Maserati - for Sale Near Me - Opinions

[Jimbeaux]

I will admit to having little knowledge of these. Before I google up, what are PH opinions or experience of this? It looks a bit "Honda Accord" to me. I see it referred to as a "Poor man's Ferrari".:

http://www.autofind.com/dealer/details/10220.passe...

Edited by Jimbeaux on Wednesday 27th October 03:34

[dudleybloke]

nice cars but with horrendous running costs!
have a search on here and there's several tales of huge bills.

[Jimbeaux]

dudleybloke said:

nice cars but with horrendous running costs!
have a search on here and there's several tales of huge bills.

My concerns as well. It is a nice price at $42,000 but the insurance, parts availability, etc might be worrisome. Something about the exterior just looks too "Honda" to me.

[ambuletz]

It has rear lights that look like burgers.

[doodlebug]

dudleybloke said:

nice cars but with horrendous running costs!
have a search on here and there's several tales of huge bills.

It was a £65k car when new. Why would you expect parts to be cheap? This is the internet. Tales of woe are the norm.

Here's my experience which should go some way to redress the balance.

In the 3 years/40k miles that I have owned mine, its average annual running cost has been £5.5k.

The costs include servicing at a franchised dealer, £3k p.a. of super-unleaded fuel, tyres, insurance and tax. It would have been even lower if I used US 'gas' and an indie for servicing.

[LuS1fer]

It's essentially a Ferrari engine with the same running costs. Friend had one and a service was about £800 a throw for a minor one. I have to say that having been in it, it's really not worth it either.

[LukeBird]

Gorgeous!

The GS is one of my favourite cars. IMO much cooler than many Ferraris as well.

[andy400]

I want this Maserati:



http://www.desperateseller.co.uk/findacar/used-car...

There's probably a hundred thousand reasons why not, but I wanted one of these when I was about 16, and I'd love it now.

[LuS1fer]

andy400 said:

I want this Maserati:



http://www.desperateseller.co.uk/findacar/used-car...

There's probably a hundred thousand reasons why not, but I wanted one of these when I was about 16, and I'd love it now.

Looks like 300/bhp's Thunderbird though...

[mr_tony]

Grandsport is a cracking car and the pinacle of the 3200/4200 range and fixes all the issues the earlier cars were marked down for by road test types. They seem to be holding their value pretty well in Europe and have settled at about the price you have there for that one.

I owned a 3200 for 2 years, cracking car and I loved it. It wasn't cheap to run, and I had receipts for more than £15,000 over 2 years of main dealer fettling on a 1 year old car (including admittedly a few upgrades - but certainly 10k in servicing and warranty work). I had a warranty, but it was still relatively wallet busting for what it was. The Gransport will be cheaper to run (no turbos, last of the line, most issues engineered out etc).

Basically, if you can afford to run a similar vintage ferrari go for it, parts prices are generally on a par. On average the GranSport is better put together than the early cars and will be reliable (my 3200 only let me down once and that was the Bosch air con pump failing - these 'new' cars are a massive step forward in quality compared to the generally maligned 80s De Tomaso era cars!). You should be able ot maintain one at an indy for around 2000-3000 USD per year (converting uk prices) and keep it tip top assuming it's a good one and you're not thrashing it.

Prices on these at least in Europe are pretty mileage sensitive though, so if you're considering it as a daily hack then might be worth checking what the consensus is over there on the part ex of one with a lot more miles on it, could be an eye opener potentially!

With the sports exhaust, it sounds fantastic, and with a nice shape, very well appointed interior (I chose mine over a 911 for the quality of the cabin alone) and room for 4 adults in comfort it's an individual and fun car to own. Personally I wouldn't go for silver - they look fantastic in red / blue / black or even grey..

[ChasMill]

andy400 said:

I want this Maserati:



http://www.desperateseller.co.uk/findacar/used-car...

There's probably a hundred thousand reasons why not, but I wanted one of these when I was about 16, and I'd love it now.

My Dad had one of the first in the country - spent more time in the dealer's garage than on the road.

Great Q car when it went though

[blindswelledrat]

doodlebug said:

dudleybloke said:

nice cars but with horrendous running costs!
have a search on here and there's several tales of huge bills.

It was a £65k car when new. Why would you expect parts to be cheap? This is the internet. Tales of woe are the norm.

Here's my experience which should go some way to redress the balance.

In the 3 years/40k miles that I have owned mine, its average annual running cost has been £5.5k.

The costs include servicing at a franchised dealer, £3k p.a. of super-unleaded fuel, tyres, insurance and tax. It would have been even lower if I used US 'gas' and an indie for servicing.

Im extremely sceptical of your running costs.

13000 miles PA at 13 mpg is nearer to £6k in fuel alone. Unless you bought the diesel version that I haven't heard about.
Maranello charged £2k for a service on one.
Clutches are 2k and lasted 12000 on mine.
Disks and pads alround are £2k at main dealer rates.
In short I had one for 10 months and spent somewhere in the region of £10k in running costs and that had a full warranty as it was only 9 months old. THat was purely servicables and consumables.
Eyewateringly expensive as far as Im concerned. In contrast, the 10 year old 911 that I currently own (which was also a 65k car) has cost me less than a tenth of that to run for a year and similar mileage despite being 10 years old with 80k on the clock as opposed to 9 months old and 9k on the clock for the Maser.

Although it has to be said, I loved the Maser and I hate the Porsche.
Make what you will of that!

Edited by blindswelledrat on Wednesday 27th October 09:26

[Sonic]

Yours from only $792.60/month

[POORCARDEALER]

ChasMill said:

andy400 said:

I want this Maserati:



http://www.desperateseller.co.uk/findacar/used-car...

