RE: Fiat Stilo 2.4 Abarth | Shed of the Week
Discussion
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I had a Schumacher limited edition one, it was a great car, 2.4 NA 5 cylinder that made a great noise and was so fun to drive to the red line where the power was.
It was a fantastic quality car too, the interior especially was made from quality materials and had a cool glove box that flipped up and down and was felt lined, the ride and refinement was also great for a car that had been lowered, mine used to return 35mpg day to day, more like 26 on a hoon.
I chose it over a focus ST because it was just a better car, and it had a Factory fit subwoofer in the boot.
I had a Schumacher limited edition one, it was a great car, 2.4 NA 5 cylinder that made a great noise and was so fun to drive to the red line where the power was.
It was a fantastic quality car too, the interior especially was made from quality materials and had a cool glove box that flipped up and down and was felt lined, the ride and refinement was also great for a car that had been lowered, mine used to return 35mpg day to day, more like 26 on a hoon.
I chose it over a focus ST because it was just a better car, and it had a Factory fit subwoofer in the boot.
Edited by Nickbrapp on Friday 15th November 08:24
Blearghh, would be ok apart from the fact it looks like an "Not original Artists" Audi at the front.
I suppose you could de-barry it but then you are left with a forgettable, not that quick, fairly ancient (not in a good way) medium sized Fiat with a pretty grey and grim interior. There was a Schumacher version as well.
Cant believe the Stilo arrived in 2001, nearly 19 years ago, no wonder you dont see its predecessors Bravos and Bravas any more, never mind a Marea, nearly bought on new back then as it had a 150 bhp 5 pot. Looked at how many left, one variant of Marea saw 2900 or so registered and down to 6 now, about 190 left in any form, no great loss but amazing how few still around.
I suppose you could de-barry it but then you are left with a forgettable, not that quick, fairly ancient (not in a good way) medium sized Fiat with a pretty grey and grim interior. There was a Schumacher version as well.
Cant believe the Stilo arrived in 2001, nearly 19 years ago, no wonder you dont see its predecessors Bravos and Bravas any more, never mind a Marea, nearly bought on new back then as it had a 150 bhp 5 pot. Looked at how many left, one variant of Marea saw 2900 or so registered and down to 6 now, about 190 left in any form, no great loss but amazing how few still around.
I owned one of these! It's the least reliable car I ever had, but I did enjoy it. This one has been 'improved' by someone sticking Abarth bits all over the place, it should really only be the one small emblem on the boot lid - I got the impression that Abarth were happy with it that way...
That engine is a peach. It's musical like no modern hot hatch is and the lazy, smooth power delivery is really enjoyable. It will drink petrol quite happily, I don't recall ever seeing above 35MPG, generally in the high 20s/low 30s. It's also too heavy for the front suspension which wasn't uprated by Fiat - I went through several front coils on warranty as they would snap at will. If I had it again I'd upgrade them, but I didn't know and was of the mind that 'stock is best' at the time.
The keyless entry is shocking, avoid at all costs. The key discharges every three months or so, so you need to pull the tiniest key in the world out of the back of your fob to unlock the doors, and leave it under the handbrake to (eventually) start the car. It also means that you get the UGLIEST KEY FOB OF ALL TIME, so ridiculous that it seems to have been completely purged from the internet, so a description will have to do. Imagine a circular fob about the size of a thick jaffa cake, round mid 2000s Fiat crest in the middle. Glorious.
Stereo was good, with the wicked CD changer above the glove box under a flip up panel. The glovebox is air-conditioned at best, to call it refrigerated is too much. The sat nav is absolutely useless, chiefly because it needed a CD inserted to work
mine had the hilarious added feature of sliding out of the dashboard under hard acceleration. Would be a great candidate for a Pumpkin unit or similar these days. Finish on the dash buttons and steering wheel is really bad - even seven years ago when I owned one it was hard to find one where the finish hadn't come away on the commonly used buttons.
Parking sensors shat themselves periodically on my car. That was a young idiot me buying a car which flashed up a parking sensor warning on the test drive, from a dealer, and totally ignoring it. What a t
t, honestly.
I liked this car enough despite all it's foibles that I'm still tempted by a Schumacher Edition as a cheap buy, which get to Shed money occasionally. I feel like these are the only ones to buy really, with the limited edition gubbins and the already improved suspension as standard. But a 12-15 year old Fiat which was a commercial flop is never going to appreciate in a meaningful way, I'd be buying purely out of nostalgia.
