Granturismo - Pre purchase questions

[Calza]

Hi all,

Sorry for another one of these, I have read a lot of artricles and forum posts but thought I'd best ensure my understanding is right before making a purchase as this would be a biggy for me!

Couple of things to confirm:

Intended Usage ~4k miles a year. It will be used to do the station run once a week, go to the gym etc as well as some more spirited drives. A lot of driving will be "flowing urban" and a couple of shorter trips per week is entirely plausible. As is sitting for a week or 10 days without moving. It will be parked outside all year round.

Maintenance - Is setting aside 4k a year for servicing and issues realistic? (Excluding tyres)
Trickle charging - Is this essential if it might sit for a week or spend 2 weeks doing short trips? Secondly, I have a drive and no garage but it's quite exposed - how do people handle trickle charging in such situations?
Usability Appreciate the car is massive, but how easy is it to use? Thinking things like ground clearance, door size. Can it be an only car and do normal functions well? I don't mind parking at the back of a car park but sometimes that's not an option or a ramp can't be avoided. Also how good are the stability systems? I'm more of a straight line hero but a couple of times my old M5 nearly got out of check and the stability systems were superb!
Pre-Purchase Inspection Is this essential, more so than other cars? How do these work logistically? Will any serious seller with a serious buyer be compliant?
Specialist Options Feels like a good car to have a specialist take care of it. I live in Milton Keynes - are there any local to me that come recommended?

I think they are my main concerns, fully braced for 15mpg on a good day! Would plan on fitting the android auto overlay for a bit of usability and if winter goes how it is, get a second set of wheels with winters on them.

Finally, I have my eyes set on this 2015 model - any thoughts? 2015 Grey Maserati Granturismo (little odd it says private seller but offers finance and warranty...).

Edited by Calza on Monday 4th December 10:32

[Soleith]

Lovely cars, still miss mine. Good to get one pre the stty facelift they did in 2017(?).

I ran my 2016 Sport as a daily. It was mostly station runs and shops but with the odd longer drive.

I had 2 batteries die in a couple of years of having it but mine was like you intended to use, kept outside, not garaged, not on a tender. I did do more mileage than you but mostly relatively short trips.

I've not owned one now for a while but suspect your 4k/year average is likely safe.
I certainly took 2 week holidays during my ownership without putting it on charge and it was fine upon return.
Car doesn't feel overly massive tbh, main issue was high kerbs in multi-storey car parks but otherwise I generally found it fine. No suspension lifter on mine but unless driving like a numpty over speed bumps never really had an issue.
Only time I ever really got out of shape was up a steep hill at low speed in sleet where the rear lost traction but being gentle was fine.

Depending on M5 you had, it may not feel as fast. Good up to motorway cruising speed but on an autobahn trip, definitely takes time to get to higher speeds.

Edit: 2 owners since 2015 is a good sign imo that the car is probably pretty sorted but averaging 2k+/year is fairly low. Might be worth getting MOTs and owner change dates to see if any significant change in mileage with new owner.

Edited by Soleith on Monday 4th December 11:22

[P5BNij]

Nearest specialist to MK would be McGrath Maserati in Hertfordshire, I used them earlier this year and am very pleased with the work they did and the way they handled everything.

[cgt2]

Calza said:

Hi all,

Sorry for another one of these, I have read a lot of artricles and forum posts but thought I'd best ensure my understanding is right before making a purchase as this would be a biggy for me!

Couple of things to confirm:

Intended Usage ~4k miles a year. It will be used to do the station run once a week, go to the gym etc as well as some more spirited drives. A lot of driving will be "flowing urban" and a couple of shorter trips per week is entirely plausible. As is sitting for a week or 10 days without moving. It will be parked outside all year round.

Maintenance - Is setting aside 4k a year for servicing and issues realistic? (Excluding tyres)
Trickle charging - Is this essential if it might sit for a week or spend 2 weeks doing short trips? Secondly, I have a drive and no garage but it's quite exposed - how do people handle trickle charging in such situations?
Usability Appreciate the car is massive, but how easy is it to use? Thinking things like ground clearance, door size. Can it be an only car and do normal functions well? I don't mind parking at the back of a car park but sometimes that's not an option or a ramp can't be avoided. Also how good are the stability systems? I'm more of a straight line hero but a couple of times my old M5 nearly got out of check and the stability systems were superb!
Pre-Purchase Inspection Is this essential, more so than other cars? How do these work logistically? Will any serious seller with a serious buyer be compliant?
Specialist Options Feels like a good car to have a specialist take care of it. I live in Milton Keynes - are there any local to me that come recommended?

I think they are my main concerns, fully braced for 15mpg on a good day! Would plan on fitting the android auto overlay for a bit of usability and if winter goes how it is, get a second set of wheels with winters on them.

Finally, I have my eyes set on this 2015 model - any thoughts? 2015 Grey Maserati Granturismo (little odd it says private seller but offers finance and warranty...).

Edited by Calza on Monday 4th December 10:32

Backdraft Motorsport in MK itself are very experienced with these cars.

[Calza]

That is reassuring on the usage front thank you.

I had an F10 M5 so I expected it to feel fairly slow in comparison, but to be honest all it did was spin its wheels to below 60 and endanger your license above so looking forward to something I can actually ring out a little bit.

Thanks for the replies on specialists - both look good but can't say no to one 2 miles away!

