Seen this? 4200GT for £49,999

Seen this? 4200GT for £49,999

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456mgt

Original Poster:

2,504 posts

266 months

Monday 8th July 2002
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In the back of the 2 July Autocar (p107) there is a full page ad from Trade Sales, advertising the new 4200GT at £49,999, and the Spyder at £53,999. These prices are >10K below list.

I rang them up and was told these are effectively RHD imports. They are apparently full UK spec., have a 2 yr warranty and was quoted a wait of 3-9 months. The advertised prices are basic and the cost is £52,999 for the cambriocorsa version of the coupe. The car would be brand new and not pre-registered. This sounds pretty good to me, though there is no info on their website www.trade-sales.co.uk

Anyone else know anything about this?

Kevin

funkyboogalooo

1,844 posts

268 months

Wednesday 10th July 2002
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just wish i had that much money

bennno

11,652 posts

269 months

Wednesday 10th July 2002
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i bought a car from them about 2 years ago, massive place in slough...gets bigger every time you drive past

basic idea is no test drives, cars bunched together, notices everywhere saying service book may or may not be with each of the cars, that each car only has one key - anything more is a bonus, tried to fleece me on the finance (putting in undisclosed / unwanted warranty at £££). Sales people will give you about 20 minutes tops before they use the 'are you dicking me about line..' best of all is when you go to collect the car, you have to que for about 2 hours to pay for it, whilst some muppet with a crappy screwdriver puts a set of lopsided plates on your car, no tax provided, NO AFTERSALES!! my car was covered in crap and the interior was still covered in plastic with the price still written on the screen.

basic policy is you get it cheap but you will not get a cup of coffee or anybody to call if you get a problem, no shiny transporter when the electrics throw a wobbler - if you call trade sales they will say it is the manufacturers problem and they are not an agent

Saved 5k on the V5 Golf i bought and ended up selling it for a profit later....BUT, on a maser i would have thought the dealer back up is fairly essential, 10k saving is tempting though

Bennno

>> Edited by bennno on Wednesday 10th July 22:53

456mgt

Original Poster:

2,504 posts

266 months

Wednesday 10th July 2002
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Thanks Bennno. What you say squares with my impression from the phone- cheap 'n cheerful. I figure since these cars are brand new with the 2 year mfr warranty you could weave it into the dealer network at the first service. Never thought about making a profit though. More focussed on the fact that this is similar price to late plate 993 (or 996 cab!).

bennno

11,652 posts

269 months

Thursday 11th July 2002
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its true and to be fair it makes it a bit of a bargain in truth it is just that you risk dealers bing a bit less helpful than if you had bought the car from them directly.

not 100% sure but resale may be a problem as franchised dealers still mark imports down generally

only things i have seen about the 4200 is that the cab supposedly suffers from massive scuttle shake, the coupe is supposedly way better than the old 3200gt...v8 is supposed to be the best ferrari make according to one magazine.....

but, looks are messed up....no boomerang lights, no bonnet vents, horrid plastic gps aerial on rear wing and so forth....and no chattering turbo wastegates.

two steps forward, one step back.

Bennno

456mgt

Original Poster:

2,504 posts

266 months

Thursday 11th July 2002
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Not sure I agree with you about the looks Bennno- still looks horny as hell to me. As to the engine note, I heard a Spyder going through Cambridge the other day and I thought it sounded just great! And I know a man- 'M' who can make it sound even better; test pipes,competition exhaust etc . Good point on the dealers though. Mind you if they want my Ferrari business they'll look after the sucker.

Still not sold on the idea though......

bennno

11,652 posts

269 months

Friday 12th July 2002
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agreed it is still lovely, its just the boomerang lights were so cool...and personally i really liked the bonnet vents.

i guess swapping the wastgate whooshes for a nice V8 howl is a good trade.....but noting excuses the placcy gps aerial on the passenger side rear wing (who ever put it there should be shot-just look at an M3 for how to do it)

Bennno

manu

768 posts

263 months

Saturday 13th July 2002
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That's a damn damn good price.
I loved the boomerang lights too... BUT the Americans DIDN'T.

456mgt

Original Poster:

2,504 posts

266 months

Wednesday 17th July 2002
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Don't know if anyone will make use of this info, but it's quite interesting nonetheless.

Spoke to a Maserati salesperson @ Maranello Sales yesterday. Apparently, these cars come from Malaysia (RHD) and the process is much the same as the parallel import process for other marques. Maserati UK are not happy bunnies and are 'looking into it'. Suspect they will try to make the manufacturer warranty difficult to exercise in some way though I understand that they are legally bound to honour it. If anyone is seriously considering it, the best thing to do would be to have the car delivered to a Maser dealership for them to do all the installation checks before driving it.

manu

768 posts

263 months

Thursday 18th July 2002
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They never let you have it easy do they?
I was in Maranellos yesterday too and asked about a Maser Spyder - March delivery and they have a couple of pre-spec cars availble now (whatever pre-spec means).
IMO the car looks lovely and I wonder what the difference in performance is to a 355/360...... Larger engine, more torque and same power in the Maser.

BTW: Really stunning, friendly and totally hot Maranello Sales, Maserati receptionist girl... Almost put down a deposit because of the way she looked.

marki

15,763 posts

270 months

Thursday 18th July 2002
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quote:

Don't know if anyone will make use of this info, but it's quite interesting nonetheless.

Spoke to a Maserati salesperson @ Maranello Sales yesterday. Apparently, these cars come from Malaysia (RHD) and the process is much the same as the parallel import process for other marques. Maserati UK are not happy bunnies and are 'looking into it'. Suspect they will try to make the manufacturer warranty difficult to exercise in some way though I understand that they are legally bound to honour it. If anyone is seriously considering it, the best thing to do would be to have the car delivered to a Maser dealership for them to do all the installation checks before driving it.



I doubt they would have a problem voiding the warrantee as the car came from outside the EU

GregE240

10,857 posts

267 months

Thursday 18th July 2002
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quote:

BTW: Really stunning, friendly and totally hot Maranello Sales, Maserati receptionist girl... Almost put down a deposit because of the way she looked.


You dirty monkey

manu

768 posts

263 months

Friday 19th July 2002
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Greg - this girl is hot. And yes I am a VERY dirty monkey. Fast cars and fast women.....? Life really doesn't get any better.

If she can get me into a car (WITH HER - forget the salesguys), I'll buy one on the spot