That engine is a peach. It's musical like no modern hot hatch is and the lazy, smooth power delivery is really enjoyable. It will drink petrol quite happily, I don't recall ever seeing above 35MPG, generally in the high 20s/low 30s. It's also too heavy for the front suspension which wasn't uprated by Fiat - I went through several front coils on warranty as they would snap at will. If I had it again I'd upgrade them, but I didn't know and was of the mind that 'stock is best' at the time.
The keyless entry is shocking, avoid at all costs. The key discharges every three months or so, so you need to pull the tiniest key in the world out of the back of your fob to unlock the doors, and leave it under the handbrake to (eventually) start the car. It also means that you get the UGLIEST KEY FOB OF ALL TIME, so ridiculous that it seems to have been completely purged from the internet, so a description will have to do. Imagine a circular fob about the size of a thick jaffa cake, round mid 2000s Fiat crest in the middle. Glorious.
Stereo was good, with the wicked CD changer above the glove box under a flip up panel. The glovebox is air-conditioned at best, to call it refrigerated is too much. The sat nav is absolutely useless, chiefly because it needed a CD inserted to work
mine had the hilarious added feature of sliding out of the dashboard under hard acceleration. Would be a great candidate for a Pumpkin unit or similar these days. Finish on the dash buttons and steering wheel is really bad - even seven years ago when I owned one it was hard to find one where the finish hadn't come away on the commonly used buttons.Parking sensors shat themselves periodically on my car. That was a young idiot me buying a car which flashed up a parking sensor warning on the test drive, from a dealer, and totally ignoring it. What a t
t, honestly.I liked this car enough despite all it's foibles that I'm still tempted by a Schumacher Edition as a cheap buy, which get to Shed money occasionally. I feel like these are the only ones to buy really, with the limited edition gubbins and the already improved suspension as standard. But a 12-15 year old Fiat which was a commercial flop is never going to appreciate in a meaningful way, I'd be buying purely out of nostalgia.
Edited by gkeele on Friday 15th November 09:07
Edited by gkeele on Friday 15th November 09:10
Happy to be corrected here, but when the Stilo was launched in 2002, the 2.4 version was Selespeed only - so I'm not sure why the article thinks reviewers at the time liked the 5 speed manual gearbox. Maybe continental Europe got both gearbox types. The manual version of the 2.4 came with the 2004/5 facelift, when the troublesome Selespeed was killed off.
I never minded a Stilo, and spotted a Schumacher edition in Spain earlier this year. But nowadays, unless it's a Schumacher one, it's scrap value only, surely. Particularly one with 'visual mods' like this one. Priced with 100% mark-up and some.
I never minded a Stilo, and spotted a Schumacher edition in Spain earlier this year. But nowadays, unless it's a Schumacher one, it's scrap value only, surely. Particularly one with 'visual mods' like this one. Priced with 100% mark-up and some.
Fastchas said:
When this 2.4 20v produces only 170bhp, why wouldn't they go full Rambo and stick in the 240bhp(?) 20v Turbo from the Coupe?
Seems underpowered to me.
Its possible to make a hybrid 2.4 20v turbo with result upwards of 500bhpSeems underpowered to me.
https://www.fiatcoupeclub.org/forum/ubbthreads.php...
matrignano said:
My mum had a Bravo 1.6 SX in metallic ink black.
It was quite ste, but I think it's a bit unfair to call the styling unremarkable - I thought it was very pretty at the time and much less bland than the contemporaneous Golf mk3
Completely agree here about Brava/o styling. Look at the other cars in its class when it came out... The Escort /Astra/golf/sunny and tell me a bravo is as bland as that lot. I don't think so.It was quite s
te, but I think it's a bit unfair to call the styling unremarkable - I thought it was very pretty at the time and much less bland than the contemporaneous Golf mk3Shed, you don't need to slag things off all the time.
I worked for a ex FIAT main dealer when the Stilo first came out . We sold loads of them of all variants due to a great customer base due to great attitude from the boss and staff .
The early ones had some common problems which were all sorted under warranty.
Plug connection problems between the doors and main body. Front tyre wear lead to replacement tyres and a suspension tweak and alignment.
Engine sizes from 1.2 upto 2.4 as well as JTD covered most requirements but the common ones were 1.4 or 1.6 petrol or 1.9 jtd .
It's rare to find one of any spec for sale in a decent condition , I searched for one about 5 months ago and every one had either running problems or were battered to bits .
The early ones had some common problems which were all sorted under warranty.
Plug connection problems between the doors and main body. Front tyre wear lead to replacement tyres and a suspension tweak and alignment.
Engine sizes from 1.2 upto 2.4 as well as JTD covered most requirements but the common ones were 1.4 or 1.6 petrol or 1.9 jtd .
It's rare to find one of any spec for sale in a decent condition , I searched for one about 5 months ago and every one had either running problems or were battered to bits .
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