Maserati 3200 GT running costs

[p4cks]

Hello,

Ideally I'd like to hear from a 3200 owner as to what the running costs are like for this car. I'm expecting to hear extortionate servicing and parts costs so throw me off, but I really want one of these. Talk me out of it please...

[300zxtt]

There is loads of info on running these cars on the Maserati UK site: http://www.maseratiforum.co.uk

The 3200's are generally potentially very troublesome and expensive to run. My advice would be to stretch yourself to an early 4200 which had all the 3200 bugs ironed out and are reckoned to be much more reliable and cheaper to run.

[3200gt]

300zxtt said:

The 3200's are generally potentially very troublesome and expensive to run. My advice would be to stretch

Old cliche time again.
3200's are no more exspensive to run than any other 180mph car. I've owned mine for 8 years now and other than normal service costs (£500ish for a minor, £1000ish for a major) tyres are going to be your biggest exspense. mpg is 15-20 with single figures only when driven very hard.
If your after a sanitised design version of a 3200 then by all means go for a 4200 and regret not having the tail lights, bonnet vents and no turbo kick at your leisure.
They are different cars that happen to look similar. The original design off the drawing board, as intended, is the 3200. The 4200 is an American legistrated sanitised version of it.
If you intend to use it as a daily driver with loads of traffic and can stomach not having the 3200's purity then a 4200 is a good alternative (but then again so is a 911). You pays your money you takes your choice, but I wont be swopping mine for a 4200.

[pnewman]

Hi

Just picked up on the 3200 v 4200 question. I've got the 4200 and it's great. Paddle gear change might not be everyones choice but it suits me. Running costs are around £500 for a standard service, I just paid £1200 for the 43500miles service which included all fluids, debugging an airbag light fault and tidying up a coroded brake pipe. The usual service only cost is around £800. A full set of tyres (Michelin Pilot Sports) cost me £800ish. Otherwise a very reliable every day car.

[pacoryan]

On that forum you will find a survey thread on how unreliable 3200's are, and while there are a couple of horror stories (as with ANY unusual car) on the whole cars that are used frequently and serviced on time are trouble free and running costs are not extortionate.

Buy a cheap one with high miles and it will need some work at some point, go figure.

They get tarred with a vey broad brush, and unfairly imho. I know plenty of people who have sunk a couple of grand in to getting £10k's worth of M3 into good fettle, but no-one seems to blink in those cases.

These cars are up to 9 years old now, yes you may need to change some suspension bushes, but hey, they should last another 9 years.

Mine was 100% dependable and the dumbest thing I did was sell it.

4200's are to 3200's what America is to England in my mangled version of Mr Twain's parlance "Two cars divided by the same shell"....

I'll probably get a 4200, but I'll miss the loony edge of the turbos.

[Bath of Kylies]

Rough rule of thumb I saw before buying my 3200 was "allow £1 for every 3 miles to cover servicing, repairs and all consumables except petrol".

I get my service stamps at a main dealer and repairs at an independant, and after 3 and a bit years of ownership the rule of thumb seems a fairly good estimate.

[Popeyed]

I've had my 3200 for two and a half years now, and bless her she went through a period of 7 months where everything seemed to go wrong: starting motor, throttle body, both back boxes, and also a few standard items such as new discs and pads on the back and a minor service. In all I spent over £5k in that period of time, so they are not for the short of pocket.

Admittedly, now it is a very sorted car and I did a seriously enjoyable one hundred miles in her today... it was totally awesome, and she looks fantastic too in Rosso Indiannapolis.