Bargain Maserati Gran Turismo's

They are stunning cars in the flesh, much nicer than pictures even and they look pretty good in them! And soooo comfortable, plus they do sound epic too!

Mate at work used to have one of these but was forced to sell it when he split with his wifey, it almost broke his heart bless! He only earns ~£30k a year and his wife just over half that, so it gives an idea as to how affordable they are.

They don't need servicing that much - £1-2k every 2 years or 12k miles. Tires cost £250+ a corner and you will get 10-20MPG, more towards the lower end. They are generally reliable as far as exotic Italian cars go, but as long as you have a manufacturers warranty they are not THAT bad for what they are, which is essentially a Ferrari, but anything out of warranty will be VERY expensive, £2k for a clutch for example.
 
Engine services are the same as their Ferrari counterparts, although these newer engines are much easier on the wallet than the older engines. Services are a bit cheaper as access is a bit easier and Maserati owners tend not to have a reputation for paying whatever the going rate is.

Skyhook suspension, like all active suspension systems, is simply eye-wateringly expensive when it breaks (not if!). Google around for owners tales of woe regarding the Skyhook stuff.

Clutches in the F1-style gearboxes can be toasted in a single reverse manoeuvre if you're not careful. Clutches are expensive.

I toyed with the idea of an older 3/4200 or Quattroporte to replace the S-Class but even as prepared as I am for the perils of S ownership, these are an entirely different ballgame - costs can quite literally be ruinous.
 
DRZ said:
Engine services are the same as their Ferrari counterparts, although these newer engines are much easier on the wallet than the older engines. Services are a bit cheaper as access is a bit easier and Maserati owners tend not to have a reputation for paying whatever the going rate is.

Skyhook suspension, like all active suspension systems, is simply eye-wateringly expensive when it breaks (not if!). Google around for owners tales of woe regarding the Skyhook stuff.

Clutches in the F1-style gearboxes can be toasted in a single reverse manoeuvre if you're not careful. Clutches are expensive.

I toyed with the idea of an older 3/4200 or Quattroporte to replace the S-Class but even as prepared as I am for the perils of S ownership, these are an entirely different ballgame - costs can quite literally be ruinous.
Click to expand...

Doesn't sound like a good gearbox to me.
 
More user error than anything else but it can/does happen. I think it slips the clutch quite a lot more than it would normally do when in reverse, so if you're on a hill you can quite quickly do a lot of damage.

I believe that using it in full auto mode is also particularly hard on the clutches.
 
Probably - just like pretty much every other constituent part that makes up a Ferrari/Maserati ;)

You've just got to weigh it up. A clutch that could last as few as 5,000 miles (or less!) that costs £2k to replace in return for near-instant gear changes and F1-style paddle shifters. Let us not forget that it was a pretty rare/exotic technology 'back then' (when they first introduced the system) and although times have now moved on and we have dual-clutch gearboxes of this type in more mainstream cars they are still pretty much cutting edge stuff.

On the whole, I'd probably accept an F1 gearboxes drawbacks (probably not in a 355, maybe in a 360) in return for the whole package you get with it. At the end of the day, someone who is prepared to lavish the price of one of these cars when new probably isn't the sort of person to wince at a clutch bill every now and again. Ferrari/Maserati don't make second-hand cars and almost certainly do not care how problematic they will be to maintain when they get into the hands of regular people.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom