Cost of ownership for Maserati GT S
Discussion
I am very taken with the Maserati GT S and was wondeing what they were like to live with in terms of costs? I currently drive a 997 Turbo, which apart from tyres and brakes is relatively cheap to run...
What's the service interval and cost of the GT S and what sort of MPG are people getting, I hate spending too much time at the pumps!
Also what does extened warranty cost?
Thanks for any information.....
What's the service interval and cost of the GT S and what sort of MPG are people getting, I hate spending too much time at the pumps!
Also what does extened warranty cost?
Thanks for any information.....
I have a GT which will be pretty similar to run I guess....
Servicimg every 12,500 or 2 years. Main dealer service around £1800 but I guess this will fall as cars go over 3 years old and start going to independants....
Maserati build quality is now A1. They come with a 3 year factory warranty , with an option to take a Maserati extended warranty year 4 onwards (£1800 I think it was). This car will NOT go
wrong you really won't need an extended warranty!!
Mpg varies 16mpg around town, low twenties on a longer run.Tyres £250 a corner.
If you can afford the GT-S over the GT I think this id the one to go for...
Servicimg every 12,500 or 2 years. Main dealer service around £1800 but I guess this will fall as cars go over 3 years old and start going to independants....
Maserati build quality is now A1. They come with a 3 year factory warranty , with an option to take a Maserati extended warranty year 4 onwards (£1800 I think it was). This car will NOT go
wrong you really won't need an extended warranty!!
Mpg varies 16mpg around town, low twenties on a longer run.Tyres £250 a corner.
If you can afford the GT-S over the GT I think this id the one to go for...
There are a couple of owners on www.maseratiforum.co.uk and www.sportsmaserati.co.uk if you don't get more of a response on here.
Let's be clear, if you're buying a new or lightly used car for £70k+, whatever it is, and are worried about servicing/running costs, you've got your priorities somewhat badly arranged 
Whilst it is obviously not irrelevant when buying the car, it will be dwarfed by depreciation of probably £1k per month for the first couple of years....THAT'S what I'd be worried about 
Whether you get 18mpg or 25mpg is basically irrelevant unless you're going to be doing 10k miles per month!
Whilst it is obviously not irrelevant when buying the car, it will be dwarfed by depreciation of probably £1k per month for the first couple of years....THAT'S what I'd be worried about Whether you get 18mpg or 25mpg is basically irrelevant unless you're going to be doing 10k miles per month!I've run a GTS since last September and overall enjoyed ownership so far. My thoughts are:
fuel - at least a 1/3 more than my old 997 c4s
reliability - small things go wrong regularly and I'm pleased its under warranty
exclusivity - i see porsches every day and have yet to come across a gts like mine
depreciation - couldn't care less, the car is a keeper and once the production run ends it'll be even more exclusive than it is now.
If you buy a relatively new gts still under warranty you'll encounter very little added expenditure than your porsche. It will need taking care of a bit more though than a porsche.
fuel - at least a 1/3 more than my old 997 c4s
reliability - small things go wrong regularly and I'm pleased its under warranty
exclusivity - i see porsches every day and have yet to come across a gts like mine
depreciation - couldn't care less, the car is a keeper and once the production run ends it'll be even more exclusive than it is now.
If you buy a relatively new gts still under warranty you'll encounter very little added expenditure than your porsche. It will need taking care of a bit more though than a porsche.
Well, I sold my Gen-2 997 Turbo back in March for a GT-S....and haven't looked back.
I was never a big fan of the Porsche - yes, the performance was insane and it drove fantastically well but I don;t like the way it looked, the interior was bland (and rattled rather worse than I;d ever imagine a Porsche to), it sounded pretty poor and on the whole, I had no real pleasure from it unless I was hooning around at speeds that could land me in prison.
I looked at a GT-S before buying the Porsche back in November (yup, the Porker lasted just 4 months) and didn't buy it then because....mmm....hmm....I really don't know, other than I wasn't exactly a fan of the seats which felt very unsupportive. I did have a C63 AMG at the time which has some of the best seats of any car but after having the Porsche, the seats in the GT-S didn't seem that bad. I should have bought the GT-S in the first place.
