Hello from the uk

martininkent

Junior Member
Messages
137
hi,
iam still a current and practising engineer, (cant retire yet a bit to young and still love tinkering )
iam thinking of going over to a Maserati, my present and last car was a bmw 645 v8 convertible and I rebuilt both in the last 3 years,, I have had a Ferrari mondial (rebuilt that also ) 10 years ago, Porsche 911 and 928s4, so I have always had power cars, but I do like the Maserati year 2007 , quattroportte 4 door,
so the magic question,
what's your the opinions of the performance, not the book figures the drive its self and dear I ask the reliability, ? and any other input would help me decide
thanks
 

2b1ask1

Special case
Messages
20,220
Hi and welcome, performance is at the top end of a road car, handling is again super fit fast road with an awful lot of feedback through the controls. Brake pedals are too soft but that is for the Yanks. Very easy to tweak bits to suit yourself. Reliability is generally very good indeed, I do all my own work and haven’t been beaten yet. The problems seem to come from MD’s and garages that seem unable to properly diagnose issues and swap parts till they stumble upon a fix spending your money!
 

rockits

Member
Messages
9,167
A little biased view here as I have a 2007/57 QP Exec GT. Awesome car & recommended 100%.

They handle well, sound awesome, look great are cheap to buy not completely ruinous to run. For me the ZF Auto suits the car better than the DS although others disagree.

The 4.2 could certainly take more power & the 4.7 offers a bit more. I didn't buy it for speed. I have other cars that do that & do it better. It is a really lovely & special place to be that no other brand or car I have found offers.

The price they are at the moment presents silly cheap VFM.

What do you want to know?
 

Andyk

Member
Messages
61,038
Hi and a big warm welcome.....I also had a BMW 645 but coupe....What a V8 bargain these are. Not many V8's you can get for what they start at these days. Loved mine.

As above...for me the QP is one of Maserati best efforts. I have not owed one unfortunately but driven many on road and track. They are great fun and what you may have read in reviews they are like two cars in one...a sports car when you want to throw it around your fav roads and a comfy saloon for wafting around on long journeys. What also amazes me is how it handles and shrinks around you when pressing on. A big car like the QP shouldn't handle the way it does. They are great cars and as long as you do your home work Nd go in with your eyes open you will not be disappointed and with prices low they are so much exotic car for the money. Parts prices are expensive though.
 

zagatoes30

Member
Messages
20,759
Welcome, great cars both in looks and performance. Parts can be expensive but if you can do the work yourself running costs will not be that bad
 

Andyk

Member
Messages
61,038
And as far as reliability ...... You don't hear of many issues with the QP to be honest.....You hear more issues with other models more than QP...Or that's what it feels like on here.
 

philw696

Member
Messages
25,114
Thought you were describing me for a minute Martin.
Many have taken on major tasks on their cars on here and there is lots of information here and with our independent specialists who are here as well.
As Andy says QP's have never been better value so have a good look around and keep us posted.
 

safrane

Member
Messages
16,748
Loads of QPs out there with prices all over the place.

Try a few to find your sweet spot.

Be aware that some of the more sporting versions have more bespoke parts re brakes and suspension... with no alternative but MD parts and prices.
 

rockits

Member
Messages
9,167
Just to wet your appetite....

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Ewan

Member
Messages
6,757
I've had four of these over the last 10 years, totalling about 80,000 miles in that time. No issues with reliability, but they are heavy so churn through wear items such as brakes and tyres (and clutches on the manual cars if driven regularly in town traffic). Suspension parts also eventually. Watch for corrosion on the front subframe, but easy to treat if caught in time.

As mentioned above, they are a fantastic car for the money, with very good examples in the high teens. I'd stick clear of high mileage cars at the low teens, or the very earliest models. Better to pay just a few thousand more and get a later and lower mileage version. The full fat GTS is the one to have, but rare so hard to find (at any given time there is only likely to be 1 for sale in the U.K.) So for a wider choice, go for the Sport GT.
 
Messages
6,001
A little biased view here as I have a 2007/57 QP Exec GT. Awesome car & recommended 100%.

They handle well, sound awesome, look great are cheap to buy not completely ruinous to run. For me the ZF Auto suits the car better than the DS although others disagree.

