A Curve Ball

9 out of 10 people buying a Maserati will want a nice sounding petrol engine so i guess that's why its only 9k?

The audience for a car with potentially eye watering performance car running costs with a very ordinary diesel engine along with the usual Italian car quirks will be vanishingly slim but if you're one of them then fair enough.

Just make sure you do go in with your eyes open, get actual quotes for the normal maintenance you'll need to be doing, after some research you *might* find you can quite happily run it cheaply if you can source all the right parts and are happy to do the leg work rather than just taking it to the dealer to 'sort out' whenever it needs anything.

It'll be slightly like owning an American or Japanese import car, if you want to do it even semi sensibly you'll be spending a lot of time on forums and car parts sites cross referencing part numbers to get the bits you need without having to pay an arm and a leg for them. Totally doable (i've done it twice with 2 Japanese import cars) but it is something you need to take into consideration when you go into it as it is a far bit of effort and you have to be fairly savvy.
 
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sovietspybob said:
The audience for a car with potentially eye watering performance car running costs with a very ordinary diesel engine along with the usual Italian car quirks will be vanishingly slim but if you're one of them then fair enough.
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This nails it.

To the OP, have you driven one yet?

My own view is I wouldn't buy one, because I don't think overall it would be the best experience I could get for the money. The reason I said we could be make suggestions is because I would not see an old diesel Maserati as a great option, it's not especially exciting to drive, and it has high maintenance bill potential, so I think there's a good chance of something different being better. You might really like these cars though, and that's all that matters really.
 
Also, there's a reason this car is now only £9k, and that's the high maintenance costs.

Diesel cars are hard on batteries, and if you aren't driving them much to recharge the battery, you might soon find you start having battery issues, (e.g. you have to keep charging it), especially over the winter.
 
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radderfire said:
Also, there's a reason this car is now only £9k, and that's the high maintenance costs.

Diesel cars are hard on batteries, and if you aren't driving them much to recharge the battery, you might soon find you start having battery issues, (e.g. you have to keep charging it), especially over the winter.
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Oh no...
Anyway
;)

A battery is a couple of hundred usually. Hardly a reason not to buy a car? But yeah that could get long, going out to use it on a cold January morning to be met with the dreaded click and no turn over. :) Maybe factor in a trickle charger OP?

I mean 2014 isn't that bad. I drive cars from 2004, 2007 and 2010 regularly. They're fine. OK they're not a complex Diesel Mazza but meh....
I agree to get the V8 though. The whole point is the V8 and associated burble. Especially with 3000 annual miles.
Can you afford to fix it if it goes wrong? I mean truly? Would you even? Say the clutch/gearbox/injectors goes....have you looked at how much that costs? How much are front brake discs for example and pads? That's often a good indication of what you are in for.
 
bazzabear said:
You are going to get a load of joyless miseries telling you how daft it is, how unreliable it'll be, how you won't be able to trust it, how you should definitely get some bland, grey, rep mobile that every other sod on your road has in their driveway too.

Ignore them. Choose life. Who cares? Pick something that's going to give you joy when you look out the window at it, and when you sit in the driver seat. Life's too short to drive dull cars.
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This is absolutely 100% spot on. Stick a couple of hundred quid away every month for the inevitable bills it throws, and get on with it.
 
radderfire said:
Also, there's a reason this car is now only £9k, and that's the high maintenance costs.

Diesel cars are hard on batteries, and if you aren't driving them much to recharge the battery, you might soon find you start having battery issues, (e.g. you have to keep charging it), especially over the winter.
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so if the car was 20k, would you say it was down to cheap maintenance costs. 9k has nothing to do with how much it costs to maintain...sheesh what we doing here
 
There is no V8 Ghibli (well, except the very expensive Trofeo that came out more recently).

Options are:

V6 3.0 Petrol 330 bhp
V6S 3.0 Petrol 410 bhp
Diesel 3.0 275 bhp

I would honestly ignore the diesel and get a petrol, especially if you aren’t doing many miles. They’re still quite cheap.
 
The Angry Welshman said:
link is above..... i think post 5
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Ah yeah.
The wheels look a bit lost in the arches if I'm being honest. I remember Mazza's as beautiful and different. This model looks a bit like it's trying to be an executive Merc and not quite pulling it off? Doesn't look that sporty to me. What do I know though. (Not a lot on Mazza's tbf)
 
Its just luck what goes wrong beyond the normal disks, tyres, other service costs and little issues. Anything big goes and the bill could be bonkers.
 
The Angry Welshman said:
so if the car was 20k, would you say it was down to cheap maintenance costs. 9k has nothing to do with how much it costs to maintain...sheesh what we doing here
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What was original list price then? It would have had big depreciation. The point is it's now a cheap high end luxury car, and the second hand price is a reflection of demand, which is low because people know the maintenance costs. Same reason you can buy cheap Bentley Continentals, VW Phaetons, BMW 7 Series, Audi A8's etc etc, all of which would likely be more reliable and cheaper to run than a Maserati.
 
I wouldn't bother with this at all. Watch M539 on YouTube and his Maserati series he did. The amount of parts that were no longer available on a car that they were still making was unbelieveable. He had so much trouble getting parts.
Used Maseratis are cheap for a reason. They may seem like Ferrari performance for old banger money, but they come with all the usual old banger problems for Ferrari money. However, this one doesn't even have the performance.

If you are wanting an executive express that's a bit left-field for a low-ish budget and has that Italian flare, have a look at an Alfa-Romeo Giulia.
 
The Angry Welshman said:
so if the car was 20k, would you say it was down to cheap maintenance costs. 9k has nothing to do with how much it costs to maintain...sheesh what we doing here
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Of course they're related, these sorts of cars end up looking cheap because the potential running costs are disproportionately high for anyone not undertaking DIY maintenance, so the cars are subsequently worth less as nobody wants them.

If they were cheap and easy to maintain, they'd command a higher purchase price because people would actually want them and there would be some demand.

The price has to be low to dupe entice someone into wanting a potential money pit with a boring engine option.
 
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