The current American take on the Ghibli

[BL330]

I'm with you Bob, who needs all the gizmos Mercedes and BMW invent to justify their new models?
Like most of us on this forum, I turned my back on 20 years of BMW ownership to get the passion in driving back.
That reviewer isn't a driver so his opinions don't matter, just like other people who don't get cars.

 

[daverichardson]

Particularly impressed with Outrun's posts on this thread
I am with you 100%
Who is this colonial that comes from a population that may have managed one or two 'good' cars in their lives
Sure the Ghibli leaves things to be desired, but they are being worked on.
Give me a Ghibli over almost any american car and a lot of German ones too

 

[peters]

Hi

If this not testament, then not sure what is.

1. Had a 2014 M5, came out of it after 11 months as was utterly bored. Don't understand the hype with this car - to me that car was a barge/not nimble, had poor steering feel, damping and grip. But overall the car had no character. The E92 M3 is leagues ahead imho for involvement, noise, handling, steering. Yes the interior in the M5 was nice, but relative to a 520d wouldn't say it was particularly different.

Got a test drive in a Maserati Ghibli base petrol tmrw. No it hasn't got all the toys, but if this was so important would look at a Hyundai Santa Fe or Kia and save money.

2. One of the nicest cars I have ever owned, (and I have been fortunate to own an AMG, Porsche, M cars), is an Alfa 146ti. The magazines at the time, if I recall correctly, said it was behind the pack, but could never correlate to this. My wife who knows little about cars, still echoes the same sentiments. Also had two 33's and these were properly slated by road testers, but the cars were so much fun and the Boxer engines adding to the character.

My 2p worth

 

[Fangio63]

Pizza Hut .... or Pizza Express ?...

 

[conaero]

Pizza Express is owned by Pizza Hut, dont know if that is relevant.

 

[Fangio63]

Pizza Express is owned by Pizza Hut, dont know if that is relevant.

Ha... they've got the market covered then... catering for those that like their crust stuffed ... and those that like it thin and crispy...

I seem to recall that when it was taken over they changed the size... ordered bigger plates etc... Bigger being better... apparently ... only a few years later to change them back to the original formula.. ..

 

[mjheathcote]

One of the nicest cars I have ever owned, (and I have been fortunate to own an AMG, Porsche, M cars), is an Alfa 146ti. The magazines at the time, if I recall correctly, said it was behind the pack, but could never correlate to this. My wife who knows little about cars, still echoes the same sentiments. Also had two 33's and these were properly slated by road testers, but the cars were so much fun and the Boxer engines adding to the character.

I had a 146ti for 4 years, it was one of the last 2000 'W' plated cars.
It was faultless and a superb 4 door 'hot hatch', I loved it, together also with a 33 Permanent 4 I had in the early 90's.

 

[Rwc13]

Very very well said Outrun. Good to see somebody standing up against those that clearly just don't get Maseratis

 

[safrane]

But is the fact not that Maserati want to move from selling 7k cars a year to 50/70k. As such they need to attract those who do not 'do' cars and are traditionally a BMW Audi Merc owner.

If they expect all that comes with their usual fodder in the Maserati they will be disappointed.

If however they love cars and love the idea of a Maser then the sell will be a lot easier.

The Koreans, Ford, Vauxhal, Rover and in some part the Japs have all tried but most have now moved away from this sector esp in Europe.

 

[zagatoes30]

Comparing Italian cars with those Germans is pointless. The Germans are well specc'd and efficient and boring as ****.

Maserati, Alfa, Lancia even Fiat have them beat in character by the bucketful. I want cars that talk to me, that work with me, that have soul - the yanks can keep there options I will take an Italian everyday

 

[Guest 1678]

Comparing Italian cars with those Germans is pointless. The Germans are well specc'd and efficient and boring as ****.

Maserati, Alfa, Lancia even Fiat have them beat in character by the bucketful. I want cars that talk to me, that work with me, that have soul - the yanks can keep there options I will take an Italian everyday

Absolutely f***ing Ditto - it's how they make you feel not how efficiently they get you there.

