General And I thought my Stilo was unlucky...

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General And I thought my Stilo was unlucky...

paulmacs

147,Boxster S,GP Multijet
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Hello everyone story for you all...

Paul Macs here, you may remember me from such films like, "Friday Afternoon Stilo'', ''Return of the Coil Pack'' and ''Airbag IV'' (y)

This was my stilo:

Pauls_Stilo.jpg


I bought it in December 04, trading in my 100% reliable Fiat Bravo and by June 05 it had been picked up by the AA 5 times, and spent the first 3 months of my ownership in the dealers with recurring airbag problems which after 3 visits still plagued the car. This followed an air con failure, 4 injectors dying along with 4 coil pack changes . I traded it in after it slowing started to morph from a 1.6 to a 1.2 with dying acceleration, constant break sqeek and squeal no matter how many checks and greeses were put to the brakes. The car reported errors daily even telling me of failures on parts i didnt have, 1.6 selespeed anyone?

I couldnt wait to trade it in... I did last month!

I bought a lovely 2.0 TS Selespeed Alfa 147 with alfa lowering springs, stainless steel exhaust, climate control, full leather, comfort and winter packs, rain sensors etc... and was over the moon.

Here is my Alfa:

Alfa-Side1.jpg


Lovely aint it? Well... :bang:

On friday, 4 weeks after purchase, the car would not start reporting a 'motor control system failure'. I rung the dealer who apologised promptly sending out their approved recovery service to collect the car. The Recovery truck attached my car via electronic pully and pulled onto the back of the truck ripping off the front bumper on the ramp, bending the bonnet into an interesting 'concept car' design, smashing both headlights and indicators in the process. Accepting full liability, they have agreed to cover full costs of damage at an approved alfa bodyshop of my choosing.

On monday the dealer confirmed this and reported the bodyshop would be repairing the car at the expense of the recovering company.

They also reported my car to be, in the words of the dealer 'screwed'. At just over 30K, the cam belt has snapped causing extensive damage to the car and everything above the bottom end will need stripped and replaced... inc variators. A repair time has been quoted as 2-3 weeks.

In the meantime, what have they given me? - A Fiat Bravo. Sitting in it, all of a sudden, i thought to myself - why did I sell it in the first place! (n)
 
Holy crao you must have some of the worst luck with cars!!! :eek: Sorry to here of you misfortune Hope you get it all sorted soon (y)
 
Fortunately the dealer are paying for it...

Imagine them asking me after a month to pay for this kind of damage especially after telling me when I bought the car the belt was grand and wouldnt need changed til 72k... :confused:
 
Can't believe you hated having an unreliable car, and traded it in for an Alfa! :D
H
 
Well now I dont expect less from a Stilo forum and I did love my Stilo when it worked, and like i wouldnt rub in that the alfa is 10 times the drive the Stilo will ever be. :D

The 2.0TS is in a diff league to the Fiat 1.6. The handling, reponse, build all of a greater standard. Pity my luck didnt follow through with the car!

But, each to their own!! :eek:
 
Don't get us wrong mate. I think most people on here love Alfa Romeo just as much as we do Fiat. It's just the fact that they are just as good or bad as each other.

As for the drive, maybe you should have lowered your Stilo, because mine drives like a dream, and I have driven the Alfa too.
 
I have to say, I'm a bit surprised at the attitudes on this thread. Paul had no luck at all with the Stilo, is it any wonder he wanted to get shot of it. I've known a few Stilo owners now with similar problems. As much as I love my Fiats you cannot compare a Stilo to an Alfa 147. The 147 is in a different class. Modern Alfas are reliable cars, so are modern Fiats with the sorry exception of the Stilo. :)
 
The most I've had go wrong with mine is a dodgy speaker connection in the drivers door and one of the sparkplug leads died on me. Not bad in just over 2yrs and 48k miles! :D
 
I think maybe what Steve is pointing out that the number of Stilos that go wrong is higher than most other modern Fiats/Cars...

Which is true... Fiat dealers were first to admit it to me, as were numerous independents I had the car at... even KwikFit went, 'not another Stilo with the tracking issue'.

I'm sure however there are lots of happy Stilo drivers. Sure I heard people complain daily about their Bravos when i was on that forum yet mine never failed to start in 2 years of ownership.

I've just been a bit unlucky with individual reliability since then. But thats not to say I didnt love the Stilo too when it worked. I just had an exceptionally bad example. But isnt that the way of the world...

Someones had to be made on friday afternoon!
 
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