General Stilo's 'n' Snow!

[Bren J]

Hi there!

This is my first post on the Fiat forum, and I thought I'd kick off with a quick introduction!

I'm a weather forecaster in London, but live just off the M4 near Slough. I've got a 1.2 Active 3dr Stilo, but it was ex-showroom with 40 miles on the clock, so had a number of extras incl metallic paint, 17" alloys and CD player!

Being a weather forecaster, of course I participate in storm chasing whenever the UK allows, and so far my Stilo has met the task well! Last week, I put my Stilo through its biggest test yet - the Yorkshire blizzards!

With its wide tyres, it would have been easier driving a fridge freezer equipped with Nitro through the wintry weather, but having said that the car held up extremely well (even with a few handbrakes and 360's here and there ).

Here's a brief set of photo's taken of the snowy Stilo last week :

http://www.1whitley.co.uk/stilo/stilosnow.htm

With the snowfall being pretty widespread, how did you guys cope with the snow and your Fiats? (Or did you stay inside like I should have done

Cheers

Bren J
London

Crystal Green 3dr Stilo 1.2 Active

 

[custard]

welcome to the forum,nice pics of the stillo(good quality!) as for the snow the little cinq handled it fine its the handbrake freezing on thats the big prob with cinq [V]

The Fiat Cinquecento
Fun While It Runs

 

[Steven]

Your Stilo looks well, especially against the snow and hills. Very nice. Snow wasn't a problem for me as we had none over here, [V]

<h5>Click here for pictures of my Uno
Click here for pictures of my Brava

 

[cmc]

some really good pics there. Well I though my Stilo performed really well in the snow storn down my way on Saturday. I originally had my Seat Leon Cupra out on it on Saturday and got strandad about 1 mile from home. Couldn't get it moving on the snow at all, wheels just kept spinning. So I parked it up and walked home got the Stilo, and heh presto absolutely no problems! drove past my stranded car on the way out!

ABS and ASR not kicking in too much either. Pretty re-assuring actually.

cmc


1.6 Dynmaic 5 door.

 

[Ham]

Welcome to the Forum

-8 down here in West Wales, but not much in the way of snow.
Much colder if you add the wind chill factor as you know.

Main problem is ice. Car handles well though.

Fiat Stillo MW. 1.9JTD
Met. Blue. all Electric. Skywindow..SatNav+
17" 7 spoke alloys.
Rear Parking sensor and Puddle Lights.


......Ham............

 

[Proc]

That's a lot of snow to you?

No complaints about winter performance yet. I really regret not taking ASR with the car when I bought it. I listen to music so loud I sometimes won't realize the skidding unless I look at the rpm, or hear the studs scraping the ice.

Rear wheels are locked almost every morning though. This morning they were frozen really hard. Had to use quite a bit of force until they cracked free.

When it's something like -15c or colder, the car isn't especially warm. If I keep the fan speed on 3 or 4, the engine won't reach the operating temperature. Lots of airflow though so the windows stay clear under all conditions.

Electric windows usually won't work because they're frozen shut. I'll use them again in march/april I guess [}]

The trunk opening system is VERY good in winter conditions since there aren't any lock parts exposed to snow or ice.

Stilo'04, Loden Green, 17" alloys, 8spkr "hifi" system, debadged, tinted windows.

 

[James M]

I had my car down near Scarborough the other week (Whitby), unfortunately someone else in the carpark left their handbrake off and my Stilo was in its way

Very nice alloys btw, and an excellent set of pics

53 3d Stilo Dynamic JTD - Sprint Blue

 

[StiloBoy]

I don't know what shocked me more, snow that close to the scarborourgh sea front, you standing out in that weather to take picture of your snow capped Stilo or a weather man who actually said there would be snow and found some!

I really love the Claw alloys, don't know if i'll get a set myself, the TSW Zenons just pip them in my estimation.

2003 3 Door Stilo 1.2 Active, Sassy Grey, plastic wheel trims - and 43mpg average so far. Love it, Oh yes!

 

[Bren J]

Hi guys!

Thanks for the warm welcome [^]
Certainly a lot warmer than on those pics I can tell ya!

Rear wheels are locked almost every morning though. This morning they were frozen really hard. Had to use quite a bit of force until they cracked free

I've had quite a few problems with the rear wheels sticking too when the car's been sitting outside overnight!
As for trying to open the windows when it's icy, pah! No chance!

I had my car down near Scarborough the other week (Whitby), unfortunately someone else in the carpark left their handbrake off and my Stilo was in its way

Oh no []! Hope there wasn't too much damage! I saw plenty of wasted cars up there, including a 911 Turbo who was attempting to get the rear wheel drive beast up a snow-bound hill!

a weather man who actually said there would be snow and found some!

Cheeky *****
As if a weatherman has ever got the weather wrong!

Thanks again everyone

Bren J
London

Crystal Green 3dr Stilo 1.2 Active

 

[janevj]

have a warm welcome bren.have a nice days here at fiatforum.

thats very good looking stilo.very good alloys, i love them.but where is your fuelcap?forgot it somewheredid you have any difficulties with the height of the car cause the front bumper is very low (i usually have problems when going over huge bumps)?

FIAT STILO 1.6 3dR Tiziano Red
Sub=Pioneer TS WX20LPA
AUTOMOBILE SK

 

[Bren J]

Hi Janevj!

Gawd! The hassle I had with that fuel cap! Not only did it just fall off in my hand at the petrol station, but it took nearly a month to negotiate a replacement on the warrenty!

There were a few places on those moors where the snow was so deep that the front bumper was "ploughing" the snow along in front of it, but it wasn't really too much of a problem

Cheers!

Bren J
London

Crystal Green 3dr Stilo 1.2 Active

 

[Scorg]

Those are some nice pics, really like the last one with the sun set colouring.
Now thats one hell of alot of snow!
not that there was overlymuch in fife, stiloboy could account for that Although I did have some fun trying the Stilo with and without ASR enabled, interesting but fun

Scorg

Stilo Dynamic 1.6
Sky Blue

 

[Squadrone Rosso]

Some great pictures indeed. It's the same colour as mine. I really like the alloys!!

Welcome to the forum.

Simon
'03 Stilo 1.8 Dynamic 3 door, Crystal Green.

 

[Bren J]

Originally posted by sbaddison
Some great pictures indeed. It's the same colour as mine. I really like the alloys!!

Welcome to the forum.

Simon
'03 Stilo 1.8 Dynamic 3 door, Crystal Green.

Thanks Simon

The alloys were already on the car when I bought it, as it was an ex-showroom model, and I guess they want to sex it up a bit for display!

Admittedly, with just the 1.2 engine, it's a bit of a sheep in wolfs clotheing (mostly because of the alloys) but I don't let that bother me

Bren J
London

Crystal Green 3dr Stilo 1.2 Active