General Newbie! - Thinking of buying a Stilo!

[b830ag2]

Hi,

This is probably the wrong place to ask this question…as you all probably currently own a Fiat Stilo and so may have biased or defensive opinion…but equally this should also be a good place as nowhere else should there be such a wealth of interest and experience in a Stilo.

I’m currently looking for a replacement for my Y-Reg Renault Clio, 3dr, as I have started doing numerous school runs and I am getting increasingly frustrated at the restrictions a 3-dr car provides. During my search for a cheap, small/medium 5-dr hatch, up popped the Fiat Stilo! Amongst others. I’ve now whittled it down to the Stilo or a Skoda Fabia.

I’m looking at about £2k and for that money it seems I can get either a 2003 1.6 Stilo Dynamic, 5-dr, 50-60k miles or a 2001 Skoda Fabia Comfort, 5-dr, 60k miles ish.

So, I’ve been scouring the internet for reviews. In general, the Fabia comes up fairly well, fairly good car, if a little boring. The Stilo comes across as being a bit more exciting, more equipment, although I have come across some terrible reliability reviews. One such example is on the HonestJohn website. These concern me a bit as there is generally no smoke without fire and scanning through this forum also highlights plenty of issues too. Now, I realise all car’s have their fair share of problems, but some more than others, and I am wary about the Stilo as it’s getting more bad press on the internet than other cars I have reviewed.

Why is this? Is it true? Are Stilo’s notoriously unreliable?

Any advice appreciated.

Thanks,
Andy

 

[gerhardj]

Hi Andy,
Welcome to the site, and hopefully shortly to the Stilo family. The Stilo is a car that you either love or hate. Yes is has and will have its problems, after all it is a Fiat, but I've been driving my Stilo 1.6 for some time now, bought second hand agaist all advise, and are very impress and very satisfied with it. So if the previous owner can supply all the documents, service records etc, why not?

Let us know what you decided.

Gerhard

 

[adamcot]

Hi Andy,
Welcome to the site, and hopefully shortly to the Stilo family. The Stilo is a car that you either love or hate. Yes is has and will have its problems, after all it is a Fiat, but I've been driving my Stilo 1.6 for some time now, bought second hand agaist all advise, and are very impress and very satisfied with it. So if the previous owner can supply all the documents, service records etc, why not?

Let us know what you decided.

Gerhard

Agreed with the above, as long as the previous owners have serviced the car properly and on time, they are generally reliable. You will find that most of these people that moan about it on HonestJohn etc don't keep the maintainance up. As long as it has been well looked after, you will have a good, fun, reliable and different car

 

[Muppet1]

Yes i would buy one again, But make sure its only had one/two owners and full service history as well. To be quite honest the Jtd's are far more reliable than the petrols i think but that again is a matter of opinion.

My Jtd has 124,000 miles on it, engine, gearbox etc have yet to be touched only the Egr, boost valve and brakes, tyres etc.

It has never failed to get me where i needed to go or failed getting me home. Fuel consumption is at least 45mpg and over 50 on a run. Its also a very comfy car, lots of room, huge boot in the multi wagon like i have and very good spec and fairly cheap for what you are getting.

Parts can be a bit pricey but lots available of ebay and shop4parts and the diesel is cheap to run with its £120 odd quid a year car tax and cheap insurance group 5 for the Jtd.

Stick around as this is the best place for advise and for help when they do go wrong.

 

[Adrian09]

Hello and welcome to the forum,I have a 1.6 dynamic 3dr bought with 40k on the clock and its a very underrated car i haven't had any problems with it since buying it last year apart from the airbag light which cleaning always solves it for me. I choose the stilo over a vauxhall astra, vw golf, citroen xsara vtr coupe as the stilo has a lot more gadgets , lots of room, Looks GOOD drives GOOD the interior is modern as well and not boring and it isn't a common car so In my honest opinion its all down to previous owners neglecting their car and spending money when an issue arises instead of before i think you should check the service history/cambelt change etc and usual wear & tear.

 

[b830ag2]

Thanks for all your responses!

I certiainly do like the look of them and was hoping to get positive replies to my thread rather than be put off, and I think they're doing the job so far!

I've got three on my shortlist to go look at...but I've got to part ex because I can't do without a car (kids), so I need to see how much these three dealers will give me before I visit, but hopefully I'll get a good deal and find one with a good service history.

Just a couple more thoughts...

cam belt, what's the schedule for this? (1.6) and does the water pump need changing at the same time?

do you think it's worth getting a separate warranty? i see there are various websites that offer warranty polcies for about £200...so obviously if a typical yearly repair bill for any failures (not service or mot), is more than that, then it may be worth it...?

right, just going to look on autotrader again...

