2003 Fiat Stilo Dynamic from UK and Ireland - Comments

I purchased this car on 28th March 2003.

29th March, rear passenger door deadbolt engaged in the locked position (door could not be opened).

30th March, One of the remote control units failed.

31ST March, Returned car to the dealership who were unable to repair door

(Did not stock door locks)

Ist April, Following contact from motor vehicle registration authority I discovered that the dealership had placed incorrect number plates on the car.

2nd April, the dealership damaged door panel as they attempted to unlock the door. Advised me that would have a replacement panel by 4th April.

10th April, My son received a nasty cut to his hand when he placed it into the "glove pocket" on the back of the drivers seat. (Matter reported to Fiat Auto Ireland, Their incident reference number 2326499). It transpired that a part inside the rear of the seat had been incorrectly assembled which resulted in a sharp cable tie turning and pushing through the back of the seat and into the "glove pocket"

10th April, Discovered Mark in paintwork on roof of car.

10th April, Discovered that drivers door mirror was very badly scratched.

10th April, Discovered that weather protection material under drivers side rear wheel arch was incorrectly fitted and allowing water to penetrate to the bodywork.

10th April, Discovered one of the compartments in the boot area was poorly fitted and falling away into the boot.

10th April, Boot not closing properly (jumping back)

10th April, Discovered that battery compartment of previously mentioned remote control unit was broken.

11th April, Returned car to the dealership who replaced door panel and repaired seat, roof, weather protector, boot lock / compartment remote control along with fitting a new mirror.

12th April, I discovered that the dealership had fitted an incorrect door panel. Reported matter to dealership who said they would phone me on 14th April.

At 16.00 on 14th I had to phone them again they said they would call back. On 17th April I had to call them as they had failed to contact me.

25th April, Computer giving loose connection and displaying "spanner symbol"

28th April, Returned car to dealership who fitted a damaged door panel (Some type of adhesive on material, Dealership unable to remove same).

29th April, Car began pulling to the left.

30th April, Computer displaying loose connection warning again.

30th April, Discovered paint over spray onto side window felt liners.

Paint run on sill below drivers door.

12th April, Returned car to dealership who tracked steering, could do nothing about paint problems and were unable to solve warning issue due to the fact that Fiat technical department were unable to explain the warning to them.

Also discovered that Fiat had set the roof rack centres at 33.5" while most roof boxes require centres of approximately 27.5". I had to trawl over fifty car dealers, motor factors, hardware and camping outlets before I found the only outlet in Ireland who stocked a roof box suitable for the Fiat Stilo. The box has to be very big and consequently carries a high price €450.

If Fiat had thought this one through I could have purchased a much less expensive box or used the one I had fitted to my previous car a 2000 Fiat Punto. Fiat advised me that although they manufactured roof boxes for many makes of vehicle they did not do so for their own car.

Myself and my family are distraught, this was supposed to be our dream car.

We even paid extra to have metallic paint, parking sensors and an alarm fitted.

Since day one we have had nothing, but trouble with this Stilo Dynamic. We have been denied that "we have just bought a new car" feeling that every new owner is entitled to. We wonder how it got past Fiat`s quality control inspection, believe it is a "lemon" and have absolutely no faith in its future dependability.

We have insisted that Fiat replace the car with a new one. They say they have asked, but that the dealership have refused to give us a new car. They insist that they are prepared to offer us a new car provided that Fiat take ours back as they themselves feel that it is a "monday morning" car which they would not be prepared to sell to another of their customers.

We feel that both Fiat and the dealership have failed to live up to their promise to us (see Fiat`s website assurances regarding the quality and safety of their vehicles along with their statement that all vehicles go through three separate quality inspections prior to being allowed to leave their factory) What happened to ours we wonder.

This is really outrageous. Not just poor build and reliability, but this car has actually caused you physically harm. I was considering buying a Stillo, but after reading this no way. FIAT Ireland needs to do the right thing here or sales will be lost. If you can I would suggest rejecting the car immediately and take legal advice. Let FIAT Ireland know you are talking about this on the net and fight them on it. The longer you hold on to this lemon the harder the case will be.

Good luck.

Don (Dublin)

I was horrified to read the comments on the Fiat Stilo and the troubles that seem to go with them.

Having had a Punto for the last couple of years trouble free I might add, The Stilo seemed like an obvious choice for me as a new car.

But having read this review I will now buy my second choice a Ford Focus.

Fiat seem to have a pass the book attitude and as for the supplier they should be taken to task.

Legal action seems to me the only course to take in this instance.

If I had bought a new car I would also like to experience the feel of a new car not a used vehicle.

Signed

gone off FIAT user.

I too have a Stilo which is just over seven months old, all I've has is trouble. Rattling suspension, clunking noises air bag failure three times and water ingress in the rear light clusters, which there is currently no cure for. My dealer will also not take responsibility and fiat, what a joke.

