hi im new to this forum, i wonder if some of you would give me the hi's and lo's on buying a fiat stilo....

im thinking of buying a 2003 19jtd fiat stilo active , im just a bit dubious about buying one as ive never owned a fiat before and to be honest have never even heard a good or bad report about them, i spent most of yesterday reading reviews about them and i got a mixed response so before i buy into one could you all please give me your opinions on them good or bad before i buy.

thanks in advance
belfast_lad

How much time have you got

PNL said:

How much time have you got

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is that for good points or bad lol...... no serious tho i just dont want to buy into something that i might regret .. i forgot to mention its got 35k miles and the price of it is £4495 i do know that cras are a lot more costly in northern ireland than they are on the mainland so any advice would br great

I don't now much about JTD's but that seems like a bit of a steal!

If you trawl through threads then you'll be able to see the most common problems, which of course will give you an idea of what to look out for on a test drive etc.

belfast_lad said:

is that for good points or bad lol...... no serious tho i just dont want to buy into something that i might regret .. i forgot to mention its got 35k miles and the price of it is £4495 i do know that cras are a lot more costly in northern ireland than they are on the mainland so any advice would br great

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Ok lets see :chin: first of all if its the 80 bhp one walk away and go for the 115bhp one :yum: but if your not interested in extra performance from the car the 80bhp one will do you next test drive it to get a feel for the car ..and see if you can spot anything obviously wrong IE- warning lights coming upon the dash brakes good and steering etc don't be afraid to ask question and if they cant answer then be wary now your back on the forecourt check the body for any signs of damage and respraying work and general condition of the interior look for ware and tare of the front drivers seat [crap material] have a look at the condition of the tyres see if they have ware to the inside of the fronts and the out side of the rears this could indicate tracking probs ..you should be listening for any knocking noises as well from the suspension as front drop links are a favorite failure and dry bushes which can be lubricated [say to them GOD that sounds serious ]just be thorough and take your time about it there's always another car some where that's the right one for you GOOD LUCK

thanks very much mate i'll let you all know if i buy it or not

belfast_lad said:

thanks very much mate i'll let you all know if i buy it or not

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Just take you time and make sure everything is working [good bargaining point if its not ] oh and check the air con [almost forgot:bang: ] they suffer with failer due to broken supply pipes and it looses all the gas and can be expensive to get fixed mines broken but I'm not bothered with the weather we have in this country once again Good luck

The thing with stilos is one minute you'll be pulling your hair out cos of some daft little fault that really is something and nothing, like warning lights flashing up for no real reason - the next minute you'll be hammering round country roads and everything will just click into place, and you'll understand why people put up with driving a car with an unfairly bad reputation.

Just drive it like it's meant to be driven and then try not to grin like an idiot.

You'll fail.

:slayer:

Couldn't have said it better myself...and there's very few people that would disagree with you!

heres a pic of the actual car she looks clean

Nice car, mines a MW and I still don't think I made a bad decision. It's been far better than anyone would give the model credit for. There are bad ones out there but that's the same with any car. just take your time and make sure you like it.

Hi & welcome,
try this review, it seems unbiased and against the usual journos who seem to hate fiats for some reason
http://uk.cars.yahoo.com/car-reviews/car-and-driving/fiat-stilo-2004958.html

Good luck
Steve

Nice, looks like my mum's . . . although as I always say, get those mirrors and doors painted!

To be honest, with it being a 53 plate, I expect most of the "Niggles" would have been ironed out by then anyway. Great car, go for it

belfast_lad said:

heres a pic of the actual car she looks clean

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Great car mate, same as mine (you obviously have great taste!!!!) get some alloys on there, colour code the handles, rub strips and mirrors and you will have one fine looking motor, that you can be extremly proud of


Enjoy Stilo ownership :slayer:

was down looking at the car again and noticed theres a tape deck in it and not a cd player what year did they make the stilo with cd players ? plus i thought i read theres a hidden glove box somewhere ? lol but i cant remember where i read it ??

Ralph Patterson in Carrickfergus?

I'm in Belfast and have a 2004 Stilo MW 1.6. I can't really fault the car, it's roomy, comfortable, reliable, etc, etc. The thing is, if you listen to what other people say about Fiats (especially in NI) then you never own one! The Stilo has an unfair reputation, it's actually a very capable car. If you buy it you'd be very welcome at the NI Italian Motor Club, www.niimc.net

My 04 Active Aircon has a tape deck as well, that car is an Active, so that's right. The hidden glovebox is above the normal one, it flips up to reveal a very handy space.

belfast_lad said:

was down looking at the car again and noticed theres a tape deck in it and not a cd player what year did they make the stilo with cd players ? plus i thought i read theres a hidden glove box somewhere ? lol but i cant remember where i read it ??

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Its hidden above the normal glovebox! Give the dash a tug. I was lookin around for a while when I got mine before I found it even though I knew it was there. As for the tape deck..check ebay there are a few on there. Buy a cd and put the tape up for sale. Or check classifieds on here

Mine came with a tape player, but I told the garage I'd only take it if they threw in the 1-din facia so I could put my Caliber headunit in. They gave me the facia for nothing (would usually cost about 20 notes) and I slapped the HU in. The up side of doing it that way is you can select your own CD player. The down side is that on mine the stero repeat on the LCD console display doesn't work. In my opinion, go for the tape deck and get them to throw in the facia. If it comes to it you could always get a cheapy CD player til you can afford a decent one.

Small side note: Caliber, although not massively well known, or easy to find for that matter, seem to be really good stuff. My headunit cost me 149GBP and its muckin fagic!

Steve said:

Ralph Patterson in Carrickfergus?

I'm in Belfast and have a 2004 Stilo MW 1.6. I can't really fault the car, it's roomy, comfortable, reliable, etc, etc. The thing is, if you listen to what other people say about Fiats (especially in NI) then you never own one! The Stilo has an unfair reputation, it's actually a very capable car. If you buy it you'd be very welcome at the NI Italian Motor Club, www.niimc.net

My 04 Active Aircon has a tape deck as well, that car is an Active, so that's right. The hidden glovebox is above the normal one, it flips up to reveal a very handy space.

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yes mate thats him seems a good bloke to deal with..... do u know him ? ?

No, but I know the website.