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TridentTested

TridentTested

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CatmanV2 said:
I had not one single electrical issue that I recall on my 4200
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All Italian stuff suffers from this reputation. It's certainly not been my experience. I had my 166 for eight years, nothing went wrong, ever. I had my Ducati 748 for nineteen years, same, nothing went wrong, neither electrical nor mechanical, nothing. I've had my QP for six years and it's had one anti-pinch window switch failure and one coil pack failure, otherwise flawless.

I had a Citroën C6 for two years and I don't have enough time to list the problems. I had a Saab 9000 and its intermittent ignition fault was unfixable to the point the car got scrapped. My brother's five year old Octavia stopped communicating between the (electric) steering wheel and front wheels - scary.

I don't know why journalists keep regurgitating the Italian electrical issues bilge.
 
CatmanV2

CatmanV2

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TridentTested said:
I don't know why journalists keep regurgitating the Italian electrical issues bilge.
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Because it's easy. To be fair I do recall some electrical issues with fuses on the 116 Giulietta and of course the 75 that lit up like a disco when cold. My Ducati had an issue with the side stand cut off and a couple of other odds and sods.

We've had far fewer non-Italian vehicles but I recall my Speed Triple lunching its battery, needing its ECU re-programming and the speedo stopping.....

C
 
TridentTested

TridentTested

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CatmanV2 said:
electrical issues with fuses on the 116 Giulietta and of course the 75
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Yes, that era were shocking (no pun intended). I remember a total electrical failure in my GTV6 on the motorway at speed in the dark, couldn't even turn on the hazards, I pulled down the fuse board, it was on the right hand side of the steering column, and gave it a good thump, everything came back on, phew. I had to completely rebuild the fuse board on my Y10, it just fell apart. My Alfasuds would never light both headlights without first opening the fuse board (annoyingly under the bonnet) and rotating the fuses in question, I knew which ones by feel.

But all these problems were licked by the mid nineties or earlier. I can't remember any issues on my 164 - and they were first released in 1988.
 
CatmanV2

CatmanV2

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Oh it wasn't that bad. I'm talking 2-3 issues in probably 10+ years. The 75 worked fine. It just said it wasn't :D


C
 
mjheathcote

mjheathcote

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9,046
TridentTested said:
Yes, that era were shocking (no pun intended). I remember a total electrical failure in my GTV6 on the motorway at speed in the dark, couldn't even turn on the hazards, I pulled down the fuse board, it was on the right hand side of the steering column, and gave it a good thump, everything came back on, phew. I had to completely rebuild the fuse board on my Y10, it just fell apart. My Alfasuds would never light both headlights without first opening the fuse board (annoyingly under the bonnet) and rotating the fuses in question, I knew which ones by feel.

But all these problems were licked by the mid nineties or earlier. I can't remember any issues on my 164 - and they were first released in 1988.
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My Lancia Y10 Turbo had scary electrical problems before I sold her.
You would be driving along at night and suddenly all the lights, including the driving lights would just 'go out' for no reason.
Not clever when driving along a narrow country lane and suddenly you can't see where you are going!
 
montravia

montravia

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1,625
TridentTested said:
Yes, that era were shocking (no pun intended). I remember a total electrical failure in my GTV6 on the motorway at speed in the dark, couldn't even turn on the hazards, I pulled down the fuse board, it was on the right hand side of the steering column, and gave it a good thump, everything came back on, phew. I had to completely rebuild the fuse board on my Y10, it just fell apart. My Alfasuds would never light both headlights without first opening the fuse board (annoyingly under the bonnet) and rotating the fuses in question, I knew which ones by feel.

But all these problems were licked by the mid nineties or earlier. I can't remember any issues on my 164 - and they were first released in 1988.
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I had that on my first solo flight, downwind to land. Whole instrument panel went down. Couldn't talk with Air Traffic Control and they couldn't hear me. And i was a tyro on first solo.

Got my black country screwdriver out..... thumped the glareshield with my fist. Instruments jumped up back on......'Downwind to land' and down it went again. Had to resort to emergency 'wing waggle ' comms on finals.

Threw the book at the training organization.

Bloody American ****

Fly Robins now, good riddance Piper
 
midlifecrisis

midlifecrisis

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16,278
I had an 'electrical' issue with my car earlier in the year...it was the Bosch MAF at fault...

