Maserati sub €30k - would you be mad?

rebel.ranter

I just like the look & the rarity of Maseratis at the minute. I am due a change of car & was thinking of something 3.0L plus anyway but something this weekend got me thinking about a Maserati. I see there's one for a smidgeon over €10k with another two hovering around the €30k mark.
Would it be crazy to run one of these as an everyday car?
I do most of my maintenance myself at present but would something like this just break me.
I really like any of the cars in the range with a Quattroporte in black just cool looking.
Anyway nothing might come of it but just wondering has anyone else got similar notions.

NewApproach

The Quattroportes need to be serviced every 10 or 12 thousand miles AFAIK, and to get them serviced you need to go to Belfast. the likes of tyres and other general costs will be very big too. Basically you have to pay for the rarity of them.

Hogzy

NewApproach wrote: »

Basically you have to pay for the rarity of them.

And there is a reason for them being rare.

Andrew33

rebel.ranter wrote: »

I just like the look & the rarity of Maseratis at the minute. I am due a change of car & was thinking of something 3.0L plus anyway but something this weekend got me thinking about a Maserati. I see there's one for a smidgeon over €10k with another two hovering around the €30k mark.
Would it be crazy to run one of these as an everyday car?
I do most of my maintenance myself at present but would something like this just break me.
I really like any of the cars in the range with a Quattroporte in black just cool looking.
Anyway nothing might come of it but just wondering has anyone else got similar notions.

I've just finished one of Clarksons books and he loves them, mind you, he never has to worry about maintaining one. I reckon a lot of the basic maintainance could be done by a reasonably knowledgeable person. I mean oil and filters, plugs, brake pads etc, and AFAIK they're pretty reliable (relatively speaking) too. I'd have a punt!
Just a couple of Clarksons observations about the Quattroporte, the early autos were a semi-auto kind of affair with clutch plates etc (and it was a jerky pig) and the gearbox sat at the rear of the car with the diff, when they eventually produced a "trad" automatic with a torque converter they moved it to just behind the engine and redesigned the floor etc, this apparently ruined the rigidity of the car and shifted the weight distribution towards the front of the vehicle with obvious consequences for ride and handling.

what recession?

I've had my eyes on those two 4200's since they were put up on Carzone. They're definitely good value. I want that Spyder!

.Longshanks.

Andrew33 wrote: »

I've just finished one of Clarksons books and he loves them, mind you, he never has to worry about maintaining one. I reckon a lot of the basic maintainance could be done by a reasonably knowledgeable person. I mean oil and filters, plugs, brake pads etc, and AFAIK they're pretty reliable (relatively speaking) too. I'd have a punt!
Just a couple of Clarksons observations about the Quattroporte, the early autos were a semi-auto kind of affair with clutch plates etc (and it was a jerky pig) and the gearbox sat at the rear of the car with the diff, when they eventually produced a "trad" automatic with a torque converter they moved it to just behind the engine and redesigned the floor etc, this apparently ruined the rigidity of the car and shifted the weight distribution towards the front of the vehicle with obvious consequences for ride and handling.

Sorry mate, i stopped reading when you implied your basing your opinions of one of Clarksons books.....

Owen

You don't need to take them to Belfast. An Indy I do work for was servicing one recently here in Cork, the Belfast crowd couldn't identify the fault, nor could any of the Dealerships in Dublin who specialise in the high end stuff. My guy had it diagnosed in about an hour.

Andrew33

kev_Longshanks100 wrote: »

Sorry mate, i stopped reading when you implied your basing your opinions of one of Clarksons books.....

Clarkson only commented on the engine/gearbox layout and floor (half the time, he doesn't seem to know if a car even has an engine!), the opinion on maintainance is purely my own and I still reckon any half decent spannerhead could look after a mazzer.

NewApproach

Andrew33 wrote: »

half the time, he doesn't seem to know if a car even has an engine!

I doubt that.

