Fiat Stilo Hatchback (2002 - 2007) 1.9 JTD Dynamic 5d Owner Review

I've really enjoyed owning my Stilo tank, it's been quirky, powerful and at one time, stylish. It suddenly looks very dated and rattles more than ever, but I like it enough to be replacing it with a Bravo, having been won over by Fiat. It's generally very well built and with plenty of thoughful features and solid parts quality. Things I love: the awesome glass folding roof, which opens with the key remote. The JTD engine is glorious (although smoky due to lack of a DPF) and has been totally reliable. The stereo sounds great although the original old amber screen sat-nav is chuckle-inducingly useless these days. No chance of adding an aux-input for sensible money. The interior is comfortable and tasteful, and especially spacious for rear passengers. The rear seats slide forwards/backwards which can come in useful. It can carry a respectable amount of stuff, and I recently discovered it has great Isofix anchors for child seats. It's a nice place to be, although I ache after journeys of more than two hours. There are courtesy lights in the back and puddle lights in the front doors. The doors still give a realy nice "clomp" sound when you shut them. Electrics have all been fine except for the very occasional message about a duff fog light. Downsides: the interior plastics have become sticky with age and nothing will clean it. It'll stain the knees of your trousers! It seems to get through a lot of tyres although the tracking is fine. The air con is okay, a bit weedy perhaps, but the vents can't be pointed at the driver unless you're tall and sit far back. They all miss me! The rear light clusters fill with water and it often causes bulb failure messages. Easily cleaned up! There's also a lot of body roll in the Stilo, leaving it feeling rather un-sporty. The column-mounted electric power steering gets a lot of flak from people who claim it's dead-feeling and gives no feedback from the road. That might be agreeable to a point, but it has been trouble-free and the city mode makes parking very light work. The parking sensors are absolutely great, and I think comes as standard on all models(?) I also had a 1.6 petrol Stilo, which in stark contrast, was a poop-heap. Smooth and quiet, but deserved the traditional Alfa/Fiat reputation. The electrics and engine management on the petrol model are far less reliable and the engine ECU can be trashed by jump-starting, leaving you with an immobiliser security issue that the main stealer can't fix. I fixed it for £120 where the main stealer failed after a £500 bill. It was only a £600 car.