Maserati Quattroporte Buying Decision

[BluePurpleRed]

Firstly... wow, this Sub Forum is dead!

Secondly, I have just sold my TVR Tuscan and have a 4 week old baby. I am not that sad to see it go after 4 years to be honest and I did ok out of it financially.

I now have up to 20k to spend on something interesting and 4 door. Now you see why I am here!

My thinking is that Coupes are out for a couple of reasons, one being that I'd want a GS out of the 3200/4200/GS "series" and they are 30k+ and out of the budget. Also I am advised that will in pre toddler stage there is a lot more kit so I plan to have something QP / M5 / XJ sized for 2 years and then explore 4 seat Coupes as we need to start cart less stuff about.

So... 12-19k QP. Awesomeness, or madness? The obvious competitor is an E39 M5 and change or a good E60 and no change. I am open to other options!

[MDL111]

can't help you much regarding the sanity of the decision to buy one of those - wanted to add nonetheless that I love both of them. Had a lot of fun driving my friend's M5 on the autobahn 15+ years ago and those Maseratis are great looking cars. If I needed 4 doors the Maser would be up there, esp as it is the last one (incl the facelift as the same model) that was not available as a Diesel - new ones look crap and as said diesel version .... ugh

M5 of course has the advantage of a manual transmission; on looks and sound I would probably give the Maser a slight edge

[Behemoth]

I was in exactly your position a couple of years ago. Our toddler is now 2 yrs & 1 month old. As a lifelong Maser fan, I was on the brink of buying a QP5 to replace my ageing Alfa 166. I ended up with a Cayenne Turbo S. Reasons were multiple, but basically:

- QP5's boot is way too small
- Cayenne is a far more advanced car & breathtaking in its capability
- Cayenne will glide along effortlessly for hundreds of miles leaving junior fast asleep

We still manage to fill the Cayenne on continental holidays. Get the QP5 and you'll have to leave behind the wine and quite a bit more. You'll also be looking for tiny nano prams and doing sweaty pack & repacks on every big journey. I'm not sure if a Turbo S is available in your price range but a Turbo surely would be.

[dzernski]

OP - in a similar situatiom but not for the same reason but habe nonetheless been considering a QP5 (as I'm just not going to go german on this). Has anyone experience of the duo select gearbox and is it actually as bad as the reviews and the buyers guide here suggest?

[kev b]

A mate used to drive a new QP belonging to a client, it spent more time in the workshop than on the road. The gearbox was hopeless especially when manoevering and the clutch fragile.

On the upside it looked and sounded fantastic, with a superb interior, however the owner was glad to be rid of it after 18 months of sporadic use, I believe it lost over half its value in that time.

Parts prices are commensurate with the original purchase price too, over £1K for a wishbone for example, some owners buy shared parts from Ferrari dealers as they are cheaper there, which rings alarm bells. Its not as though pattern parts are common either, the odd bit shared with Ferrari, Alfa and FIAT is about all.

I would love a Maserati, have the ability and gear to look after one properly but I am just too risk averse to own one, look at the bills a big BMW or Mercedes can throw up, then think how much the same repair would cost on a Maserati.

[voicey]

I'm a big advocate of the F1 gearbox but somehow Maserati really screwed it with the early duo select QP. The gearchange is awful and they seem to eat clutches. I think they were set up to have a softer gearchange which really doesn't suit the F1 - you need a quick, crisp shift for it to work nicely.

Pretty much every early QP that has been into my workshop has been battered inside so that probably hasn't helped my view but I personally wouldn't buy one - and that's with me being able to benefit from free labour and trade parts prices.

Now the ZF box is something else and really suits the character of the car...

[Cerberaherts]

As Aldous says, avoid dou-select and pay the extra for the Auto. Early qp's are very prone to gearbox issues including clutch destruction, torque-tube bearing failures and transaxle noise (from the diff). That's before you even discuss the electrical gremlins from the (then new) Florence architecture and the fact that the blower motor is so loud you can't have a conversation with your passengers when it's on! They are cheap for a reason...

