Shopping for a GTS, a couple questions...

[Conrad]

Had some great news on the work front this week so it looks like I'll be in a Maserati a lot sooner than I originally thought.

As it turns out, me being turned down for finance on the new Ghibli last month was a blessing in disguise as I'm now in a position to start shopping for a GranTurismo. I want a 4.7 GTS MC Shift and my budget will be circa £50k so looking at the lower end of the market. Ideally white, black or red and must have Nero Interior (why do so many Maser customers choose horrible colours when it comes to leather!!??)

Anyways, despite reading countless threads and studying countless adds there's a few things I can't seem to find out for definite. Can anyone help me out?...

Are there any gains to be had performance wise or is the GTS the same as all other N/A cars?

How does just changing the back boxes differ to say changing the straight pipes or entire exhaust?

How much will the clutch cost on a GTS?

Anyone know how much an after-market carbon kit costs? (side skirts, front splitter & rear diffuser)

Can you drive the MC as an auto or does this shorten the clutch life?

Is there anything in particular to avoid spec wise?

What Colour combo (paint/leather) is most desirable?

Is a warranty a necessity?

Anyone know the prices of the alloys when new? i.e was the Birdcage alloys cheaper than Neptune etc?


Any advice would be appreciated. This is EXCITING!!!

 

[Felonious Crud]

Excellent!

A first stab at some answers below:

As it turns out, me being turned down for finance on the new Ghibli last month was a blessing in disguise as I'm now in a position to start shopping for a GranTurismo. I want a 4.7 GTS MC Shift and my budget will be circa £50k so looking at the lower end of the market. Ideally white, black or red and must have Nero Interior (why do so many Maser customers choose horrible colours when it comes to leather!!??)
>> Big fan of Nero interiors, personally. I have leather / Alcantara, Alcantara headlining and piano black trim. Love it

Are there any gains to be had performance wise or is the GTS the same as all other N/A cars?
>> Same performance as the auto, I think; is that what you mean?

How does just changing the back boxes differ to say changing the straight pipes or entire exhaust?
>> This is with an x-pipe: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JWwe2WHbSU

How much will the clutch cost on a GTS?
>> Not sure yet. I'm reckoning on a couple of k. They last well, it seems. I'm on 30k miles and 60% worn. Not sure when they give up but I reckon sometime in the next 10k or 15k miles (it was London car for its first four years so likely it saw more wear than it gets now)

Anyone know how much an after-market carbon kit costs? (side skirts, front splitter & rear diffuser)
>> No, but cheaper than from a dealer!

Can you drive the MC as an auto or does this shorten the clutch life?
>> You can but it's **** and it kills the clutch. Manual, every time. Note that it still does the downshifts for you in manual (though you can do them yourself if you prefer)

Is there anything in particular to avoid spec wise?
>> Not much to avoid but comfort front seats and front parking sensors are important. The Bose doesn't necessarily do much but won't harm resale values. I like Skyhook.

What Colour combo (paint/leather) is most desirable?
>> I'm Grigio Alfieri out, Nero in and very pleased with it. Dark out, light in, is always popular and blues look terrific.

Is a warranty a necessity?
>>No, but it's good if you get a good one. Otherwise get an independent inspection and always buy from a reputable dealer. Nuvola London, Richard Grace Cars and Bowker are all good people and source only the best cars (from what I gather). I bought mine from Nareman at Nuvola and have never dealt with a more honest man. After-sales was exceptional, way above and beyond what I could ever have expected.

Anyone know the prices of the alloys when new? i.e was the Birdcage alloys cheaper than Neptune etc?
>>1-1.5k per wheel from what I remember. You can sometimes get them on here for sensible money. Noor had some recently and dealers will sometimes have some kicking around if they swapped them for another customer.

Happy hunting, and keep us posted.

Where are you based, by the way? Happy to show you round mine if it would help in any way.

