Our cars are so slow it’s like living in a black and white world

[Carmico]

...that and the dodgy suspension the GTS has that make them feel strange on anything other than glass surfaces

i have the QP GTS , so same Fixed Single Dumping Setup Race as the Standard GTS (not Skyhook)

the ride feels strange, yes, very nervous, very bouncy, very harsh, you can feel everything on the road! and even on the steering, lot of vibrations, not Comfortable at all for some POV, but maybe is this FEELING that make the car very special to drive

to be honestly, i don't think you can feel the difference of 0-100 is 5 seconds or 4 seconds in normal sport drive situations , 450hp are plenty enough to get fun driving , if you want a Track Missile, these are not the Cars for that imho... but you can drive these cars daily with big smile trough the town! and make others people smile with you too

 

[Felonious Crud]

Ok let me ask a question. Let’s say the new coupe is out next year. Do people want a 460PS n/a V8 with a six speed ZF or a 560PS biturbo V8 with an eight speed ZF, same price?

What an excellent question, Bob. I'd like to hear them both first. I'd also like to know how they drive. I love that you have to wring the neck of a n/a car to get the best from it. It makes driving fast more of a conscious decision, if you see what I mean. Being flung towards the horizon at 2-3k rpm is wrong - catapult me into the future when I get round to 5k, not before. That said, I read that the new Fezza turbo engines drive like a n/a motor.

Oh, decisions, decisions!

 

[BennyD]

335d for the win.

Personally, I think the RS might just have the edge because it feels a bit smaller and a bit more nimble. However, that edge may increase slightly with the 100bhp increase I have planned for it.

 

[BennyD]

What an excellent question, Bob. I'd like to hear them both first. I'd also like to know how they drive. I love that you have to wring the neck of a n/a car to get the best from it. It makes driving fast more of a conscious decision, if you see what I mean. Being flung towards the horizon at 2-3k rpm is wrong - catapult me into the future when I get round to 5k, not before. That said, I read that the new Fezza turbo engines drive like a n/a motor.

That’s because the gearbox has a programmed performance curve, which limits torque in the lower gears,p to make it feel like a N/A motor. If you get the gearbox remapped you can have more torque in the lower gears, but it then starts to feel more ‘laggy’ because you get more of a surge when the blower spools up. However, it should accelerate even faster through the gears.

 

[BJL]

i have the QP GTS , so same Fixed Single Dumping Setup Race as the Standard GTS (not Skyhook)

the ride feels strange, yes, very nervous, very bouncy, very harsh, you can feel everything on the road! and even on the steering, lot of vibrations, not Comfortable at all for some POV, but maybe is this FEELING that make the car very special to drive

to be honestly, i don't think you can feel the difference of 0-100 is 5 seconds or 4 seconds in normal sport drive situations , 450hp are plenty enough to get fun driving , if you want a Track Missile, these are not the Cars for that imho... but you can drive these cars daily with big smile trough the town! and make others people smile with you too

Had my QPV Skyhook suspension completely removed by Maserati and replaced with QP GTS single rate set up. All new mounts etc and the factory wrote a new protocol to ensure no contamination with ECUs etc.
It was bouncy and jiggly but we found the recommended tyre pressures were too high and in Italy they run at 2bar all round. we also went up a profile with the tyres ie 295x35x20 rears and 245x40x20 fronts and the problem was solved. great ride and good grip. Obviously for track day you would pump them up a bit.

 

[Carmico]

Had my QPV Skyhook suspension completely removed by Maserati and replaced with QP GTS single rate set up. All new mounts etc and the factory wrote a new protocol to ensure no contamination with ECUs etc.
It was bouncy and jiggly but we found the recommended tyre pressures were too high and in Italy they run at 2bar all round. we also went up a profile with the tyres ie 295x35x20 rears and 245x40x20 fronts and the problem was solved. great ride and good grip. Obviously for track day you would pump them up a bit.

i tried 2.0 bar but feels so low and don't like the grip to be honestly, i am running 2.5 bar all-round (winter)

i guess problem are the tires, mine is default QP GTS that has 295x30x20 for rear, and 245x35x20 for front, with your setup for sure is better for daily , higher profile more comfort

ps. when you remove Skyhook, you change just the coilovers and ball joints, or all the suspension too? (the suspension and bushed i think, if i am not wrong, remains the same)

 

[BJL]

The whole Skyhook system came out, struts and coils. The top plate was reinforced and the hubs were replaced. There was nothing mechanically wrong with the skyhook system I just preferred the set up on the GTS after a track day with Maserati. Still got the old Skyhook set up all boxed up in storage.

 

[bigbob]

The whole Skyhook system came out, struts and coils. The top plate was reinforced and the hubs were replaced. There was nothing mechanically wrong with the skyhook system I just preferred the set up on the GTS after a track day with Maserati. Still got the old Skyhook set up all boxed up in storage.

We do have a habit of keeping these things in case they are needed. A decade back I had an MTM module fitted to my A8 to firm up and lower the suspension. It was very good and I had it removed when I sold the car. In another decade I will take it to the tip, of course unused since it was initially removed.

