Hi folks, I'm looking at possibly buying a Granturismo-S later this year (first Italian car) and have a couple of questions for you Maserati owners in Melbourne 1) Firstly I assume that everyone deals with Zagame in Richmond. It's a scary thing being tied to the one dealership with no choice to go elsewhere so I'm wondering how people find them in general for treating their customers well and especially when things go wrong. I currently have two cars - a Lexus 4WD and a 5.5L Merc CLK 500. I found Lexus to be fantastic and Mercedes not so much. Mercedes come across as "it's an honour for you to have us as your dealer" whereas at Lexus it's an honour for them to have you as a customer. With the ridiculous prices we pay in OZ - I've been told to expect $360k on the road - they should be walking over hot coals to keep you happy. 2) I see that 360C has a very nice Granturismo already - very nice !! I wonder if any TALL Granturismo owners (6ft+) can tell me anything about their driving experience. As part of my research on the GT-S I went and had a sit in a Granturismo at Zagame and , low and behold (as I was fearing) the seats don't go back far enough to be comfortable - in order to rest my foot on the accelerator without getting throttle I have to pull my toes towards me = aching legs.........the thought of having to pass on this car because Maserati haven't considered anyone above 6 foot makes me feel sick. The Maserati dealer has advised that they can't do anything about it in their workshop. The did say that each July there are updates made in various areas so hopefully adding an inch or two to the seat tracks is something they can look at. The dealer did admit that although the Granturismo is selling well , he has had 4-5 people pass on it due to the lack of legroom for the driver. We're not talking giants here either - I'm around 6'1". 90% of the reviews mention that the Granturismo/Granturismo-S seats are hard and not very comfortable. I also have my doubts about the comfort of the seat backs. Unlike 99% of sports seats I've seen that hug you at the sides but leave the area around your upper back alone , the Granturismo-S (as also mentioned in July Top Gear mag) has the padding running across the top at your shoulder blades. Taller people are likely to find this very uncomfortable. Anyone have any thoughts?? 3) 360C mentioned in one of his posts that he felt the car was best suited to a slushbox tranny. I tend to agree and that suits me best coming from my Merc V8 but if I'm going to upgrade from the Merc and pay more than double for an engine with less low down torque I'll be wanting the styling and the extra power/exhaust system to keep my ears happy I will enquire as to whether there's a chance of Maserati releasing a GT-S with auto but I doubt it. From what I gather the Auto mode on the GT-S isn't too bad - I'd like to be able to use that in traffic and the paddles on the open road. I'll stll have extra costs with clutch replacement etc.........ofcourse. I appreciate anyones thoughts. I've compiled pretty much every internet review on this car and have a few mags on the way from overseas with reviews but in the end I won't be buying if I can't sit in the thing comfortably or the dealer is a shocker. As far as the seats go I'm also looking around for people that can retrofit/modify seats tracks etc........if Maserati won't help me. I really want this car . Ed
welcome to f-chat. the only person i know owns a GT is 360C, and based on his experience with the car. I'd stay away. but like i previously said, if Maserati can fix the issues once and for all, its a sweet thing.
can-worms-open i'm 6'1" and have driven 360C's GT. i didn't find a problem. actually he's 6' and drives with the seat even further back that I do...so depends a bit on your driving style/position, i'm assuming. i found the back seat quite good, but i wasn't there for long. zagames....boy...wait til 360C logs on! others have bought cars interstate btw, so i'm not sure it's a major issue, even though it probably is a major pain in the arse. would be good if the maserati/ferrari/alfa/fiat dealer was as accommodating as the lexus dealers, but i doubt that's ever going to happen.
Is this GT-S a sports model or something? Wouldn't of thought they'd release a sports model considering it's a GT.
i was told that they deliberately have this snobby attitude just to get a better brand image and demand
no chance.... although PP did throw me the keys to his scouter friday night. i'm not too sure what that meant.... Oh and he gave me $1 for petrol this week........ PP Love is strong!!
So far I've only met two Gran Turismo owners - and both had a slew of problems with the car right from the start. Beautiful machine though - one of the best looking things out there at the moment, not a "fun" car though. http://aussieexotics.com/2008/05/27/maserati-granturismo
Thanks Ash and everyone - I was hoping the "fun" might come in with the "S". I'm really just after a GT sporty coupe , not a true sports car. And to think I was worried about the increased potential for things to go wrong with a manual -- turns out the "safe" base auto model isn't the big step forward in reliability I expected. That's the danger with reading reviews/first drives etc isn't it? It can take a while for the gremlins to appear. I spent a few hours last night tracking down 360c's posts on the subject with various searches ( he has too many posts to just read them all) and I think I've found most of the relevant ones. Very sorry to read of his experiences but I thank him for posting because it may have saved me from a $360k lemon (and trading in my reliable CLK500). At the very least I think I might wait to here the results of long term tests/customer reviews on the GT-s before ordering, I'm still interested in anyone elses experiences and keen to hear from any Melbournians who have bought internstate. I'm very much on my guard now though. Big, big shame as this is the only design on the road that really "does it" for me......doesn't matter whether you're talking Ferrari, Lambo,Aston etc....... My second choice would be a DB9, DBS but I don't like the design as much and the back seats are useless. If I decide to pass on the Maser I can certainly take my time now - I was just in a rush with this cos the lines got me hook,line and sinker. Might wait and see what the 4dr Aston Rapide performs like. Cheers, Ed
Hello VanHalen. Perhaps wait and pick up a second hand Maser GT that has had all the bugs sorted out? If you wait 12 months, you should be able to pick up a nice car and you didnt cop the big hit of new car ownership outright. Hell, it may take years to sort out the bugs in these cars, I dunno know? But normally cars are sorted within the first 12 months from the dealer.............normally.