 

[outrun]

It's about to feel better as it's booked to be remapped on Friday. I'm told to expect it to up from standard 326bhp to somewhere around 410bhp or so. That will take it beyond the v6s version. Apparently it can go to 470 but they're not recommending that as it pushed the mechanics. It's hardly slow as standard so anything north of 400 will do nicely.

 

[Rwc13]

Yes there will be those that try it, and don't get it, who will move back to the Germans. But there will be those that get it and stay. Maserati is not banking on everybody getting it. Just a relatively modest proportion. And judging by the increasingly positive comments about the looks - its definitely a grower - and that in typical Maserati fashion, they will continue to improve the car technologically, I suspect they will get there in the end. I certainly hope so for the greater good of the brand.

And the US has been heavily discounting the car since it arrived there. There has been discounting here, but nowhere near as heavily as in the US. But from what I understand, that is just how the new car system works in the US. Americans expect to get a load of the sticker price, whatever the brand. To shift cars there Maserati will have had to embrace that culture. And if you read the US Maserati forums, apart from those that bought one of the early cars that had quite a few "issues", there hasn't really been been the same level of negativity about the looks and shift into a new market that there has been in some quarters here.

Outrun, really interested to hear how your remapped version goes compared to an S. Might it be the best Ghibli out there....

 

[outrun]

We'll find out soon enough! I deliberately chose not to buy an S as the main difference is the map. It's about 12k more and I didn't think a map was worth that, especially when a good aftermarket one should improve drivability, power and consumption in one swoop.

Once done, we'll tackle the noise....I'm thinking of a bypass pipe which forces the gases around the back boxes above certain rpm/pressure. If that doesn't give the desired results, I'll look to at least the centre x pipe from Larini or Fabspeed.

 

[spkennyuk]

I find that really quite sad that somebody of that nature is given the word space to write a review if thats what you can call it of any car. At no point does Doug Demuro mention how the car drives, feels or looks.

The only thing that was informative about the article was that he takes 9 minutes when using the toilet. Well I can confirm that BMW 5 series owners take 5 minutes and Mercedes E class owners take 4 minutes 39.52 seconds. That is because they are more efficient and spout far less Cr4p than the writer of that article.

Massaging seats ???? Now call me daft but I want to be alert when I am driving not having my back and posterior massaged to the extent that I am in danger of falling asleep and then I would need extra safety features such as a lane departure warning and automatic brakes to avoid shunting cars in front or to the side of me when I fall asleep.

E class automatic seat bolsters that adjust when cornering. The average size / weight of our american cousins means that this particular feature is rather pointless. Its more likely to be pinching more than an inch of lard that is over hanging the seat in all directions.

In all fairness to Mr Demuro I should point out that he also wrote an article that says Bluetooth is the most annoying automotive feature in existence. So at least we know there is something that annoys him on the BMW 5 series and the E class Mercedes.

Just goes to show Doug Demuro (pronunciation: "Dug De More on" nick name D*ck) is a journalist/author in the same way as Milli Vanilli were singers.

I can only assume that Mr Demuro wrote the article on his Iplop while reading the online brochures for Maserati, BMW and Mercedes. It appears he didn't see hear or drive the Ghibli.

I like most people look at buying a new car based on the following factors:

1. looks even though i'm sat in the car most of the time I want something that looks good
2. how does it drive ? if it looks good but the drive is rubbish then its a no go.
3. Interior. is it a nice place to be
4. price bracket. Is it within my budget range with the features I want. which for me is usually, Leather interior, alloy wheels, cruise control, blue tooth phone system. Anything else after that is nice but not necessary.
5. safety features.
6. depending on what I am buying the car for MPG / car tax. If its a mile muncher then MPG may be an important factor. If its a low mileage leisure / pleasure vehicle then its less important.
7. the smile factor. this has the power to over rule everything on the list with the exception of looks and how it drives.

The above points are not in order of priority but the first three are always in the top three.