The 4.2 could certainly take more power & the 4.7 offers a bit more. I didn't buy it for speed. I have other cars that do that & do it better. It is a really lovely & special place to be that no other brand or car I have found offers.

The price they are at the moment presents silly cheap VFM.

What do you want to know?

Me too!
 

Andyk

Member
Messages
61,038
As Ewan and few have said....Sport GT isthe one if you can't stretch to a Sport GTS which as Ewan pointed out is rare and commands a premium over the others.......I love the a Duo Select cars but probably agree with the above and go for the auto as it probably does suit the car better but drive both I would and see what you think. Duo select clutch is about 2k plus to change I believe get a reading on any you are thinking of buying
 

BuckRog64

Member
Messages
334
I had a 650 Coupe that I ran for 4 years as my daily. Found it to be totally reliable, cheap to buy and run and highly underestimated. For some reason the ladies really liked the look of it, which was nice. Because of all the low down torque I found it faster that a 4.2 Granturismo (not tried a QP).

From my experience of driving and travelling in Maserati's you will enjoy it much more than the BMW. Not so much because of what it is capable of but because the way it does it and how it sounds.
 

dickygrace

www.richardgracecars.co.uk
Messages
7,309
Buy the best, sensible miles car you can afford. Whether it’s a standard car, Exec GT, or Sport GT, history and condition is everything.
 

martininkent

Junior Member
Messages
137
your a man after my own heart, thats the other thing that worries me is the software, i cant find any, i have all the dealer level for mercedes and bmw, i also do eeprom read and rewiting, chip reading and writing, all off the board, i have to use a head set magnifiying visor these days ,i do help out a local bmw dealer, ie his engine ecus and the sam units and dde units, but its my thing, cheers for the reply,
i would have to get some software to do my own fiddling etc, i could not trust a MD or a indy sorry no offence to ment to anyone, i have seen so much working for 2 of the big boys, and i could tell some stories that you just would not belive me , honestly,
i said to myself and the kids and gran kids grandads next car is going to be a audi r8 i have tested 3 in the last year and come close, but that will be when i retire so a few years yet,

i still use my large capstan lathe for bits and bobs for me and some friends of mine when they need me to turn up something, so basically i am a busy man and thats how i like life,
i did feature in which kit magazine, 7 pages , i built a unique ac cobra and re designed and built my own chassis and did a 2+2 conversion, but you could not see it was a 2+2 when there was only 2 people in it, all done on hydraulics, but that was 2008,


i might miss my convertible though, both my bmws 645 are convertibles

i still use my large capstan lathe for bits and bobs for me and some friends of mine when they need me to turn up something, so basically i am a busy man and thats how i like life,


well iam so amazed at the helpful comments, great thanks,

i just found this , seems ok on the surface ?

https://www.gumtree.com/p/maserati/...gt-full-automatic-lovely-condition/1289013205
 

FIFTY

Member
Messages
3,100
Welcome to the forum. You need special diagnostics machine to access the advanced features In the ECU. The indies have a Sd3 reader which I understand costs £10-15k (if not more) and doesn't come with all of the accessibility that the main dealer version has i.e. you won't be able to do a poxi alignment unless it's on a MD Sd3 machine

Several other companies have attempted and failed but there are a couple of third party diagnostic machines that have been developed and they do "kind of" work and cost £2-3k+

So it's up to you how much money you want to spend on a diagnostic machine that you probably won't use very much

Since you are in Kent you are close to AV engineering, Voicey has experience with some of the third party diagnostics machines and has his own SD3... He is quite willing to give advice to help... that is if you can bring yourself to trust his experience :)
 

Gp79

Member
Messages
1,393
The main thing is get it inspected by someone who really really knows what they are looking at, I had my GS inspected by a Maserati specialist and then went onto find a number of faults after purchase and getting to know the car myself. Which should have been obvious to someone who works on these cars day in day out.

I probably still would have bought it but been in a stronger negotiating position.

The main thing to watch for on this age Maserati is rust, subframes rot from the inside, I just replaced the front subframe with a new one on my GS due to this, i did it myself as enjoy working on it, but would have been massive expense if a specialist was involved.
 

GeoffCapes

Member
Messages
14,000
I can't help thinking there are better lower mileage cars for the same money.
Aren't error messages for things like tyre sensors an mot failure from 1st April?