RE: Maserati Quattroporte: Spotted

RE: Maserati Quattroporte: Spotted

Sunday 20th May 2018

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

 

Author
Discussion

Uggers

Original Poster:

2,223 posts

210 months

Sunday 20th May 2018
quotequote all
Didn't know these had got so cheap. Must be almost risk free motoring seeing as if anything major went bang you could recoup a large amount by selling it off in bits?

Love ruinously expensive unreliable old cars and these still look great to my eyes!

What's a sticky dash issue?

Mike335i

4,985 posts

101 months

Sunday 20th May 2018
quotequote all
I spotted one the other day on another classified app and was surprised at how cheap they are. This was my dream car once upon a time, but I really can't be brave enough to get one...

Tyre Smoke

23,018 posts

260 months

Sunday 20th May 2018
quotequote all
Don't care if it's unreliable.

A chip fork is on my before I die list. And they're getting well within range at that price.

Amanitin

419 posts

136 months

Sunday 20th May 2018
quotequote all
you should spend some more for a ZF auto version with a better color scheme than this lease car grey/black. Emerald green with tan leather perhaps.

http://gtcarlot.com/gallery/36002933.html
http://gtcarlot.com/gallery/36002797.html

mellowman

352 posts

247 months

Sunday 20th May 2018
quotequote all
Cleverly written ad conceals the fact that the owner's had enough and can't afford to fix the ruinously expensive 'sticky dash' fault.

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!

SydneySE

406 posts

259 months

Sunday 20th May 2018
quotequote all
Amanitin said:
you should spend some more for a ZF auto version with a better color scheme than this lease car grey/black. Emerald green with tan leather perhaps.

http://gtcarlot.com/gallery/36002933.html
http://gtcarlot.com/gallery/36002797.html
I paid more (this week) for a DuoSelect than for a ZF car; the ZF cars are known to have cam variator issues (due to the change points of the auto box, and the change to a wet sump, these both affect the oil pressure in the variators- to low).

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...

Cambs_Stuart

2,834 posts

83 months

Sunday 20th May 2018
quotequote all
Fantastic car for the money. And at this age surely most of the stuff that can break will have been fixed by now..?

Andy665

3,599 posts

227 months

Sunday 20th May 2018
quotequote all
A gorgeous car and I like that colour combination - seriously tempting proposition but I would want it inspected by a specialist before purchase.

What is the "sticky dash" issue?

MIDangerfield

46 posts

103 months

Sunday 20th May 2018
quotequote all
Apparently the sticky dash issue is to do with buttons and controls on the dash going sticky due to some type of clear coating applied to them. Very odd and supposedly common in some Ferraris of that period too.

BigMon

4,156 posts

128 months

Sunday 20th May 2018
quotequote all
Bloke up my road has one of a similar vintage bought from a car collector who barely used it.

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.

bobbo89

5,151 posts

144 months

Sunday 20th May 2018
quotequote all
From what i understand the sticky dash issue is to do with certain buttons and switches that are covered in a thin rubberised coating that over time degrades/perishes so it becomes soft and sticky and starts peeling off. I think a lot of people use a solvent or alcohol solution to remove it completely.

Equus

16,770 posts

100 months

Sunday 20th May 2018
quotequote all
BigMon said:
Rear brakes? That'll be £2.5K Sir.
£313 for a pair of discs and £223 for a set of pads according to this company, and that's for genuine parts.

£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?

Schermerhorn

4,342 posts

188 months

Sunday 20th May 2018
quotequote all
Here's why you should buy one wink

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QAHK1Uy9ao

sidewinder500

1,096 posts

93 months

Sunday 20th May 2018
quotequote all
MIDangerfield said:
Apparently the sticky dash issue is to do with buttons and controls on the dash going sticky due to some type of clear coating applied to them. Very odd and supposedly common in some Ferraris of that period too.
You can tackle this issue with a soft sponge, warm water/soap mixture and a lot of time.
Almost every Maser and Ferrari from 90's until mid noughties has that more or less...

peteA

2,680 posts

233 months

Sunday 20th May 2018
quotequote all
Whats the testarossa engine comment about?

Always loved the look of the version of the QP and they sound soooo much better than the more modern stuff since they’ve all gone turbo. Interesting stuff re the ZF box cars too.

Now if I only had room...

mario64

126 posts

171 months

Sunday 20th May 2018
quotequote all
I have to say that £7.5k seems staggeringly cheap for such a car. I don't want or need another Maserati but it's hard not to be tempted at that price. 88k is quite a lot of miles, but if looked after these cars take miles surprisingly well. My GS is on about 60k and still drives spot-on.

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.

samoht

5,633 posts

145 months

Sunday 20th May 2018
quotequote all

Love seeing these around, I think they look great unlike their replacements.

Very tempting. Also tempting to try and get the 4.2 out of this and stuff it into an MX-5 !

Thankyou4calling

10,596 posts

172 months

Sunday 20th May 2018
quotequote all
One of the wheel centres is corroded.

I'm out!

dickew

33 posts

161 months

Sunday 20th May 2018
quotequote all
MIDangerfield said:
Apparently the sticky dash issue is to do with buttons and controls on the dash going sticky due to some type of clear coating applied to them. Very odd and supposedly common in some Ferraris of that period too.
My Renault Avantime shares that problem, on entire panels on the dashboard and door armrests. You can if you want actually etch graffiti in the affected areas with a fingernail.

dunnoreally

952 posts

107 months

Sunday 20th May 2018
quotequote all
Something about the writing here irks me. Yeah the car's very cheap by today's used market standards. However, the article makes out that pretty much any fool could just drop £7500 on a V8 Maserati, which just isn't true. This car is still beyond the reach of most people. That's worth remembering, I think.