[Soleith]

Just checked actually, I had 6.5k miles on it in 1.75 years when I traded it in so pretty on the money with your expected mileage.

[Calza]

Anything else I should be aware of or am I just over stressing in my head because it's Italian?

[ex-devonpaul]

Calza said:

Anything else I should be aware of or am I just over stressing in my head because it's Italian?

Having been down this route, albeit a over decade ago and with a Gransport, I would suggest you hang fire or change your approach. I chose the Gransport as it felt more 'lively', the GT just felt like a faster version of the Volvo that I replaced. ISTR parked next to each other the V70 had similar dimensions, although the GT bonnet was the same size as the V70 boot and vice versa

We bought it as it was a practical (4 seats and a boot) 'fun' car, although it was my main one and lived on the street in Plymouth a lot of the time. Regular use was good, regular commuting through rush hour with the Cambiocorsa was not great, and probably slightly more expensive than a taxi. The later GT Sports all (I think) have the much better MC autoshift box.

If used, these things are reliable, and we never needed a recovery truck, but there were a few occasions where a trip out was amended to a trip to Carrs and an onward journey in the Toyota, usually when it had been sat for a month. The car you are looking at is 10 years newer and they did get a lot more reliable as they went on. I would however be wary of very low mileage cars, they can throw up niggles when you start to use them regularly.

£4k a year should be ample budget, that's more than a McWarranty, so it should be I put £200/month into a kitty and that covered servicing, repairs that always showed up at Service time, and tyres. As you know, these things are thirsty, if you beat 20mpg on a run you're doing OK. The low fuel light on mine came on with about 4 gallons left in the tank, which says it all really

Trickle charger? - get a CTEK and extender lead, and just put it on charge every few days if it isn't being used for a while, but a week should be fine and short trips will top it up pretty quick (plus it is an excuse to do an extra few miles up and down the Bletchley bypass . I had an extension lead out to the car and used a bucket with a brick on top

If you haven't been on Sportsmaserati.com then do so - you'll get all your questions and more answered, and there may be some forum cars up for sale.

One thing I will say is we never had any bad reactions to the car. Friends with Ferrari, Porsche, all got some negativity, but not Maserati. We were coming out of Le Mans MotoGP late one sat and the exit road ran between the circuit and campsite. Thousand of drunk bikers heading along the line slapping their hands on the roof of all the cars, except ours. We just got cheers and thumbs up. We've had police stop traffic to let us reverse out of a drive, Gite owners take their tractor out of the barn so we could park under cover (and it got covered in bat pee), but it was a very pretty Mediterraneo Blue.

It won't drive as well as your M5, it will be slower, handle worse, use more fuel, and cost more to run. But you will smile a hell of a lot more when you're in it.

[Calza]

Appreciate the input, and to be honest a fast gorgeous sounding Volvo is a positive in my book! I'm not much of a driver so don't know if improved dynamics or feel would make much of a difference to me.

Have been watching "dadcars" on youtube who has went similar and ended up going the Gransport route himself, but it's got to be GT for me.

Already have my eye on Sportmaserati, sadly no cares for sale but looks like a good resource.

[ex-devonpaul]

Just realised I partially edited my post and missed a bit out. I'd hang fire until you get a reliable old shed or a second car - they are great and I would have another Maserati, but not as an only car Not saying there would be a problem, but we always said "If we want to go somewhere, we take the Mas. If we need to get somewhere, we take the Toyota"

[Geoffcapes]

Speak to Dicky at Richard Grace Cars, he'll find you a good 'un!

[Calza]

ex-devonpaul said:

Just realised I partially edited my post and missed a bit out. I'd hang fire until you get a reliable old shed or a second car - they are great and I would have another Maserati, but not as an only car Not saying there would be a problem, but we always said "If we want to go somewhere, we take the Mas. If we need to get somewhere, we take the Toyota"

Yeah we have another car we can take for most bits, it's just when we both need to or I fancy a drive!

[BigR]

ex-devonpaul said:

Just realised I partially edited my post and missed a bit out. I'd hang fire until you get a reliable old shed or a second car - they are great and I would have another Maserati, but not as an only car Not saying there would be a problem, but we always said "If we want to go somewhere, we take the Mas. If we need to get somewhere, we take the Toyota"

That's a very outdated view! You may want to review your dates too, quoting having a 2005 GranTurismo, when the first deliveries were in 2007.

That aside, I've had 3 - and am currently on no.5 and no.6 Maserati's. The only time I've been on a tow-truck is when a tyre blew on the M1 as a result of a piece of metal picked up on the motorway. Other than that I've not had any more problems with any of the 6 than I've had with other cars.

1st - 2007, 4.2 GranTurismo - no problems at all. Bought it from pretty much kicking the tyres
2nd - MC GranCabrio - had a minor minor minor coolant leak. Still drove across Europe with it and no issue. Not a single other issue
3rd - Sport - no problems! Probably the prettiest and best all-round of the 3

Since then, on my second Levante + an MC20. Basically the whole 'if you want to get there take something else' is borne out of the 1980's / 90's, but really is not the experience you're likely to have today any more so than any other brand (and considerably better than JLR, by contrast!).

[ex-devonpaul]

BigR said:

That's a very outdated view! You may want to review your dates too, quoting having a 2005 GranTurismo, when the first deliveries were in 2007.
.

No, I was quite clear my experience was with a Gransport as I preferred the drive, and admitted they did get better over time. But knowing several GT owners, the early cars still seemed to have a lot of character.