Matt82
Member
- Messages
- 222
Well, I’ve gone and done what most say not to do and bought a cheap Masser!
We sold our immaculate low mileage GT back in January to release some funds for a house project. With that now paid for (if not completed!) we turned our attention to replacing the family run about, our beloved Alfa 156 v6 with 150k miles.
First thoughts were a giullieta qv. However, after realising that they are a similar price range as a Maserati 4200, and my wife loving the way the 4200’s look (her favourite car was the Fiat coupe turbo we had years ago), we decided to go back into Maserati ownership. We also thought it would be quite fun to use one as a family car. I should point out that I walk to work, the kids walk to school and the missus will take the car to work twice a week, so ‘family car’ isn’t particularly arduous in our case.
Fast forward a couple of weeks and we now own the Nero 4200 manual that was advertised on the forum for a while, if I was more cleverer I’d put the link to it here!
Initial impressions:
It feels much more ‘raw’ than the Granturismo. I may not be comparing apples with apples as the Granturismo was in great condition with 30k miles and this 4200 isn’t and has 73k but it feels quite old school.
Problems (obviously) so far:
Check engine light came on on the 4 hour drive home (waiting for a code reader)
Cow bell noise jangling underneath! May be a cat? Possibly linked to engine light?
Interior can be best described as ‘sticky’
Musty damp smell inside, water ingress, rather than engine coolant.
Cloudy front light covers
Can’t indicate right
Service due
The idea is to do as much work and maintenance as possible myself, I’m not a car mechanic, but I am a mechanical engineer and have done a few complete rebuilds of cars (Not Maserati’s mind!).
Wish me luck and I’ll probably need to post more on the forum than I did with the Granturismo!
We sold our immaculate low mileage GT back in January to release some funds for a house project. With that now paid for (if not completed!) we turned our attention to replacing the family run about, our beloved Alfa 156 v6 with 150k miles.
First thoughts were a giullieta qv. However, after realising that they are a similar price range as a Maserati 4200, and my wife loving the way the 4200’s look (her favourite car was the Fiat coupe turbo we had years ago), we decided to go back into Maserati ownership. We also thought it would be quite fun to use one as a family car. I should point out that I walk to work, the kids walk to school and the missus will take the car to work twice a week, so ‘family car’ isn’t particularly arduous in our case.
Fast forward a couple of weeks and we now own the Nero 4200 manual that was advertised on the forum for a while, if I was more cleverer I’d put the link to it here!
Initial impressions:
It feels much more ‘raw’ than the Granturismo. I may not be comparing apples with apples as the Granturismo was in great condition with 30k miles and this 4200 isn’t and has 73k but it feels quite old school.
Problems (obviously) so far:
Check engine light came on on the 4 hour drive home (waiting for a code reader)
Cow bell noise jangling underneath! May be a cat? Possibly linked to engine light?
Interior can be best described as ‘sticky’
Musty damp smell inside, water ingress, rather than engine coolant.
Cloudy front light covers
Can’t indicate right
Service due
The idea is to do as much work and maintenance as possible myself, I’m not a car mechanic, but I am a mechanical engineer and have done a few complete rebuilds of cars (Not Maserati’s mind!).
Wish me luck and I’ll probably need to post more on the forum than I did with the Granturismo!