I saw a Maserati GranTurismo in real life the other day, and I thought it was quite striking. In a year or two I might be able to afford one. What do you guys think? In many ways it is very similar to the XK. It has the curvy lines of the early XKs with the angles of the newer ones. It's kinda like a cross between the two.

 

Yeah. I like it. Drop dead gorgeous.

And in a couple of years it will depreciate down to where it is affordable.

Hard to argue with anyone buying a well maintained one with a few years on it. Good idea.

Jack

 

Reverend Sam - I agree with you.

During the Aug 2010 Austin Cars and Coffee - the local Maser dealer brought in a GranCabrio version and it is so pretty. The sound of the exhaust is not too bad either.

 

There are a "few" of them in my neighborhood. In fact, saw one just yesterday too. What I get straight from owners - extremely finnicky with problems and ****les. Like our Jag issues on steroids, but I have no direct experience with them or specific examples. "Botique" car companies with very low annual volumes like Jag and Maserati have a challenge with reliable components, any kind of reliable MTBF, and poor ECO systems simply because of lower volumes.

 

Having owned a Maserati in the early 70's (1964 3500 GTI), I can tell you to sit down when you price parts. Back then, when I could go to the local hardware store and spend $12.00 on parts for a complete tune up and oil change, the air filter for the Maser was $125.00, oil filter $64.00 having the head rebuilt IF it wasn't warped $5,000.00. Jag parts are just a warm-up for the Maserati parts. That being said, they are beautiful!!

 

I`ll keep buying lottery tickets...ya never know. I think these cars are drop dead gorgeous
also.

 

1) i am a car fanatic and have read about this car and other new masers time and time again
2) there are a couple of these where i live
3) the maserati/ferrari dealership in our area is right next to my office and they always have one of these parked outside... i have actually driven my xkr up next to it for a side by side comparison as they are both silver/black (wanted to take pics but didn't want to impose)

the car is marginally gorgeous. nothing compared to an aston in my opinion. exhaust note is sexy and interior is sumptous. HOWEVER, maserati smacks cars together quickly and poorly. the body sits on those wheels like it was meant for a different chassis... i can fit a fist in between the tire and the fender both laterally and vertically. on a toyota corolla that's ok. on a maserati it's not. i get the feeling that maser as a company relies very heavily on their image of sex and machismo and doesn't put the amount of effort into engineering their cars as they should. i would probably never buy one. i'm thinking maybe an aston martin is next for me. or maybe another xkr. just my $.02.

 

Ya but..........it isn't a jag.

 

I think that has more to do with the intended purpose of the car. It isn't designed to be an all-out sports car. It's a GT, and it's expected to have a smooth ride. A smooth ride requires lots of vertical wheel travel. It has a sport setting that tightens up the suspension for aggressive driving, but for normal driving the suspension is "comfortable".

 

Familiarity breeds contempt. Aren't our Jags English Maseratis? Or better Maseratis are English Jaguars.
Except that the sometimes exasperating servicing of Jaguars would be called the "mystique of the marque" if they were Maseratis.

 

I like the XK8 better. You are all traitors to the cause!!!

 

My 97 with all it's odd b all issues still looks much better. Now if any of you felt the urge to buy me that car? Just get me a few used clean XK's, one a HT please.

 

Maserati, Ferrari and Alfa Romeo are all Fiat owned companies, and I understand this car has the Ferrari 400 hp powerplant--and possibly some other components. This Maserati should be $100K less than the least expensive Ferrari's, however don't expect Maserati resale prices to hold firm. (Even the Alfa coming into the U.S. is substantially more expensive than this Maserati.) This Maserati should be a bargain of the century in about another 3 years.

 

Maybe I am mistaken but didn't the recent generations GT-type Maserati's basically just rip off their basic design from the first gen XK8/XKR? A few months ago I saw one of these approaching from a distance in my rear view mirror and kept thinking it was a Jaguar. It was not until the car got fairly close that I saw it was a Maserati.

As finicky and expensive as the Jaguar is to maintain, I can only imagine what the deal must be with any Italian high-end car.


Doug

 

Back in the early 80's I lusted after a Maserati Bituro. Glad I didn't by it. Turned out to be one of the world's worst and most dangerous cars. I also lived in Italy for years. One of my coworkers had a gorgeous Quatroport Maserati. I used to sit on my apartment balcony and watch the guy's girlfriend push him home in it.

 

How true !!

But for the 2nd and 3rd usually impoverished owners, the parts prices can come as something of a shock, even for servicing items. These cars are on a par with Ferrari, but are more discrete.

 

I think they would be more "drop dead gorgeous" if they lost the 1950s Buick Roadmaster fender holes.


Doug

 

Here's a 47 Buick without them (they were called Venti-Ports).

 

i agree. i hate those things. and every gangbanger out here in california buys the stick on ones and slaps them onto their ghettosleds.

 

Boy have you got that right! I have noticed 2 classes of people here in Kalifornia who absolutely love pimping their cars. One being the ricer/gangbanger types. Curiously, the other is the high-end wanna-be celebrity types who trick out their BMW's or, more typically Mercedes, with all manner of crapola.

Doug