RE: Maserati Quattroporte (M139) | The Brave Pill
Discussion
Turbobanana said:
Years ago, as a Peugeot salesman, I got a call from one of our other branches to say there was a scruffy looking gentleman doing the rounds, winding all the sales guys up by pretending to be a customer.
Sure enough, the next day a chap arrived on the forecourt looking like a cross between Charlie Chaplin and Sir Les Patterson and smelling quite unsavoury. I was young, so figured I would be nice and see what he had to say.
He handed me a carrier bag full of £20 pound notes, pointed to a 405 Estate and said, in a cultured voice, "I'd like that one - here's the cash".
Moral: don't judge by appearances. "Those 2" might be customers.
Sure enough, the next day a chap arrived on the forecourt looking like a cross between Charlie Chaplin and Sir Les Patterson and smelling quite unsavoury. I was young, so figured I would be nice and see what he had to say.
He handed me a carrier bag full of £20 pound notes, pointed to a 405 Estate and said, in a cultured voice, "I'd like that one - here's the cash".
Moral: don't judge by appearances. "Those 2" might be customers.
Both my 2005, 4200 and my 2006 QP were great cars fatally let down by their duo-select boxes.
The 4200 clutch gave up the ghost on the Brent Cross flyover during Friday evening rush hour. (I made the traffic news with that).
That I traded it in and replaced it with the equally flawed QP says a lot about me that I'd rather not explore.
The 4200 clutch gave up the ghost on the Brent Cross flyover during Friday evening rush hour. (I made the traffic news with that).
That I traded it in and replaced it with the equally flawed QP says a lot about me that I'd rather not explore.
Blib said:
Both my 2005, 4200 and my 2006 QP were great cars fatally let down by their duo-select boxes.
The 4200 clutch gave up the ghost on the Brent Cross flyover during Friday evening rush hour. (I made the traffic news with that).
That I traded it in and replaced it with the equally flawed QP says a lot about me that I'd rather not explore.
You Sir are a man of taste. Maserati of this era came in two good colours and you chose one of them. In standard un blinded form the early qp5 was a thing of beauty when specified correctly. The 4200 clutch gave up the ghost on the Brent Cross flyover during Friday evening rush hour. (I made the traffic news with that).
That I traded it in and replaced it with the equally flawed QP says a lot about me that I'd rather not explore.
Sadly I was never a huge fan of the engine/gearbox combo as it really didn’t suit this kind of car. It needed something like a zf 8 speed auto and a coyote or amg 6.2
It is a terrific colour (the name escapes me after all these years).
TBH, I was looking for a light interior as I cant be doing with a black cabin, if I can help it. That ruled out many of the cars available at the time. There was a black car and there was this.
No contest.
If I could find an '06, or later auto box car with that colour combination I'd be sorely tempted.
TBH, I was looking for a light interior as I cant be doing with a black cabin, if I can help it. That ruled out many of the cars available at the time. There was a black car and there was this.
No contest.
If I could find an '06, or later auto box car with that colour combination I'd be sorely tempted.
Edited by Blib on Saturday 22 February 16:42
Turbobanana said:
Years ago, as a Peugeot salesman, I got a call from one of our other branches to say there was a scruffy looking gentleman doing the rounds, winding all the sales guys up by pretending to be a customer.
Sure enough, the next day a chap arrived on the forecourt looking like a cross between Charlie Chaplin and Sir Les Patterson and smelling quite unsavoury. I was young, so figured I would be nice and see what he had to say.
He handed me a carrier bag full of £20 pound notes, pointed to a 405 Estate and said, in a cultured voice, "I'd like that one - here's the cash".
Moral: don't judge by appearances. "Those 2" might be customers.
I get that from car sales people now, if I nip into a garage while out at work or after work when I wear a suit they all want to talk. Sure enough, the next day a chap arrived on the forecourt looking like a cross between Charlie Chaplin and Sir Les Patterson and smelling quite unsavoury. I was young, so figured I would be nice and see what he had to say.
He handed me a carrier bag full of £20 pound notes, pointed to a 405 Estate and said, in a cultured voice, "I'd like that one - here's the cash".
Moral: don't judge by appearances. "Those 2" might be customers.
If I go on a Sunday morning in a hoody and a pair of well worn jeans no one wants to know as a rule. I've walked away from purchasing perfectly good cars because of sales people's attitudes before and bought other cars where someone has taken the time to talk to me.