Now in the interest of fairness have Maserati got things wrong for the American market. Yes I think they have to some extent. The Ghibli isnt a F150 pick up so its never going to shift 100's of thousand units. Perhaps Maserati in conjuction with Chrysler should produce a sporty pick up to give them a mass unit model with low development costs.

The Ghibli should in my view be priced attractively in the sector they are aiming for. Like most manufacturers you sometimes need to buy your market share and lets face it you will make more selling parts than you will on the car itself.

Have as standard more equipment. The cost of reversing cameras and automatic boot openers is very little so put them on there. I'm not saying it should be full to the brim of gadgets but put a few more on as the baseline and have more options to spec up.

Knowing how much car you can get for your money is the USA I would have thought a more reasonable price would be around the $50000 to $55000 area. Lower price and more volume means more profit in the long run. Tweak the package and reap the rewards.

Now Mr Demuro I didn't feel the need to start an angry thread on a Maserati forum. What I did do is take a more balanced view good and bad and make some comments based on that. What I did discover was you seem to be a bit of a dork and I didn't need BMW night vision to see this either. Perhaps you don't rember BMW selling cars where the stereo was an optional extra ?

Just as a foot note a couple of anagrams for your amusement. Doug is the author of a book called plays with cars :-

Doug Demuro -- doomed guru

Doug Demuro plays with cars -- Priory saw the smug loud cad

constructive comments over

 

[bigbob]

We'll find out soon enough! I deliberately chose not to buy an S as the main difference is the map. It's about 12k more and I didn't think a map was worth that, especially when a good aftermarket one should improve drivability, power and consumption in one swoop.

Once done, we'll tackle the noise....I'm thinking of a bypass pipe which forces the gases around the back boxes above certain rpm/pressure. If that doesn't give the desired results, I'll look to at least the centre x pipe from Larini or Fabspeed.

Looking forward to the results. In the U.S. the two cars are much more closely priced and with the S you get 4WD thrown in too! In the UK the relative pricing/spec is all wrong and the S represents poor value for money. Strangely in the U.S. the base car makes more bhp than in Europe....

 

[BJL]

We all want to stick up for our beloved marque and react to negative comments about a particular model but in my modest opinion and with respect to others views we mustn't be guilty of 'the emperors new clothes'.

I just can't understand why the marketing people at maser have so little knowledge of market psychology.
Build a halo model which is very very quick, has a great chassis, looks mean, filled with leather and costs AMG 63 money. Launch it to a press eager to drive it. Get the headlines 'Maserati storm back to the top of the tree' and then disclosed lesser variants will follow within months. The mass market they seek would be drooling over the Ghibli Cup version whilst happily buying the near look alikes. Simple........so bl00dy simple even I get it.

 

[bigbob]

That's exactly what Alfa are going to do. Leaves Maserati in a pickle really.

 

[VMSRTI]

In the comments underneath the article someone asks " but what's it like to drive"?

The authors response : "The answer to that doesn’t matter as much as you think".

In a way he is right (sadly) because the masses don't get it. Im just glad I'm not one of them.

 

[BJL]

We'll find out soon enough! I deliberately chose not to buy an S as the main difference is the map. It's about 12k more and I didn't think a map was worth that, especially when a good aftermarket one should improve drivability, power and consumption in one swoop.

Once done, we'll tackle the noise....I'm thinking of a bypass pipe which forces the gases around the back boxes above certain rpm/pressure. If that doesn't give the desired results, I'll look to at least the centre x pipe from Larini or Fabspeed.

Not wishing to put a spanner in your works but caution would be advised given what I found out at Meridien on Tuesday when talking to their chief engineer and Service Manager;

Now that Ferrari are 'publicly' making the V8s and all V6s for Maserati they now insist that prior to any warranty work related to engine and gearbox being carried out the ecu is uplinked to their technical dept in Maranello via high speed interweb so they can examine programme history and telemetry history. Apparently there is a history module which records all programme changes and use beyond standard perameters. Should they find evidence of a remap, wrong fuel or extreme use beyond excepted norms they would in most cases now deny responsibility.

Others may say that they don't mind what you do but we now live in a world where contribuary input is a valid tool for defence.