Any Journalist citing that a Maserati has electrical issue is just being lazy. Clutch wear was down to a bad batch of Valeo clutches, I believe, mine has done over 20k and is 'only' 47% worn. As for F1 relays sticking, again a bit alarmist, but a 50A relay won't do any harm...

Low mileage ones, haven't been used in their 15 years or so and are likely to have just as many issues as higher milers.
 
T

TimR

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2,731
Oh...and seat memory is a farce. Resets require praying to the east whilst simultaneously rubbing your stomach & patting your head..(then it forgets it next time you use the seat- why bother!?)
The wing mirrors spend so much time pi55ing about with some voodoo sh1t that means you lost patience with the ritual, backing into the object you tried to memorise it's whereabouts last time it was briefly in view before the glass returned to the place it was to begin with..! Move them somewhere useable and come out of reverse and oh, look...the ground !
Hopeless...And did I mention the alternator burnt out. The NIT has died an annoying death ( if only it would...permenently!) and the alarm goes off when it rains..
Nah...nothing wrong with the electrics eh...!:D
 
Lozzer

Lozzer

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2,286
TimR said:
Oh...and seat memory is a farce. Resets require praying to the east whilst simultaneously rubbing your stomach & patting your head..(then it forgets it next time you use the seat- why bother!?)
The wing mirrors spend so much time pi55ing about with some voodoo sh1t that means you lost patience with the ritual, backing into the object you tried to memorise it's whereabouts last time it was briefly in view before the glass returned to the place it was to begin with..! Move them somewhere useable and come out of reverse and oh, look...the ground !
Hopeless...And did I mention the alternator burnt out. The NIT has died an annoying death ( if only it would...permenently!) and the alarm goes off when it rains..
Nah...nothing wrong with the electrics eh...!:D
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Should have bought a 3200 dude!..... :D
 
zagatoes30

zagatoes30

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21,040
TimR said:
Oh...and seat memory is a farce. Resets require praying to the east whilst simultaneously rubbing your stomach & patting your head..(then it forgets it next time you use the seat- why bother!?)
The wing mirrors spend so much time pi55ing about with some voodoo sh1t that means you lost patience with the ritual, backing into the object you tried to memorise it's whereabouts last time it was briefly in view before the glass returned to the place it was to begin with..! Move them somewhere useable and come out of reverse and oh, look...the ground !
Hopeless...And did I mention the alternator burnt out. The NIT has died an annoying death ( if only it would...permenently!) and the alarm goes off when it rains..
Nah...nothing wrong with the electrics eh...!:D
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Oh dear no such issues with mine, other than the reverse passenger mirror sometimes did and sometimes didn't
 
Andyk

Andyk

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61,357
safrane said:
Still a lot of money Andy... and few are willing to sink that into a 10-20 year old car that will cost £2-4 k pa to maintain... esp when you can get a standard car for that new or on a PCP.
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Agree Pete which is why there are so many unsold in the classifieds at this price point. We know that Maserati's can take an age to sell especially privately but age only adds to this. Feels like yesterday when the 4200 and QP came out but it's 14 years ago now. Lots wouldn't touch a 14 year old car even as a weekend toy.
 
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rockits

rockits

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9,184
The issue isn't necessarily down to it being a Maserati or a 4200. Used cars over 3 years old aren't selling in the numbers they used to I'm sure. I would love to see the numbers this year and last compared to previous years.

I am always looking in the market as most of us here. I have bought & sold a few & I have never known a time when so many are taking so long to sell or not selling at all.

I've been looking at TVR's recently & I know that is a small/specialist market but no different to a Maserati. I don't see much selling. The prices on most of them are silly & inflated IMHO. The markets for these cars is getting smaller & that market doesn't want to pay the prices that many of these sit at.

It all seems to be a potential knock on directly related or indirectly related to Brexit IMHO. It is all about confidence & I see many business not growing & consolidating, or shrinking or disappearing. This has a knock on affect on everything consumer related. Confidence seems low to me.

People are buying cars differently and buying different cars. It is all changing....just wish I had that elusive & missing crystal ball again!
 
wifedrivestheclio

wifedrivestheclio

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105
rockits said:
The issue isn't necessarily down to it being a Maserati or a 4200. Used cars over 3 years old aren't selling in the numbers they used to I'm sure. I would love to see the numbers this year and last compared to previous years.

I am always looking in the market as most of us here. I have bought & sold a few & I have never known a time when so many are taking so long to sell or not selling at all.