Jamescrs said:
I get that from car sales people now, if I nip into a garage while out at work or after work when I wear a suit they all want to talk.
If I go on a Sunday morning in a hoody and a pair of well worn jeans no one wants to know as a rule. I've walked away from purchasing perfectly good cars because of sales people's attitudes before and bought other cars where someone has taken the time to talk to me.
Amazing. Snoberry and reverse snobbery, all in one...If I go on a Sunday morning in a hoody and a pair of well worn jeans no one wants to know as a rule. I've walked away from purchasing perfectly good cars because of sales people's attitudes before and bought other cars where someone has taken the time to talk to me.
It is a very electronically integrated car, based on the same Bosch systems that were also in Ferrari and VAG cars of the period.
Clever little system and whenever anything fails then the internal diagnostics will pinpoint the fault, the problem is that Maserati have not released the software to allow everyday garages to be able to read this info.
Maserati also no longer want to work on these older cars, so its a catch 22. Once out of warranty then later owners either simply ignore the pre warning signs, or when these then turn into a failure they hope an independent can guess the issue, resulting in hefty bills when such play the game of swapping out parts in the hope of stumbling on the cause.
Not enough made for a specialist to now concentrate on them either.
The engine is a strong unit, a slight variation of which was also used in the F430 and F458. Only known typical fault is the cam variator which drains its oil and gets clanky at start up, there is a straight forward factory fix though for the affected cars.
This engine ticks all the tech boxes, all alloy, 4 valve heads, variable cam timing, forged crank,rods and pistons, dry sump etc, and with a cross plane crank its sounds like an American V8 rather than the Ferrari version which has a flat plan crank for a more F1 type high revving sound.
Duo select is not an auto box, its an automated manual, much like that used in the F355/360 etc, Maserati swapped this out in 2007 for a full Borg Warner traditional auto as owners of barges like these want a wafting box rather than a sport box that needs driver input.
If you have the skills to fix cars and immerse yourself in the workings of this particular model its quite a 2 ton beast with plenty of used parts out there, otherwise its a money pit. £8k car with £80k car maintenance costs if you rely on main dealers for fixes.
Clever little system and whenever anything fails then the internal diagnostics will pinpoint the fault, the problem is that Maserati have not released the software to allow everyday garages to be able to read this info.
Maserati also no longer want to work on these older cars, so its a catch 22. Once out of warranty then later owners either simply ignore the pre warning signs, or when these then turn into a failure they hope an independent can guess the issue, resulting in hefty bills when such play the game of swapping out parts in the hope of stumbling on the cause.
Not enough made for a specialist to now concentrate on them either.
The engine is a strong unit, a slight variation of which was also used in the F430 and F458. Only known typical fault is the cam variator which drains its oil and gets clanky at start up, there is a straight forward factory fix though for the affected cars.
This engine ticks all the tech boxes, all alloy, 4 valve heads, variable cam timing, forged crank,rods and pistons, dry sump etc, and with a cross plane crank its sounds like an American V8 rather than the Ferrari version which has a flat plan crank for a more F1 type high revving sound.
Duo select is not an auto box, its an automated manual, much like that used in the F355/360 etc, Maserati swapped this out in 2007 for a full Borg Warner traditional auto as owners of barges like these want a wafting box rather than a sport box that needs driver input.
If you have the skills to fix cars and immerse yourself in the workings of this particular model its quite a 2 ton beast with plenty of used parts out there, otherwise its a money pit. £8k car with £80k car maintenance costs if you rely on main dealers for fixes.
C.MW said:
heisthegaffer said:
7 owners???!!!
That is quite common for this type of cars especially considering its age. I would not worry much about it if there are signs the car is properly taken care of.Check the service history and what tyres it's on.
Osinjak said:
Bizarre, isn't it? If you want to buy a car, buy a car. Don't just piss about waiting for someone to fawn all over you, just fecking get on with it.
Agreed. “Hi, I’m Dave, I’m interested in this car, please tell me... etc”. They’ll jump on you.
Never understood people who just walk around silently looking, don’t get spoken to yet don’t ask for assistance and then leave in huff despite there being a mutually beneficial sale on the cards.
The mindset behind it intrigues me.
voicey said:
I suggest that anyone considering such a purchase carefully reads this thread: https://www.sportsmaserati.com/index.php?threads/q...
Maserati of this era are cursed by rot
You beat me too it. I only registered to post this warning. Once fixed, best car in the world.........Maserati of this era are cursed by rot
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