I have just posted this on the forum.
I have had a Fiat Stilo Multiwagon since May 2003 and although it has great styling, great equipment, is very practical and was superb value for money. The ride and suspension problems I have encountered have been disastrous.
The first problem was with the rear suspension, when I went over a bump or sunken manhole in the road the suspension made a loud metallic bang, this turned out to be the suspension bushes, which according to the main dealer were not wide enough for their housing and were moving from side to side and had worm badly.
When the dealer under warranty replaced these bushes, they told me this would have cost £800 because they had to take off the whole suspension bed to replace the bushes. According to the dealer these have now been replaced with modified bushes which are wider and harder material. I have since heard that fiat issued a warning to its dealer about this problem and someone told me Fiat had a recall on the same problem. Good job my car was still under warranty.
Since having this problem, someone else told me that Fiat had a similar problem on the front suspension, so when I had the car in for another recent problem, which I thought was a very noisy wheel bearing and this turned out to be a second broken coil spring in less than four years. I asked the dealer to check the front suspension bushes as the car was riding a bit rough. This turned out to be the offside front bush had worn and to my dismay when I received the bill for this work they had replaced the front suspension wishbone at a cost of £100.17. When I questioned this the dealer told me that this was because the bush cannot be bought or replaced separate.
It seems to me that Fiat have done a great job on the Stilo compared to past Fiats but they have built in designs which make it easier and cheaper for them to build but add a phenomenal cost to replace or repair, which is more likely to happen when the car is out of warranty.
I intend writing to Fiat UK about this matter.
I have had a Fiat Stilo Multiwagon since May 2003 and although it has great styling, great equipment, is very practical and was superb value for money. The ride and suspension problems I have encountered have been disastrous.
The first problem was with the rear suspension, when I went over a bump or sunken manhole in the road the suspension made a loud metallic bang, this turned out to be the suspension bushes, which according to the main dealer were not wide enough for their housing and were moving from side to side and had worm badly.
When the dealer under warranty replaced these bushes, they told me this would have cost £800 because they had to take off the whole suspension bed to replace the bushes. According to the dealer these have now been replaced with modified bushes which are wider and harder material. I have since heard that fiat issued a warning to its dealer about this problem and someone told me Fiat had a recall on the same problem. Good job my car was still under warranty.
Since having this problem, someone else told me that Fiat had a similar problem on the front suspension, so when I had the car in for another recent problem, which I thought was a very noisy wheel bearing and this turned out to be a second broken coil spring in less than four years. I asked the dealer to check the front suspension bushes as the car was riding a bit rough. This turned out to be the offside front bush had worn and to my dismay when I received the bill for this work they had replaced the front suspension wishbone at a cost of £100.17. When I questioned this the dealer told me that this was because the bush cannot be bought or replaced separate.
It seems to me that Fiat have done a great job on the Stilo compared to past Fiats but they have built in designs which make it easier and cheaper for them to build but add a phenomenal cost to replace or repair, which is more likely to happen when the car is out of warranty.
I intend writing to Fiat UK about this matter.