The DB9 is rubbish (don't listen to JC!). Although I believe they fixed the steering issues of the DB9 in the DBS - but I haven't driven one to confirm it.
Your choice of course, but i got a big rap for the Bentley Cont. GT, around the sort of money your talking Ciao M
Thanks Bestia - not a fan of the Bentley looks I'm afraid . Still too much of a limo/barge for my liking and strikes me as a car for an older age bracket than where I'm at (just nudging mid 30's). I realise many of these cars might be judged similarly but to me the Maser (and Aston to a lesser extent) have an attitude about them that does something for me that Bentleys don't. I just can't manage to like the XKR either no matter how I try. The more I think about it the more I'm leaning towards hanging on to the CLK and wait until Maserati sort themselves and this model out. I may also wait til my next house is built with 4 car garage so I can keep the Merc rather then trading it in - don't want to be without a car if the Maser is a lemon. Once that happens I just need to figure out whether to risk buying it from the one and only dealer in the state that gave 360c so much trouble. Dealers trying to avoid obvious warranty issues via technicalities on cars of this price makes my blood boil. I'd still be interested to hear of how other Aussie Maserati owners have gone interstate (or Melbournians who have bought interstate.) Cheers, Ed
Need to wait for 360C to post He had some problems pre delivery and post delivery. Its scattered all over the place need to search for it. http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showpost.php?p=137610000&postcount=49 http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showpost.php?p=137773549&postcount=5099 That is a start till he posts. Looking at the GT-S pics the sills/sideskirts looks different so maybe that fixes the wave issue.
Oh yeah - I can find the contact details for the guy here in Adelaide I met too. He didn't seem like a forum-savvy kinda guy, but was keen to chat on email with other GT owners. http://aussieexotics.com/forum/cars/maserati-gran-turismo-quality-issues-t1542.0.html
It's no secret that my GT has been a disaster from the day it was ordered 2/3rds of the way through 2007. I have not posted in this thread as I am picking the car up this Saturday after the complete pedal box has been replaced. As it has been the same problem for 6000 km's, I wanted to check that it is resolved before venting unnecessarily as Zagames and Maserati Australia have genuinely worked to sort it out for good. As mentioned in previous posts, I cancelled a 4200 Coupe order that I had because of question marks on reliability and service as a result of problems with my new 360 Modena. When the GT was shown at Geneva, I decided it was perfect for the daily driver/4 seater luxury GT role that I was looking to fill. I have a friend who has had 3 QP's without any issues and know of several others who had no major issues with theirs. I know of one F-Chat member who had enough problems to dump his QP. Overall, I thought that was a pretty good indication of reliability, so I took the plunge. This is a quick summary of the sequence of dramas that followed: Car was ordered in about September 2007 with projected delivery in late November, early December initially. Mine was going to be the 3rd car into the dealership and the price reflected the early delivery. The first problem happened when my spec that I had chosen and paid deposit on was suddenly unavailable and I had to respec the whole thing. I sold my BMW M3 CSL privately in early December based on the ETA of the GT. This left me without a daily driver which should have been no problem for a week or so. Unfortunately I lost my production slot due to the respec which shouldn't have happened in the first place as my spec was available and confirmed when I paid the full 10% deposit. So now the ETA was early January 2008 and I had to plead to get a loan car to see me through. Two weeks later I had to give it back and I was begging and borrowing friends cars to get by for a month. It was agreed that my car would be flown out at no cost to me due to the delays and problems. In mid January I was told that my car had been delivered to the airport and should be at the dealers ready to go within a week. Weeks went by and nobody knew or would admit to what was going on. By early February I was told that the car had been damaged at the airport and Maserati Italy had been fighting with the freight company about who was going to pay for repairs. The car sat while they fought rather than fix it and argue later! They kept Maserati Australia in the dark the whole time apparently. BTW, the damage was minor when somebody scratched the roof. So the car went back to the factory for repairs and I was loaned a 4200 coupe by Zagames until my car turned up. I was also given a discount as compensation- they had now delivered maybe 15 cars through the dealer. I was offered a choice of other GT's in various specs if I did not wat my original car because of the minor damage. In the end I stayed with my car and it finally turned up about the 10th March and I had put about 2500 km's on an almost new 4200 Coupe. So Zagames and possibly Maserati Australia copped the cost of that, the discount and the air freight bill for the GT. So it wasn't a pain free experience for anyone to be fair. When I went to the service centre to view the GT, I immediately noticed that it lacked the correct "ball polished" wheels option that I chose. Apparently that and front parking sensors were deleted by the factory; but they didn't bother to tell anyone *sigh*. At this point I was just glad to finally have the