irishcar.com - The new Fiat Stilo first view

Two cars, one name - Stilo

Unmistakeably Italian. Distinctively Fiat. That’s the new Stilo which was unveiled to motoring journalists from all over the world with great fanfare in Barcelona a week prior to its official launch at the Frankfurt Motor Show.

It’s an important benchmark car for Fiat, marking its commitment to competing strongly in the highly competitive C-Segment which accounts for almost 4m cars a year in Europe. In recent years, the marque hasn’t done as well here as has its competition, such as Ford Focus and Opel Astra.

When full production is onstream in 2003 - and it will be on sale in Ireland from January 5 - Fiat plan to sell 400,000 units across Europe. (Throughout its life, 1.3m of the predecessor Bravo/Bravas were sold).

In Barcelona, then Fiat boss Roberto Testore said research had focused on two types of customers, and the Stilo caters for both with its 3-door ‘sporty’ version and the bigger 5-door ‘family’ version. And he said they had succeeded with what they were aiming for, ‘a solid car with a great personality’.

The 3-door and 5-door models, although different cars, are produced on the same production line, based on the same platform. The only body component common to both versions is the bonnet. The 5-door is also 5cms higher than the 3-door to provide better access and driving position for the older driver. In the 5-door, the boot can be made up to 22% bigger by sliding the rear seat forward.

The Stilo comes with a choice of six engines, 1.2, 1.6, 1.8, 2.4 20v, and two diesel engines - a 1.9 JTD 80bhp and a 1.9 JTD 115bhp. All engines have been re-engineered for this latest model, which is a 100% new car. An automatic version will be available later.

Customers will be able to choose from three spec levels, Active, Dynamic and Abarth, and 17 body colours, to allow for a very personal car.

From its genesis on the drawing boards to its final launch, the Stilo has cost the company around 900m euros to develop. The car is produced at the company’s Cassino plant, redesigned for the purpose. Compared to the Bravo/Brava series, quality control has been improved enormously and an increased use of robots has allowed workers to deal with their part of the production process more comfortably and efficiently. All Fiat employees who worked on the Stilo have had to undertake 160 hours of training to improve quality standards.

In its search for the perfect spec for the Stilo, Fiat sought the opinions of thousands of its customers as well as potential owners and the results were taken into account at the design stage. Fiat says the latest research proves they have satisfied all these expectations. Juan José Diaz Ruis, vice president sales and marketing, said research shows that when buying a car 29% of potential customers go for style, 23% for equipment and value for money, 19% for sturdiness and safety and 12% for comfort and space.

Our own opinions during a brief run from our base at the Circuit de Catalyuna, north of Barcelona - which included twisty mountain roads and a motorway - were of a good looking, well built, well designed strong car that handled well.

Inside the car shows an improved interior design named by Fiat as the ‘next generation interior’ with plenty of soft-touch plastics and high quality trim materials. It’s roomy and comfy too.

From the outside, Stilo is lively looking with strong shoulders, sleek surfaces and crisp contours. It gives the impression of speed - even at a standstill!

The versions we tried were the 1.8-litre automatic and the 2.4-litre V6 which came with Fiat’s Selespeed automatic/manual gearshift system. The 1.8-litre had sattelite navigation which gave clear instructions on a large screen. However, the system had not been reset from the previous trip and when it informed us that we had ‘now reached our destination’ after only a few kilometres, and should do a U-turn at the first opportunity, we turned ‘her’ off, opting to follow our noses. We still found our way home.

The run was too short to give here a full feeling of the car, but initial impressions are of something very solid, with a strong ‘presence’ on the road, and which certainly should be drawing the attention of both customers and competition when it gets on the road.

A perhaps more noteworthy driver to test the Stilo was World Champion Michael Schumacher who gave it an emphatic ‘thumbs up’. He is, of course, employed by a Fiat-owned company, but I’m sure that didn’t affect his judgement.

I’m sure also he didn’t have any problem getting into the car. But for the rest of us, a medallion-like device known as CID (Customer Identification Device) held in the hand or even in a pocket, can be recognised by the car once you pull on the door handle. Once this gadget is recognised, the system allows the car door to be opened and the car to be driven. Simple.

All models on sale here will be equipped with six airbags and all will have air conditioning as standard. An estate version is due next year.