Has anyone any experience of the Stilo 2.4? I quite fancy getting one.

We had a 1.8 with all the Abarth bits on and toyed with changing for a Schumacher with the 2.4 until we realised it was £500pa road tax.

Under the latest system only cars registered after 23rd March 2006 will fall into the L and M (£500ish) tax bands. All others are pegged at K, currently £290.

https://www.gov.uk/vehicle-tax-rate-tables

parkers lists the Abarth as running to 31st Jan 2006 and so all are are listed as K tax band.

http://www.parkers.co.uk/cars/advice/road-tax-guide/fiat/stilo/hatchback-2002/27035/

very cheap now, but for a reason...

after the 2005 facelift, involving revisions to lights, dash, interior etc, the 3dr remained with the "abarth" badge but the 5dr become known as a "prestigio". i had a prestigio in 2007 - RN54HWE - paid £4k for a 3yr old example with low miles so someone somewhere took a massive hit on this.

i kept it for 6m, then p-exed it against a laguna diesel as the running costs of oil, fuel, and roadtax was simply ruinous - a friend of mine said his 911 was cheaper to run and i'd tend to agree. it was very, very thirsty and quite a poor performance return against such running costs. i think i saw 16mpg at times, averaged about 22, and never got above 28mpg driving carefully at 60 with the cruise on.

my car had the famed selespeed gearbox, which although quite unique in having paddles in that class in 2007, was quite a rough gearbox in changes, and was constantly having sensors replaced and recalibration carried out. it sometime missed gears too which made pulling onto roundabouts a lottery.

however - stuffed with plenty of toys - early cars more so; including a neat MFD dash display. connect nav, phone, heated electric memory leather. the "Schumacher" twin pipe backbox option also enhanced the 5 pot noise, but we all know that here with the coupe. the upper dash - the typical "airbag" section also opened as a secret compartment, but the hinges here were often under quite a bit of tension and were prone to snapping. a complete dash out job to replace, so certainly a small but important thing to check after mechanics and cosmetics.

oh, and i was once quoted £140 to change a headlight bulb at fiat...dont forget the bay also has engine sizes all the way down to 1242cc fitted, so putting the 2.4 in didnt leave much room.

after i sold up RN54HWE was then constantly either on ebay or popping it at different garages for sale; assume either owners reselling quickly or the trade passing it around due to static stock. for me this basically says it all - decent spec, but totally unloved.

and i dont know how much is an urban legend, but apparently the cars had to have 2 cats fitted to pass emissions legislation - which suggests to me that the car and engine were rushed through in development and fudges were carried out to get it into the marketplace quickly (may be wrong with assumption).

this was all happening at a time when the golf gti was regaining its act.

a fair car - and cheap now - but i certainly wouldnt.

sorry if there are any owners on the forum - that was my experience, and naturally forms my personal opinions. maybe i had a bad car?

hope it helps and good luck if you proceed :-)

\Have you read this thread from the forum?

I know, I look at them from time to time too - I like the angular, 'Creighton head' styling.

If you do take the plunge, just don't get a silly speed - go manual. And let us know how you get on

Thanks everyone, that's really interesting. I'm not sure I'm quite so keen now! I assumed it would be a really quick car. Perhaps will look for an Alfa 156 instead ... Also love the GTV. Or I may even go for a Punto 1.6 Cabriolet if I can find one.

I commented in the above post but will say my bit here as well.

They have a good specification but electrics and the selly speed gearbox had lots of issues. For a 2.4 it felt slow and the gearbox was a rather jerky affair. The fuel consumption was a joke and to be honest apart from being comfi and good looking (IMOP) It had little else going for it.

The manual or even better Schumacher would be the only versions id look at now and even then there is much better about.

My friends over at Italicar have a lovely Cabrio for sale

https://www.facebook.com/italicar.uk/pho...e=1&theater

I made an offer on that Cabrio but it was declined.