Anyway, the key things that stand out on the GT-S for me are....
1. Aesthetics and image - they look fantastic and I've never had anything that attracts as much attention. They're rare and draw lots of attention as a result..much more than you'd get in the Porsche. If people don't see you then they will hear you as in sport mode it is LOUD. However, it's one of those brands that appears to have no 'baggage' with it - without exception, I get such a positive reaction to the car or even just saying that I drive a 'Maserati'! It's a feel good car that brings out the best in people which is in contrast to the Porsche where I got the impression a lot of people wanted to spit on me lol!
2. The MC Shift gearbox is better than I thought. I used to have a BMW M6 and the MC Shift box (which I believe is essentially the Ferrari F1 gearbox from the 599) is much better. It works OK in auto mode without being too jerky and it;s very effective in manual...indeed, I prefer it to the latest DCT 'boxes as whilst it's less technically perfect, you get more feel and still benefit from an 80millisecond gearchange...as quick as you'll ever need! The clutches last quite well apparently - mine has nearly 9k on the clock and is just 20% worn so it should last around 40k miles.
3. The sound is incredible - if you've yet to hear one, you'll not fail to be impressed. It can be quiet when you want to but just hit the sport button to open those exhaust butterflies to hear what is one of the bets sounding cars out there. Not much for £70k'ish comes close in my opinion.
4. Performance - OK, it's not in 997 Turbo league but I'd say it compares favourably to the performance offered by my previous e92 M3 and C63 AMG. Coming out of the Porsche I really thought the lack of performance would bother me but in reality it's not as 'slow' (all relative don't forget!) as I thought it would be given the 60bhp deficit and extra 500kg weight - it's still faster than most cars, just not blindingly supercar quick.
5. Economy - all I can say is....if filling up with £135 worth of fuel every 350-400 miles scares you then walk away. 18-20mpg is the reality on an 80-100mph motorway run whilst 10-12mpg is the unfortunate consequence of constant town driving. The average is obviously somewhere between the two.
6. Parts and service costs - you need to think that a lot of the drivetrain is Ferrari-made so they (nearly) charge Ferrari prices. Over £1k for a service at a main dealer (although it is every 2 years or 12k miles so not that bad) and £600ish at an indy. I do believe front brakes are a £3k job for discs and pads but what I do know from experience is that a pair of front wipers is over £100. Madness....just be prepared for it costing a lot more than your 997 Turbo!
7. Build quality....interesting one this given I've come out of a host of German cars and into an Italian one. Fear not as this is one of the nicest made cars that I've without any rattles to speak of (not something I could say about the Porsche or the various BMW's I've had). It does have some quirks such as the way some switchgear is designed or the way the navigation works but it's not a deal breaker and is a world away from the PCM 2/3 you'll probably have in your car (my 997 had Porsches latest PCM 3 and I reckon the Maserati system is better than that!). The interior is really special though - it looks great and always feels like an occasion being in it.
So what don't I like?
Well, there are two things and I'm changing both of them!
Firstly, the audio system is sh!t...sh!t beyond belief given it's the upgraded Bose system. It's more like Alba rather than Bose so I'm having the amp and speakers stripped out and having something more suitable to the car fitted to give it a better quality sound (but still discreet....no changes will be on show).
The second change is a little more challenging and it surrounds the handling. Firstly, there's nothing wrong with it and I specifically went for a car without Skyhook as thats what the GT-S was optimised for (they offer Skyhook as an option on the GT-S MC Shift as opposed to standard in the Auto but in my experience, the passively suspended car drives better). It's got a firm well damped ride, the considerable weight of the car is controlled impressively and it's very nicely balanced (the rear-biased weight distribution in a front-engined car must help here), so like I said, there is nothing wrong with the way it drives at all.....
.....until I drove the new MC Stradale!
