Wife wants me to ditch my Italian mistress
Discussion
I've always been a fan of Q-cars (or sleepers if you wish) i.e. plain looking cars with anything but plain performance. Also like any self repecting car nut I've always hankered after an Italian sports car but still needed to run a 4-door 5-seater.
2-3yrs I found myself in the enviable position of being able to pick up a low(ish) mileage Maserati Quattroporte S which fufilled all my desires (from a car).
Like a sucker I fell for the dealers patter about how they weren't that expensive to service.
I can just about deal with the service costs even though the brake discs appear to be made from unicorn horns (I'm blowed if I can think of a more expensive substance).
BUT a few days ago the engine management light lit up, I was due to do a 200-mile run so I rang my dealer who can't even look at the car for 10-days!
This means we'll have to use my wife's 2-door for the trip so we won't be able to bring back some bulky items from my kid's house and also I'll have to pootle the dog to the kennels in the wounded Maser (very spoilt dog I know).
My wife is less than impressed and thinks we should ditch the maser for something more sane from the servicing angle. From my angle still needs 4-doors, 5-seats and to go like sh*t off the proverbial whilst without the boy racer looks and preferably a bit smaller than the maser.
Obvious choices are AMG E or C class, Jag XF-R or XJ-R. BMWs & Audis are out due to "image" issues.
Personally I'm sorely tempted to keep the maser and invest in earplugs but that sin't the basis for a lasting relationship (at least with my wife).
Any input to help me with my (enviable) dilemma would be appreciated.
2-3yrs I found myself in the enviable position of being able to pick up a low(ish) mileage Maserati Quattroporte S which fufilled all my desires (from a car).
Like a sucker I fell for the dealers patter about how they weren't that expensive to service.
I can just about deal with the service costs even though the brake discs appear to be made from unicorn horns (I'm blowed if I can think of a more expensive substance).
BUT a few days ago the engine management light lit up, I was due to do a 200-mile run so I rang my dealer who can't even look at the car for 10-days!
This means we'll have to use my wife's 2-door for the trip so we won't be able to bring back some bulky items from my kid's house and also I'll have to pootle the dog to the kennels in the wounded Maser (very spoilt dog I know).
My wife is less than impressed and thinks we should ditch the maser for something more sane from the servicing angle. From my angle still needs 4-doors, 5-seats and to go like sh*t off the proverbial whilst without the boy racer looks and preferably a bit smaller than the maser.
Obvious choices are AMG E or C class, Jag XF-R or XJ-R. BMWs & Audis are out due to "image" issues.
Personally I'm sorely tempted to keep the maser and invest in earplugs but that sin't the basis for a lasting relationship (at least with my wife).
Any input to help me with my (enviable) dilemma would be appreciated.
I ran an Lexus GS430 for about 8yrs which I traded for the maser. Very comfy and largely reliable but not a driver's car at all (which is after all how a lexus is supposed to be comfy not sporty).
Did think about the ISF but said to be very hard riding which is probably a bit much for my old(ish) bones but may well be worth a test drive to form my own opinion. I suspect there's not enough LFA genetic material in the ISF to make it too wondrous.
Few yrs ago the V10 engined Audi A6 would have been a contender (despite what I said earlier about Audis I 'd make an exception for that car).
Did think about the ISF but said to be very hard riding which is probably a bit much for my old(ish) bones but may well be worth a test drive to form my own opinion. I suspect there's not enough LFA genetic material in the ISF to make it too wondrous.
Few yrs ago the V10 engined Audi A6 would have been a contender (despite what I said earlier about Audis I 'd make an exception for that car).
I rang a local(ish) independent on Saturday who didn't get back to me til Monday but could see the car and ran the diagnostics earlier today.
In the meantime lot of weird electrical faults all affecting driver's side door.
Sure enough diagnostics suggest engine is fine and it's a wiring problem. BUT they can't do anything definitive for another 10-days.
Don't get me wrong I love my maser but I need a more reliable and easier to service car.
When it's running it's glorious but they are high maintenance, so far have had window motor blow (a common problem in QPs) and needed new gas struts for boot. Of course whenever you need spares no one ever has them in stock so any repair usually means 2-trips to the garage (one to diagnose the issue then another to rectify it).
I got rear ended last year and it took nearly 6-weeks to get the car back from the bodyshop, the main delay being waiting for parts from Italy.
