Maserati Quattroporte: Spotted
If you thought an S2000 was cheap at £7.5k, wait until you see the Quattroporte that amount buys...
Here is a Quattroporte, and I know that your fingers will soon be hovering above your keyboard and smoke billowing from your ears when you read that it's got the ever-so-popular DuoSelect paddle-shift gearbox, so I shall play my trump card early - this hunk of leather and V8 is up for just £7,500.
That's a 2005 Maserati for £7.5k. With four doors, and room for the kids.
And I know what you're thinking, and you're probably right. Yes, it'll likely cost the same amount just to get it home, and double that to run it over the next year, but after all it's not a bloody Nissan Qashqai so what do you expect - 40mpg and a service plan?
Consider instead what you get for that dosh. It might be the length of an aircraft carrier but its sleek and elegant Pininfarina body still looks good today. Its engine is a characterful 406hp 4.2-litre all-aluminium V8 that bubbles with brio, which is strong enough to hurtle this huge honey of a luxobarge from 0 to 60mph in just 5.0 seconds and on to a top speed of 171mph. That's supercar quick, and it sounds fantastic, too.
The interior is so good you'll want to move in permanently, with plenty of space and wood stuff over there and soft Italian leather right here, comfortable seats and a vast array of totally illogical switchgear, and, of course, that lovely clock shaped like a, er, you know, something naughty.
On top of that it steers quickly and precisely and handles in a surprisingly neutral and sporty fashion - with verve, even, if you push it hard. In fact, tail-out action is quite possible in a Quattroporte. Not always deliberately, I know from firsthand experience, but it is at least quite easy to recover. It rides like a bastard, unfortunately, and there's no getting around that. It just does. It'll also be - potentially - unreliable.
In time they improved the Quattroporte's dynamics. They made the auto good, and the ride a bit better. But this car's still got a wonderful badge, looks lush and goes like stink and costs the same as a packet of crisps.
SPECIFICATION - MASERATI QUATTROPORTE
Engine: 4,244cc, V8
Transmission: 6-speed automated manual, rear-wheel drive
Power (hp): 406@7,000pm
Torque (lb ft): 339@4,500rpm
MPG: 19.2 (NEDC combined)
CO2: 340g/km
First registered: 2005
Recorded mileage: 88,000
Price new: £74,595
Yours for: £7,500 (!)
See the full ad here.
Mark Pearson
http://gtcarlot.com/gallery/36002933.html
http://gtcarlot.com/gallery/36002797.html
Love the bit about it having a new clutch - way back in 2011 - and it's been thrashed ever since...
The bit about being put in dry storage is a dead giveaway too - what's the real story behind that?
Full service history isn't just stamps in a book - where are the receipts and who did the work?
Yes, this is a thinly-veiled attempt by me to put other buyers off - this looks like my next car!
http://gtcarlot.com/gallery/36002933.html
http://gtcarlot.com/gallery/36002797.html
The DuoSelect cars come with coil over shocks as standard, the wet sump (ZF cars) don't (except for the sport GT and GTS); and most of all the move to the ZF means there is no torque tube connecting the front of the car to the rear, meaning its less stiff, and you can notice this difference when driving on B roads.
I keep reading how the DuoSelect cars Achilles heel is the gearbox, yet I think "road test reporters" are splitting hairs- no its not as slurry smooth in ratio changes as a torque converter slush box, but actually at full throttle, the shifts in the DuoSlect are better.... used in "flappy paddle manual mode" the shifts are barely perceptible.
Based on "reviews" I'd read, I fully expected to buy a ZF car, but after driving a well sorted DuoSelect, I was in love...
It is beautiful but he showed me the thick wad of service history and it's a real eye opener. Rear brakes? That'll be £2.5K Sir.
He also said if you thrap it from standstill you can smell the clutch burning, and you have to be careful reversing up hills as (apparently) it's easy to burn the clutch out there if you're not careful.
Not sure how much of the above is true or not, but when you hear the rumble of the Testarossa engine going past it's a great sound.
£2K in labour seems a bit steep for fitting?
What gives? What are the real running costs of these like, if you don't allow yourself to be fleeced by a main dealer?
Almost every Maser and Ferrari from 90's until mid noughties has that more or less...
The sticky button issue is just cosmetic and there are ways to fix it, including a guy in the US who will refurb all of the plastics for a couple of hundred dollars. For this price though I wouldn't be bothered.
A new clutch eight years ago seems like a while but it depends on how many miles the car has done since then, and how it was driven. Some people seem to get through clutches in less than 20k miles, but I'm on track to get more than 40k out of my current clutch.
No mention of wishbones in the ad? These are wear items and can be extraordinarily expensive to replace.
If it does need a new clutch, some wishbones, plus a few other miscellaneous items - even at an independent this will be another £7.5k.
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