2004 Fiat Stilo Active Aircon from UK and Ireland - Comments

I have owned the car for 2 weeks and after reading various bad reviews, I actually find the car to be fantastic and I am well satisfied. The only thing to go wrong so far is a bulge appearing the front offside tyre and that can't be Fiat's fault!

A very stylish car. Others say it is not "rounded" enough. Look at the detailing- It's Italian through and through.

For a 1.4, it is surprisingly nimble, but then it does have the equivalent power to a 1.6 Ford Focus!

Seats are very comfortable, stereo is better than my previous Alfa! There isn't much pedal room though and the car lacks a clutch rest.

In basic Active Aircon form I get a CD changer, 6 airbags, ABS, EBD, stylish looks, great sounding engine- what more could you want.

OK- build quality throughout is not fantastic, but it is on a similar level to a previous Ford Focus- Ford are just better at hiding the faults!

It's not as quick as my Alfa, but it's every bit as stylish and as fun to drive- luckily my 2004 version has had all the faults ironed out.

Having tested a Stilo for a weekend, I can confirm that it has a great stereo, better than the Alfa's. And it is certainly solidly built, out of good quality materials. In this aspect it might even surpass the (more expensive) Alfa. However, even if it feels more rigid than an 147, as a driver's tool it is way behind: the main culprit seems to be the steering feel (basically the lack of...), but also the excessive body roll and lack of "handling adjustability" (understeers even if provoked to do otherwise). I understand that the last two comments apply only to extreme cornering, but as far as I am concerned, the Stilo gave me a golf-esque impression. Driving the Alfa shortly after, really made me realize that the extra money would be well-spent.

Having just brought a 3 month old 1.4 Active Air Con, all I can say so far is it's fantastic! It's very comparable in both speeds and handling to a 1.6 Focus, but has stacks of gadgets. A Great Car.

I have had my Fiat Stilo for almost 2 years. In that time I have covered 15K miles. I have just had it serviced and been informed that I needed 2 new front tyres. I was made aware that they needed changing ASAP as they were bald on the inside due to the TOE being out. Fiat, I was told, are aware that the Stilo wears tyres on the inside and has asked its dealers keep an eye out for cars showing this problem. When I went to purchase the new tyres, The mechanic told me that it wasn't the tracking that was out as was suggested by the dealer, but that the camber was out by quite a degree. He showed me the tyres and while there is still plenty of tread left on the tyres themsleves, the wall edge has worn down so much the steel cords running through them are showing, a classic and symptomatic sign of camber problems, that adjusting the TOE will not fix. I have the 16V Dynamic 1600 3 Door version with a tyre size of 205/55 R 16 91V. Has anyone else been made aware of this or has noticed excessive wear?... or can anyone advise?

I have a 2002 Stilo Dynamic 1600. At 30k I had to replace all 4 tyres due to wear on inside of front tyres and wear on outside of rear tyres. The mechanic told me that all Stilos he had changed tyres on showed the same wear pattern. Looks like Fiat need to look at the suspension geometry both front and rear!

Greetings from Estonia! I have had my 3door Dynamic 3 year already, mileage is 65000 kilometers and I don`t see any tire problems in there, everything is correct and all tires are like ones. In the past 2 years I have traveled with 215/45R17 tires and now I have 205/55R16, the only problem I see - if the wishbone (trailing arm) rear side rubber is damaged, then it wear down the inner side of tire (logical :-)

I see you have only problem to find AXLE MASTER with good experience and well calibrated equipments.

I think that when European cars are adapted for right-hand drive for the UK and other RHD markets, they move the wheel to the other side and that's it! You'll notice that most of the time the handbrake is left on the left, and I'm pretty sure that they don't do anything at all to the camber set-up of the suspension.