2002 Fiat Stilo Active from UK and Ireland - Comments

My car has had a multitude of problems including numerous dashboard light faults, it has spent at least 6 weeks in the garage overall having this investigated.

It has had a new clutch at 6,000 miles.

New rear brake calipers at 13,500 miles as these were seized up.

The rear brake pads were totally destroyed due to the ceased caliper.

The front brakes have needed attention.

I attempted to use my spare wheel to replace the rear wheel that had irregular wear due to the ceased caliper only to find that it had been left in the car by the dealer with a buckled wheel rim.

The passenger seat sensors for the airbags have come loose.

Bits of plastic keep falling off the interior of the car.

The Sky Window has had operational problems.

The car to date has had over £2.5k spent on it under warranty.

The car has been a total disappointment to me.

My first Fiat was a 1.6 16V ELX Punto, this was a great car and I was expecting great things of the Stilo. I had had it two weeks before things started to go wrong.

I understand from my local Fiat dealer that I am not the only one to be visiting the garage on a regular basis.

I can only agree, my 2003 stilo dynamic has had every fault possible appear on the dashboard display. It has already had a repair to the air conditioning and it has gone again, three dealers have been unable to rectify these faults.

I am now pursuing this through the legal system as these faults could mean a more serious problem, possibly a warranty problem if ignored or worse a health & safety one. I can only wish the writer of this report all the best.

Why don't FIAT get involved and make some official comment? So many bad press views on such a pretty car, dealerships in general seem unlikely to want to help, just re-setting this and checking that. If airbag warning malfunction is common, and it is, surely there is a duty of care required from FIAT themselves? I would have gone for the Abarth Stilo, but these comments put me right off.

I have to agree with the negative comments made. My Stilo, a 2002 model, had to have the Sky roof repaired (under warranty) as it appeared to have a will of it's own, but now the car is sadly out of warranty and is falling apart. I have had several expensive repairs, the drive shaft broke so that I needed a new gearbox and clutch and two of the coils failed, but the last straw is that the plastic part of the passenger door panel has fallen to bits, so closing the door is a real problem. I have contacted Fiat directly, but so far have had no reply, hopefully I will hear from them soon.

I cannot agree more! My 2002 Stilo is a complete pain! CPU has a mind of it's own, warning lights and faults are on more times than they are off. Twisted rear axle on a factory recall, broken boot lock, glove box fell to pieces, drivers door card needed to be replaced, loose connection on drivers air bag sensor, petrol cap broke (a fault I have seen on several stilo's - I now notice the spring is not as stong as the original.

I now have had injector problems, the car chugged under acceleration and the rear passenger side caliper has seized up (£136+VAT).

Shame as the car looks nice, can't wait to get rid of it.

Our 1.2 has been fine except for the Airbag warning which the dealer was unable to fix 5 times, but I managed it. No complaints, good car for the price, but not one you can be rough with, more expensive cars can cope with that, but hefty banging about inside can cause some breakages I guess... not that we have experienced this. So I bought a Grande Punto 1.9 Sporting and so far that is fine too.

Unlucky you other guys I think :-)

It's sad to hear all your tales of woe. My girlfriend has a Stilo 1.6 16V Dynamic, and so far, it has been excellent. We don't get any of the electrical problems being reported, or trouble with brakes, gearbox and trim. In fact, having done close to 40K miles, the interior still looks like new and is wearing well.

She recently took it up to Preston, a 400-mile round trip, without it missing a beat. I guess we're amongst the lucky few. I'm now considering an Abarth for her as she loves the Stilo so much; I think the shape of the Stilo is still up-to-date and is a good looking car. By the way, we don't use a FIAT dealer for servicing; perhaps that's the trick...

Well - The 1.6v Stilo 2002 plate again... spent lots of money on this car over the last three years, changed front suspension on recall, then the Reading dealership closed and I opted for a local garage... did full service with them in January, cambelt change and all... and August did its full service again plus MOT and that cost a lot as well... a month later - the engine seized, changed head gasket (cylinder head) and on replacing was told the gearbox had a leak - possibly cracked - just want to take it to the scrap yard now...