General Thinking of buying a Stilo, worried about reliability.

[Smooth Criminal]

Hi,
so i'm thinking of buying my second car and for my budget (around £2500) my options i'm thinking of are:
Stilo 1.6 3door
Renault clio 1.416v
Ford sport ka
for the money the stilo has by far the most kit and i love the look of the thing but i've heard alot of stories about problems with it but i'd be buying a second hand 8 year old one and my logic is that in 8 years it would have had any problems and been fixed?
Anyway i just want a good car that doesn't have to go to the mechanics every month (i know nothing about fixing cars), so would the Stilo be a good choice or do they really have big issues with reliability?

cheers.

 

[keviwal]

Hi,

I bought my stilo about a month ago a 1.9jtd Multiwagon with all the toys satnav etc and paid 2K.
now the car i bought has got 108,000miles on the clock, So far no problems.
My previous car was a brava jtd and that racked a total of 175,000 miles and is still going strong.
The reason i bought another fiat was because my old just kept going! The only reason i did get rid of it was i was offered the MW and couldnt refuse.
Its like any car check for the obvious, service history, whats been repaired/replaced. Take a wander through the forum and you will see what the more common problems can be.
at the end of the day its like any car you buy......pay your money and take your chance!

regards

 

[jim cooper]

I have a 2006 5 door 1.4 and absolutely nothing has gone wrong with it. If you bought it you would have the best used car on the road but I'm not selling. I advise getting as late a model as possible. The final spec change for the Stilo was the 2006 model year.

 

[Argonought]

My 02 model JTD (owned now for 4.5 years) is the most reliable car I've ever owned - and I've owned a lot of cars

...but the same rules apply to buying a Fiat as they do for any car.

Plenty of hints on what to look for and what to avoid if you try Searching the Forum

 

[ricnfiona]

hi i have a jtd 1.9 04.
i did purchase it cheep with problems but after a lot of help from this great site and all the members knowledge its fixed and running like a dream and worth around £2500 the engines are solid. the main things that they do seem to suffer from are electrical errors but these aren't to hard to fix.

overall my car is solid i have done some 900 + miles since being repaired without a flicker and it is great on fuel i put £40 in and went from Durham to north Wales and back 450 miles twice in 2 weeks....

great car very pleased, performance is very good handling is good some great safety features comfortable....nice to drive........................

 

[hobbo]

I have a 2002 1.6 3 door Active, I got it in Feb of this year. Its a good car to drive and for a standard model has lolts of kit on it. My Local fiat dealer and the kind helpful people on this forum have helped me out big time. As its a 1.6 make sure you get the engine hot and that the temp gauge sits in the middle as mine only went to the quater mark and luke warm air from blowers new thermostat needed. My fiat dealer said this can be common for the age of the car.

The exhaust was blowing in the middle section this then blew the inners out of the back box so new exhaust. I had the cam belt done a must so check its been done and not due. Back brakes needed replacing, two new tyres. My fiat dealer said make sure the instrument cluster works dials computer warning lights etc as these can fail. However all that said solid engine starts first time every time very quick for a 1.6

The one I bought had no service stamps in the book from 10,000 miles to 62,000 miles so even not looked after very well the list of faults could happen to any car of that age cambelt is due at 72,000 or 5 years. hope that helps you.

 

[french bean]

Fiat, like all mass produced cars are made to a budget and designed to appeal to the masses. They are not a premium brand using top quality manufacturing processes or labour intensive production techniques.

I am now on my 8th Italian car, 4 of those have been Fiats. I keep going back to them because the specs are good in comparison to competitors, they make a phenomenal used car buy and are infinately cheaper to repair, in my experience, then French or German. They are also a lot more fun.

I would also say that they have proved more reliable than the 3 VW's that I have previously owned. Italian every time for me I'm afraid and I am sure, subject to not buying a real pup, you will have a similar conclusion.

 

[Smooth Criminal]

Cheers for the reassurance guys i'm gonna take all three cars for a test drive and providing i still like the stilo in the flesh i reckon i'll end up buying one, i've seen a couple of garages offering warranties anyway so i could be onto a winner.

 

[Scrogg]

Thinking of buying a Silo, worried about reliability.

I can't believe nobody has picked up on the spelling mistake!

 

[Smooth Criminal]

lol yeah epic fail on my part.

 

[mrapriliafalco]

lol yeah epic fail on my part.

The T broke down a couple of miles back