Pictures of my 3200

Today I had a meeting in a villa and parked my car right in front of the house. When I returned to my car I realized how well the villa compliments my Maserati. So I took some pictures with my iPhone. Sorry for the low quality and the dirty car but I thought other might like these pictures.

Markus
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Very nice car!
What are your experiences with the 3200GT?

 

Very beautiful! Those boomerangs are simply art!

 

Gabriel – Thank you! I bought the car in 2002 with 7 000 km. It was my daily driver for four years until I sold the car in 2006 with 70 000 km. About every 10 000 km I had to visit the shop because of some problems (clutch throw out bearing or something similar, e-gas potentiometer, several slow down lights etc.). I was never stranded but since I owned my 3200 I know the shop foreman and the techs quite well…

This was the reason I traded my 3200 in for a 4200 which I also drove four years and about 60 000 km. I never loved my 4200 and thus sold it and bought a Ferrari 575M.

Fast forward. Six years later after I sold my 3200 it was still at the dealer and I bought it back. The car was sitting at the dealer for 6 years and they did less than 1000 km or so with the car. I always loved my 3200 and bought it back last summer (see here for the whole story: http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/456-550-575/379485-should-i-add-maser-3200-my-575m.html).

The 4200 is a much more reliable car but I never loved it while the 3200 is a much inferior car from a technical stand point but it has much more charisma IMHO.

I know that there will be a slow down light or something else sooner or later and I am prepared to spend some more money into the car, but it is such a special car to me!

PS: The car had been driven by Michael Schumacher and this makes it even more special.

Markus

 

Funny how some people get attached to some machines [in theis case cars] even though they may not be technically as up to date as some of the more current offerings. I do know! That's the way I like it!!

Beautiful car!!! You were fortunate, you did the right thing. Drive and enjoy!

Ciao,
George

 

I always felt the "hockey stick" rear lights were the best. Maserati was way ahead of it's time with them as they were copied by many others later.

It's a pity they changed the rear lights when entering the American market.

Beautiful car! I have it's American topless cousin.

 

I never understood why they didn't keep the boomerangs for the other markets.

It is common to have variations of the cars based on their target continent/country. For example, the Merak 2000 was something created and sold in Italy for tax reasons. American versions of many Maserati models came with all sorts of differences (exhaust, bumpers, etc). Even special versions for the UAE exist for extra cooling and protection from the sand.

So why not keep the boomerangs for everybody, except the US market? Was that not financially possible?

I'd be interested to know what happened...

 

Good question! But it seems that Sig. L.d. M did not like it! The official statement of Maserati S.p.A. that the Americans did not like it is and was pure BS!

 

At the time I heard is was because of the results obtained from focus groups held here???
Maybe fucus is a more apt description. Those tail light looked as though they were pasted on from the Honda Prelude IMHO.

That car had a very long gestation period and frankly looked stale by the time it arrived with the Jag and Aston arriving first and looking sexier but very similar. But at least the 3200GT had a usable back seat!

There was a website at one time where Ital Design showed some of the alternative ideas for the car. I think you could even make changes yourself online too! The design got homogenized in appearance once it reached production.

It's interesting to hear from an owner of both the 3200GT and 4200GT that he prefers the personality of the former and bought his old car back.

What, specifically, were the biggest differences in "reliability" between the two?

Interesting that Maserati is now returning to the biturbo engine configuration though I imagine the control systems will be vastly more sophisticated than the old Saab with a Weber-Marelli update system that they stuck with for all those years.

 

Hi I love the car. And the lights are the best feature - so surprised they went with Honda lights on the next iteration. My only issue with the looks is the ones I have seen seem to have a pinched in front end. Yours looks good so maybe it is different with the covered lights. I was looking for one in the UK but it does seem to be a huge repair cost headache.

 

I was told the boomerang lights were not allowed in the US (they had to emit more light or something like that). Anyway, the missing boomerangs were not the reason I did not like my 4200. I should have bought a Gransport with a faster gearbox (Cambiocorsa) better suspension and all in all a sportier setup of the car. For me the 4200 had no soul and it was a kind of a 911 and not a Maserati. But that’s just me.

Regarding reliability: The 4200 had the engine designed and built by Ferrari and not the old Maserati bi turbo engine. Though I still love the 3200 engine – especially when the turbos kick in – the 4200 has a much more modern engine.

