RE: Maserati Biturbo: You Know You Want To
Tuesday 10th October 2017
Fancy a smart, sporting, two-door, four-seat coupe of lively performance, with a supremely comfortable interior, for about the price of a new Vauxhall Adam? And what if all this was wrapped up in an elegant body that allowed you to express your zeal on the public highway without drawing unwanted attention to yourself, and that was then adorned with one of the most glamorous badges in the whole history of motoring?
Sound good? Step forward, then, the Maserati Biturbo. Yup, that's right, the Maserati Biturbo. Okay, straight away I can sense there's some doubt hanging in the air here. In fact, I can hear you laughing. I'm fully aware that, over the Italian firm's 103-year history, this is not the most popular sports car ever to wear that trident badge. Indeed, if one were to believe everything one reads, or even everything one sees on certain television programmes, this Biturbo let the side down badly, with its dodgy reliability, poor handling, rust-prone body and that boxy and unsexy exterior.
Look under the bonnet and there's a surprisingly efficient 192hp 2.5-litre V6, the first ever twin-turbo production car engine, with three unequal-sized valves per cylinder. Legend has it that when the big boys at Maserati were planning the Biturbo they took a look at the then-current and mega-successful Formula 1 Renault V6 engine and decided that two tiny turbochargers were the way to go; as for the three valves, well they cost less than four and were very nearly as good.
Maserati Biturbo: You Know You Want To
No, we've not taken leave of our senses, PH really is going to recommend a Maserati Biturbo
But is that being entirely fair to the Biturbo? Viewed another way, it's a stylish car of considerable chic, a civilized car, with a shape that hints at the four-door Quattroporte and the Lancia Delta of the same period - and they were both designed by Giugiaro, for Heaven's sake! The interior is still, even today, extremely attractive, with soft and cosseting leather just about everywhere, that gorgeous clock on the centre console shaped like a, er, thing, and those amazingly inviting seats.
Whatever you think of it, the bottom line is this lovely looking black 1990 Biturbo, with its delicious interior, pert rump and a mere 26,000 miles on the clock, could be yours for £14,995, and although that's not the cheapest one around it could just be one of the best.
MASERATI BITURBO
Price: £14,995
Why you should: Rare, different, interesting, Maserati
Why you shouldn't: £15K still buys lots of E30 3 Series too
See the original advert here.
Mark Pearson
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Discussion
I feel well placed to comment on this feature, having run a 1987 carb fed biturbo as a daily driver between 1996 and 2001 and doing approx 40,000 miles in that time.
My car was bought cheap with low mileage, no history and poor bodywork. I paid £2000 and another £2000 for bodywork/respray.
I changed the tyres, plugs, cam belt, HT leads, distributor cap and rotor arm, then did a full service.
In the time I owned it, I chained oil and filter every 3k - 4K miles and did basic regular maintenance.
When I sold it, the rust was starting to reappear round the headlights.
The media would lead you to believe these are unreliable bits of junk, but in my experience my car was perfectly reliable. It let me down only once with a fuse box issue which required AA recovery. Mpg was pretty poor, but it sounded like the apocalypse in Dolby surround sound, and was comfortably quicker than my friends 325i. Also worth pointing out the biturbo was no worse for rust and reliability that my friends 325i of the same age.
Handling was a bit tail happy and the steering rack not quick enough, but respect it’s limits and they are great cars.
Carb ones need regular adjustments to keep them in tune. This is done by guess work and experience because the carb is adjusted by removing the pelumn chamber at which point it becomes naturally aspirated. You then re fit the peplum and it becomes boosted. Hence you need to set it rich or the boost will lean it or too much.
In summary it’s best viewed as an alternative to a 6 cylinder xjs, bmw 630 or a merc SLC rather than an out and out race car for the road like an E30 m3
My car was bought cheap with low mileage, no history and poor bodywork. I paid £2000 and another £2000 for bodywork/respray.
I changed the tyres, plugs, cam belt, HT leads, distributor cap and rotor arm, then did a full service.
In the time I owned it, I chained oil and filter every 3k - 4K miles and did basic regular maintenance.
When I sold it, the rust was starting to reappear round the headlights.
The media would lead you to believe these are unreliable bits of junk, but in my experience my car was perfectly reliable. It let me down only once with a fuse box issue which required AA recovery. Mpg was pretty poor, but it sounded like the apocalypse in Dolby surround sound, and was comfortably quicker than my friends 325i. Also worth pointing out the biturbo was no worse for rust and reliability that my friends 325i of the same age.
