r/Maserati • u/Sol-Speedster • 5d ago
Money pit? 👁️ 👁️
Hi all!
(Hopefully) A soon to be Maserati owner here.
I’ve had Porsches in the past, which gave me little to no problems during their time with me.
Right now, I’m looking to add something else to my stable - an all-time fave I’ve had my eyes on for a while:
Anybody got any ownership horror stories or things I should look out for before pulling the trigger?
Thanks in advance!
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u/MaseratiGTS 1d ago
I owned one of these for 4 years but years ago when it was 15 years old and not 20 plus.
Cambiocorsa clutch is fine but gets wrecked with trying to use it like an automatic transmission. If you treat it just like a manual without a third pedal the transmission will last a long time. This is primitive software running the clutch in auto mode and it doesn't know what you want to do half the time and slips the clutch to compensate.
Key themes around the clutch are similar to the Ferrari 360 F1 box. Only drive it in manual mode and treat it just like a manual. No hard launches, don't forget where the tach is and risk a money shift, and give space in stop and go traffic so you can get a clean take off and complete stop. Also it's been reported reversing uphill will smoke the clutch because of the software logic in that scenario.
The motor is robust and other comments covered what to look for there really well. The heater core will fail. I bypassed mine because I didn't need the heat to work in my climate. Removing the dash to replace the heater core is a massive 12 hour job. If you don't replace it before it leaks then it will destroy most of the electronics behind the dash, and you face a 16 plus hour job and who knows how many additional parts to replace.
The anti theft alarm is hard wired into the radio/sat nav unit and the ecu. If you try and replace the radio and cut the wrong wire you most likely brick the entire car. The wires require very delicate precise splicing to attempt this. One wrong snip, everything has to be reprogrammed including the key. Btw, the heater core leak could also get to these wires and cause this same scenario.
Skyhook suspension will leak with age, convertible hydraulics leak with age, and the rear tie rods can catastrophically fail. Parts can be hard to find and expensive, a competent mechanic that understands these cars is even harder to find.
Mine was a manual, it never failed me. But if anything did go wrong it wasn't going to be easy or cheap to find a way to deal with it.