I am sorry to hear of your troubles. Would you please write a full review rather than a comment as this is more effective.

This tale of woe comes as no surprise to me, as I am also a Stilo owner. I splashed out on the top of the range Abarth model, which was delivered in Feb 2003. Since then it has been nothing but trouble.

Overlooking the generally shabby finish (exterior light fittings falling off for no apparent reason, interior trim badly fitted, rattles, loose leather on seats, etc) the engine management system has consistently reported errors with the gearbox that the main dealer seems unable to diagnose or fix.

Having been told to ignore the warning messages that repeatedly appear on the dash, the car finally broke down for real on a Bank Holiday weekend on a long journey to visit family. The automatic gearbox was stuck in 2nd gear.

Despite another stint in the dealer, the errors returned and the car is booked in for another visit. But today it went one better by totally overheating and breaking down in the city centre.

This saga is by no means over, but given my experience to date I don't anticipate a lot of cooperation from the main dealer. I want rid of this vehicle asap!

Sorry to hear about all your troubles, I certainly would not have proceeded with the purchase a of my Stilo Dynamic 1.6 if I had read this page before hand. Fortunately I did and I have to say I am absolutly delighted with it and do not have any complaint whatsoever.

I have just purchased a brand new Stilo Dynamic 1.6 and so far am very pleased with it. Prior to reading these reviews the only reviews I had seen were very good, hence my decision to purchase.

I have noticed a clicking noise from the clutch pedal on occasion, but don't think it is serious enough to warrant complaint.

It is rather unnerving to read of so many things going wrong with the car. I hope I have more luck!

John

Cheshire.

I posted the original " This car should never have been allowed out of the factory with all these faults " item.

Following same we had a meeting with reps from Fiat and the dealership. The Fiat rep was naturally defensive aggressively pushing the opinion that Fiat cars would never stand up to the high standards we were setting. He accused us of seeking attention in posting to this site saying that such action would not encourage anyone to help us. He advised us that there was no way Fiat would replace our car with a new one, however they were prepared to " give us back our money ". We told him we were not prepared to accept a refund as we wanted a Stilo. All agreed that the car would be returned to the dealership, all defects attended to and an independent motor engineer engaged to inspect the vehicle and provide us with a copy of his findings.

The meeting ended on good terms, but we felt that Fiat had totally misread the situation failing to note the following,

(1) We never wanted a refund as we like and wanted a Stilo, the problem was our Stilo,

(2) In posting to this site our intention was not to seek attention, but rather to encourage others to consider our experiences prior to investing in a Stilo,

Had we wanted attention we would have decorated the car with don`t buy a Fiat, contact us for details signs.

We feel that Fiat would not replace the car as they seen us as complainers who would be back with the replacement as they had no confidence in being able to provide us with a perfect car as promised by their advertising.

We feel that we were dropped into the dark hole that is the no mans land between Fiat and their dealers.

The dealership had the car for a week during which they attended to all the matters we had raised.

They also kindly fitted mud flaps and locking wheel nuts free of charge along with a Fiat promise of a free 12,000 mile service. The engineers report never materialized.

The car has since been back to the dealership and must return there yet again as the problem with the rear passenger door lock has returned, the cool compartment door has developed a problem, the previously problematic remote control is eating batteries at an astounding rate and there is a problem with the rear seat.

Despite all this we have to say that having brought the car on a near 1500 mile holiday trip it is remarkably comfortable with absolutely brilliant road handling and braking. It is effortless to drive behaves impeccably in both dry and wet conditions,eats the miles up and does not tire the driver at all.

Fiat are in no doubt as to our feelings on this whole issue given that we were denied that " new car feeling ". We will continue to complain about any future faults or problems we may have with our Stilo. While Fiat may view us as problem owners we feel that we are the best type of owners, ones who will push Fiat to improve improve and improve, this can only be good for Fiat.

Watch this space for any further developments in the saga that is the adventures of the Murphy Family`s Fiat Stilo.

PS Fiat may not like this posting, but we have been honest and factual.

Martin and Sandra.

Wow - reads like a good novel, but that is what makes Fiat and Alfa the vehicles they are. Unreliable, woeful build quality. At a Fiat expo I got in to a fiat Multipla and as I closed the door a big piece of plastic fell off around the mirror. Anyway enough of the bitching, if They were 50% owned by GM they'd have a fantastic record and you might even see six or seven year old models on the roads. Great company though I hope they last or BMW may save them. Perish the thought. Not a good idea.

Update on Murphy Family Stilo Saga.

The car went back to the dealership on 19th September,

They repaired the glove box door,

Replaced the errant rear door lock,

Provided us with a new key to replace the problematic one.

We now have the new key which works fine, unfortunately the second key (which was working OK) now refuses to operate.

We will have to take the car back to the dealership yet again.

