Yuppie-tastic Maserati BiTurbo Spyder for sale
Clear skies got you in the mood for a classic cab? Boy, do we have the car...
There’s nothing to beat a cabrio in the sunshine, right? As long as it’s not too hot, of course. Little can combat stress quite like balmy weather, a retracted roof and a warmed-up combustion engine. Some drop tops suffer from a lack of torsional rigidity, yes, but it’s hard to sweat the serious stuff when relaxing. If it’s not meant to be a sports car, don’t worry so much.
Take the Maserati BiTurbo Spyder as a perfect example. As a 35-year-old soft top built from saloon underpinnings, it’s not going to provide a scalpel-sharp driving experience. But look at it - a car dismissed for so long now seems like a really cool retro ragtop. Or perhaps the heat really is taking its toll now. Rust and reliability meant the BiTurbo has almost always been infamous - we all know that. But the logic behind the project made complete sense; with the German manufacturers branching out into smaller saloons, Maserati would emulate the move. The BiTurbo boasted rear-wheel drive, six-cylinder power and a sumptuous interior - what more did a compact saloon for the '80s need?
Despite architecture that lasted all the way up to 1997, nothing built from the BiTurbo sold in huge numbers. This was never great news for a Maserati with big aspirations at the end of the 20th century, but it makes the survivors really interesting after the fact. To some of us, at least - not everyone wants a 3 Series cabrio…
The BiTurbo Spyder was notable for a few reasons. It was the first convertible Maser since the Ghibli Spyder, and assembled by Zagato - its first involvement with the Trident since the A6G/2000 30 years beforehand. It rode on a shorter wheelbase than the coupe (114mm less), which did mean it was only a two-seat cabrio, but the chop helped the looks. And let’s not forget what’s important.
As a 1988 car, this BiTurbo Spyder has been spared the later facelifts, and is showing just 40,000 miles. It’s the more powerful 2.5-litre V6 turbo (the 2.8 didn’t come until later for this model), with almost 200hp, and has the manual gearbox as well. The interior, complete with ruched leather and gold clock, has survived like the most wonderful time capsule. Bring your brightest braces.
Described as ‘Italian craftsmanship at its finest’ in the advert, the asking price is £20k. There’s rarity on its side as well, with just 122 of the larger engined cars ever made. And you can guarantee that number will be a lot less a third of a century later. Probably it’ll need more careful upkeep than a 325i or old SL, but after so much time maybe the BiTurbo deserves some reappreciation. Summer sojourns will never be the same again - and fortune, as ever, favours the brave.
Discreetly styled in the post-kidnapping Italian era, I didn’t feel the looks were quite as exotic as a Maserati should have been - they could so easily have been Lancias or Alfa Romeos. The spider is still pretty to me, unlike the fhc - i was tempted a decade ago but too cautious. I’m sure if well maintained by top specialists, at some cost, they would be great.
I’ve never driven one, my brother in law borrowed one for a week on trial and said it didn’t give him handling confidence - he preferred his 2002tii and 325i and found the power a bit peaky,
My neighbour had one of these in the late 90’s - there was no chance hers would have achieved 40,000 miles - she gave up after 2 years of repetitive minor breakdowns, mostly electric I recall.
We Brits have had many such nearly cars - rushed to market without sufficient development - Dolomite Sprints and Stags etc spring to mind - it’s a shame for all the Biturbos didn’t quite get it right but thankfully Maserati lives on today and didn’t suffer the fate of Triumph etc
Heart says this but head says e30 325i convertible is the car that does the same summer pub run job, maybe with less flare but much more function.
Think the SL comparison would be a much better bet.
It looks to be a 2.5, these were not the best, they used a 'blow through' carb in a sealed plenum (rather than the 2.8's fuel injection) and suffered from tiny bits of boost pipe getting stuck in the air jets, upgrading to silicon pipes helps.
Positives include single 'shot gun' exhaust that with a well set up engine gave the pops and crackles (and occasional flame) that modern tuners try and fail to replicate, no heated rear window so half the electrical problems with the fuse box won't happen.
Negatives were mainly the carb issues, the single worst car for scuttle shake I have ever driven, rear lower suspension arms corroded away , rust, especially the front wings, useless parking brake (we did get them working better) buzzing gear stick (also partially solved) and cam box gaskets leaking and dripping oil onto the exhaust manifolds (never had one go alight but many smoked a lot!) a difficult one to resolve and a big job to change.
A 222e was twice the car (except for that exhaust note)
Edit to add: You could not drop the roof for a winter icy top down thrash because the rear plastic window would shatter or split! You always had to be super careful lowering the roof.
Did they sit that high as standard? Or is this fitted with springs from a different model.
Cars such as a Vauxhall Tigra, Ford streetKa, Renault wind, Ford Focus CC, VW Eos etc will on the right road and day being you almost bring you the same level of happiness without burning a huge hole in your pocket.
Cars such as a Vauxhall Tigra, Ford streetKa, Renault wind, Ford Focus CC, VW Eos etc will on the right road and day being you almost bring you the same level of happiness without burning a huge hole in your pocket.
I had the coupe version with the same engine which I ran as a daily for 7 yrs. bought as a bit of a rusty wreck/roling restoration project but fell for its charms and kept it for about 50k miles. Mine was no less reliable than a friends 325i of the same vintage. Very similar cars in terms of size and performance. His car was easier to run mind as you didn’t need to develop a sixth sense to set the Weber up before sealing it in the pelumn chamber and totally altering the fuelling at every service…. If memory serves the recommended service interval was 3k or maybe 5k miles because the turbos had a tendency to cook the oil. You had to use the really expensive Castrol RS too to withstand the heat.
I know it can be hard to tell from low res photos … but I would be checking for filler on the bottoms of the doors and cills. Also round the headlights where all biturbos rust no matter what.
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