Finally Bought a Maserati!

[CatmanV2]

Nightmare, that never sounds good.

Indeed not. Especially in a small outfit like ours, but there we are

C

 

[Alan Surrey]

Sorry to hear that catman.

 

[Big lou]

Indeed not. Especially in a small outfit like ours, but there we are

C

For what it’s worth, I wish you the best. I’m sure whatever outcome you’ll come out on top.

 

[must go faster]

Welcome to the ghibli fold Big Lou. They are definitely a lot of car for the money.
My car was a base model and after the Celtic tune it made 460bhp which is more than what they generally advertise. The only extra thing I had fitted at the time were k&n filters.
I would also recommend celtics gearbox remap as it makes the changes quicker and smoother…. Way better than the formula dynamics box and none of the wiring faf!!
I find the guys at Celtic really helpful, in fact they are coming back to me on Tuesday to load a new map for the gearbox and update the ecu now that I have had the sports cats and centre delete x pipe done.
I found the handling a little too soft for my preference and have fitted a front strut brace, H&R springs and anti roll bars.
Next job is to fit chassis collars and larger front discs and calipers.
Am contemplating an uprated intercooler system and hybrid turbo’s however as not many people have played with the ghibli I need to do some more research and find a willing garage to assist.
I’m based in SW London so not a million miles from you. More than happy to meet up if you were interested in doing any of these things and wanted to see what they were like before biting the bullet.

 

[Big lou]

Welcome to the ghibli fold Big Lou. They are definitely a lot of car for the money.
My car was a base model and after the Celtic tune it made 460bhp which is more than what they generally advertise. The only extra thing I had fitted at the time were k&n filters.
I would also recommend celtics gearbox remap as it makes the changes quicker and smoother…. Way better than the formula dynamics box and none of the wiring faf!!
I find the guys at Celtic really helpful, in fact they are coming back to me on Tuesday to load a new map for the gearbox and update the ecu now that I have had the sports cats and centre delete x pipe done.
I found the handling a little too soft for my preference and have fitted a front strut brace, H&R springs and anti roll bars.
Next job is to fit chassis collars and larger front discs and calipers.
Am contemplating an uprated intercooler system and hybrid turbo’s however as not many people have played with the ghibli I need to do some more research and find a willing garage to assist.
I’m based in SW London so not a million miles from you. More than happy to meet up if you were interested in doing any of these things and wanted to see what they were like before biting the bullet.

Wow fair play, you’ve gone for it. I’ve booked to get the S spec map installed on the 22nd. Once I have that and some tints I think I’ll be a happy man, Its mainly used for road trips and weekend driving, i appreciate the offer. Would be cool to maybe see you at a meet sometime.

I bet it sounds gnarly with the K&Ns and res delete, if I hear yours I’ll probably end up having to work some weekends!

 

[boomerang]

Nice car!
And indeed, driving a petrol Ghibli is a great experience.
Keep the battery alive using a tender and you will be OK.
(Experienced some strange faults, due to battery voltage too low)
Regarding S spec mapping:
Who supplies that?
A lot of reputable software suppliers state max 50hp and 100Nm gain, not up to 410HP.

 

[Ebenezer]

I would also recommend celtics gearbox remap as it makes the changes quicker and smoother…. Way better than the formula dynamics box and none of the wiring faf!!

I wonder if they can remap the geabox ecu in a 4.2 QPV Auto? When you say gear box remap is that the ecu for the gearbox itself or is it the engine management? I have the FD DBW which changes when the gears are changed, but not how. For an autobox, I wonder what parameters there are within the ZF control / ZF box itself that govern how fast the gears are changed. I'm also always jealous of the QP GTS which gets fantastic noise on down changes and does not automatically change up when you hit the red line.
Eb

 

[CatmanV2]

Welcome to the ghibli fold Big Lou. They are definitely a lot of car for the money.
My car was a base model and after the Celtic tune it made 460bhp which is more than what they generally advertise. The only extra thing I had fitted at the time were k&n filters.
I would also recommend celtics gearbox remap as it makes the changes quicker and smoother…. Way better than the formula dynamics box and none of the wiring faf!!
I find the guys at Celtic really helpful, in fact they are coming back to me on Tuesday to load a new map for the gearbox and update the ecu now that I have had the sports cats and centre delete x pipe done.
I found the handling a little too soft for my preference and have fitted a front strut brace, H&R springs and anti roll bars.
Next job is to fit chassis collars and larger front discs and calipers.
Am contemplating an uprated intercooler system and hybrid turbo’s however as not many people have played with the ghibli I need to do some more research and find a willing garage to assist.
I’m based in SW London so not a million miles from you. More than happy to meet up if you were interested in doing any of these things and wanted to see what they were like before biting the bullet.

This all sounds like fun....

C

 

[Big lou]

Nice car!
And indeed, driving a petrol Ghibli is a great experience.
Keep the battery alive using a tender and you will be OK.
(Experienced some strange faults, due to battery voltage too low)
Regarding S spec mapping:
Who supplies that?
A lot of reputable software suppliers state max 50hp and 100Nm gain, not up to 410HP.

I will do, been looking at the best way to keep it on a trickle charge.
I’m using CMS garages in Reading, had some work done there in the past with no issues. That’s right, 380 and 600nm I believe. Seems plenty, the torque will make a huge difference. 20/30hp on a car that weight I doubt would notice. I kind of was annoyed about that but in real terms I doubt I’ll even notice. I’m sure if I went somewhere like velocity tuning they would compute it all live and get a **** of a lot more out but that’ll be 3/4x the price for a tune.