Handling was a bit tail happy and the steering rack not quick enough, but respect it’s limits and they are great cars.
Carb ones need regular adjustments to keep them in tune. This is done by guess work and experience because the carb is adjusted by removing the pelumn chamber at which point it becomes naturally aspirated. You then re fit the peplum and it becomes boosted. Hence you need to set it rich or the boost will lean it or too much.
In summary it’s best viewed as an alternative to a 6 cylinder xjs, bmw 630 or a merc SLC rather than an out and out race car for the road like an E30 m3
Edited by ducnick on Tuesday 10th October 10:09
Edited by ducnick on Tuesday 10th October 10:26
ducnick said:
I feel well placed to comment on this feature, having run a 1987 carb fed biturbo as a daily driver between 1996 and 2001 and doing approx 40,000 miles in that time.
My car was bought cheap with low mileage, no history and poor bodywork. I paid £2000 and another £2000 for bodywork/respray.
I changed the tyres, plugs, cam belt, HT leads, distributor cap and rotor arm, then did a full service.
In the time I owned it, I chained oil and filter every 3k - 4K miles and did basic regular maintenance.
When I sold it, the rust was starting to reappear round the headlights.
The media would lead you to believe these are unreliable bits of junk, but in my experience my car was perfectly reliable. It let me down only once with a fuse box issue which required AA recovery. Mpg was pretty poor, but it sounded like the apocalypse in Dolby surround sound, and was comfortably quicker than my friends 325i. Also worth pointing out the biturbo was no worse for rust and reliability that my friends 325i of the same age.
Handling was a bit tail happy and the steering rack not quick enough, but respect it’s limits and they are great cars.
Carb ones need regular adjustments to keep them in tune. This is done by guess work and experience because the carb is adjusted by removing the pelumn chamber at which point it becomes naturally aspirated. You then re fit the peplum and it becomes boosted. Hence you need to set it rich or the boost will lean it or too much.
In summary it’s best viewed as an alternative to a 6 cylinder xjs, bmw 630 or a merc SLC rather than an out and out race car for the road like an E30 m3
As a counterpoint to your ownership experience, I'm afraid that my own was exactly as the media and rumours would lead you to believe...shocking. My car was bought cheap with low mileage, no history and poor bodywork. I paid £2000 and another £2000 for bodywork/respray.
I changed the tyres, plugs, cam belt, HT leads, distributor cap and rotor arm, then did a full service.
In the time I owned it, I chained oil and filter every 3k - 4K miles and did basic regular maintenance.
When I sold it, the rust was starting to reappear round the headlights.
The media would lead you to believe these are unreliable bits of junk, but in my experience my car was perfectly reliable. It let me down only once with a fuse box issue which required AA recovery. Mpg was pretty poor, but it sounded like the apocalypse in Dolby surround sound, and was comfortably quicker than my friends 325i. Also worth pointing out the biturbo was no worse for rust and reliability that my friends 325i of the same age.
Handling was a bit tail happy and the steering rack not quick enough, but respect it’s limits and they are great cars.
Carb ones need regular adjustments to keep them in tune. This is done by guess work and experience because the carb is adjusted by removing the pelumn chamber at which point it becomes naturally aspirated. You then re fit the peplum and it becomes boosted. Hence you need to set it rich or the boost will lean it or too much.
In summary it’s best viewed as an alternative to a 6 cylinder xjs, bmw 630 or a merc SLC rather than an out and out race car for the road like an E30 m3
Edited by ducnick on Tuesday 10th October 10:09
Edited by ducnick on Tuesday 10th October 10:26
I had a carb Biturbo spyder that I bought in 1989 (was an 87 or 88 car iirc so one of the last of the carb models) and it was an utter piece of poo from first to last. Never, ever worked properly and everything that could go wrong did. Could list all the faults it developed but I'd use up the internet if I did. Largely but not limited to electronics though, as manifested most frequently by failure to start when the engine was warm. No mechanic or dealer ever managed to fully sort most of the problems and they just kept recurring.
In summary I'd say it's best viewed as an alternative to setting fire to £15,000 and walking everywhere whilst throwing a grand here and there into the street every few months.
V8 FOU said:
Ah, the famous clock.... Just the thing to watch while awaiting the recovery service.
Great car though and a glorious engine. Need to have any prospective car checked out by a specialist though. ciould really bankrupt you!
you can also use it to measure the growth of all the rust Great car though and a glorious engine. Need to have any prospective car checked out by a specialist though. ciould really bankrupt you!
easytiger123 said:
In summary I'd say it's best viewed as an alternative to setting fire to £15,000 and walking everywhere whilst throwing a grand here and there into the street every few months.
