ScottH
Member
- Messages
- 221
Hello! I've been lurking in the shadows for a while and strangely enough didn't discover this place until after parting ways with the trident.. albeit significantly earlier than planned.
Short history - it seems I cannot keep a nice car for longer than six months without something untoward happening.
The first being a Ghibli S, white with red interior (apologies for the lack of Italian nomenclature!) which wouldn't have been my first choice but on taking it for a test drive was smitten. Six months into ownership on a dreary morning drive into work I accelerated too haard (profanity filter is a bit keen!) on a less than ideal road and the back end kicked out, I don't know what happened next but can only assume that I hit my head on the window and blacked out for a few seconds. Those few seconds (with right foot planted) were enough to get up to some speed and onto the wrong side of the road, I came to as a parked lorry brought the car to a stop... Just to make sure it was a write off the car caught fire almost immediately. The multitude of airbags did their jobs and I walked away unscathed, work were delighted I blocked the only route in for several hours...
The following day I was picking up a spaniel (Bertie) so it made sense that the replacement car was a "sensible" dog car, in comes the RS4. I know it's doesn't have any of the character of an Italian but it's a big V8 and fits a dog crate in the boot, although Bertie spends most of his time on a bed in the passenger footwell, all wheel drive was a factor too.
Six months into ownership of the RS4 early one morning (strangely both Tuesday mornings) my front door was kicked in and a group of lads greeted me with baseball bats & hammers. The car had plenty of security but not so much on the house.. The car has a Ghost immobiliser so there was a conversation of sorts before they could leave... long story short the car is gone, dog unharmed and I got to spend the day in A&E but essentially fine. The car was recovered within half an hour, having been dumped in a cul-de-sac with the electronics all torn out (looking for the tracker presumably) to the point that the car doesn't start or do anything at all. It turns out German cars have their own electrical gremlins because it took the garage (insurer's approved...) 2-3 months to fix it. Eventually car returned in better condition than when it left.
I'm lucky to have walked away from both incidents, the second one certainly isn't going to dictate any future plans. Ironically I was already looking to move to a house with a bigger garage (ie one that actually fits a modern car...) but for winter rather than security!
That was a while ago now; still have the RS4, Bertie is still a loon and more recently moved from the Birmingham area to Oxford area which whilst it has many perks finding a house with a decent sized garage is proving more difficult!
As I'm sure you can understand something about the brand stays with you and I knew another Maserati would feature in the future. That time is nearing, lockdown only increasing the autotrader browsing.. however I go back and forth with which model it might be. My current commute is ~400 miles a week and the work car park is underground so ground clearance becomes an issue, thankfully working from home has increased and it's not a commute I intend to keep too much longer. I've always liked saloons and so the Quattroporte ends up at the top of the list most days, particularly today when a Sport GTS appears, albeit lacking history. I gather GTs can be well suited with daily duties, achingly beautiful but how's the ground clearance? I worry about scrapes, particularly multi storey car parks / speed bumps.
Anyway, it's a bit of a "watch this space" post and I wanted to finally introduce myself.
i
Short history - it seems I cannot keep a nice car for longer than six months without something untoward happening.
The first being a Ghibli S, white with red interior (apologies for the lack of Italian nomenclature!) which wouldn't have been my first choice but on taking it for a test drive was smitten. Six months into ownership on a dreary morning drive into work I accelerated too haard (profanity filter is a bit keen!) on a less than ideal road and the back end kicked out, I don't know what happened next but can only assume that I hit my head on the window and blacked out for a few seconds. Those few seconds (with right foot planted) were enough to get up to some speed and onto the wrong side of the road, I came to as a parked lorry brought the car to a stop... Just to make sure it was a write off the car caught fire almost immediately. The multitude of airbags did their jobs and I walked away unscathed, work were delighted I blocked the only route in for several hours...
The following day I was picking up a spaniel (Bertie) so it made sense that the replacement car was a "sensible" dog car, in comes the RS4. I know it's doesn't have any of the character of an Italian but it's a big V8 and fits a dog crate in the boot, although Bertie spends most of his time on a bed in the passenger footwell, all wheel drive was a factor too.
Six months into ownership of the RS4 early one morning (strangely both Tuesday mornings) my front door was kicked in and a group of lads greeted me with baseball bats & hammers. The car had plenty of security but not so much on the house.. The car has a Ghost immobiliser so there was a conversation of sorts before they could leave... long story short the car is gone, dog unharmed and I got to spend the day in A&E but essentially fine. The car was recovered within half an hour, having been dumped in a cul-de-sac with the electronics all torn out (looking for the tracker presumably) to the point that the car doesn't start or do anything at all. It turns out German cars have their own electrical gremlins because it took the garage (insurer's approved...) 2-3 months to fix it. Eventually car returned in better condition than when it left.
I'm lucky to have walked away from both incidents, the second one certainly isn't going to dictate any future plans. Ironically I was already looking to move to a house with a bigger garage (ie one that actually fits a modern car...) but for winter rather than security!
That was a while ago now; still have the RS4, Bertie is still a loon and more recently moved from the Birmingham area to Oxford area which whilst it has many perks finding a house with a decent sized garage is proving more difficult!
As I'm sure you can understand something about the brand stays with you and I knew another Maserati would feature in the future. That time is nearing, lockdown only increasing the autotrader browsing.. however I go back and forth with which model it might be. My current commute is ~400 miles a week and the work car park is underground so ground clearance becomes an issue, thankfully working from home has increased and it's not a commute I intend to keep too much longer. I've always liked saloons and so the Quattroporte ends up at the top of the list most days, particularly today when a Sport GTS appears, albeit lacking history. I gather GTs can be well suited with daily duties, achingly beautiful but how's the ground clearance? I worry about scrapes, particularly multi storey car parks / speed bumps.
Anyway, it's a bit of a "watch this space" post and I wanted to finally introduce myself.
i