo.

Click to expand...

But then again ?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/fiat-stilo-1-...382QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item290069896703

Can't see that hanging around for long!

bozzy said:

But then again ?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/fiat-stilo-1-...382QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item290069896703

Click to expand...

Another dodgy ebay car seller? :bang:

for £3500 you can have my 1.2 in black.

Big Black Stilo said:

for £3500 you can have my 1.2 in black.

Click to expand...

Oh no he cant :nono:

thanks guys for your input,

big black stilo, ur offer sounds ok and its black too but as i sed at the start i dunno what the 1.2 is like. i mean the stilo is a big car, so id need some thoughts on that first from you guys and maybe a test drive. iv driven the 1.4 and that was fab, and the engine is pretty much the same as far as i know.

however sadly the purchase will have to be postponed till mid feb

on the plus side theres a fantastic 1.9JTD dynamic on autotrader in broom yellow for £3750, missing the skyroof tho, and no mileage, so maybe quite high

PNL said:

Oh no he cant :nono:

Click to expand...

why??

OzMoSiS said:

why??

Click to expand...

Cos we dont wanna lose him from the massive :bang:

Paid just over £2k for mine from a mate. 50k on the clock JTD Dynamic with Skyroof 16" 205 alloys. Cost me £300 to get a few bits sorted.

Bargain I rekon.

They are out there.....

im sure big black stilo only wants to sell his stilo to get another one its in our blood pnl so noone is gonna leave the massive :slayer:

lobster, im m i really am. how in the world was that possible??!! and it seems perfect too. lucky you mate, thats a fabulous bargain.

as you said, they are out there, its just havin the patience to find one, and thats why i need your help people :worship:

Well to be honest, the mate I bought it from is a trader. Had a knocking noise from the front end, couldn't be bothered to deal with it and did me a favour (he thought it was serious). Replaced a shock absorber, full filter/oil change, MOT and the car is good as new.

I'm a lucky ba***ard I guess, but if you can get one that seems a bit knackered (provided its not high mileage and it itsn't the engine), then they are quite easy to fix up.

On the road price for me after MOT and everything was a little under £2400.

Oh and if you do get one with 205 16" wheels with 3 doors, they do handle well. Even with the 19 JTD 115 lump in them.

ok update,

so i finished exams and the hunt is on again.

i am torn, between a couple of jtd's or a luvly 1.6 dynamic. as i said before, i dont want a 1.6 due to running costs, i know its the same insurance group but from whats being posted on the forum, its a bit of a ba*tard engine on consumption.

so im looking for a bit more feedback from you guys regarding the 1.6. some posts say when its looked after (i.e lambda sensors, air filter and so on are clean) it can be quite economical, others are having nightmares stuck at 25ish mpg. also is it that gutless?, because nearly every website say its underpowered and breathless, especially with the stilo's bulk.

thanks, Oz

Our 1.6 is now averaging 32mpg around town, as my mum (who drives normally) is using it again. I drove it yesterday and am so impressed with it, not that much slower than the 1.8. Great car!

well thats not too bad rroope, im starting to wonder into the territory of the dedicated threads talkin about the 1.6's consumption, but is the power increase over the other pertrols worth the sacrifice in mpg? as i mentioned most websites say its not too good. i know everyone is probably shouting at me now to go and test drive a stilo so i find out for myself lol

i will be doin around 10k of mixed driving a year, but a lot of that will be town driving, so i dont think a diesel will be that much more economical than the 1.6. im a bit

the other thing is nearly all the 3doors that iv found are at least 100 miles away, so i want to be really sure before commiting myself to viewing one, because at that distance itl mean that im BUYING it and not just viewing. also the fiat dealer that was here in cardiff has closed, so i cant test drive something there.

pah! Go for the 1.8 if your going for the petrol! I get around town 32-35mpg, slightly longer runs to work 36-40mpg and then on long journeys mid 40's! But mine has been remapped! Its quite a rare varient in comparison to the 1.6, but is still cheap to run - only being insurance group 7! And is more compairable with the jtd.