Friday 6th May 2005

Fiat Stilo gets Schumacher sparkle

Car gets new body kit and chassis improvements

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Fiat Stilo Schumacher GP

Making unashamed use of its best-paid employee's name, Fiat has launched a new limited edition version of the Fiat Stilo. Dubbed the Stilo Schumacher, the 2.4-litre, five-cylinder hatch goes on sale throughout Fiat Auto’s UK dealer network this weekend. Fiat pitches the car as a competitor for the Ford Focus ST170 and the Vauxhall Astra SRi Turbo.

Fiat's blurb runs that "the new Stilo Schumacher has been created as a tribute to Michael Schumacher’s fifth consecutive Formula One World Championship Driver’s title with Ferrari" -- even though Schumi has yet to actually win a race this year.

The Schumacher is a limited edition of 200 RHD units all in Ferrari red. There's no more grunt though, motive power consisting of the same engine that sits in the top-end Prestigio, and makes for a best performance of 8.5 seconds to get from zero to 60mph. There's also no suggestion that Schumacher himself had any hand in the development of the car.

You get two configurations – standard and GP.

Stilo Schumacher

The 170bhp five cylinder three-door hatch gets:

• A specially commissioned bodykit
• Exclusive kick plates and pedals
• A powerful hi-fi sound system with steering wheel audio controls, CD, MP3 player and subwoofer
• ABS anti-lock braking
• ESP and traction control
• Dual zone climate control
• Schumacher logos
• A special plaque numbered from UK001 to UK200.

Stilo Schumacher GP

In addition to the standard kit above, Fiat said that "a unique UK-based chassis development programme was undertaken to bring the car to the level of best in class. Carried out in conjunction with Prodrive, the globally acclaimed, high profile UK specialist automotive engineering concern, this intensive programme has led to the production of an aftermarket handling package known as the Stilo GP kit."

The Prodrive-developed GP kit consists of:

• Front and rear road springs manufactured by Eibach
• Bilstein front struts and rear dampers
• 7 x 18-inch OZ Superturismo alloy wheel in 215/40 ZR18 Continental Contisport Contact 2 tyres
• A stainless steel rear silencer with twin outlet pipes.

The kit has been created to produce a more sporty car, both in terms of looks and driver involvement, and is designed to appeal to customers seeking exclusivity in the ‘hot hatch’ market.

Chassis details

Fiat said "a more sporty look has been achieved through lowering the Stilo to give a slight nose- down stance compared to the standard car, (approximately 25mm lower at the front, and 17mm at the rear), with uniform wheelarch clearances front and rear." The exhaust sounds a bit sporty too, apparently.

The car is designed to offer good steering response with informative feedback and low levels of roll, according to the troubled Italian carmaker. The ride height reduction, particularly at the front, lowers the centre of gravity slightly, and lowers the front roll centre to give the dual benefits of reducing steady state understeer and improving steering response, said Fiat.

The dampers were especially designed for the GP kit by Bilstein, and fine-tuned by Prodrive. Front struts and rear dampers are a gas filled mono-tube design, which offers increased body control and greater fade resistance. The damper tune significantly increases body control, in roll, yaw and pitch, but maintains a significant level of compliance, so bumps and ridges on the road are well absorbed for motorway driving.

Fiat also reckoned that switching to 18" OZ Superturismo wheels and low profile Continental Contactsport 2 tyres has increased grip, steering response and feedback.

The Stilo Schumacher costs £15,995 -- which is close to the existing top-of-the-range Stilo -- while the GP version costs £1,000 more.

[dinkel]

Err, 360 Schumacher Stradale well maybe . . . Why not just Stilo Abarth Speciale OSLD? http://home.intekom.com/lancia/832.html Dunno what would fit under that red bonnet . . . but a bit more pep to justify the name would be less of a shame. "say Mike I just say a little red . . ." "Ja, ja djuzt don't zay now more . . ." Rari Enzo / Fiat Schumacher: difference must be.

[andyps]

Shame it is called cobblers. If it wasn't for that part of the name it would be worth considering.

[shadowninja]

So, hands up if you bought the Seicento Sporting Schumacher

[ssharkey]

I was wondering how long before they did this - though I expected the 20v Turbo to go under the bonnet. And there is a definite link to Schumachers Ferrari... I think both models get the same mileage out of a set of tyres!

[Podie]

shadowninja said:

So, hands up if you bought the Seicento Sporting Schumacher

My Mum deliberately bought the standard Sporting, despite the salesman's best efforts…

[Bada Bing!]

What a dunger. Do Fiat sell a single decent car worth putting a badge like that on?

[jon348]

at least he got his name on the car, nigel mansel was such a boring chap the people at renault named the clio after the whole team. What an insult.

[cdp]

Now if it had the 20V Turbo engine in place of the back seat of the seicento it may have been worth looking at. For under 10K, especially if it stuck with the 145 tyres of the base model.

[gofasterrosssco]

The cheesiest thing to come out of Italy since Mozzarela??

[mutt]

the article said:

a best performance of 8.5 seconds to get from zero to 60mph

Hot hatch? That's barely even lukewarm!

[shadowninja]

cdp said:

Now if it had the 20V Turbo engine in place of the back seat of the seicento it may have been worth looking at. For under 10K, especially if it stuck with the 145 tyres of the base model.

I was toying with the idea of getting a V8 to replace the backseats of my old Cinq Sporting and making it a RWD car.

Thankfully, altho I'm silly, I'm not that silly.

[clubsport]

Clearly awful marketing gimmick...but the GP version has a chassis tweaked by Prodrive. Good news, but surely Prodrive are effectively a competitor of Ferrari on most Sundays. Are Ferrari / Fiat group admitting their own egineers are not up to the job?

[petros]

Just got our first one in the Showroom. Looks quite smart. Will have to wait and see if it sells.

[Sgt^Roc]

That's the drawback of racing a Ferarri F1 car, the only hot hatch is a Fiat to stick your name all over

[rallysanf]

I wonder if it has a special Schumacher sat nav system,.....no matter how busy the roads, you'll always beat your mates to work, even having stopped at the car wash, plus if anyone try's to overtake, it runs them off the road!

[Negative Creep]

Seems nothing more than a cheap marketing gimmick to me to try and prop up desperatly falling sales

[rutthenut]

Prodrive aren't only a competitor to Ferrari - they also have experience in developing and racing the cars in GT series.
Not that they'd be using the same experiences for this badge engineering effort. I think a Prodrive Stilo would be a better name than a Schumi Stilo. But this is also what the Abarth should be in the first place!

[Elfboy]

Oh dear. I for once feel sorry for the F1 driver.

Really, I would die of horror if I had such a stupid car called after me.

Anyway, I know Fiat and Ferrari are linked, but Schumy is driving for Ferrari not Fiat, or is it just me?

[dinkel]

Photoshop . . . ?

www.repubblica.it/2003/l/motori/gallerie/fiatt/stiloschumi2/1.html

no, 2003 . . . ?

[Phil_dougan]

would michael schumacher not feel slightly embarrased to have his name plastered all over a fiat. surely a limited edition ferrari would of been better!! sorry but not a big fan of fiats....