 

[CatmanV2]

My car was a base model and after the Celtic tune it made 460bhp which is more than what they generally advertise.

It's what they advertise you get if you start with an S. If the engines are identical (which we are given to understand they are) then can't see any reason why it shouldn't be possible to leapfrog the 'standard' S rating?

Keep the battery alive using a tender and you will be OK.

Interestingly this is the first 'super car' I've owned that doesn't seem to need a tender. All my Maseratis and the Bentley definitely benefited / needed one. The Ghibli seems to not care very much at all, although I see many posts on Facebook where the cure for a broken windscreen is a new battery

Had it well over a year now, and it's never been on my C-Tek. Doesn't get used every day, either.

C

 

[Big lou]

Indeed not. Especially in a small outfit like ours, but there we are

C

It's what they advertise you get if you start with an S. If the engines are identical (which we are given to understand they are) then can't see any reason why it shouldn't be possible to leapfrog the 'standard' S rating?



Interestingly this is the first 'super car' I've owned that doesn't seem to need a tender. All my Maseratis and the Bentley definitely benefited / needed one. The Ghibli seems to not care very much at all, although I see many posts on Facebook where the cure for a broken windscreen is a new battery

Had it well over a year now, and it's never been on my C-Tek. Doesn't get used every day, either.

C

That’s reassuring

 

[must go faster]

I wonder if they can remap the geabox ecu in a 4.2 QPV Auto? When you say gear box remap is that the ecu for the gearbox itself or is it the engine management? I have the FD DBW which changes when the gears are changed, but not how. For an autobox, I wonder what parameters there are within the ZF control / ZF box itself that govern how fast the gears are changed. I'm also always jealous of the QP GTS which gets fantastic noise on down changes and does not automatically change up when you hit the red line.
Eb

I fitted the FD dbw and tbh was fairly unimpressed with it, especially for the effort involved. The Celtic remap was immense however I believe the gearbox remap is for the zf8 box which I’m not sure the 4.2 qpv has unfortunately (happy to be corrected on that).

 

[must go faster]

This all sounds like fun....

C

Not sure whether to go for uprated replacement intercoolers or adding a third central 2 into 1 intercooler instead of the standard air intake. I am a bit concerned over how much lag may be introduced especially as turbo dynamics hybrid turbo is fairly basic and is likely to add even more laggy delay.

 

[CatmanV2]

I fitted the FD dbw and tbh was fairly unimpressed with it, especially for the effort involved. The Celtic remap was immense however I believe the gearbox remap is for the zf8 box which I’m not sure the 4.2 qpv has unfortunately (happy to be corrected on that).

QPV has the ZF 6HP,surely.

Not sure whether to go for uprated replacement intercoolers or adding a third central 2 into 1 intercooler instead of the standard air intake. I am a bit concerned over how much lag may be introduced especially as turbo dynamics hybrid turbo is fairly basic and is likely to add even more laggy delay.

That's probably more than I'm interested in doing, but are you expecting an insurance hike?

C

 

[must go faster]

I find the insurance cost on these cars ridiculous and so If I’m getting fleeced for a standard car I may as well get done over for something I enjoy more !!
To be honest, it may all be beyond my own justification as well mate. I have concerns over the emission standards with the new downpipes which I’m getting checked out next week and I need to be careful that man maths doesn’t take over as I think I’ve probably spent too much on the car already considering the age, mileage and value. This always happens…… I find I tend to start messing with the daily driver whenever my esprit is off the road .

 

[CatmanV2]

Not much change in my insurance over my last few cars, so I'm fine (and old)

C

 

[Ebenezer]

I fitted the FD dbw and tbh was fairly unimpressed with it, especially for the effort involved. The Celtic remap was immense however I believe the gearbox remap is for the zf8 box which I’m not sure the 4.2 qpv has unfortunately (happy to be corrected on that).

Yes the QP ZF has 6 gears, so a completely different animal. No doubt someone with the expertise could do something but it's a question of economics.
It's so long since I had the DBW fitted I can't recall what it was like before. The main takeaway is that it kicks down 2 gears more readily and pulls away from junctions with more urgency.
Eb

 

[Big lou]

Celtic tuning booked for May 14th. Stage 1 and TCU

 

[CatmanV2]

Celtic tuning booked for May 14th. Stage 1 and TCU

Well batted.

As I have said previously, my friend was very impressed with their service and the results

There are some fab rants on FB where kids are claiming that Stage 1 etc is all made up and only happened in the last 5 years. Means nothing.

**** sometimes I feel old!

C

 

[Magic_dobry]

After a year or so of browsing and test driving different Maseratis, I finally bought a 64 plate ghibli with 33000 miles. Petrol of course.

After 2 days of driving it I have to say It’s an amazing car for unbelievable value.

I spoke to Matt from sports italia about some concerns and he put me at ease, mainly the strut mount issues. When I looked through the paperwork I actually found that main dealer had installed some reinforcement. The original owner kept it with MD until it was sold early this year.

Black interior with the wood trim, extended leather, paddles, 6 pot brakes and a fair few other options. It has the wood trim that I didn’t really like in pictures but actually in person it’s really nice and suits the car IMO. I have the 19’ proteo wheels and no skyhook and the car rides perfectly for my preference.

I’d genuinely say to anyone umming and arring about getting one, get in one and drive it. You’ll soon be smitten.

Was also wondering if anyone could recommend and OBD reader for reading the due maintenance, codes and resetting service light?

Lovely car- my uncle bought Ghibli "as investment" (wink), after seeing my Granturismo Sport few weeks ago