Hi,
Seems appropriate to mark my 1000th post by announcing that I bought a 2003 Stilo Abarth in the weekend
It is actually the latest in a line of FIATs:
Owned '97 to '04 - 1974 FIAT 128 Coupe (my Dad owned it '89 to '97)
'97 to '99 - Mum's 1986 Uno 45
'99 to '01 - Mum's 1988 Uno 70SL
'00 to '00 - 1982 126 Personal
'00 to '01 - 1986 Uno 60
'01 to '02 - 1989 Tipo DGT 1.6
'02 to '02 - 1988 Croma 2.0 i.e.
'02 to '04 - 1987 Lancia Thema V6
'02 to present - 1988 Uno Turbo
'03 to '06 - 1988 Bertone X1/9
'04 to '06 - 1992 Alfa Romeo 164 3.0V6
'05 to '05 - 1987 Uno 60
'05 to '05 - 1989 Uno 45
You will notice that none of these cars has been particularly 'new'
So when I drive my Stilo, it feels like I'm driving a rental car! In the UK I drove a 2003 Punto (back in 2003) for three months, and then this year I had a Vauxhall Corsa for a few weeks.
Since it's winter here (and I still use my scooter to go to work) it's not conducive to taking photos - the Stilo currently lives in my 'outside' garage (not the one that's part of the house) but this will soon change...
I test-drove a Stilo Abarth a couple of weeks ago when I'd decided to sell up two of the fleet and use some money from investments to buy a 'new' car. In the end I got $4000 for the Alfa and $4000 for the X1/9... $4000 is 1340 pounds at the current exchange rate. Let's just say that with those two added together, it didn't even make it to half the price of the Stilo
However it was a good $2000 less than the typical price at a dealers - I bought from someone who had just been promoted to company director of a hair products firm... and had only owned the Stilo for three weeks (the owner before him bought the car new for $48,000.) Thus the car has lost more than half its value and has just 27,000km on the clock - close enough to a new car for me (several of my previous cars had over 200,000 on the clock, though the X1/9 was only 79,000 and the 164 126,000.)
A major factor in the purchase was the colour and the condition - I love the interior... exterior almost perfect though the wheels are scratched. I'm considering repainting them myself (gunmetal grey + 2K clearcoat?)
Anyway - I'll be around this forum quite a bit Any Stilo owners from NZ - feel free to drop me a PM!
Thanks,
-Alex
Seems appropriate to mark my 1000th post by announcing that I bought a 2003 Stilo Abarth in the weekend
It is actually the latest in a line of FIATs:
Owned '97 to '04 - 1974 FIAT 128 Coupe (my Dad owned it '89 to '97)
'97 to '99 - Mum's 1986 Uno 45
'99 to '01 - Mum's 1988 Uno 70SL
'00 to '00 - 1982 126 Personal
'00 to '01 - 1986 Uno 60
'01 to '02 - 1989 Tipo DGT 1.6
'02 to '02 - 1988 Croma 2.0 i.e.
'02 to '04 - 1987 Lancia Thema V6
'02 to present - 1988 Uno Turbo
'03 to '06 - 1988 Bertone X1/9
'04 to '06 - 1992 Alfa Romeo 164 3.0V6
'05 to '05 - 1987 Uno 60
'05 to '05 - 1989 Uno 45
You will notice that none of these cars has been particularly 'new'
So when I drive my Stilo, it feels like I'm driving a rental car! In the UK I drove a 2003 Punto (back in 2003) for three months, and then this year I had a Vauxhall Corsa for a few weeks.
Since it's winter here (and I still use my scooter to go to work) it's not conducive to taking photos - the Stilo currently lives in my 'outside' garage (not the one that's part of the house) but this will soon change...
I test-drove a Stilo Abarth a couple of weeks ago when I'd decided to sell up two of the fleet and use some money from investments to buy a 'new' car. In the end I got $4000 for the Alfa and $4000 for the X1/9... $4000 is 1340 pounds at the current exchange rate. Let's just say that with those two added together, it didn't even make it to half the price of the Stilo
However it was a good $2000 less than the typical price at a dealers - I bought from someone who had just been promoted to company director of a hair products firm... and had only owned the Stilo for three weeks (the owner before him bought the car new for $48,000.) Thus the car has lost more than half its value and has just 27,000km on the clock - close enough to a new car for me (several of my previous cars had over 200,000 on the clock, though the X1/9 was only 79,000 and the 164 126,000.)
A major factor in the purchase was the colour and the condition - I love the interior... exterior almost perfect though the wheels are scratched. I'm considering repainting them myself (gunmetal grey + 2K clearcoat?)
Anyway - I'll be around this forum quite a bit
Any Stilo owners from NZ - feel free to drop me a PM!Thanks,
-Alex