I was living in Italy when these first came out and a friend's Uncle bought an early one, complete with 'Missoni' fabric interior. He had nothing but problems with it and soon got rid.
Nice clock though...
ducnick said:
I feel well placed to comment on this feature, having run a 1987 carb fed biturbo as a daily driver between 1996 and 2001 and doing approx 40,000 miles in that time.
My car was bought cheap with low mileage, no history and poor bodywork. I paid £2000 and another £2000 for bodywork/respray.
I changed the tyres, plugs, cam belt, HT leads, distributor cap and rotor arm, then did a full service.
In the time I owned it, I chained oil and filter every 3k - 4K miles and did basic regular maintenance.
When I sold it, the rust was starting to reappear round the headlights.
The media would lead you to believe these are unreliable bits of junk, but in my experience my car was perfectly reliable. It let me down only once with a fuse box issue which required AA recovery. Mpg was pretty poor, but it sounded like the apocalypse in Dolby surround sound, and was comfortably quicker than my friends 325i. Also worth pointing out the biturbo was no worse for rust and reliability that my friends 325i of the same age.
Handling was a bit tail happy and the steering rack not quick enough, but respect it’s limits and they are great cars.
Carb ones need regular adjustments to keep them in tune. This is done by guess work and experience because the carb is adjusted by removing the pelumn chamber at which point it becomes naturally aspirated. You then re fit the peplum and it becomes boosted. Hence you need to set it rich or the boost will lean it or too much.
In summary it’s best viewed as an alternative to a 6 cylinder xjs, bmw 630 or a merc SLC rather than an out and out race car for the road like an E30 m3
Thanks for this. Can you let me know the servicing costs?My car was bought cheap with low mileage, no history and poor bodywork. I paid £2000 and another £2000 for bodywork/respray.
I changed the tyres, plugs, cam belt, HT leads, distributor cap and rotor arm, then did a full service.
In the time I owned it, I chained oil and filter every 3k - 4K miles and did basic regular maintenance.
When I sold it, the rust was starting to reappear round the headlights.
The media would lead you to believe these are unreliable bits of junk, but in my experience my car was perfectly reliable. It let me down only once with a fuse box issue which required AA recovery. Mpg was pretty poor, but it sounded like the apocalypse in Dolby surround sound, and was comfortably quicker than my friends 325i. Also worth pointing out the biturbo was no worse for rust and reliability that my friends 325i of the same age.
Handling was a bit tail happy and the steering rack not quick enough, but respect it’s limits and they are great cars.
Carb ones need regular adjustments to keep them in tune. This is done by guess work and experience because the carb is adjusted by removing the pelumn chamber at which point it becomes naturally aspirated. You then re fit the peplum and it becomes boosted. Hence you need to set it rich or the boost will lean it or too much.
In summary it’s best viewed as an alternative to a 6 cylinder xjs, bmw 630 or a merc SLC rather than an out and out race car for the road like an E30 m3
Edited by ducnick on Tuesday 10th October 10:09
Edited by ducnick on Tuesday 10th October 10:26
I suppose the specialist would be more affordable however the engine, albeit a special unit, was complicated, no?
The servicing was cheap as I did it myself. The engine is not overly complicated, the dogleg gearbox is strong and was used on various things including an Isuzu truck.
The big cost was all that Castrol RS oil.
The 3 valve cars are much simpler than the later 4 valve cars with their 4 cam shafts and belt + chain.
Hot start problems on the carb cars were often due to vacuum problems in all that pipe work or flooding. Because you can’t access the carb when it’s running it’s not easy to set it up right which caught many people out. Set the carb up properly, run the right plugs and fix any air leaks. Simples
As much as I love them, £15k is taking the piss! £7k for a minter would be all I would pay. And that would be without the zender body kit hiding rusty sills. £15k gets you into a 3200 or qp4 which is an infinitely better car
The big cost was all that Castrol RS oil.
The 3 valve cars are much simpler than the later 4 valve cars with their 4 cam shafts and belt + chain.
Hot start problems on the carb cars were often due to vacuum problems in all that pipe work or flooding. Because you can’t access the carb when it’s running it’s not easy to set it up right which caught many people out. Set the carb up properly, run the right plugs and fix any air leaks. Simples
As much as I love them, £15k is taking the piss! £7k for a minter would be all I would pay. And that would be without the zender body kit hiding rusty sills. £15k gets you into a 3200 or qp4 which is an infinitely better car
Edited by ducnick on Tuesday 10th October 12:50
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