[crostonian]

I had a 2005 QP5 about 5 years ago, it was previously owned by Shell Oils and had just under 50k miles on it when I bought it. It came with a huge folder of bills from HR Owen which added up to £42K!! In my ownership the only item that gave me grief was the boot lid soft closure motor which kept failing and meant you couldn't open the boot. Apart from that it was reliable, great fun to drive and I personally found the gearbox fine if used in manual mode. The interior trim does seem to get hammered on them and the parts prices need realigning to compensate for the cars age and value. I sold mine while everything still worked, would I buy another? Doubt it, as said above the boot is tiny for the size of the car and the potential huge repair costs are scary. If you don't want to go German how about an XF R or even an XJ?

[BlackPorker]

Up your budget a bit and snap this up:
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2016...

[BluePurpleRed]

Well, I bought one despite the sanity checks on here. :P

I will let everyone know how it goes! Its a weekend car so not too worried about the gearbox as it is a DuoSelect but we shall see.

Funny point: Its going to cost LOADS initially as I need to extend the garage! LOLZ

[simonr100]

BlackPorker said:

Up your budget a bit and snap this up:
http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2016...

That looks lovely!

[simonr100]

BluePurpleRed said:

Well, I bought one despite the sanity checks on here. :P

I will let everyone know how it goes! Its a weekend car so not too worried about the gearbox as it is a DuoSelect but we shall see.

Funny point: Its going to cost LOADS initially as I need to extend the garage! LOLZ

Congratulations, let's see some pictures of it.

[Allandwf]

Excellent, look forward to seeing it, and hearing how it goes. Great cars.

[Contigo]

I've had a DS QPV and loved it. Much more involving than the ZF box imo. You will love it!

[mattman]

Also looking at my first Maserati purchase - would love a Gran Turismo having driven one through the Alps a few years back but not sure I can stretch the budget that far so am currently looking at the QP and 4200. Sounds like duo select really is as bad as the reviews so I guess I need to hold out for the ZF auto

Any other major gremlins to look for that you would recommend?

Thanks

[voicey]

mattman said:

Also looking at my first Maserati purchase - would love a Gran Turismo having driven one through the Alps a few years back but not sure I can stretch the budget that far so am currently looking at the QP and 4200. Sounds like duo select really is as bad as the reviews so I guess I need to hold out for the ZF auto

Any other major gremlins to look for that you would recommend?

Thanks

My advice is to buy a well looked after 4200 over a duo select QP.

If you do look at a QP then check the inside edges of the tyres - I see loads with worn bushes and out of whack geometry (applies to the GT too). Also check that the engine doesn't lurch around when pulling away - the engine mounts go and they are a pig to change.

[Maser17]

I'm on my 4th QP V. I've now got the range topping GTS version. And while it is better than the others on most features, I have to say that I much preferred the duo-select box on my earlier cars to the auto box in this one. But I accept I'm in the minority on this one!

The duo-select isn't great in stop-start city crawls. But I never do that, living in deepest Dorset. So for me, it's spot on.

And if looking between a 4200 and a QP do appreciate that the QP is a generation more modern, albeit with crossovers in terms of engine, gearbox, etc. The chasis is way better, as is handling and build quality. So at a budget of, say, £20k, I'd recommend the QP.

But if you have a budget of maybe £35k, a good GranSport is great fun (if you don't need the additional space).

[BluePurpleRed]

mattman said:

Also looking at my first Maserati purchase - would love a Gran Turismo having driven one through the Alps a few years back but not sure I can stretch the budget that far so am currently looking at the QP and 4200. Sounds like duo select really is as bad as the reviews so I guess I need to hold out for the ZF auto

Any other major gremlins to look for that you would recommend?

Thanks

Duo Select isn't that bad. I've lived with it for 5+ months now. This is also with rubbish traffic from the AS into deep SW London too.

What I would say is that a reviewer was looking at a NEW 85k car up against rivals so yes, it got a bit of a pasting. However its not a 20k car and the rivals are an S Class or a BMW 7er ( yawn ) so for how annoying it is compared to cost to get bum on seat? Its not that bad.

Little tricks are there. you can "suggest" with an up or down paddle shift while still in auto which helps the car make up its mind. Pull both for N in traffic for clutch life etc etc.

I cant say I LOVE it for impartiality but I don't curse it that often either. I tend to have some binary driving situations were its traffic or 50mph A3 stuff and then out into the sticks around Berks and then its lovely.

I have an E46 330i too as my wifes car and it always feels so dull after a drive. The auto "creep" in traffic gets me a few times when getting back in after too.

So far the QP V is a success. I HAVE had to build an entirely new garage for it as its 36" longer than my Tuscan that preceded it. oops. That is for another thread.