RE: Yuppie-tastic Maserati BiTurbo Spyder for sale
Discussion
Angelo1985 said:
I’m not sure if it’s the case for this model and year of the cabrio, but they were quite well known for catching fire spontaneously. Electrical glitches, I think.
In Italy the biturbo is known as the car that nearly killed Maserati. And many other people in the attempt.
They aren’t that bad…. Mine only caught fire onceIn Italy the biturbo is known as the car that nearly killed Maserati. And many other people in the attempt.
Like other have said you would need to keep a proper war chest to keep it going. For me though I think it might just be worth it. Where some see "not exotic enough" I see massive understated coolness. A contemporary 911 cabrio (say) might be much better, but as a car to be seen in I'd take this every time.
ducnick said:
Angelo1985 said:
I’m not sure if it’s the case for this model and year of the cabrio, but they were quite well known for catching fire spontaneously. Electrical glitches, I think.
In Italy the biturbo is known as the car that nearly killed Maserati. And many other people in the attempt.
They aren’t that bad…. Mine only caught fire onceIn Italy the biturbo is known as the car that nearly killed Maserati. And many other people in the attempt.
The Hypno-Toad said:
Lots of photos.
None with the roof up.
The manual roof was the one thing that did work, thanks to the absence of 80's Italian electronics. The tonneau cover on the other hand wasn't great. It was a finger shredding pain getting it to hook and unhook over the little bolt things they went over.None with the roof up.
The main reason for them setting alight was the plugs are vertical in the heads, they use leads that have sealing caps to stop water etc filling the plug holes, the leads suffer from heat and go really hard like plastic. They then start to arc to the heads, this allied with the fact they use terrible quality braided fuel pipe to the plenum which goes porus and , well...BOOM they flash up, the bonnet has a sound deadening pad made out of very combustible foam for added entertainment.
I really enjoyed my time working on them but this was a bit of a hassle. Surprisingly, if you were quick the damage tended to be fairly minor, it could mark the paint on the bonnet but the engine suffered little.
I really enjoyed my time working on them but this was a bit of a hassle. Surprisingly, if you were quick the damage tended to be fairly minor, it could mark the paint on the bonnet but the engine suffered little.
Strange as it may seem... I love these things, but according to a lot of folk, I have strange tastes (Panther, Porsche 924, Bristol, Bond, hot rods, Americans, three wheelers and kit cars). Promised myself one many years back and have failed to deliver on that promise... that said, the ones I've looked at have been a third of the price of the featured car.
Had a neighbour who was well into various generations of "Bi-Turbos", all his were remarkably well behaved, despite being live outside dailies and being maintained with generic/pattern parts.
Had a neighbour who was well into various generations of "Bi-Turbos", all his were remarkably well behaved, despite being live outside dailies and being maintained with generic/pattern parts.
I remember my dad bought a second hand Maserati Biturbo back in the days, not a cabrio though, but hey, it was a Maserati his first one, years later be bought an even nicer Maserati.
ah here are they both from back in the day, long time ago, scanned in pictures, and yes the later one he bought was a Shamal, which was way cooler, looked wide in the real world and special/different.
his first one, years later be bought an even nicer Maserati.ah here are they both from back in the day, long time ago, scanned in pictures, and yes the later one he bought was a Shamal, which was way cooler, looked wide in the real world and special/different.
I currently own a Ghibli Cup and have followed these for a while…
Like any classic Italian car, they need to be used rather than left on trickle charge. These days many of the issues when new have been ironed out; buy a good one and it’s no more unreliable than an XJS or Aston of a similar age; and these days an R129 SL can really leave you sans kecks if something goes wrong.
The Biturbo Spyder has bags of character; I prefer the later Gandini remixes that aped the Shamal.
A fuel injected car is the one to have - solved the biggest problem the car had in terms of running it.
As for rust - it’s getting on for 40 years. They were never great, but like Alfasuds if it’s reached this age and isn’t like a teabag from even a cursory examination, it’s likely to have survived.
Like anything, you’re buying the previous owner as much as the car.
Lethal handling? Well, the export cars have a lot of torque low down the rev range (the Italian market 2.0 cars were more sporty than GT cars), and this added to tiny wheels and tyres, plus a short wheelbase, well… you just have to drive in a way that isn’t binary code. Then again, an E30 325i is hardly what you would call a charming character in the wet either.
However, both the E30 and the Maserati can be transformed with modern tyres. I have PS5s on my Cup and if anything it’s a bit too grippy…
The engine and the performance is magnificent, though. In peak tune a 2.8 Spyder has around 225bhp, the 325i, much less…
The problem these cars have is that they’re bought cheap, normal mechanics can’t work on them and the parts are scarce.
‘I bought a shagged Maser and now I can’t make it work’ well yes, dumbo…
Like any classic Italian car, they need to be used rather than left on trickle charge. These days many of the issues when new have been ironed out; buy a good one and it’s no more unreliable than an XJS or Aston of a similar age; and these days an R129 SL can really leave you sans kecks if something goes wrong.
The Biturbo Spyder has bags of character; I prefer the later Gandini remixes that aped the Shamal.
A fuel injected car is the one to have - solved the biggest problem the car had in terms of running it.
As for rust - it’s getting on for 40 years. They were never great, but like Alfasuds if it’s reached this age and isn’t like a teabag from even a cursory examination, it’s likely to have survived.
Like anything, you’re buying the previous owner as much as the car.
Lethal handling? Well, the export cars have a lot of torque low down the rev range (the Italian market 2.0 cars were more sporty than GT cars), and this added to tiny wheels and tyres, plus a short wheelbase, well… you just have to drive in a way that isn’t binary code. Then again, an E30 325i is hardly what you would call a charming character in the wet either.
However, both the E30 and the Maserati can be transformed with modern tyres. I have PS5s on my Cup and if anything it’s a bit too grippy…
The engine and the performance is magnificent, though. In peak tune a 2.8 Spyder has around 225bhp, the 325i, much less…
The problem these cars have is that they’re bought cheap, normal mechanics can’t work on them and the parts are scarce.
‘I bought a shagged Maser and now I can’t make it work’ well yes, dumbo…
Edited by NathanChadwick on Sunday 30th June 22:51
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