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athol
Original Poster
95 posts
37 months
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Hi all
Just taken a deposit on my BMW z4mc and very seriously considering a Maserati Gransport. I nearly bought one a couple of years ago but it wasn't to be. Anyway, i'd like some honest opinions on the running costs i could expect.
I understand the service schedule is fairly poor with frequent servicing etc. Can you please tell me the following :-
How often will it need serviced?
What's required at the services?
How much do they cost - main dealer and good indy?
What problems can i expect and what costs?
How often does the clutch need changing and a what cost?
What about normal wear items like brakes? What's the lifetime and replacement costs?
Basically, i know they're fairly cheap now at £30-38K so i know that they will eat money in other ways. What's the opinions on what the value of a good one will be at resale in 3 years or so? I can justify it if it doesn't plummet in value but has high running costs. I'd struggle (mentally!) if it was to do both.
For me, i'd look at something like an M3 saloon but where i know it will cost less to run, it's bound to drop £20K in value over 4 years.
Cheers very much for your help.
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mr_spock
1,079 posts
42 months
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I just bought one last week. Check the specialists sites for servicing costs, a major service is about £1600. I made sure mine had a full major service, clutch and tyres before buying.
Also check the US and UK Maserati forums for ideas on common failures, they don't seem to be too bad, but time will tell.
ETA: It's also the most wonderful thing to drive. In normal mode it's very rapid yet comfortable, with a good range of seat and steering wheel adjustment. Room for 4 too, and a proper boot. In sport mode, well, let's just say that with a load of shopping in the boot, going uphill on a dry road, a bootful in 1st caused the traction control to kick in in 1st and 2nd....
It's the first performance car I've had where it's such an event to use that I've been vouteering to go to the supermarket. Much much more fun than the 997 I had for a day recently,
Ooh, ooh and and....
my 11 year old son's mates think it's the coolest thing EVER, even the one who's dad has a 355 :P
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maser_spyder
1,100 posts
9 months
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Hmm, man thinking with brains rather than loins about car purchase.
Maserati not for you!
Seriously though, I've had my Spyder for four years and 20'000 miles, it's cost me;
One set of tyres all round £700.
3 minor service around £1000 each (or thereabouts), has included some odd bits in this such as new front undertray, odd spare parts.
1 major service with all plugs, oils, belts and braces at £1500.
1 set front anti-roll bar bushes at £120 fitted.
Fix stuck handbrake (no parts, just diagnose and tweak) £20.
1 tail light bulb £1.50.
1 replacement fuse for roof mech. £1.
I've not had a clutch yet, and no sign of it being worn at the last service, although I have got it in the budget for the future at £1800 (maybe less).
Also have budgeted for sorting out a rattly hydraulic tappet, which I expect will be around £1000.
Also need to sort out the rusty wheel nuts, expecting to cost around £60 in hassle.
Other than that, it's been trouble free motoring. I know mine's not a Gransport, but it's pretty much identical in terms of servicing and running costs!
Forget the stories of "my mates milkman's uncle had a second cousin who had one of these and it was always going wrong", they're all made up, and probably based on the 70s models (which did always go wrong!).
The modern Maserati (4200/Spyder onwards) is a pretty reliable beast.
HTH.
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EC2
500 posts
80 months
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Assume £2k pa at an independent. It might be £500 one year and £4000 another if the clutch, major service and brakes come together. Tyres are on top of that.
The all in running costs of these cars are actually ok as depreciation is now quite shallow. Go for it!
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Gring
696 posts
32 months
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maser_spyder said: Forget the stories of "my mates milkman's uncle had a second cousin who had one of these and it was always going wrong", they're all made up, and probably based on the 70s models (which did always go wrong!).
The modern Maserati (4200/Spyder onwards) is a pretty reliable beast.
HTH. I would have to disagree, I had my 4200 for 7 months, there was allways something going wrong with it, so I got shot of it. Most expensive car in repairs I have ever had.