 

[bigbob]

Good news. Some thoughts:
-the Market prefers dark outside and light inside but the exterior colours you want tend to come with Nero inside so you should be ok;
-if you want to drive in auto a reasonable amount of time then you need to buy the auto. Otherwise the MC;
-don't bother remapping a na engine;
-comfort seats, front parking sensors worth it. An auto will have Skyhook, an MC will probably have Skyhook;
-carbon probably lots, better to buy one someone else has paid for the bits on? And
-not sure why you are asking about the wheel price.

Anything else?

 

[Conrad]

Thanks for the replies lads, much appreciated.

I never really noticed the comfort pack and had assumed the front sensors came as standard so good to know these are desirable options. Thanks for the heads up on Nuvola Ad, good to know they're a decent dealer. Of all the MC's for sale at the moment the one they have for sale on the link below fits the bill for me perfectly, just a couple grand or so more than I'd want to spend. I don't suppose you managed to negotiate much out of them when buying yours? I wonder what kind of margins dealers work on, £5k ish I guess...

Bob, I was just wondering which wheels were the most expensive option when new as figured it would help with the re-sale. I was wondering which alloy was considered most desirable. There's a GTS at Graypaul in Brum with Tridents on which from photos I'm not too keen on, guess I need to see them in the flesh to make my mind up for definite. I think Neptune's are my preferred choice.

All I'd add to this car would be the carbon bits, I think they make a real nice contrast.

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/maserati/granturismo/2011-60-maserati-granturismo-s-4-7-v8-mc-shift-2dr-coupe/1950914?isexperiment=true

 

[Andyk]

Black leather was never the most popular option for an interior colour on a Maserati.......

 

[Conrad]

Adam, just listened to your X Pipe, sounds immense!! Right up my street.

Daft question, what is the X pipe? Does it replace Cats?

 

[Conrad]

Black leather was never the most popular option for an interior colour on a Maserati.......

ANdy, do you think having black leather would make it more difficult to sell? There's definitely not many around with Nero interior. Red seems really popular which I'm not a fan of, although I haven't seen it in the flesh to really pass judgement.

 

[Wattie]

IMO you don't need to replace anything on the MC shift GTS exhaust system. It's all the sound/noise/ tone you'd ever want and you have the ability to tone it down via the sports button on a long motorway drive.

The drone can be tiring at times...it's best heard in town on downshifts, up shifts bouncing off walls etc.

I had rosso corollo, bloody lovely.

Cheers Wattie

 

[Andyk]

ANdy, do you think having black leather would make it more difficult to sell? There's definitely not many around with Nero interior. Red seems really popular which I'm not a fan of, although I haven't seen it in the flesh to really pass judgement.

As long as the stitching is a light colour to break up the black it should be OK to sell on..........Beige, cream colours seem to be popular along with the dark reds.......but lets face it they all look great.......

 

[Felonious Crud]

I don't suppose you managed to negotiate much out of them when buying yours? I wonder what kind of margins dealers work on, £5k ish I guess...
//
I think Neptune's are my preferred choice.

You can probably reckon on a couple or a few k but many variables so no hard and fast rules. Give Nareman at Nuvola a call (send him regards!) and have a chat. He'll be straight with you. The warranty I got from Nuvola was superb - 12 months of no-quibbling on anything and all dealt with at a main dealer.

Black leather was never the most popular option for an interior colour on a Maserati.......

Just leather doesn't look great but the contrast with the alcantara looks superb, in my view at least.

Adam, just listened to your X Pipe, sounds immense!! Right up my street.

Daft question, what is the X pipe? Does it replace Cats?

It sits in the middle and replaces a more muffled x-pipe. I can try and take a picture tomorrow.

IMO you don't need to replace anything on the MC shift GTS exhaust system. It's all the sound/noise/ tone you'd ever want and you have the ability to tone it down via the sports button on a long motorway drive.

The drone can be tiring at times...it's best heard in town on downshifts, up shifts bouncing off walls etc.