In the meantime lot of weird electrical faults all affecting driver's side door.
Sure enough diagnostics suggest engine is fine and it's a wiring problem. BUT they can't do anything definitive for another 10-days.
Don't get me wrong I love my maser but I need a more reliable and easier to service car.
When it's running it's glorious but they are high maintenance, so far have had window motor blow (a common problem in QPs) and needed new gas struts for boot. Of course whenever you need spares no one ever has them in stock so any repair usually means 2-trips to the garage (one to diagnose the issue then another to rectify it).
I got rear ended last year and it took nearly 6-weeks to get the car back from the bodyshop, the main delay being waiting for parts from Italy.
Yeah I guess battery might be part of the problem, the car is 6yrs old so reasonable that battery might be on way out. Interestingly the multimedia system has been frozen for several weeks before all the other problems started.
The main dealer (and several maser forums) suggested disconnecting and reconnecting the battery to reset things.
I tried this last weekend...The battery is in the boot and is pretty hard to access, it's also about twice the length and weight of a normal battery and try as I might I couldn't get the -ve terminal off. The +ve terminal is quite the weirdest thing I've ever seen with several banks of fuses mounted on it.
The car has been starting easily enough but there again it is used several times a day and gets regular long runs however in the depth of the winter it did behave as if it was on the way out.
The main dealer (and several maser forums) suggested disconnecting and reconnecting the battery to reset things.
I tried this last weekend...The battery is in the boot and is pretty hard to access, it's also about twice the length and weight of a normal battery and try as I might I couldn't get the -ve terminal off. The +ve terminal is quite the weirdest thing I've ever seen with several banks of fuses mounted on it.
The car has been starting easily enough but there again it is used several times a day and gets regular long runs however in the depth of the winter it did behave as if it was on the way out.
Panamera is ugly as sin despite it's many other merits.
I do like the CLS but it only has 2-back seats as I understand it and the spec I needs is for 3 ideally.
Interestingly I ended up with the maser as I originally was looking for a Jag xfr, I'd found one but then my local dealer (Nottingham) never rang me back about it, masochistically I tried to find another XFR but again the same garage never rang me back. I did locate a 3rd one but by the time I rang another garage they had sold it to someone else.
At that point my wife (ironically) reminded me I had always hankered after a maser so I looked on pistonheads and found one about 2-miles up the road from me and the rest is history!
For me the XJR would fit the bill, but I confess I'd still like to keep the maser
I do like the CLS but it only has 2-back seats as I understand it and the spec I needs is for 3 ideally.
Interestingly I ended up with the maser as I originally was looking for a Jag xfr, I'd found one but then my local dealer (Nottingham) never rang me back about it, masochistically I tried to find another XFR but again the same garage never rang me back. I did locate a 3rd one but by the time I rang another garage they had sold it to someone else.
At that point my wife (ironically) reminded me I had always hankered after a maser so I looked on pistonheads and found one about 2-miles up the road from me and the rest is history!
For me the XJR would fit the bill, but I confess I'd still like to keep the maser
Panamera is ugly as sin despite it's many other merits.
I do like the CLS but it only has 2-back seats as I understand it and the spec I needs is for 3 ideally.
Interestingly I ended up with the maser as I originally was looking for a Jag xfr, I'd found one but then my local dealer (Nottingham) never rang me back about it, masochistically I tried to find another XFR but again the same garage never rang me back. I did locate a 3rd one but by the time I rang another garage they had sold it to someone else.
At that point my wife (ironically) reminded me I had always hankered after a maser so I looked on pistonheads and found one about 2-miles up the road from me and the rest is history!
For me the XJR would fit the bill, but I confess I'd still like to keep the maser
I do like the CLS but it only has 2-back seats as I understand it and the spec I needs is for 3 ideally.
Interestingly I ended up with the maser as I originally was looking for a Jag xfr, I'd found one but then my local dealer (Nottingham) never rang me back about it, masochistically I tried to find another XFR but again the same garage never rang me back. I did locate a 3rd one but by the time I rang another garage they had sold it to someone else.
At that point my wife (ironically) reminded me I had always hankered after a maser so I looked on pistonheads and found one about 2-miles up the road from me and the rest is history!
For me the XJR would fit the bill, but I confess I'd still like to keep the maser
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