There's probably a hundred thousand reasons why not, but I wanted one of these when I was about 16, and I'd love it now.

My Dad had one of the first in the country - spent more time in the dealer's garage than on the road.

Great Q car when it went though

I had a twin turbo one and I put it straight through a hair dressers shop window!!

[john_p]

I'm sure there's a "dealer giving a car a haircut" joke in there somewhere

[doodlebug]

blindswelledrat said:

doodlebug said:

Here's my experience which should go some way to redress the balance.

In the 3 years/40k miles that I have owned mine, its average annual running cost has been £5.5k.

The costs include servicing at a franchised dealer, £3k p.a. of super-unleaded fuel, tyres, insurance and tax. It would have been even lower if I used US 'gas' and an indie for servicing.

Im extremely sceptical of your running costs.

13000 miles PA at 13 mpg is nearer to £6k in fuel alone. Unless you bought the diesel version that I haven't heard about.
Maranello charged £2k for a service on one.
Clutches are 2k and lasted 12000 on mine.
Disks and pads alround are £2k at main dealer rates.
In short I had one for 10 months and spent somewhere in the region of £10k in running costs and that had a full warranty as it was only 9 months old. THat was purely servicables and consumables.
Eyewateringly expensive as far as Im concerned. In contrast, the 10 year old 911 that I currently own (which was also a 65k car) has cost me less than a tenth of that to run for a year and similar mileage despite being 10 years old with 80k on the clock as opposed to 9 months old and 9k on the clock for the Maser.

Although it has to be said, I loved the Maser and I hate the Porsche.
Make what you will of that!

Be as sceptical as you like. I get 18mpg in mine and for the first 2 years of ownership fuel was less than £1 per litre. It is also quite a bit cheaper in Europe. Fuel is costing me over £4k a year now. I like to do my bit for the deficit.

If your clutch only lasted 12k, you probably had a Cambiocorsa. Mine's a manual and the clutch is still OK.

Lancasters charge around £600 for a minor and £1k for a major. I had to have new front discs and pads just after I bought the car and that came to £2k - rears were OK. I've had a rear shock replaced with a reconditioned jobbie and that was £300 all in.

The next big expense I'm expecting outside fuel and servicing is the chains at 68k miles. I might get Grimaldi to do it because at Lancasters it's an engine out job. Most franchised dealers are price matching indies so who knows...

I've kept receipts for everything I've spent on the car so far. The total over 3 years & 3 months is just shy of £18k. Bargain.

[Jimbeaux]

LuS1fer said:

It's essentially a Ferrari engine with the same running costs. Friend had one and a service was about £800 a throw for a minor one. I have to say that having been in it, it's really not worth it either.

The ride was not that impressive for the hype?

[Jimbeaux]

mr_tony said:

Grandsport is a cracking car and the pinacle of the 3200/4200 range and fixes all the issues the earlier cars were marked down for by road test types. They seem to be holding their value pretty well in Europe and have settled at about the price you have there for that one.

I owned a 3200 for 2 years, cracking car and I loved it. It wasn't cheap to run, and I had receipts for more than £15,000 over 2 years of main dealer fettling on a 1 year old car (including admittedly a few upgrades - but certainly 10k in servicing and warranty work). I had a warranty, but it was still relatively wallet busting for what it was. The Gransport will be cheaper to run (no turbos, last of the line, most issues engineered out etc).

Basically, if you can afford to run a similar vintage ferrari go for it, parts prices are generally on a par. On average the GranSport is better put together than the early cars and will be reliable (my 3200 only let me down once and that was the Bosch air con pump failing - these 'new' cars are a massive step forward in quality compared to the generally maligned 80s De Tomaso era cars!). You should be able ot maintain one at an indy for around 2000-3000 USD per year (converting uk prices) and keep it tip top assuming it's a good one and you're not thrashing it.

Prices on these at least in Europe are pretty mileage sensitive though, so if you're considering it as a daily hack then might be worth checking what the consensus is over there on the part ex of one with a lot more miles on it, could be an eye opener potentially!

With the sports exhaust, it sounds fantastic, and with a nice shape, very well appointed interior (I chose mine over a 911 for the quality of the cabin alone) and room for 4 adults in comfort it's an individual and fun car to own. Personally I wouldn't go for silver - they look fantastic in red / blue / black or even grey..

Thanks Tony, I love the interior; however, I agree that the silver just does not float my boat.

[Jimbeaux]

Sonic said:

Yours from only $792.60/month

They would like that, wouldn't they?

[blindswelledrat]

doodlebug said:

[Be as sceptical as you like. I get 18mpg in mine and for the first 2 years of ownership fuel was less than £1 per litre. It is also quite a bit cheaper in Europe. Fuel is costing me over £4k a year now. I like to do my bit for the deficit.

If your clutch only lasted 12k, you probably had a Cambiocorsa. Mine's a manual and the clutch is still OK.

Lancasters charge around £600 for a minor and £1k for a major. I had to have new front discs and pads just after I bought the car and that came to £2k - rears were OK. I've had a rear shock replaced with a reconditioned jobbie and that was £300 all in.

The next big expense I'm expecting outside fuel and servicing is the chains at 68k miles. I might get Grimaldi to do it because at Lancasters it's an engine out job. Most franchised dealers are price matching indies so who knows...

I've kept receipts for everything I've spent on the car so far. The total over 3 years & 3 months is just shy of £18k. Bargain.

I started reading that and thought 'Hmmm, maybe its worth doing again if you can do it for that' and then I got to the rear discs for 2k bit Not even like the brakes are that good!
TBH, if you are running it for 2-3k PA without fuel then I think thats a pretty worthwhile venture becasue they are special.
Although all in all it sounds like you have been pretty lucky with reliability.