I had to replace the clutch in my 4200 at 45 000 km (Cambiocorsa) and did not have any other issues (as far as I can remember). Just regular maintenance. As mentioned in post #4 I was in the shop about every 10 000 km or so with my 3200. The 3200 also has valves that have to be adjusted manually where the 4200 has a real modern engine (with a chain and no belt).

From a technical standpoint it is a big difference between a 3200 and a 4200 but I still love the 3200 much more than the 4200. That’s just my taste and I am glad that others prefer other cars (if this would not be so all would drive the same car which would be quite boring ).

Markus

 

I'd categorize those as maintenance and not reliability issues. Volvo has very similar tailights on their cars now. I have no idea if they weren't bright enough. I never heard that over here.

I just wondered if more of the little crap caused issues on that car. I have heard of the TBW problem the throttle body.

Yes the newer Maserati engine eliminated a lot of maintenance issues for Maserati AND Ferrari just because of the valvetrain alone.

 

I have thought back and forth about bying a 3200GT (not that interested in the 4200 and its derivatives), but haven't got truly serious about it yet. I prefel a manual, but unfortunately most 3200GT in Norway are autos.

Your story is very inspirational

 

Gabriel; DO IT!

 

Gabriel – Just DO IT!

To worst thing that can happen is that you fall in love with the car!

Personally I hate autos and never had one. But if this isn’t a drawback to you then I do not see any problems. When the 3200 came out, my dealer had a poster with the lap times of some race course showing that the auto was faster than the manual. May be this was not really true but it was a nice poster anyway.

Here are some more for your inspiration…

Cheers

Markus

PS: The pics are from a 12 year old car and it still looks like new!
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A properly maintained 3200 shouldn't cause too many issues.

BUT

Because these cars cost peanuts, they have been sold to owners who don't really have the financial means to maintain them correctly. As a result, they play around with them, defer all maintenance and eventually sell the car for an even lower price, another poor guy buys them and so on and so forth.

As a result, many cars on sale like the 3200 are just plain junk and useful only for spare parts.

Sure, you can spend a small fortune to fix them. But the effort, money and broken nerves are just not worth it. So my suggestion, is to get the best 3200 that you can find, the better maintained by its previous owner, the better for you.


PS:
The 3200 to get is of course the Assetto Corsa, forget about the plain model.

 

I'm, obviously, not an expert on 3200GTs, but as far as I know there aren't really many significant differences between the Assetto Corsa and the standard version. Is the Assetta Corsa variant really that much more desirable?

 

A sexy butt!

 

Some important differences are: steering rack, brake pads & servos, lowered suspension, roll-bar, 18" inch wheels.

Other differences aren't very important, mainly cosmetic: pedals, sill plates, some carbon fiber interior stuff, and finally the number plate on the dashboard. Maybe there are other differences, but I forget them.

The most important ones are the steering, braking and suspension, also known as "the handling upgrade" or "handling pack".

Plus, you get a numbered car


PS:
Contrary to popular belief, the numbering on the 3200 Assetto Corsa is rather strange. For example, you'll see them in Italy like: 11/58, but that doesn't mean that there are 58 in total! People advertise their cars if there are only 58 in the world. Wrong.

Actually, the total number of Assetto Corsas is around 250. But, what the number plate means, is that this is one of the 58 cars sold in Italy only. Each country has its own numbering.

Thus, UK cars have different numbering!!

Even more confusing, is that some cars in France have no numbering plate. I'm not sure if the owners did an after-market conversion or of the factory actually sold them without a number plate. Really strange...


PS2:
sorry for the long post.

 

Thanks, Maserati Blue!

There are only a couple of Asseto Corsas in Norway. I know one of them quite well, but that car is (almost) out of the question, as it has been used as a daily driver all-year around for a decade or so. I think the car has done well over 100,000 Kms and even though the owner has taken relatively good care of the car - regular servicing etc. - it is a car that has been driven in sometimes rather harsh conditions during the winter, without being pampered at all. The owner lives close to me so I see the car quite often...

Gabriel

 

Indeed it doesn't sound like a car to get, but congratulations are due to the owner for having a 3200 as a daily driver!!

Probably not worth importing a car due to taxes... so you would be looking at the local market only?

 

As you say, silly business to import one given our tax regime, so, yes, has to be a local car.

 

I love my AC very under rated cars imo.

 

Pictures would be highly appreciated