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Maserati GranTurismo 4.2 - anybody have any experience?
computid - 11/3/19 at 09:31 PM

So I'm considering a Maserati GranTurismo, probably an 07/08 model (the early 4.2).

It'll be a second car, but I'd like to put around 8k miles on it a year ish. Does anybody have any experience with these cars? Any usual fail points or things to look out for?

I'm planning to mostly do my own maintenance, I have access to ramps and a large selection of tools and I'm not overly scared by usual maintenance items, I just want to know of any big show stoppers!

Any info would be appreciated

perksy - 11/3/19 at 11:06 PM

Not sure if its this model/year or not (can't remember) but I believe there was an issue with the Thrust washers on the crankshaft which allowed too much end float
Apart from that I think it was cost of spares that was also mentioned

Theshed - 12/3/19 at 08:16 AM

I think the thrust washer issue was the previous 3.2 engine. Only an issue on a manual. The 4.2 is the Ferrari designed unit.

I had several 1980 Biturbos including a Ghibli. The latter was a 6 speed and you needed to shift down to cruise at 70mph - awesome car

I rebuilt one engine and changed the timing chain on another - not easy or cheap ....but doable.

Mr Whippy - 12/3/19 at 12:27 PM

very fancy but the term endless money pit comes to mind

personally if I had the cash to by such a car, which I don't. I'd be getting seriously good advice from actual owners and owners clubs, full costings and full maintenance requirements for it. Some of these supercars need mental super expensive regular maintenance. You know it might be a lot cheaper just to rent one when you feel the urge than to actually own one.

computid - 12/3/19 at 02:38 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Mr Whippy
very fancy but the term endless money pit comes to mind

personally if I had the cash to by such a car, which I don't. I'd be getting seriously good advice from actual owners and owners clubs, full costings and full maintenance requirements for it. Some of these supercars need mental super expensive regular maintenance. You know it might be a lot cheaper just to rent one when you feel the urge than to actually own one.


I've looked at the maintenance requirements and part prices, services and the like aren't too bad considering I'll be doing them myself, and I've already spent nearly £2k in just 3k miles maintaining the car it's going to be replacing so I'm used to reasonably high maintenance costs!

I can't actually rent one at my age, and even if I could, it's around £400/day to rent one and you only get 100 miles. That really doesn't work out to be cost effective considering I want to use it for around 8k miles a year!

I've done a bit of research and it seems the primary issues are:

1) Exhaust changeover valve failure (£250 part).
2) Suspension top arms (Circa £450)
3) Engine cam shaft variator failure (I'd only buy a car that's already had the recall done)
4) Potential differential lash as they use the same diff internals as the Quattroporte which suffered with this issue.

It also looks like a whole engine and gearbox is only about £3k should it decide to grenade itself, which isn't bad at all in the grand scheme of things!

Theshed - 12/3/19 at 02:58 PM

They do have a lovely complicated diff - much the same design as the Quaife LSD. The earlier one I had had a little oil cooler all of its own and blew up when it got full of mud!!

Ugg10 - 12/3/19 at 06:35 PM

The quadroporte which has the same engine has a tendency to ingest its cats writing off the engine, had a mate who had this happen, £6k to fix with a second hand engine.

Mr Whippy - 13/3/19 at 12:40 PM

Once you get it a list of incurring costs would be interesting to read.

Just the fuel and road tax for 8k per year works out at almost £2800

Hope it works out

BigGeoff - 13/3/19 at 06:59 PM

I bought mine last November - lovely car to drive on all but the most twisty of roads - for those your want the Gran Sport. Its a weekend car for me so just gets driven wherever I need to go when not at work. The wife says its the best car I have ever bought.

The guy I bought from was a real enthusiast and reckons on a budget of £1.5 -£2k per year to keep it maintained properly. Servicing is 24 month intervals. So with the traffic round here is hard to push on for more than very short spurts so a lot of driving done legally and getting an average of 22mpg which I am very surprised about. Car is on a 57 plate with 68k miles. Car tax is high but insurance very reasonable - in fact the insurance cost is same as my 14 plate cx-5.

Only downsides for me are the infotainment system is crap and no blue tooth. Some owners do comment online about the size of the car. It is big and will "fill" most parking spaces. If you want to really enjoy the car in cold weather you will need winter tyres - its performance summer tyres are bloody useless below as the temperatures get into single figures.

Shop around and look at as many as you can - there are a lot that are overpriced for their condition. Don't worry about main dealer history - the same as any other main dealer some good - some bad. If if not main dealer make sure the history is full and done by a specialist Maserati independent - give them a call they may be able to give you some background history of the car and or the owner (ie the way they care for the car or not as the case may be). A lot of these guys are really into Maserati and do a great job.

Just a few of my thoughts, hope they are of some assistance.

PAUL FISHER - 13/3/19 at 11:05 PM

It's always the same response with some people who have never owned a Maserati, best value supercars on the market, a real investment double your money in ten years 😎

Mr Whippy - 14/3/19 at 06:54 AM

quote:
Originally posted by PAUL FISHER
It's always the same response with some people who have never owned a Maserati, best value supercars on the market, a real investment double your money in ten years 😎


rather optimistic and I think servicing it yourself would hurt the value if only looking at it as an investment

[Edited on 14/3/19 by Mr Whippy]