I've been looking at TVR's recently & I know that is a small/specialist market but no different to a Maserati. I don't see much selling. The prices on most of them are silly & inflated IMHO. The markets for these cars is getting smaller & that market doesn't want to pay the prices that many of these sit at.

It all seems to be a potential knock on directly related or indirectly related to Brexit IMHO. It is all about confidence & I see many business not growing & consolidating, or shrinking or disappearing. This has a knock on affect on everything consumer related. Confidence seems low to me.

People are buying cars differently and buying different cars. It is all changing....just wish I had that elusive & missing crystal ball again!
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I agree not specific to Maserati and I think the market has been tough for at least 12 months. I keep an eye on early Vantages - none of the cars I looked at last year have sold and all reduced (typically by £2-3k) but admittedly that could be to do with the release of the new Vantage.

The positive I take from this is that because coupes didn't get caught up in the bubble to the same degree as some other marques from the same era, they probably don't have so far to fall. That might mean the cost of making that next step could be smaller but perhaps that's just hope!
 
Andyk

Andyk

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61,357
No I do agree it's not just Maserati....Vantages and most specialist V8 Sports cars are sitting around for ages at the lower end. It's the world we now live in with uncertainty of what the future will bring with fuel, tax etc used buyers are being more cautious what they put their money into. The decent cars will still sell as you can see from specialists like Dicky but trying to sell a car like this privately is become more difficult. Also think in he age of forums/social media people go armed with far more information when buying a car. Forums are a great source of info but also you tend to hear more about the issues than the good bits and this can sometimes put off potential customers.
 
T

TimR

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2,731
Then there's no denying how frustrating "parts availability" quickly becomes. There are parts for the 2010 QPV that have long since been discontinued, no longer available...! I m not sure "low volume production" can be entirely responsible. Ferrari share any number of parts across their family..Maserati just dont care...!
Its pretty funny imo ! o_O
 
markp4200

markp4200

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331
I had a Citroën C6 for two years and I don't have enough time to list the problems. I had a Saab 9000 and its intermittent ignition fault was unfixable to the point the car got scrapped. My brother's five year old Octavia stopped communicating between the (electric) steering wheel and front wheels - scary.
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Complete change of tack here - but for all it's problems, the C6 was just an amazing car. I have driven them and for the comfort it's and the electical glitches are almost a price worth paying.
Why cannot we see cars this 'left-field' again? Probably legislation demands are such that straying from a norm makes this impossible. Sad - I loved the days when cars would be launched and we could be surprised by their total divergence from that 'legislated norm'. It is now the case of centralised departments designing cars rather than the stylists - unless you are Japanese and practice origami on your bodywork!

Sorry this should have been subject of a different thread.
Go back to where you were .......still like C6s though.
 
markp4200

markp4200

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331
Back on track again.
Neither have I had any electrical problems of any significance in 9 years (blow, hadn't realised it was so many).
I am very confused about the value of the 4200s generally. The article, as I said, was a good one for us but regarding values, a car is only valuable if for sale (and mine is here forever). Though one does like to think it may be an investment in the long term and right now I am certain the 4200 is in something of a trough. The prospect is likely to be reasonable; numbers on the road will decrease and even with the advent of the soul-less semi-autonomous cars, electrical cars etc. for decades a decent ICE car with a Maserati heritage will be an asset. 50 years from now - anybody's guess and perhaps the only one will sit in Maserati's HQ showroom.
At least it is beautiful and with what I consider the best interior of any car yet built, I can just look and enjoy.
 
Nayf

Nayf

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I share the office with Classic Cars, in fact I used to work for them. In their defence, if you read the article it’s not the journalist saying that, but the chosen expert. If the chosen expert, who sees these cars day in, day out, says ‘xxxxx’, are you supposed to disbelieve them?

And, while your individual experience might not involve floppy Italian electrics, it does and can happen a lot - I’ve seen the receipts in cars’ history files. After all, if you’re posting here you’re likely to be an enthusiast and have a level of care for your cars that goes far beyond more casual experiences of cars. For example, having owned two Selespeed 156s previously owned by ‘normals’, my experience was utterly miserable. Whereas I’ve met people who’ve bought one or two-owner examples and looked after them dillligently and not had a problem.

The same applies to Maseratis. Not every Maserati owner will have looked after their car as well as you chaps, so if you’re an outsider approaching the Maser world, the pitfalls are big. You are more likely to find cars with issues. Yes, electrical ones too.
 
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