MidlandsM

NewApproach wrote: »

and to get them serviced you need to go to Belfast.

Nope.

rebel.ranter

I was fairly sure that I could do all the normal servicing & maintenance myself. It would be the sourcing of parts, reliability & common faults that would be of most concern.
I'm not sure what to get next, I'm on my 7th BMW at the minute & was toying with the idea of an X5, then got a notion for an 8 Series, then a 6 Series. Then a brief moment of sensibility with a 520d. My budget would cover a '05/'06 X5 but I'm not too concerned about the year of the car really. Maybe I was going too one track minded about the whole thing, hence the idea of a Maserati.
Thanks for the replies.

unkel

rebel.ranter wrote: »

I was fairly sure that I could do all the normal servicing & maintenance myself. It would be the sourcing of parts, reliability & common faults that would be of most concern.
I'm not sure what to get next, I'm on my 7th BMW at the minute & was toying with the idea of an X5, then got a notion for an 8 Series, then a 6 Series. Then a brief moment of sensibility with a 520d. My budget would cover a '05/'06 X5 but I'm not too concerned about the year of the car really. Maybe I was going too one track minded about the whole thing, hence the idea of a Maserati.
Thanks for the replies.

Fair play, dude. Feck the idea of buying a horrid MPV / SUV (like an X5)

NewApproach wrote: »

The Quattroportes need to be serviced every 10 or 12 thousand miles AFAIK.

Wow, that often? :eek:

argosy2006

http://www.carzone.ie/search/Aston-Martin/DB7/3.2-Alfr/201025198566695/advert?channel=CARS i'd perfer it

what recession?

rebel.ranter wrote: »

I was fairly sure that I could do all the normal servicing & maintenance myself. It would be the sourcing of parts, reliability & common faults that would be of most concern.
I'm not sure what to get next, I'm on my 7th BMW at the minute & was toying with the idea of an X5, then got a notion for an 8 Series, then a 6 Series. Then a brief moment of sensibility with a 520d. My budget would cover a '05/'06 X5 but I'm not too concerned about the year of the car really. Maybe I was going too one track minded about the whole thing, hence the idea of a Maserati.
Thanks for the replies.

Well if you don't think that the maintenance will be too high then I'd say go with the Maserati. Either way you'll be paying the highest rate or tax, or the one under it. I did a bit of googling last week about maintenance costs when I saw the 4200 coupe listed. There seems to be a lot of info on UK forums and from what I saw, main dealer parts were realllly expensive and there was major work to be done when there's around 60k on the clock. I can't remember much of the details to be honest, you should probably check out a few of the forums first anyway!

NewApproach

unkel wrote: »

Wow, that often? :eek:

Thats what I remember reading here once. Just checked online and it says every 20000 km, which is 12.5k miles. It would soon add up.

Tragedy

Most cars should ideally have an oil service every 5k miles.

nogoodnamesleft

I read an article recently about a guy who services his own Maserati all he had was his basic garage took him something like 3days to service it entirely. His car had something like 3 locations in which to drain the oil. :eek:

Oh and I think they take some racing spec oil as well which might not be stocked in your local halfords :-)

I was curious regards service parts costs and came across this site specialising in supplying parts for exotics. The parts are fairly reasonable!

http://www.eurospares.co.uk/serviceKitsListing.asp?G=1&M=&Mo=&A=&B=&S=&SB=3&SO=1&SM=3

no1beemerfan

NewApproach wrote: »

The Quattroportes need to be serviced every 10 or 12 thousand miles AFAIK......

unkel wrote: »

Wow, that often?..... :eek:

No matter what car I had/have I would never let it go that long without an oil change. I service mine every five thousand.

I'd take the plunge if you were mechanically minded....it can't be rocket science to service/look after.

Matt Simis

no1beemerfan wrote: »

I'd take the plunge if you were mechanically minded....it can't be rocket science to service/look after.

Yeah agreed, I think if you have a competent Indy or yourself, they cannot be that hard to maintain.