General Stilo buying advice please....

[Alanovich]

Hi all,

I've just sold my very old and very tired Ulysse, and am a previous owner of a Marea, a Regata and a 127 Sport in the dim and distant!

I'm now thinking of buying a Stilo in Multiwagon format - and I've seen a 2005 1.9JTD on tinternet which looks like it would do the job for me at a very reasonable price. Even though it's met green. :yuck:

However, despite being very well aware of Fiat's reputation for quality, and having been very satisfied with the previous Fiats I've had (espscially the Marea), the review on the Honest John site of this particular model is worrying me a bit.

What I'm really looking for here is any opinions of the reliability and likely maintenance issues which I might encounter with a Stilo, and any advice anyone could give me on what to look out for on a test drive would be most welcome.

Cheers,
Steve

 

[Argonought]

Questions like this really have been done to death

You could try tagging on https://www.fiatforum.com/stilo/141357-honest-john-wtf.html

....or even better post "Just dropped a photo of a Stilo off at our local kindergarten for them to do a review"

This will be more useful than the 'Honest' John effort and likely funnier too.


You'll find masses of posts if you just use the Search tool

 

[Alanovich]

OK. Sorry to be a bore.

 

[Ffoxy]

OK. Sorry to be a bore.

Dont take Argo's words as a criticism... Honest John isnt really all that, and Argo's advice is spot on, all you wish to know about the Stilo is on this site.

 

[Alanovich]

No worries, no offence taken. Forgot to put the obligatory smilie in!

I'm having a root around and the site is very useful. I'll certainly be asking the dealer if the front suspension has been fixed, and giving FIAT UK a call to check out the vehicle's history, as I can read the number plate on the advert!

Slightly worried the number plate starts with a "Y" - must be a northern motor! Yikes!

 

[Alanovich]

OK, I've decided to buy the car and have put a deposit on it, subject to a satisfactory viewing and road test. £4495 for a 2005 05 1.9JTD Active AirCon with 27k on the clock and FFSH, on the Fiat Assured Used programme from a main dealer, 6 months road tax and half a tank of diesel thrown in.

Have I got a bargain? I think so. Parkers quotes £6615 at a franchised dealer.

1 previous private owner on the Motability programme. Which leads me to wonder - is there anything in particular I should look out for on ex-Motability cars?

 

[Venters]

1 previous private owner on the Motability programme. Which leads me to wonder - is there anything in particular I should look out for on ex-Motability cars?

Motobaility cars are always maintained very well mechanically. However the people who drive them tend to care less. Aslong as it's had a good valet and the seats shampooed it should be a good buy.

 

[Argonought]

OK, I've decided to buy the car and have put a deposit on it, subject to a satisfactory viewing and road test. £4495 for a 2005 05 1.9JTD Active AirCon with 27k on the clock and FFSH, on the Fiat Assured Used programme from a main dealer, 6 months road tax and half a tank of diesel thrown in.

Sounds good to me

 

[Alanovich]

Well here's an interesting question which has popped up.

I had assumed that the car I am buying was a 115bhp version. However, on entering the car's registration number in to my insurance company's database to change my policy, it popped up as an 80bhp version, which, according to whatcar.com was discontinued in 2004. Parkers don't distinguish between the models.

So, either my insurance company has got an error in their database (which I would presume comes from DVLA), or the car was manufactured much earlier than its first registration date (March 14th 2005).

I have called the dealer to clear this up, but they haven't a clue. The V5 logbook doesn't state the output rating apparently.

So I have called Fiat customer services who equally can't tell me, but have "logged a call" and promised to get back to me.

If it's an 80bhp, I'm not getting the bargain I thought I was, according to whatcar.com's valuations. But no-one seems to know how to tell the difference. Does anyone on here know?

Hmm.

 

[Alanovich]

Blimey! Just had a call back from "Head Office". They've confirmed it's a 115. Wonder how the insurance company can get it wrong in their database?

Anyway, big well done from Fiat customer services for getting back to me so quickly. I'm quietly impressed.

 

[john55]

Blimey! Just had a call back from "Head Office". They've confirmed it's a 115. Wonder how the insurance company can get it wrong in their database?

Anyway, big well done from Fiat customer services for getting back to me so quickly. I'm quietly impressed.

My Stilo is an active according to the insurance company, but I have a 115 dynamic JTD. They are often wrong.

 

[jostheboss]

My Stilo is Green according to everyone, but i'm sure its Blue!!!

 

[StevenkSengwayo]

My Stilo is Green according to everyone, but i'm sure its Blue!!!

My old one was surely blue but the logbook & insusrance all said it was grey. But now I am positive my new one is Grigio Steel (grey for DVLA)