Maserati planning to offer more highly depreciating products

*One of the great Maserati moments pictured above ;)

OK, we're being wiseguys but answer us this...

Is there ANY Maserati made that is worth ANYTHING four years after its introduction or beyond?

NOT!

Yes, there are some sexy things about them but their reliability sucks and their dealers are mostly shiesters.

Even at the corporate level their executives and employees are by far the most arrogant jerks you could ever meet.

And what do they have to be arrogant about?

I'll tell you.

NOTHING!

Their cars have excellent performance and some look sexy but for for the most part, their entire product line is irrelevant in every market they compete in.

And if you've ever owned one, you know the only way to experience a higher level of depreciation is to buy a boat!

Here's the full article about their expansion plans:

Italian sports and luxury car manufacturer Maserati could start to diversify in the next couple of years, and may even consider diesel power.

The company currently produces sports coupes and roadsters, and the high-performance Quattroporte saloon sold almost 5700 cars last year. Maserati is on course to hit its target of between 8000 and 9000 cars a year through steady growth.

Chief executive Karl-Heinz Kalbfell says the company would then consider new cars to introduce, such as the Kubang 4x4 displayed at the Detroit Motor Show in 2003.

Full article here

atomicbri - 3/25/2006 10:04:52 PM

+1 Boost

Maserati used to make nice cars back in the day, they were exotic and elegant, but somewhere near the 80's they seemed to have lost their way. The Biturbo was not that elegant and was a nightmare to fix. Not sure about the new ones quality, I thought maybe some good things would come when Ferarri was helping them out, but that has come to an end now....Let's see what Alfa can do with it.

One example:[img}http://maseratinet.com/IMAGES/Vignale_Front.jpeg">

and another

nielsera1 - 3/26/2006 10:34:27 PM

+1 Boost

I have 04 mb, 06 lexus and 06 maseratti. They all require the about the same amount of service. The cars have more features need computer input and the failure rate seems about the same on the sensors.

Bottom line no features no problems... start adding computer controlled: climate zones, adapative transmissions, performance motors, blah blah blah.....
you start having computer problems.

bmw, is the same.

DiamondJim - 3/27/2006 9:19:45 PM

+1 Boost

I love readng stuff like this, this is when you shine 001.....

aussie2u - 3/31/2006 9:56:38 AM

0 Boost

I owned a Maserati and a bayliner. I think you've insulted the boat!

The Maserati Biturbo looked great on paper. Twin turbocharged V6 with sexy italian leather piping and a big gold clock on the dash. What a pile of crap!!!

They set the car up to have the turbo's put pressure BEFORE the induction (1986 carburetion). Do you know what happens when a carburetor or gasket suddenly spings a leak under boost?

Know what happens when you have a tremendous amount of boost heat around the fuel intake? Fuel soak! After riding in this thing for over 10 -15 minutes and shutting it off, you would have to crank it for 30-45 seconds to get it primed again! The battery and starter never lasted due to the extreme crank times placed on it. Not to mention the embarassment placed on the owner when people would walk over and ask if you needed help...

"Tropic Kit". This is the name someone invented for a package that allowed the car to be driven in temperatures over 75 degrees without overheating. It was a patch they came out with a year or two after the car launch and charged customers $3500 to install.

Was it too much to ask of them to make gaskets with all the proper holes punched out properly? Seems that one of the cylinders (forget which one) was getting insufficient oiling due to a head gasket that had some oil return opening plugged!!! This was in a service bulleting somewhere but of course owners only learned of it after the piston froze, which of course snapped the timing belt which caused the valves to collide with the pistons! Total engine rebuild.

How about a water pump that can get sufficient lubrication? After the engine rebuild, a short time later the water pump froze. Yep, you guessed it - timing belt snapped and valves went into pistons again. This time was at speed so connecting rods needed replacing too!

Oh, and get this. Simply changing the oil in the Maserati should be easy, right? Hah! They installed the oil filter about 2 inches behind the radiator in a horizontal fashion so you had to partially drop the radiator to change the oil in this car!

After just 15k miles and two engine rebuilds, it was enough and I sold the freaking piece of crap for peanuts on the dollar.

A boat, any boat for that matter, is a better investment than a Maserati!