All Fiat Stilo reviews

"The 1.8-litre 16-valve petrol engine is lively enough to put a smile on the face of all but the keenest of drivers?"

Fiat's latest Stilo may have failed to offer a major challenge to best selling Family Hatchbacks like Ford's Focus and Vauxhall's Astra but that doesn't mean that it can't make a very good buy, particularly in its sportier variants. Motoring writers loved the most recent of these, the powerful Stilo Schumacher, but many buyers were put off by the high insurance and runni...

"Get a potential customer behind the wheel of a Stilo and they often bought one"

Just when Fiat thought the family hatch market in which its Stilo competes couldn't get any tougher, it just did. Markedly. With heavyweight competitors from Volkswagen, Vauxhall and Ford all lined up to give the Stilo a pounding, Fiat needed to spike their guns. With a beefed up range, improved quality control, more equipment and a new engine at lower prices than ever, can the Stilo face down the big boys?...

"Although most will probably opt for the 1.4-litre petrol-engined models, the 1.9-litre JTD engine is a far more attractive purchase."

The full rehabilitation of diesel is on its way but we're not quite there yet. Time was when mention of diesel ownership meant certain social death, marking you down as somebody who'd break out a calculator to split the bill in McDonalds. Then diesels became fun, stylish and desirable. Though some lingering dissenters remain, the Stilo JTD has enough ver...

"If you get a potential customer behind the wheel of a Stilo, they usually buy one."

It's a tough world out there and a tough family hatchback market. Fiat have had a fight on their hands trying to make a significant breakthrough in this very competitive sector. Yet their recent offerings have started to claw back some of the lost ground and with models like the Fiat Stilo 1.4-litre that we look at here, there is genuine optimism that this trend will continue.

If you get a potenti...

"A Stilo Abarth will be as comfortable tackling the long distance commute as it will be on your favourite B-road?"

It's an inescapable fact. If you're in the market for a quick three-door hatch with a dash of style, the chances are the Fiat Stilo Abarth won't have even crossed your mind let alone made it as far as a shortlist. Fast Fiats of the past have often been fun but fragile. The Stilo Abarth offers entertainment coupled with a welcome dose of durability.

If Fiat really want...

"The front passenger seat can be folded flat, opening up a whole range of possibilities from IKEA that were previously just a flight of fancy"

Five years ago, the market for small estate cars was dead in the water. Sales had stagnated horribly due to the massive popularity of ever smaller MPV models, bringing with them new-found utility and ever more ingenious ways of packaging the average family. That's fine if you're the average family, and for a while, those that didn't stick to manu...

If we mention how Fiat have massively changed over the years from producing buzzy little contraptions to a company turning out some genuinely well built vehicles, it tends to invoke exasperated calls from the press office. So we won't. Let's just concentrate instead on the very agreeably screwed together Stilo, a car that Fiat can be rightly proud of. Now arriving on the used market in meaningful numbers, this is a vehicle that may not have caught the imagination of the British public but cou...