Samstagmoonyham
New Member
- Messages
- 23
Hey there my Italian car enthusiast brothers .
I'm sorry for the fact I'm about to bombard you with a load of questions but I thought who better to ask than you guys .
I have decided to sell my 147 GTA after fixing her up and move to the big leagues as oddly, the GTA seems to be worth 4.2 Quattroporte money.
Initially I was going to break away from Italian cars and buy a Jag XFR which I known is the sensible choice but Maseratis and everything about the brand itself has seduced me just as Alfa Romeo did, so I'm taking the gamble and getting the four door Ferrari .
The only trouble is I'm a little puzzled, I can't figure out which one to get, from what I have read the 4.2 does not sound as good as the 4.7 (by much? Can it be fixed?).
On the sound front does the 4.2 GTS come with that Fantastic valved exhaust that the later 4.7s got?
I'm not too bothered about performance here sub 6 second acceleration to 60 is more than enough for me.
I also would be getting a ZF model without a doubt. Is it true that the 4.2s will kickdown even in manual mode? Even the 2008 GTS? Does it actually matter in the grand scheme of things? Lol.
I'm also not sure on what trim is best for me, they all look absolutely glorious with the GTS being the most appealing to me at first glance, as I understand the GTS models ditch the adaptive dampers, presumably making replacement costs cheaper?
Heres where things get a little complicated though, I have a very tight, uneven right angled turn to get to me parking space, like real tight. I'm a little concerned as to whether the Quattroporte has a decent turning circle or not? I think this is a bigger issue than the increase in size or width as my daft GTA is a nightmare to get around this bend but my lovely Alfa 164 does it with ease .
Does anyone know the ride height/ground clearance of the Quattroporte too? Google tells me it's something like 100mm which is 50mm lower than my GTA that is already scraping on the aforementioned lumpy road, but thinking about it, a glorious luxury saloon can't be even lower to the ground than a rock hard hot hatch on coilovers can it?
Also do any of you guys attempt DIY servicing on these wonderful machines? I'm hoping to save money where I can just in case it goes all Italian on me at some point and have always tried to work on my own cars where possible.
On that note are the ZF cars reliable in relative terms? (Relative being I know it's a heavily equipped half limousine/half Ferrari and I know parts prices are sadly quite steep on Masers).
Also do you guys have any insurance company recommendations as I will be 25 with 7 years no claims when it comes time to purchase but the quotes I'm getting are very high at 800 or more versus 385 for a Jag XFR or around 500 for my heavily modified GTA.
Last but not least should I just wait for a Ghibli S to depreciate a bit? Again it strikes me as a lovely all round package albeit not quite as special.
Thanks in advance for all your help guys
I'm sorry for the fact I'm about to bombard you with a load of questions but I thought who better to ask than you guys .
I have decided to sell my 147 GTA after fixing her up and move to the big leagues as oddly, the GTA seems to be worth 4.2 Quattroporte money.
Initially I was going to break away from Italian cars and buy a Jag XFR which I known is the sensible choice but Maseratis and everything about the brand itself has seduced me just as Alfa Romeo did, so I'm taking the gamble and getting the four door Ferrari .
The only trouble is I'm a little puzzled, I can't figure out which one to get, from what I have read the 4.2 does not sound as good as the 4.7 (by much? Can it be fixed?).
On the sound front does the 4.2 GTS come with that Fantastic valved exhaust that the later 4.7s got?
I'm not too bothered about performance here sub 6 second acceleration to 60 is more than enough for me.
I also would be getting a ZF model without a doubt. Is it true that the 4.2s will kickdown even in manual mode? Even the 2008 GTS? Does it actually matter in the grand scheme of things? Lol.
I'm also not sure on what trim is best for me, they all look absolutely glorious with the GTS being the most appealing to me at first glance, as I understand the GTS models ditch the adaptive dampers, presumably making replacement costs cheaper?
Heres where things get a little complicated though, I have a very tight, uneven right angled turn to get to me parking space, like real tight. I'm a little concerned as to whether the Quattroporte has a decent turning circle or not? I think this is a bigger issue than the increase in size or width as my daft GTA is a nightmare to get around this bend but my lovely Alfa 164 does it with ease .
Does anyone know the ride height/ground clearance of the Quattroporte too? Google tells me it's something like 100mm which is 50mm lower than my GTA that is already scraping on the aforementioned lumpy road, but thinking about it, a glorious luxury saloon can't be even lower to the ground than a rock hard hot hatch on coilovers can it?
Also do any of you guys attempt DIY servicing on these wonderful machines? I'm hoping to save money where I can just in case it goes all Italian on me at some point and have always tried to work on my own cars where possible.
On that note are the ZF cars reliable in relative terms? (Relative being I know it's a heavily equipped half limousine/half Ferrari and I know parts prices are sadly quite steep on Masers).
Also do you guys have any insurance company recommendations as I will be 25 with 7 years no claims when it comes time to purchase but the quotes I'm getting are very high at 800 or more versus 385 for a Jag XFR or around 500 for my heavily modified GTA.
Last but not least should I just wait for a Ghibli S to depreciate a bit? Again it strikes me as a lovely all round package albeit not quite as special.
Thanks in advance for all your help guys