I am becoming weary of using so much of my valuable time coming and going from the dealership. I am incurring expenses and will now insist that they come collect and deliver the car in future.

Sorry to hear about your woes. I purchased a brand new Fiat Bravo in January 2000.At 13,000 (June 2002) miles the gearbox failed. The dealers got in touch with Fiat, who didn't want to know. I sent a letter to Fiat Ireland, threating to take legal action as they would never return my phone calls to discuss the matter further. Straight away they contacted me and I had all my money refunded. The only way to sort these people out is to threaten legal action. Had I not been sorted out, my next move was to picket their head office with a placard. I have absolutely no doubt that your new Stilo would be delivered by the end of the week if you threatened to picket.Don't be afraid to be "aggressive" with these people. After all there were no defects with the money you gave them for your dream car.

Best of luck, go for it!!!

Alan

(Dublin)

I own a 2001 Alfa Romeo from new, and thankfully have had no problem whatsoever.

However, just a pointer if you're considering legal action. Which by the sounds of things you should. You have given them more than enough time to get things right.

Check out the preamble on your owners manual. Here you will find chapter and verse from Fiat about the lengths they go to to make sure their cars are top quality. And that that you can be assured of that quality for years to come. They talk about all of the quality control and also have a printed Guarantee about quality.

I'm sure you're legal team would be delighted to have this in front of them, if Fiat start using lines like "you can't expect" Fiat cars to meet the standards you were seeking.

Good luck.

Jim (Dublin)

I have just purchased a brand new stilo active, I traded my 02year punto in for it and I was glad to get rid of my punto it had numerous faults, the main fault was engine rattle called piston slap, it was that bad that on cold mornings I was ashamed to start the car in case the neighbors were still asleep and the noise would wake them, it went back and back and back and back, I lost count on how many times, eventually fiatuk decided that it needed an engine strip down and over-sized piston rings fitting, but they could not give me a date when this could be done as they were testing out new manufacturers of pistons and rings, after 9 months of waiting I finally got a date out of them for the work to be done, unfortunately at the last minute this was canceled and put back by another month, the reason I was given was that fiatuk had withdrawn authorization for the work... it was eventually done, but it came back to me worse than before with more faults:- oil leek, engine judder when driving of from standing, and still that good old engine rattle or should I say piston slap sounds better (laughing out loud). This is where my 2 month old fiat stilo comes in to the story bought in October 2003 and yes you have guessed right, out of the fire into the frying pan it too has piston slap and the radiator fan starts running as soon as you start the car up and never switches off until you reach your destination and turn the engine off then it starts again when you start the car up to drive somewhere else, which is not good as the heater never gets warm and you can't defrost the windows and we are now into the middle of winter and a good few months of freezing weather still to come... oh the joys of being a fiat owner never a dull day...you have to laugh... this car has now been back numerous times with the same result unable to cure even had a fiatuk technician on it he said it needed a new ecu (engine management system) that was fitted on Wednesday 26th Nov 03, started the car on the following morning just the same radiator fan on all the time and I drive 35 miles to work and it never goes off... oh yes the piston slap needs a new engine so I've been told... well fiat I don't think so I'm not going through the same hell as before if it isn't exchanged for a new car then I will see you in court from a very dissatisfied Sheffield uk customer.

Thanks go to

carsurvey.org

for having this website.

I also have a Fiat Stilo 1.6 with Piston Slap. I have owned the car for 14 months. My local dealer in Norwich called out a Fiat Engineer to inspect the engine and today I have been told that I need to pay £ 700 for labor to enable the dealership to strip down the engine. I am then told that there is no guarantee that the fault can be corrected.

The car is just in to its 3rd year of warranty, but the fault was reported in the 2nd year. Now I have to pay!

No chance! I am off to threaten legal action in the morning. I want a full refund or the labor foc.

I have a stilo 1.8 dynamic 3dr, Bought in March 2003, so now in its 3rd year of warranty, to date the problems I now have to live with are.

1) Driver and passenger internal door handles are coming away from the door panel - Fiat class this as TRIM so will not repair, mind you, they did charge me a diagnostic fee of £36 just to tell me this.

2) Engine sounds like a bag of hammers everytime you start up (work colleagues all think I drive a diesel!) Dealer will not repair on 3rd year warranty.

3) Car constantly pulls to left, tracking has been reset 5 times already, onto 3rd set of tyres (car has done 36000 miles)

4) Car cuts out with all warning lights flashing for no apparent reason - now sick of taking car backwards and forwards to dealer.

5) Airbag lights come on when I turn right at roundabouts!

6) Best of all! - now have smoke and fumes coming through airvents when you turn on heater - car booked to go into dealer tomorrow morning.

7) If you hit a bump in the road whilst cornering, steering goes all over the place.

8) front screenwash is intermittent (never works when you need it anyway)

If it wasn't for the fact I owe more money for the car than its actually worth, i'd get rid of it.