General Bying advice...

[Morty Mort]

Hello.

It is time to let the Uno go, and seek higher standards. Mainly due to safety for the family.

We are looking at a 5-door Stilo, 1.6 litre engine (petrol), as the 1.8 is significally more expensive. http://www.bilnorge.no/bruktbil.php3?type=&bilid=376065
Norwegian site, but pictures will always work as translators.

I have searched the forum, and seen some threads about air bag lights and electrical issues. This I am used to from the Uno and Ritmo Abarth (not any airbags... hehe, but did the italians drink too much vino rosso when assembling the Stilos as well?).

To the questions... What should I pay attention to when buying a 2002 model Stilo? Will be very happy for any advice.

Morten.

 

[activematt]

That looks quite a nice stilo in the link.........not sure of anything specific you need to look out for, i know 1.6's have had a bit of trouble with throttle bodies, and if its 2002 it may have the wheel alignment prob, but id imagine all that the previous owner would have sorted.

I think all Fiats are a bit of a lottery.........if you get a good one wahey! if you get a bad one.......its bad!

 

[mbarratt2]

I think all Fiats are a bit of a lottery.........if you get a good one wahey! if you get a bad one.......its bad!

To be fair to Fiat, all cars seem to display randomness in terms of their quality. Surprising really when you consider that they are mass produced by robots! Big difference with Fiat (in the UK at least) is that once you hit problems your on your own, as the majority of dealers are hopeless!

 

[Stu DemonD]

Hi there Morty - long time no chat - I remember you and me being the only ones up early at the weekend, chatting away on some SPAMMY thread

 

[cmc]

Morty I have a 2002 5 door. Things to look out for are:

1). Uneven tyre wear (per above).

2). Electrical faults on start up (lots of weird messages which usually quickly clear).

3). Air bad lights only seem to be an issue on 3 doors as far as I can tell (to to with the connector under the passenger seat being knocked out of place).

4). Look for squeaky rear doors if it's a 5 door if they're not used much. The check straps can rust and no amount of grease of WD 40 will cure it.

5). Look for squeak from clutch.

These are the main ones I've come accross in mine - nothing too serious just a wee bit irratating more than anything. My car has never broken down once or failed to start though I must say. You can also pick them up for a good price on the private market too at that age.

Hope this helps.

 

[Andeh]

AVOID!! the steering wheel is on the wrong side if the car

 

[Morty Mort]

Thanks. Yes I remember Stuart. That was when I was working with my master degree. In addition taking care of my baby son, please my wife, fix up the house, work full time AND the never ending story of Morten vs. Fiat Uno. I remember the spammy thread yes. Hehe. That was in 2004 wasn't it?

Well back to the case. Thanks for all replies. I have now found another one. It is from 2003, but has a completely strange sun roof. Same price as the 2002 model. But from many bad Fiat Ritmo (and some Uno) experiences with water... is it any good idea to cut a hole in the roof to put in a glass? Especially as the angle being 0 degrees!!! Being an architect this screams for very hightech tightening to be operational and functional with hot/cold weather. Ice. Lots of rain etc...

http://www.bilnorge.no/bruktbil.php3?type=&bilid=381375&antk=2

Morten.

 

[Stu DemonD]

Ah, that is the Skyroof - people on here who have one rave about them, although I am sure it has had a fair share of problems...

I will try and dig up some old threads. Also, I think KoArAnG has a video on his website with it functioning

 

[Morty Mort]

Alright.

I am now the owner of the car mentioned above in the first post. They are going to do the timing belt, service in general, MOT test, and attach a trailer hook which was extremely expensive. Is it called trailer hook??? Sounds horrible.

Well, the car was test driven last weekend, and is propably done for delivery within a week. Can't wait...

Morten.

 

[activematt]

Well done for buying one...........hopefully it all works out well for you

 

[Stu DemonD]

A trailer hook? Tow bar?

Can't await the first error message

 

[StiloSport]

Can't await the first error message

I was just gonna ask if he's had his first warning yet!

 

[PNL]

I was just gonna ask if he's had his first warning yet!

Dont worry its on the cards[hope for his sake it dont happen ]but you cant beat that feeling of BEEP BEEP and the after feeling of you r world crumbling in

 

[Morty Mort]

Well this doesn't sound all too good. But, the dealers over here are very helpful. Fiat has a bad reputation going way back to the rusty 80s, and they still own about 0.3% of the market.

This means they have to make an effort on service... Norway is an expensive country, so one hour at the garage costs 900 NOK which is more than 75 GBP. But advices are free, and they actually recommend other garages for certain repairs etc. They have been more than helpful with my Uno. Even fixed the car for no charge and told me exactly what to do when something went wrong. Also bits and bolts have been delivered under the counter... So I have no problem giving them some money in return for fixing the Stilo if some error message comes.

I'd still keep the Uno, but caring for my wife and kid, I'd not let them out on the highway in a tin-can. The Stilo scores high on the Euroncap tests, and this has to be taken into serious considerations.

The car is now fully insured, and waiting for the "tow-bar".

Off to check if there is a KN set for this one, as the Uno got some impressive torque-additive from it.

Morten.

 

[PNL]

Dont worry your self unduely about it the stilo is a great car we are eternal pesimists and expect these things to happen even if they dont and i hope it happenes that way for you cant get over the cost of repaires over there and i thought it was bad here well good luck with your stilo mate you made a good selection

 

[Morty Mort]

Hello.

This is for you guys (and girls wherever you are) who await the first error messages. It is propably going to give you some laughs. If I had bet any money on how long time this would take, I'd loose - simple as that. Haha.

Picked up the car at the dealer's last saturday. It was shiny ocean blue with a good smell inside. Propably "new car on a can" aerosol.

It is a 2002 model, with 38.000 km on the clock. Drove nice and way faster than I thought. The feeling of speed, as in the Uno was lacking, as I have to drive very fast to get the same feeling as in the Uno. Anyway, it drove like a dream for 250 km back home.

Then, monday (blues) comes. "Ding"...connection failure. Speedometer is completely dead. Actully I had to laugh, as we had talked about these incidents within the family, and everyone ment we were taking a risk buying a FIAT with more wiring than the Ritmo Abarth from 1986.

Car still drives well, and at next start speedo works, and no connection fault. But next time "ding" connection failure and no speedo. This changed back and forth occationally for monday and tuesday.

Wednesday: "Ding" connection failure, ABS failure, traction failure and a yellow !-triangle in the middle of the dash. After driving 1 km a red !-circle (brake failure) appears. I had my father-in-law in the passenger seat laughing pretty much. His brother is a NAF (norw. AA) mechanic. I took a picture with my mobile phone for sending to the dealer.

Later that day most of the errors disappeared, except from connection failure and no speedo. But... then, starting the car planning a trip to the grocery store. All christmas lights and "dings" pop up one after each other, just to complete with a new light, an engine symbol, with subtext "engine fault".

Haha. I welcome myself to the joyful life of Stilo ownership.

But, as I have stated earlier when posting in the Uno section, the dealers in Norway are very professional and helpful. They are sending a Stilo expert over next wednesday. A computer controlled device (propably the ECU) is ordered from Italy (at an extremely high price) and also a check of the D4 connector is on the schedule. A firmware upgrade will also be done.

According to the dealer's garage manager this has happened on a few Stilos earlier, but were very rare. The car has been in their maintenance for four years, and never had any problem. All services are taken, and before I got it the timing belt was renewed.

So, hopefully the car will be ship shape next wednesday.

But as usual, FIATforum were right.

Regards, Morten.