 

[mzhussein]

water pump on a 1.6 is NOT on the cambelt...be carefulll with the warranties, they are all peaches and cream when you take them out, but they dont like to pay out...
i have a 1.8, great car, had a few problems, but nothing too bad....i still have it im a 19yr old student and am managing to run the 1.8 with its problems

 

[Morty Mort]

I've had my 1.6 for 4 years now and the only time it didn't start was when I was jet washing it and knocked out the crank sensor.... :bang:

It has been very reliable, but going on a forum looking for positive remarks is dangerous. You won't find anything but problems here, but ofcourse - most of them are solved in the end.

 

[Yellow Peril]

Over 30 Stilos on sale here by the way:

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/list.asp?s=475

 

[Adrian09]

i think its every 5-6 years recommended cambelt change. I got my water pump belt cam and aux belt changed at 49k

 

[kev1]

just got rid of my stilo 1.6 after nearly 6 years of ownership and it only brokedown once (dodgy battery). in that time all it needed apart from regular servicing was 2 tyres, front brake pads and a cambelt - not too shabby!!

most probs should have been sorted by now if you are looking at a 2003 model but evidence of servicing is a must. stilos' do not react well to crap servicing and at that age make sure the cambelt is done.

if you buy one with your eyes open you will be fine

 

[juicyabarth]

I recently brought a Stilo Abarth and I love it!! Im not looking back and its a great solid car!! So many people said "but its a Fiat" yeah its a Fiat but ALL cars have their problems!! Attitudes have changed now they've been out in it!! My boyfriend is a BMW man and he loves the Stilo. You are gonna find people that slate them and people that love them. Personally I love mine!!!

 

[JTD_Liam]

As most people have said, if it's been serviced on time & looks to have been cared for, it shouldn't cause problems.

Avoid any examples that:

*Look like theyve had a real good going over by the valleter at the garage - buy on genuine clean condition, not something that's been trashed & then scrubbed to death.

*Have more than 2 owners. If it's been a reliable car, it probably won't have changed hands much. 3 or 4 owners starts to hint that the people who bought it, hated it & sold it.

*Are over 5 years / 60,000 miles AND havn't had the cambelt changed. The official schedule is 5 years or 72,000 miles, but the mileage was ambitious & 60,000 is widely recommended. Obviously this doesn't mean don't buy any over 5 years old etc, just make sure the belt has been done. On the 1.6 you don't need to change the waterpump as it's not driven by the cambelt, but on all other engines it is, so changing this at the same time is recommended.


Quotes i've got for cambelt, waterpump & service at a Fiat main dealer came out at around £750-£800, so if the Stilo you like hasn't had it done, factor this into the price you pay.

Diesel models seem to be worth a fair bit more than the equivilent petrol models.

Faults i've noticed with specific models:

1.2 Petrol - some headgasket failures reported.

1.4 Petrol - no known problems spring to mind.

1.6 Petrol - ignition coil failures fairly common (cheap and easy to fix, but annoying). Also, gearboxes seem to fail more often on 1.6's than on any other engine. This can be costly.

1.8 Petrol - rare engine so less problems reported. Only thing to note is slight diesel sound on startup which points to failed variator. Fairly cheap & easy to sort out.

2.4 Petrol - probably not what you were looking for so won't go into it. Don't know much about it either!

1.9 (JTD) Diesel - Engine & gearbox seem robust. Mostly sensor failures & split/loose/detached hoses reported, causing poor running or reduced performance. Not that expensive, but can take a while to trace. Fault rate less common than 1.6 ignition coils though.

If it were me i'd try & find a one or two owner 1.4 or 1.8 petrol or 1.9 JTD, as these seem generally the better engines.


Faults possible on any Stilo:

*Random warnings appearing on dashboard display, ie 'Loose Connection', 'ABS Failure'. These are usually caused by low battery voltage & will disappear after a second start-up. If they keep coming up, it may be the battery needs replacing. Many garages start pulling the car apart looking for a problem, when infact it's just the battery.

*Front tyres can wear out quickly, hinting to poor alignment or suspension problems. This seems to be rarely reported these days though. My Stilo has hardly used any tread in 12,000 miles.

*Front suspension springs may snap - not as disasterous as it sounds - some people have driven round for ages & only found out theyve broken when going for an MOT. Cheap & easy to fix, well known problem. Spring catchers were fitted by Fiat as a recall to prevent against the spring going into the tyres.

*Some instrument cluster failures reported. Not that common & can be fixed using info on here, but check the dials all work when on a test drive. The clusters do make some noise (like a scratchy sound) when switching the ignition on & off, this is normal.

*Airbag failure light can come on & stay on. Again, fixable using the guides on here.

Rarely is a fault expensive, only the 1.6 gearbox issue stands out as being expensive. Most problems can be easily solved with advice on here as they tend to be problems that have effected other Stilos. Its not a car that tends to throw up random one off problems, there's just the odd few areas that seem to affect several people, so if you get a problem, chances are someone else has already dealt with the same!

That said, in 18 months & 12,000 miles my 54 plate Stilo JTD cost me £0 in repairs and nothing at all (even a light bulb) has failed.