With the valves closed mine is very discreet. With them open - and the video doesn't do it justice - it sounds like a blend of itself with a healthy dollop of Jag f-type v8 and a Ferrari V12. There is a little drone around 2/2.5k rpm but no worses than there was with the standard exhaust. It's an easy and highly usable pipe.

 

[bigbob]

Tridents were the standard fit on the 4.7 Auto and Neptunes on the MC.

The 4.2 came on 19" but most owners upgraded to the Birdcage wheels as this was the upgrade option prior to the 4.7 coming out. All the 20" wheels look great to my mind.

The standard 4.7 exhaust is epic, just had mine bouncing off some walls.

 

[Felonious Crud]

Hi Conrad,

Here you go, one x-pipe. The start is marked by the cross brace and the far end by the clamps fixing it to the back-pipes. Hand-made via Autoshield in Manchester for the modest consideration of about 200 quid. And if I get tired of it (ha!) the old one's in the shed.

 

[Conrad]

Adam, thanks for doing that mate. Couple quick questions...

Are the cats still in place? And can you still control the valves on the exhaust? Does this improve performance in any way? I'm not too clued up on which order the exhaust is set-up.

Can somebody tell me how the exhaust is set-up? No doubt totally wrong but like the example below:

Manifold --> down-pipe --> Cats --> Mid section (replaced by Adams X Pipe) ---> Back Boxes ---> Controllable valves ---> Tailpipes.

 

[Felonious Crud]

Hi Conrad. Yup, cats and back boxes still in place. The exhaust has absolutely no impact on performance whatsoever. Not that I can tell, anyway. It's purely an aural delight. And yes, the valves / sport mode (which also sharpens throttle response, steering and suspension) still work exactly the same as before. The x-pipe also helps it sound better with the valves closed - a slightly deeper rumble at tickover, but in no way invasive (according to me).

I *think* your exhaust description is correct. Valves could be before the back boxes.

 

[richardstrudwick]

Hi Conrad. Yup, cats and back boxes still in place. The exhaust has absolutely no impact on performance whatsoever. Not that I can tell, anyway. It's purely an aural delight. And yes, the valves / sport mode (which also sharpens throttle response, steering and suspension) still work exactly the same as before. The x-pipe also helps it sound better with the valves closed - a slightly deeper rumble at tickover, but in no way invasive (according to me).

I *think* your exhaust description is correct. Valves could be before the back boxes.

On the basis that I got stopped 2 weeks ago driving through Henley On Thames by an angry police man threatening me with section 59 due to the noise my car was making, would it really be wise to put a non standard exhaust on?

 

[Felonious Crud]

On the basis that I got stopped 2 weeks ago driving through Henley On Thames by an angry police man threatening me with section 59 due to the noise my car was making, would it really be wise to put a non standard exhaust on?

Yes.

But regardless of the kind of exhaust it's probably worth keeping the revs low and the car in stealth-mode when passing close by to policeman or anyone else who might not be quite so delighted at our raucous behaviour as we all are.

 

[Bowker Maserati]

On the basis that I got stopped 2 weeks ago driving through Henley On Thames by an angry police man threatening me with section 59 due to the noise my car was making, would it really be wise to put a non standard exhaust on?

And the answer to that is MOST DEFINATELY

 

[bigbob]

On the basis that I got stopped 2 weeks ago driving through Henley On Thames by an angry police man threatening me with section 59 due to the noise my car was making, would it really be wise to put a non standard exhaust on?

Narrow streets and plenty of buildings for the noise to bounce off in Henley. Is your exhaust standard?

 

[Felonious Crud]

Narrow streets and plenty of buildings for the noise to bounce off in Henley. Is your exhaust standard?

Is your policeman standard, Richard? Some can be quite sensitive and temperamental.

 

[roger102]

yawn

On the basis that I got stopped 2 weeks ago driving through Henley On Thames by an angry police man threatening me with section 59 due to the noise my car was making, would it really be wise to put a non standard exhaust on?