Good Afternoon everyone
I hope you are all keeping well. I am a long time Maserati fan with a couple of family members having had various models over the years and a good few passing through my families Alfa Romeo dealership in Ireland.
I have been considering my first Maserati for the last year or so and have yet to take the plunge.
Initially I thought I wanted to sell my Subaru Impreza P1 from our collection and replace it with a Gransport, since prices are so good at the moment, and I had fallen in love with the overall shape of the car having grown up around a family members 3200 gt. Recently however I am leaning towards a Quattroporte.
This would replace my sort of daily driver BMW 640d which has turned out to be not so much of a daily driver, and is in fact a bit of a waste given its diesel and I rarely use it to commute to work. I am also still considering the same of the P1 Impreza since prices are very strong at the moment, hopefully making a nice return on what I paid for it.
So .. the Quattroporte would in theory replace both cars, giving me something special to drive at the weekends, but also usable enough for the occasional work commute and weekend away. The rear legroom in the 640 has become a nightmare and are in fact completely unusable for anybody over the age of 10 for any prolonged periods of time. I know the Granturismo would seem like a logical replacement but the lure of a four door saloon with the flair and soundtrack of a sportscar has me hooked.
Obviously the 4.7 Sport GTS is the holy grail, and would be the perfect car for me, but prices still seem to be strong and they seem very hard to find. Car imports in Ireland come with extortionate fees, often times higher than the value of the car being purchased and calculated supposedly using a combination of 33% of the open market selling price in Ireland and the emissions. It is a closed system whereby you cannot get a quote before presenting the car for import registration, so in theory the charge could be anything.
Therefore, a better value option may well be a 4.7 s or alternatively a 4.2 with the ZF Gearbox in Sport GT guise so I am keen to hear everyone's opinions ?
Also, what are the main areas on the 2007 + model quattroportes to look out for ? I have heard subframes and variators can be problematic but not specifically what to look out for so any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Looking forward to hopefully joining the Maserati community in the near future .
Thanks in advance,
Mark