bloody car!! The car was quickly pre delivered and the next (minor) problem was the heritage plates were not fitted properly. Not the end of the world; but pretty annoying just the same. All was fine for about 1000 km's until the electronic problems started as detailed in my most recent post. A quick recap- there is a plastic electric switch that is activated by the brake pedal. It broke, the brake lights came on permanently. This then played havoc with all the inter connected electronic systems such as ASR and active suspension as the car "thinks" that it is being driven with the brakes permanently applied. This sets off all sorts of warning lights on the dash and the ASR and active suspension cease to function. Bloody annoying to say the least. There were 2 attempts to fix the switch. The first was a "get you out of trouble" till a new switch arrives and it didn't last the journey home. The second was a new switch that broke within 197 km's. The 3rd and hopefully final fix is replacing the entire pedal box. It is apparently plastic and it flexes when the brakes are applied and twists and breaks the switch. I am about to find out if the problem is solved for good. I hope so because the car has been faulty for 6000 of the 7200 km's that I have done in it. I might add that I have also done as many km's in various loan cars as I have in my $320k Maserati.......... One final problem of note was the door trim was torn at the service centre, presumably on the hoist arm. I pointed it out to the dealer principle, the general manager and the service manager. I agreed to a plastic weld, rather than a whole new trim as it is under the door and out of sight. No point in being unreasonable; but to my great distress, nothing was done about it! I assume it will be sorted when I pick it up. Now all of this is a crying shame because the GT really is a gorgeous car that is beautifully suited to the daily driver role. It has looks to die for, all the toys and the interior quality is utterly superb. IT IS NOT A SPORTS CAR. If you are after a Maserati in the Gransport mode you will be very disappointed. The car is pushing 2000kg and occupies as much road as a BMW X5. I punted it around Tasmania and it was way out of it's depth in the Targa country. Putting a bigger engine with a piffling extra 40hp, a loud exhaust and a harsh F1 automated gear change won't change anything and may in fact be a step backwards. It is a great GT car and those mods may take away from what the car does best. Only a decent test drive will tell for sure; but that is my strong suspicion after 7000km's in the 4.2 ltr normal GT. I relay these experiences with the rider that I may well just have got a dud. They have delivered a lot of these things now and the people that I know have them seem perfectly happy. I have lost the love for mine well and truly and that's a shame. I have been investigating trading out of it and if it isn't fixed- it's history. There are discussions on the table so I won't comment further. One final point you raised- the seats. The initial review by George Karcher (sp) was widely reported and that's where I saw all the seat nonsense. He is something like 6 ft 5 and a BIG boy. I am 6 ft and I have the seat right back with no problems. Aircon is taller and he has the seat further forward than I do. The seats are not hard and unyielding at least to me. When we went to Tassie, I got out at the end of each drive day as fresh as a daisy. If you really find that they don't go back far enough, there is the possibility of re positioning the mounting holes in the rails to make the seat sit back further at the expense of rear seat room. You won't know if it can be done until you pull a seat out and investigate. Thats all for now, I will probably have moreto say when I pick my car up on Saturday.
Wow. Some might pass it off as "just got a lemon", but cmon, when you drop the coin either the quality is there or it isn't, right? As for "sportiness" and our time in Tassie... I only spent about an hour in it, and yeah, most amazing quality car I've been in - talk about exuding style - but sporty... not in the slightest. FWIW I reckon it would be fantastic in the NT where you can really open it up and not worry about looking around 8-inch-thick a-pillars.
Sorry, you have been far to generous, you must love punishment? If it was my car it would have all been over long ago,,,,, On Saturday inform them that they can keep the car, see what they say, that would be priceless. I would want 1 of 4 things - 1/A brand new vehicle 2/A full and complete refund, together with compensation amount [to be agreed on] for being dicked about. 3/You keep your car and get a credit-note of at least $100,000 for future purchases of your choice. 4/Go on a 1st. class holiday with owner Bartolomeo's daughter, Rebecca Zagame, all expenses paid...lol Re # 2 lets see what u got against them: Goods purchased that are faulty or unsatisfactory services rendered [as per above] Misleading or deceptive conduct, false representation and unconscionable conduct [false promises and constant lies] Claims against professionals [lol for pretending to be "professionals" ] Here, get to it - www.vcat.vic.gov.au You have a very very strong case, they would get raped [and rightly so] Who the hell is George "Pressure-Washer/Wanker" Karcher? Another opinionated idiot jorno?Pass. Good luck buddy, frankly no luck, balls in your court, hit it for 6. Ciao M
i don't think a faulty brake light switch is going to achieve what you're suggesting, no matter how long it was broken for.
Hint.Hint "We have ways to make the car more of a dog" Although it's doing a pretty good job of it itself............ Ciao M