The suspension on that car is a noticeable improvement and totally rids this very heavy car of roll yet it also manages to ride better (remember, the MC Stradale is only 100kg lighter than a GT-S so they're both extremely heavy) . I've done some investigating with my dealer and found out what the differences are between the GT-S set-up and the Stradale and all the key component changes such as springs, dampers, anti-roll bars and bushes are all interchangeable between the two models. Indeed, the entire MC Stradale suspension set-up is available as an option on new MC Shift GT-S's but nobody seems to spec it. Anyway, so impressed am I that I'm having the entire set-up retro-fitted to my car in two weeks time so I'll hopefully end up getting the best bits of the Stradale whilst keeping my back seats!
Hope this helps although I appreciate it's an ever-so-slightly biased view from a current and very enthusiastic owner!
I was never a big fan of the Porsche - yes, the performance was insane and it drove fantastically well but I don;t like the way it looked, the interior was bland (and rattled rather worse than I;d ever imagine a Porsche to), it sounded pretty poor and on the whole, I had no real pleasure from it unless I was hooning around at speeds that could land me in prison.
I looked at a GT-S before buying the Porsche back in November (yup, the Porker lasted just 4 months) and didn't buy it then because....mmm....hmm....I really don't know, other than I wasn't exactly a fan of the seats which felt very unsupportive. I did have a C63 AMG at the time which has some of the best seats of any car but after having the Porsche, the seats in the GT-S didn't seem that bad. I should have bought the GT-S in the first place.
Anyway, the key things that stand out on the GT-S for me are....
1. Aesthetics and image - they look fantastic and I've never had anything that attracts as much attention. They're rare and draw lots of attention as a result..much more than you'd get in the Porsche. If people don't see you then they will hear you as in sport mode it is LOUD. However, it's one of those brands that appears to have no 'baggage' with it - without exception, I get such a positive reaction to the car or even just saying that I drive a 'Maserati'! It's a feel good car that brings out the best in people which is in contrast to the Porsche where I got the impression a lot of people wanted to spit on me lol!
2. The MC Shift gearbox is better than I thought. I used to have a BMW M6 and the MC Shift box (which I believe is essentially the Ferrari F1 gearbox from the 599) is much better. It works OK in auto mode without being too jerky and it;s very effective in manual...indeed, I prefer it to the latest DCT 'boxes as whilst it's less technically perfect, you get more feel and still benefit from an 80millisecond gearchange...as quick as you'll ever need! The clutches last quite well apparently - mine has nearly 9k on the clock and is just 20% worn so it should last around 40k miles.
3. The sound is incredible - if you've yet to hear one, you'll not fail to be impressed. It can be quiet when you want to but just hit the sport button to open those exhaust butterflies to hear what is one of the bets sounding cars out there. Not much for £70k'ish comes close in my opinion.
4. Performance - OK, it's not in 997 Turbo league but I'd say it compares favourably to the performance offered by my previous e92 M3 and C63 AMG. Coming out of the Porsche I really thought the lack of performance would bother me but in reality it's not as 'slow' (all relative don't forget!) as I thought it would be given the 60bhp deficit and extra 500kg weight - it's still faster than most cars, just not blindingly supercar quick.
5. Economy - all I can say is....if filling up with £135 worth of fuel every 350-400 miles scares you then walk away. 18-20mpg is the reality on an 80-100mph motorway run whilst 10-12mpg is the unfortunate consequence of constant town driving. The average is obviously somewhere between the two.
6. Parts and service costs - you need to think that a lot of the drivetrain is Ferrari-made so they (nearly) charge Ferrari prices. Over £1k for a service at a main dealer (although it is every 2 years or 12k miles so not that bad) and £600ish at an indy. I do believe front brakes are a £3k job for discs and pads but what I do know from experience is that a pair of front wipers is over £100. Madness....just be prepared for it costing a lot more than your 997 Turbo!
7. Build quality....interesting one this given I've come out of a host of German cars and into an Italian one. Fear not as this is one of the nicest made cars that I've without any rattles to speak of (not something I could say about the Porsche or the various BMW's I've had). It does have some quirks such as the way some switchgear is designed or the way the navigation works but it's not a deal breaker and is a world away from the PCM 2/3 you'll probably have in your car (my 997 had Porsches latest PCM 3 and I reckon the Maserati system is better than that!). The interior is really special though - it looks great and always feels like an occasion being in it.
So what don't I like?
