Little Ghost
New member
- Joined
- Dec 3, 2011
- Messages
- 3
- Points
- 2
Hi all. Just joined the site. Bought my '52 plate Stilo Abarth five weeks ago. A bit of history if anyone's interested (possible boredom warning)
I'd never considered a Fiat before but i'd been looking at all sorts of cars and couldn't believe it when i saw how much stuff the Stilo Abarth offered for the price, way above anything else i could afford. I saw one advertised a long way away which had everything including the sky roof so i decided it had to be mine regardless of the long journey to pick it up. I'd also read a few things about electrical gremlins and such, but all the cars i've owned have had problems which i've always managed to fix and i'm quite handy with a spanner... The Abarth was still irresistable!
I wanted a black one too and it was advertised as "midnight black" and looked black on the pictures so it was perfect. It was a bit of a shock however when i arrived and saw in the afternoon sunlight it was sort of black/aubergine! I've since grown accustomed to it and love it now. I've had plenty of comments about what an interesting colour it is, and not you're usual hot hatch red or black or yellow or whatever either.
Just as i got home from London the car started saying "engine component failure" which made me laugh as at that point i hadn't even owned it 6 hours!
This was sorted by cleaning all the electrical connectors under the bonnet, and checking the grounds.
A week or so after i got something like "attempted theft has been detected" and "bonnet open" On inspection, the bonnet sensor was split, so i solved it by putting a zip tie round it.
Next was "ASR ESP Failure" which with the help of this forum, has been solved with a new brake light switch.
With those things out of the way, i'm confident the car should be reliable, as it was obviously pampered by the previous owner at least.
I must say this is the nicest car i have ever owned by quite some margin. Quiet, comfortable, light and airy with it's party piece roof, practical, different and contrary to most people i actually love the flappy paddles too.
It has a nice engine note to it when you open it up, and swathes of torque. Not hugely fast (but then my last car was getting on for 400bhp) but ample fun on country roads in manual mode.
It came with Wolfrace alloys which i sold and bought the OEM blades instead.
Then i painted the plastic engine covers in crackle red.
Replaced a couple of interior parts the previous owner had broken.
Next i'm considering some lowering springs and possibly a Varex back box to bring that engine note to life. Also i'm considering a remap, but that seems a little expensive for the gain. That might be everything i do to it as it seems to be a very well rounded little package as is.
Cheers,
Alex
I'd never considered a Fiat before but i'd been looking at all sorts of cars and couldn't believe it when i saw how much stuff the Stilo Abarth offered for the price, way above anything else i could afford. I saw one advertised a long way away which had everything including the sky roof so i decided it had to be mine regardless of the long journey to pick it up. I'd also read a few things about electrical gremlins and such, but all the cars i've owned have had problems which i've always managed to fix and i'm quite handy with a spanner... The Abarth was still irresistable!
I wanted a black one too and it was advertised as "midnight black" and looked black on the pictures so it was perfect. It was a bit of a shock however when i arrived and saw in the afternoon sunlight it was sort of black/aubergine! I've since grown accustomed to it and love it now. I've had plenty of comments about what an interesting colour it is, and not you're usual hot hatch red or black or yellow or whatever either.
Just as i got home from London the car started saying "engine component failure" which made me laugh as at that point i hadn't even owned it 6 hours!
This was sorted by cleaning all the electrical connectors under the bonnet, and checking the grounds.
A week or so after i got something like "attempted theft has been detected" and "bonnet open" On inspection, the bonnet sensor was split, so i solved it by putting a zip tie round it.
Next was "ASR ESP Failure" which with the help of this forum, has been solved with a new brake light switch.
With those things out of the way, i'm confident the car should be reliable, as it was obviously pampered by the previous owner at least.
I must say this is the nicest car i have ever owned by quite some margin. Quiet, comfortable, light and airy with it's party piece roof, practical, different and contrary to most people i actually love the flappy paddles too.
It has a nice engine note to it when you open it up, and swathes of torque. Not hugely fast (but then my last car was getting on for 400bhp) but ample fun on country roads in manual mode.
It came with Wolfrace alloys which i sold and bought the OEM blades instead.
Then i painted the plastic engine covers in crackle red.
Replaced a couple of interior parts the previous owner had broken.
Next i'm considering some lowering springs and possibly a Varex back box to bring that engine note to life. Also i'm considering a remap, but that seems a little expensive for the gain. That might be everything i do to it as it seems to be a very well rounded little package as is.
Cheers,
Alex