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sjn2004
2,343 posts
64 months
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Gring said: maser_spyder said: Forget the stories of "my mates milkman's uncle had a second cousin who had one of these and it was always going wrong", they're all made up, and probably based on the 70s models (which did always go wrong!).
The modern Maserati (4200/Spyder onwards) is a pretty reliable beast.
HTH. I would have to disagree, I had my 4200 for 7 months, there was allways something going wrong with it, so I got shot of it. Most expensive car in repairs I have ever had. Seem to remember you saying that yours hadn't been serviced properly by the previous owner and had also been (unknown to you) crashed at some point?
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athol
Original Poster
95 posts
37 months
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maser_spyder said: Hmm, man thinking with brains rather than loins about car purchase.
Maserati not for you!
Seriously though, I've had my Spyder for four years and 20'000 miles, it's cost me;
One set of tyres all round £700.
3 minor service around £1000 each (or thereabouts), has included some odd bits in this such as new front undertray, odd spare parts.
1 major service with all plugs, oils, belts and braces at £1500.
1 set front anti-roll bar bushes at £120 fitted.
Fix stuck handbrake (no parts, just diagnose and tweak) £20.
1 tail light bulb £1.50.
1 replacement fuse for roof mech. £1.
I've not had a clutch yet, and no sign of it being worn at the last service, although I have got it in the budget for the future at £1800 (maybe less).
Also have budgeted for sorting out a rattly hydraulic tappet, which I expect will be around £1000.
Also need to sort out the rusty wheel nuts, expecting to cost around £60 in hassle.
Other than that, it's been trouble free motoring. I know mine's not a Gransport, but it's pretty much identical in terms of servicing and running costs!
Forget the stories of "my mates milkman's uncle had a second cousin who had one of these and it was always going wrong", they're all made up, and probably based on the 70s models (which did always go wrong!).
The modern Maserati (4200/Spyder onwards) is a pretty reliable beast.
HTH. Cheers, great answer, just what i was looking for. I'm expecting to do around 6000 miles per annum as a 2nd car, mostly spirited PH weekend runs and jaunts to the Grand Prix around europe. One last question - is it massively detrimental if i used a specialist indy rather than the main dealer? My issue is (apart from cost) that i'm in Glasgow and Scotland's only Maser dealer is Graypaul in Edinburgh. Total pain to get it there or expensive collection costs etc.
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maser_spyder
1,100 posts
9 months
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sjn2004 said: Gring said: maser_spyder said: Forget the stories of "my mates milkman's uncle had a second cousin who had one of these and it was always going wrong", they're all made up, and probably based on the 70s models (which did always go wrong!).
The modern Maserati (4200/Spyder onwards) is a pretty reliable beast.
HTH. I would have to disagree, I had my 4200 for 7 months, there was allways something going wrong with it, so I got shot of it. Most expensive car in repairs I have ever had. Seem to remember you saying that yours hadn't been serviced properly by the previous owner and had also been (unknown to you) crashed at some point? Must have been a bad one. I'm regularly on the Maserati forum, and very few problems crop up on there. In fact, there's so few that it's almost always a problem that's been covered before by somebody else (F1 pump on early models etc.). The general consensus is they're reliable, especially by the Gransport model, when all the creases have been ironed out, and foibles corrected. Sorry you didn't have a good time with yours Gring, my experience over 4 years has been completely different!
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sjn2004
2,343 posts
64 months
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maser_spyder said: sjn2004 said: Gring said: maser_spyder said: Forget the stories of "my mates milkman's uncle had a second cousin who had one of these and it was always going wrong", they're all made up, and probably based on the 70s models (which did always go wrong!).
The modern Maserati (4200/Spyder onwards) is a pretty reliable beast.
