New Member

[kentoldster]

At long last I made the plunge and went for a Maserati. Acquired an '08 plate GT on 10,300 miles and it came with a great special offer - a free smile every time I fire the engine up! My previous car was an BMW M5 Touring - brutally quick, huge load capacity, high tech and immensely reliable, but critically - no soul. Two pics attached.

 

[reservoirfrog]

welcome aboard, love your car.
not only will it put a smile on your face it will put a smile on other peoples faces too.
be prepared to be a public attraction. in fact you should be able to apply for a rebate on your council tax just for enhancing your local area by providing the public with this wonderful ammenity.

 

[mowlas]

Many congratulations on your fanatastic acquisition! She looks wonderful and very, very clean.

Welcome to the forum.

 

[GhostyDog]

oh my, very nice choice of colour too, dark blue with a very pale cream does look incredibly nice.

Welcome to the party

 

[Parisien]

Superb..............nice to see you and the GT on forum....do stay and enjoy!


P

 

[conaero]

Ken, very nice and welcome aboard. Can you tell me, it is the 4.2 yes? How do you find the power and the brakes. They have been critisised due to the weight of the thing, and it would be great to hear it from the 'Horses Mouth' so to speak.

Alot of us on here running 4200 and GS are looking to make the step up and would appreciate your honesty.

We have lots of forum events, local ones, Ace Cafe, trips to France, make sure you try one of these, they are amazing fun.

 

[kentoldster]

Having come from an M5 I perhaps have a rather biased starting point! However - power is not an issue, albeit it does not push your eyes through their sockets. Power build up is smooth and progressive (M5 sprang into true action only above 5000 rpm). I dont feel "under gunned" at all and the character of the power perfectly suits the true concept of a grand tourer. Some have said that the "S" is better, well at least more power and noise, but for me the straight GT is absolutely fine, if i wanted to really rip the tarmac up I would have chosen something different. Auto box is very sweet and handles the changes smoothly with little lag or jerk - manual selection is excellent imho though no exhaust growling on over run (yet!)

Brakes are not as keen or sharp as the M5, smoothly progressive but a little soft feeling with longish travel. I dont have any issue pulling up where I want (so far!) but it took a few miles and trial emergency stops to feel 100% confident in them compared to the "glue you to the spot" impact of the BMW brakes. My passengers prefer the GT braking as they dont end up gulping for air on braking Not tried any serious wet weather work yet so that is a joy yet to discover!

Hope that helps, but any more info - just let me know

 

[GransportFan1]

Superb car and welcome to the forum, enjoy your stay.

 

[Dan!]

Very nice, I liked the light colour interior in my first GT, bizarly it seems that it's easier to keep clean and free of marks than the black interior of my new one.
As mentioned by Conaero above, I was critical of the brakes on the 4.2, but it may well have been reflected by my driving style as when I took it back to complain I had highlighted a point that the technicians had not come across before.
Non the less, a lovely car. Look forward to traffic jams and people taking photos and vids of you (well, the car really).
Looking forward to seeing it in the metal at a meet sometime.

 

[kentoldster]

Dan, I take your point on the traffic jams - got stuck in Trafalgar Square the other day - I think that over 6 people took pics. Most amusing was pulling out of my drive - from behind came a truly professional loud wolf whistle - I turned my head to see a very attractive girl of late 20's staring - instant reality check arrived with her comment - "sorry, but I meant the car, not you" - trust me, at over 55 and with my daughter on board I was under few illusions as to her target - but it gave a good smile to all !

 

[Emtee]

Hi Kentoldster and a warm welcome. I wonder.. are you a Kent resident of maturing vintage, or Mrs and Mrs Toldsters fine son Kenneth? Hope you find the forum helpful and fun and congratulations on your lovely GT. If there is one thing our Italian friends do better than anyone, it's cars with soul and charisma (well they're pretty good at organized crime as well, but we'll gloss over that one).

 

[Andyk]

Hi Ken and welcome to the forum...Great car you have there....really good to see another GT on the forum. I know what you mean about the E60 M5 it si a great car and fast but souless which I why I ended up buying an E39 M5 as it was far more involving.

 

[Easyplan66]

Ken,
love the car, just what I would want next but as I only got my first maserati in the last few weeks I think it may be a while yet. I have found the forum a great place to get advice. Hopefully see you at one of the meets.
PS the smiling never stops.......

 

[Dan!]

By the way, i have a spare front wheel if ever you need one. It's a different colour but the same design, only 60 quid to get repainted - yours for 12 bottles of wine, which is pretty reasonable compared to the £800 that they are for a new one!

 

[Woody]

Dan, I take your point on the traffic jams - got stuck in Trafalgar Square the other day - I think that over 6 people took pics. Most amusing was pulling out of my drive - from behind came a truly professional loud wolf whistle - I turned my head to see a very attractive girl of late 20's staring - instant reality check arrived with her comment - "sorry, but I meant the car, not you" - trust me, at over 55 and with my daughter on board I was under few illusions as to her target - but it gave a good smile to all !

haha....brilliant! Harsh of her mind, but brillaint story for you.

Welcome to the forum. Lovely car, great colour combo. Enjoy in good health.

 

[conaero]

Thanks Ken for the update, well received.

 

[dem maser]

you mean the new m5 touring, i like that but cant compete with the maser for feeling good

 

[ENZ525]

A very belated welcome from me kentoldster,
hope you enjoy your new car for a long time,
Regards,
Enzo.

 

[Torenno Performance]

Welcome to the forum and congrats on the new car.

Thanks

noor