Well, there are two things and I'm changing both of them!
Firstly, the audio system is sh!t...sh!t beyond belief given it's the upgraded Bose system. It's more like Alba rather than Bose so I'm having the amp and speakers stripped out and having something more suitable to the car fitted to give it a better quality sound (but still discreet....no changes will be on show).
The second change is a little more challenging and it surrounds the handling. Firstly, there's nothing wrong with it and I specifically went for a car without Skyhook as thats what the GT-S was optimised for (they offer Skyhook as an option on the GT-S MC Shift as opposed to standard in the Auto but in my experience, the passively suspended car drives better). It's got a firm well damped ride, the considerable weight of the car is controlled impressively and it's very nicely balanced (the rear-biased weight distribution in a front-engined car must help here), so like I said, there is nothing wrong with the way it drives at all.....
.....until I drove the new MC Stradale!
The suspension on that car is a noticeable improvement and totally rids this very heavy car of roll yet it also manages to ride better (remember, the MC Stradale is only 100kg lighter than a GT-S so they're both extremely heavy) . I've done some investigating with my dealer and found out what the differences are between the GT-S set-up and the Stradale and all the key component changes such as springs, dampers, anti-roll bars and bushes are all interchangeable between the two models. Indeed, the entire MC Stradale suspension set-up is available as an option on new MC Shift GT-S's but nobody seems to spec it. Anyway, so impressed am I that I'm having the entire set-up retro-fitted to my car in two weeks time so I'll hopefully end up getting the best bits of the Stradale whilst keeping my back seats!
Hope this helps although I appreciate it's an ever-so-slightly biased view from a current and very enthusiastic owner!
Edited by Palmball on Friday 13th May 23:13
I agree with everything Palmball says. I too came from a series of fast Germans and was simply blown away by the build quality in comparison, almost the complete opposite of the general public perception of an exotic Italian. My GT-S is a sensational car to actually own, it always puts a smile on my face, is beautiful to look at and has one of the best interiors there is.
For what the car is I actually think the costs are very reasonable and was mazed to find out servicing is only 2 years or 12,000 miles, whichever comes first. I have also not had any issues with the car other than a faulty rear light cluster with was a 15 minute replacement carried out while I waited under warranty. Other than that, nothing at all.
I am very interested to hear Palmball's omments on the MC Stradale suspension and his conversion. I have yet to drive one (dealer has promised me a go soon) and like Palmball I deliberately went for the single rate suspension set up, which works very very well for such a heavy car. Will have to drive the MC and see how it compares but for the moment I am quite happy with the standard set up.
Audio is utter pants and I also have the Bose upgrade. Have contemplated getting it changed but cost is extremely high as I understand it so simply press the sport button and lower the window, there is simply no better sound system than the one that comes naturally with the car!!
For what the car is I actually think the costs are very reasonable and was mazed to find out servicing is only 2 years or 12,000 miles, whichever comes first. I have also not had any issues with the car other than a faulty rear light cluster with was a 15 minute replacement carried out while I waited under warranty. Other than that, nothing at all.
I am very interested to hear Palmball's omments on the MC Stradale suspension and his conversion. I have yet to drive one (dealer has promised me a go soon) and like Palmball I deliberately went for the single rate suspension set up, which works very very well for such a heavy car. Will have to drive the MC and see how it compares but for the moment I am quite happy with the standard set up.
Audio is utter pants and I also have the Bose upgrade. Have contemplated getting it changed but cost is extremely high as I understand it so simply press the sport button and lower the window, there is simply no better sound system than the one that comes naturally with the car!!
Thanks chaps...I'm most looking forward to having the suspension fitted in a couple of weeks - just in time for a 'ring trip over the bank holiday 
Should be interesting to see if the component changes on a regular GT-S (i.e. without the 100kg weight reduction) will have the same effect as experienced in the Stradale. The good news is this is all main dealer supplied and fitted so is all effectively approved and warranted. I will update once I know the results.