HTH. I would have to disagree, I had my 4200 for 7 months, there was allways something going wrong with it, so I got shot of it. Most expensive car in repairs I have ever had. Seem to remember you saying that yours hadn't been serviced properly by the previous owner and had also been (unknown to you) crashed at some point? Must have been a bad one. I'm regularly on the Maserati forum, and very few problems crop up on there. In fact, there's so few that it's almost always a problem that's been covered before by somebody else (F1 pump on early models etc.). The general consensus is they're reliable, especially by the Gransport model, when all the creases have been ironed out, and foibles corrected. Sorry you didn't have a good time with yours Gring, my experience over 4 years has been completely different! Wasn't the 4200 also continually developed year on year, so its better to get a later model as it will have more updates done?
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Gring
696 posts
32 months
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I guess mine was a bad one. Just be careful where you buy from, especially if it's from a supposedly respectable Indy dealer on the outskirts of sevenoaks begining with A ending with G and 3 letters. Sold me a crash damaged car described as being mint.
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WZC1
114 posts
14 months
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I am in Scotland and I get my Gransport serviced by MP Supercars in Tranent ( just otuside Edinburgh ). I can not recommend Martin & Phil highly enough - their service is top class.
Running cost for me over the last 18 months have been fine, service and tyres as you would expect. I had a broken hydraulic cable but that wasnt deadly to fix. I use mine as my main car and pertrol is the real cost.
Nick
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maser_spyder
1,100 posts
9 months
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sjn2004 said: maser_spyder said: sjn2004 said: Gring said: maser_spyder said: Forget the stories of "my mates milkman's uncle had a second cousin who had one of these and it was always going wrong", they're all made up, and probably based on the 70s models (which did always go wrong!).
The modern Maserati (4200/Spyder onwards) is a pretty reliable beast.
HTH. I would have to disagree, I had my 4200 for 7 months, there was allways something going wrong with it, so I got shot of it. Most expensive car in repairs I have ever had. Seem to remember you saying that yours hadn't been serviced properly by the previous owner and had also been (unknown to you) crashed at some point? Must have been a bad one. I'm regularly on the Maserati forum, and very few problems crop up on there. In fact, there's so few that it's almost always a problem that's been covered before by somebody else (F1 pump on early models etc.). The general consensus is they're reliable, especially by the Gransport model, when all the creases have been ironed out, and foibles corrected. Sorry you didn't have a good time with yours Gring, my experience over 4 years has been completely different! Wasn't the 4200 also continually developed year on year, so its better to get a later model as it will have more updates done? Relatively so, yes, but the 'updates' were actually quite minimal, and were used more for PR purposes than anything else. Earlier cars are no less reliable than the later ones.
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EC2
500 posts
80 months
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Second the endorsement for MP Supercars - excellent service.
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athol
Original Poster
95 posts
37 months
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Cheers WCZ1. Are they much cheaper than Graypaul?
Also is yours the silver car that was on the Newton Stewart PH run?
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WZC1
114 posts
14 months
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Hi Athol I have been on a couple of runs but dont recall Newton Stewart, was on the Oban run last year. PM me for cost details.
Nick
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fade2grey
669 posts
75 months
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buy as good as you can, as late as you can. Mine was bullet proof & despite being used every day for 2 years come sun, rain or snow it never let me down once. I'd heartily recommend it. Costs though - go in with your eyes open as a failure not covered under warranty is likely to cost you quite a bit. You have an annual and a milage service which needs to be kept up to date to be in tip top shape. Budget about 3.5k a year on servicing inc a set of tyres (speaking of which, buy tyres locally, ordered in rather than from a dealer etc but stick with the std fitments on the GS).
and above all, enjoy.
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ZeroH
771 posts
16 months
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Friend had one from Graypaul with 5k miles on it.... before 10k miles it needed a new box which after much hassle the dealer agreed to cover just less than half the cost on.
Hence ensure you have a decent contigency - other than that, its a far more preferable machine than an M3. Great looking motor and good handling.
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