Test drive Fiat Stilo 5 doors 2001 - 2006 hatchback

Una Dama Torinese

Going on this car is how to invite a mysterious stranger to a restaurant. Not here, of course, but in Turin, the heart of the automotive industry of Italy. It is there, behind the changes of dishes, that it will be possible to understand the character of an unexpected companion. So, my dear master, what do you advise from local cuisine?

The first change.
Carpaccio di Manzo Con Rucola.
You are attractive, Signora. Of course, you have been told this more than once, as they made compliments to your sister, a five -door version. They thought to themselves that the sister was so -so, hedline, is uninteresting. In fact, Fiat was the first of European companies to build a different nature on one platform. One is quiet -family, the other is incendiary. Just do not believe that it all started with Bravo/Brava models. This is coquetry. The traditions of this is as many years as the Zhiguli. Even the 124th fiat had a charged version of Abarth - and it was about such a modification that Fiat Stilo will be below.

Today's Fiat Chief Designer Nevio Di densely considered that when creating a couple of Stilo, it was necessary not only to achieve differences in design and (to some extent) in setting up the chassis, but also to work on the architecture of the car as a whole, and thus diluted among themselves Versions built on a single platform. At the same time, it was decided to give them a little German appearance, since German and high -quality in the understanding of most Europeans are synonyms. Both Stilo, both three- and five-door, turned out to be much more stringent than Bravo/Brava, losing in sensuality to Alfa Romeo and Lancia models. And, alas, competitors (Peugeot 307 - bone in the throat Fiat).

As in large companies, the development of Stilo design (then, in the summer of 1998, another project 192), forces were attracted from all sides. Note that such work in any case is not in vain - in the world there are many companies ready to purchase a rejected fiat option. So, the exterior services to the company were provided by Fioravanti, Italdesign and Pininfarina. The project was coordinated by Peter Fassbender, and the first violins were played by the Italian Mauro Basso, German Thomas Zelez and American Aaron Hawkins. Work on the interior was headed by Peter Jansen (plus Giuseppe Bertoluchery, Fabrizio Bunomass, Guido Bianko, Mauro Christopharoni and Cyril Foa). The final form was determined in July 1999, under the leadership of Massimo Guy. And the project ended already under Mike Robinson, transferred from Lancia to the post of chief designer Fiat.

The cars turned out to be no more than two sisters. The three -door version is about seven centimeters shorter, five - lower and three - wider than five -door.

The second change.
Tometa Calda Con Asparagi.
To pour reproaches to Fiat was almost a decent tone in Russian journalism. However, in this case, there is no pain for attacks for attacks. The steering wheel seemed to me at first too empty, incorporeal. Then I remembered that for driving around the city Fiat uses the City function (electro -hydraulic steering wheel amplifier). True, here is the corresponding inscription on the display. Disconnected - the steering wheel filled. (The use of this function is a difficult issue of preferences: someone loves beer, and someone is red wine. For me, so the steering mechanism should provide at least some specifics even in the city.) On the auto, the steering wheel is filled with elasticity, and you can not To be afraid of gusts of wind. But the reactions of the car to its turn still remain lethargic.

Criticism, which has already managed to sound in Stilo supplied to Russia, breaks about embossed, energetic proportions of the Abarth version, which seemed to have been in a fitness center for more than an hour. On alloy disks with Firestone tires, 205/55R16, with a tightened suspension, is very friendly against the driver even with prolonged movement at a speed of two hundred.
Despite the slightly smeared zero steering wheel, correction is almost not required. In long gentle turns, you enjoy how Abarth prescribes the trajectory. The habits of the car are moderately transmitted, in any case, it responds more calmly to the discharge of gas than Peugeot 307.
But is it at all to throw gas if you drive a car with an ABARTH Scorpio on the back door? Of course, today this coat of arms is no more than the last exhalation of Mr. Pae - the legendary sports workshop has not existed for a long time. But anyone will pass the unexpectedly peppy grabbing of the fiatic and a juicy controversial exhaust path. As Dumas wrote: ... a lace collar, an elegant shoe, a beautiful ribbon in her hair will not turn an ugly woman into a pretty, but pretty made beautiful. Of course, the flow meter arrow during a throw from Milan to Turin managed to noticeably shift to the left. But, again, the 2.4-liter 20-valve 170-horsepower five gasoline consumes not Super plus, but simply Plus, and this is, as if your lady preferred gold jewelry.

The company thoroughly equipped the machine: in the list of settings, for example, the function of blocking the side doors is laid separately from the rear. Now a person buying Fiat receives almost everything the same as the owner of a Mercedes: eight airbags (frontal - dual -mode), subsidivator, ultrasonic cruise control, separate climate, automatic headlights, parking sensors, telephone communication with a set on the steering wheel, A bunch of information on RDS and TMC codes, navigation in the main European languages, voice control. True, the Connect telecommunication terminal control keyboard now resembles the manual of the organ of the Dome Cathedral. To comprehend all the subtleties of communication with the machine in two days is unthinkable. Several times I could not return the electronic navigator (pleasant female voice) to the bosom of English, and instead of cold-observant, Turn Left or Turn Right had to listen to the emotional a sinistra and a destra.

A luxurious driver's seat (beige leather) is equipped with an electric regulatory with keys arranged in the shape of a chalk - well, just like a Merceus -Veda. It is provided for setting up the lumbar zone with memory - you open the door, and the chair in response begins to burn affably. To get on the back row, you need to pull the lever, and then the front chair will move forward on its own and tilt the back.