 

[Strad]

This is it for me. Looks, sound, feel even just driving in traffic through town (which is usually at least half of any journey I make) keeps me happy. A faster, but less special car wouldn't do that for me. It's the same reason, when I previously needed an estate, that I had the C63, not an RS4. RS4 would have been quicker in most weather in the real world, but wouldn't give me that kick on start up, or rumbling through traffic.

100% agree. I had a C63 Estate and choose it over the RS4 for all the same reasons, should never have sold it........

 

[bigbob]

100% agree. I had a C63 Estate and choose it over the RS4 for all the same reasons, should never have sold it........

I was out in Mrs BB's Golf R the other day and a C63 was holding me up - could not get the power down.

 

[BennyD]

I looked hard at the Golf R and AMG 45 before I decided on the TT RS. The other two were 4 pots which always sound like a 4 pot whatever exhaust you put on them, whereas the RS has the Audi 5 banger which sounds similar to the R8 V10, or half of one! With the optional sports exhaust it sounds lovely, and really quite loud for a production car.

 

[bigbob]

I looked hard at the Golf R and AMG 45 before I decided on the TT RS. The other two were 4 pots which always sound like a 4 pot whatever exhaust you put on them, whereas the RS has the Audi 5 banger which sounds similar to the R8 V10, or half of one! With the optional sports exhaust it sounds lovely, and really quite loud for a production car.

Yep the five pot would be a great engine. We have an early mark II TT 3.2 Roadster as a sunny day car. It's not really that fast these days but it's fun. Mind you are aware of the car being very light at the back.

 

[BennyD]

The latest RSs are an absolute quantum leap over the mk1s. Just about everything has been hugely improved, especially the performance. A factory wuoted 0-60 in 3.7 is Supercar performance; throw in a stage 1 and a gearbox map and you are looking at about 3 secs.

 

[Dan!]

That's nearly Lotus performance

 

[Strad]

I was out in Mrs BB's Golf R the other day and a C63 was holding me up - could not get the power down.

That sounds familiar! I found that C63 trait just hilarious, I remember when I first got the AMG a Fiesta 1.0L type blew me away off the traffic lights on a wet morning. Not a car to plant your foot to the floor in anything but perfect road conditions but that also meant loads of fun once you worked out just how loose that tail end could easily get at relatively safe speeds. Bags of character and noise which is exactly why a Maser had to be the next car.
M.

 

[dunnah01]

Popped into one of our contractors offices the other day in my £6k QPV - car park full of 100+ Range Rovers, Mercs, BMs, Audis etc blah blah all nearly brand new on PCP. By the time I'd signed in at reception and got to the first floor to beat them up about some contract bo**ox half the office were green with envy and at the window muttering about the Maserati that had just arrived in the car park..
Combine that with rev matching in sport mode on downshifts and you get where I'm coming from.

 

[rockits]

The latest RSs are an absolute quantum leap over the mk1s. Just about everything has been hugely improved, especially the performance. A factory wuoted 0-60 in 3.7 is Supercar performance; throw in a stage 1 and a gearbox map and you are looking at about 3 secs.

I should hope so for circa 40k!

 

[slay]

Ok let me ask a question. Let’s say the new coupe is out next year. Do people want a 460PS n/a V8 with a six speed ZF or a 560PS biturbo V8 with an eight speed ZF, same price?

Still comes down to how the car makes you feel I guess. You could probably spend 15K and get yourself one of the V8 AMG variety and it would definitely outperform the GT, but why are we all still spending more to buy a GT? Obviously the horse power is not the only consideration.

Interesting proposition though - would the Granturismo character change with a 3.8L biturbo V8 in it?

 

[rockits]

Yup, I think so. Even all the die hard 911 and Fezza fans if they are honest prefer the older N/A stuff I bet. I've read and seen lots of jouno's starting to say similar things. Also we need lighter cars.

All the safety stuff is adding weight and increasing emissions or just offsetting the savings we made with modern engines. I bet my GTi-6 is no worse and likely better than a new hot hatch for saving the planet. Stop keep producing more and more new cars and use the old ones that we mined the sh1t out of mother earth for.

We all know that sometimes old is good!

What is ironic is all this new age turbo mullarky and smaller engines are to help reduce global emissions. For the first time in 4 years emissions have increased!

We need to cut emissions by at least half.....HALF. Obviously motor vehicles aren't making a difference so can we have our N/A's back now

 

[midlifecrisis]

Popped into one of our contractors offices the other day in my £6k QPV - car park full of 100+ Range Rovers, Mercs, BMs, Audis etc blah blah all nearly brand new on PCP. By the time I'd signed in at reception and got to the first floor to beat them up about some contract bo**ox half the office were green with envy and at the window muttering about the Maserati that had just arrived in the car park..
Combine that with rev matching in sport mode on downshifts and you get where I'm coming from.

Often get that reaction from air traffic controllers who earn megabucks driving German panzerkampfwagens when I pop along in my Italian mistress...