2003 Fiat Stilo Active review from UK and Ireland

I've only had the car 1 week so thankfully no faults, and I hope none in the future.

I've only owned the car for 1 week, but I felt compelled to write a report.

So far the car has been a wee sweetie. Looks ace (far sportier then it really is), drives wonderfully (VW territory). All this from the "poverty spec" 1.2, its laden with features for such a cheap car.

I paid a grand total of £7788 for my brand new (but pre-registered) Stilo, that's with metallic paint. All that could be said to be missing from this car is Alloy wheels (something easily rectified) and Air con, which in the UK we can honestly live without.

I previously owned a Ford Escort TDi it was a fairly quick car and managed a reliable 40mpg, but so far the Stilo has managed to whip itself up to a fair speed (I'm glad its got the speed warning bleeper thing built in) and has been at least if not more economic then the Escort.

In fact the car is almost as much fun as my old Saxo VTS was (see review http://www.carsurvey.org/review_21140.html) but the steering could do with having a little more feedback.

Classy looking and sporty with it in 3-door form, 5 door form, I don't like, but I do like the estate.