In the interior decoration, pleasant to the touch, high -quality materials - for example, the orange peel of the upper part of the torpedo, which also does not affect the windshield. All panels are carefully adjusted to each other, the seams are even, the surfaces are dense.

In the interior, the remark caused only the gear handle: in a sports model, an object of a more energetic form is asked in its place.

The third change.
Plin a Guocchetti Champagne E Asparagi.
Alas, Fiat's brilliance on the race of Europe today is not much reminiscent of a lot. For example, small -shaped stilo abarth mirrors. It’s not easy to see through them. Since the area of \u200b\u200btheir surface is small, it had to give it a significant curvature to reflect more. But the difference in the scale of the image with the salon mirror is so great that every time you have to check with it, so as not to get a kick in the rear bumper. Looking at the headset as a whole, I note: so large, sparkling from the inside with the rear lights would have approached more mirrors. Spit on aerodynamic noise, Mr. Robinson.

The second serious remark belongs to the transmission. The Selespeed system simply appeals about more intelligibility! Often it is not possible to catch the program, as they say, from the first poke, especially if we are talking about switching from the first to the back. The indicator’s thoughtfulness summarizes - only according to it in this transmission can be understood whether the inclusion passed or not. Example. With neutrals, you go to the first - continues to burn n, you make another nod lever - and the number 2 is ignited immediately! God with him, on a 170-horsepower car, you can start with the second, but, you know, somehow not Camilfo.

In the first program, the transmission, to put it mildly, is in no hurry to respond to gas supply, and this leads to curious situations. I start moving up on a small slope. Let me remind you: there are only two pedals, which means that the rule applies: the left leg - for itself. I turn on the first gear, transfer the right from the brake to the gas, and the beauty rolls towards someone's bumper. For brakes! The second attempt is a more decisive press on the accelerator. The effect is better, but the wheels still manage to do half the turn back, which, you see, does not add confidence to the driver. If the slope is cool, as in the famous Turin suburb of Moncalii, then, contrary to all the rules, it is necessary to hold the brakes with his left foot, to bring the gas pedal to the air condition and with the almost inevitable jerks of touching the car from the place. By the way, if you stop where there is no slope, but the first is turned on, the brake pedal can not be kept - Stilo Abarth will not go.

Similarly, when you turn on the rear, the car can roll forward - if it is in the front of the slope. Strong pressure on gas here is fraught with a stormy surge of emotions (especially the owner of the machine that you will imprint after such a start).

Stilo Abarth is equipped with ultrasonic parking sensors, and according to the budget option - only from behind. You begin to move in reverse, and they bake like the first satellite. With a rapprochement, picking up threateningly increases. Turn off the rear gear, transfer to the first - the parking worker is silent. And he is silent, even if the car continues to get closer to the obstacle, as in the example described above!

In a word, the gearboxes of this type (call them at least pseudo -oriental, at least pseudo -automatic) still require refinement. And not only Fiat. By the way, Selespeed is one of the best representatives of such transmission. Already because her jerks with fully automatic driving are minimal, although self -interruption occurs almost in the red zone - for six thousand revolutions. But reduces transmission transmissions almost on idle - below 1000 rpm.! That is, it is obviously designed for those who are used to amusing a pen. And on those who are caressed by a hearing, an effortless roar of the engine. However, if you adopt the transmission of three to three and a half thousand in the zone, at the peak of torque, Abarth will behave with a smart woman. Switching will be accompanied by light shocks, which will follow the assertive acceleration. Here is the whole thing in the coincidence of temperaments. In such a car, a six -speed short mechanical box would be more in my heart.

Dessert.
Meringanta Con Zabaione.
Relations are always not easy, especially if partners initially present high demands on each other. Seeing the inscription Abarth on the body of champagne, of course, I counted on an explosive temperament, on a sharp reaction, on a more emotional sound, finally. Indeed, behind the former two-time champion of Austria in motorcycle lamps, Karl Abart, a reputation of the wizard, capable of pumping adrenaline even in 500-cubic engines, was firmly entrenched. And - if about the sound, he specialized at first on the configured release systems and silencers. From 1950 to 1971, when Abart voluntarily lost his business fiat and retired to his native vein, he experimented with engines, and his cars won a huge number of competitions. The phiat-Abarth phrase then became a synonym for sports success. In my own, Stilo from all this remained only a light fleur.

However, escorting the blonde to the garage after the Milan -Turin route and vice versa, I appreciated it in it something else: moderate (for sports car) appetite, convenient driver’s place, well -read devices, large (diagonal 7 inches) Information monitor. Finally, I was grateful to Stilo for those places in Lombardy and Piedmont, which I managed to visit in her company. Yes, and the charge of the ABARTH version will be more than enough. She will be enough that, going to work, he every time he feels that he was traveling in a special car.

Stilo gamma is nineteen modifications, two types of bodies, six engines (from 1.2 liter 80 hp to 2.4 l 170 hp), five transmission, equipping levels Active, Dynamic and Abarth, and There are also seventeen bodies of the body, for each of which the corresponding upholstery of the cabin is provided. So everyone can pick up a couple to their taste.

TECT: Denis Orlov

Source: Motor magazine [No. 6/2002]