Colossus - I too have had the rear light failure....seems common on these. Despite the fact these are much more reliable and better build than expected, I would still recommend buying a warranty once the 3 years is up...it's £2.5k for a year but it is bumper to bumper and owning a car like this would be too risky without one. Also, with regards the stereo upgrade...yes, it is expensive but if it's something you want to do you really should speak to the guys that are doing my upgrade as they have alternative solutions at cheaper prices....and oddly enough, they've actually upgraded a Bose-equipped GT-S before which I thought would have been pretty much impossible given the rarity of the car! They came recommended to me from another Maserati owner on sportsmaserati.co.uk and they're called the Sound Gallery in High Wycombe (ww.soundgallery-incar.co.uk/)
Coming out of cars like 997 Turbo's and GTR's and into a GT-S will put you in a technically inferior car to what you're used to....there's no doubt that those cars are better dynamically just by nature of being much more focussed machines. You just have to be prepared for that and accept that the GT-S is more of a proper long-distance GT thats incredibly refined when you want it to be and just that little bit 'exotic'.
Should be interesting to see if the component changes on a regular GT-S (i.e. without the 100kg weight reduction) will have the same effect as experienced in the Stradale. The good news is this is all main dealer supplied and fitted so is all effectively approved and warranted. I will update once I know the results.
Colossus - I too have had the rear light failure....seems common on these. Despite the fact these are much more reliable and better build than expected, I would still recommend buying a warranty once the 3 years is up...it's £2.5k for a year but it is bumper to bumper and owning a car like this would be too risky without one. Also, with regards the stereo upgrade...yes, it is expensive but if it's something you want to do you really should speak to the guys that are doing my upgrade as they have alternative solutions at cheaper prices....and oddly enough, they've actually upgraded a Bose-equipped GT-S before which I thought would have been pretty much impossible given the rarity of the car! They came recommended to me from another Maserati owner on sportsmaserati.co.uk and they're called the Sound Gallery in High Wycombe (ww.soundgallery-incar.co.uk/)
Coming out of cars like 997 Turbo's and GTR's and into a GT-S will put you in a technically inferior car to what you're used to....there's no doubt that those cars are better dynamically just by nature of being much more focussed machines. You just have to be prepared for that and accept that the GT-S is more of a proper long-distance GT thats incredibly refined when you want it to be and just that little bit 'exotic'.
I've owned my GT-S for nearly 10,000km now and I can support everything positive the previous posters have said.
It's very well built, is reliable (a friend has had one for 70,000km without major issues), sounds awesome and characterful (all those burbling pops and crackles on the overrun), has a fantastic engine with a lovely torque curve and plenty of power, incredible interior room for 4 people, decent up to date electronics, great handling, good brakes, excellent gearbox, is fairly rare and looks great -- gets way more attention than even my Aston Martin DBS did! Most importantly though, the ride is truly excellent and not bone-breakingly hard like so many sportscars these days.
Average overall fuel consumption has been 19.6 L/100km. It's also a more enjoyable daily driver than my BMW M6. This car has really snuck under the radar quietly it seems, it's an overlooked gem. I had no idea until I tried one.
The other thing I like is no silly "active" exhaust flaps -- in Sport mode its full noise from 0 - 7600rpm, and in Normal mode it's totally quiet across the rev range as well. I drive everywhere in Sport and with Auto off.
It's very well built, is reliable (a friend has had one for 70,000km without major issues), sounds awesome and characterful (all those burbling pops and crackles on the overrun), has a fantastic engine with a lovely torque curve and plenty of power, incredible interior room for 4 people, decent up to date electronics, great handling, good brakes, excellent gearbox, is fairly rare and looks great -- gets way more attention than even my Aston Martin DBS did! Most importantly though, the ride is truly excellent and not bone-breakingly hard like so many sportscars these days.
Average overall fuel consumption has been 19.6 L/100km. It's also a more enjoyable daily driver than my BMW M6. This car has really snuck under the radar quietly it seems, it's an overlooked gem. I had no idea until I tried one.
The other thing I like is no silly "active" exhaust flaps -- in Sport mode its full noise from 0 - 7600rpm, and in Normal mode it's totally quiet across the rev range as well. I drive everywhere in Sport and with Auto off.
Edited by jus on Tuesday 17th May 16:43
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