Anyone owned one? If so, was it any good? Do you still have it? If not did you sell it because of the car? Strong points/weak points etc. I'm thinking of buying one and I'm trying to get some knowledge together. Michael
Maranello71 had one for 3 or 4 years. He loved it. It was the 2.0 turbo 303hp not the 2.8, it was fast. PM him, I'll direct him to this thread. Here are some pictures i took recently of his old car and another Ghibli. Cheers Simon Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
Hi Michael, as Simon wrote in the previous post I did own a Ghibli GT 2.0 (306 BHP engine) for a few years. Let me say first of all that I absolutely LOVED this car. Main points: 1) Unbelievable engine, revs from idle to 7000 rpm in a few seconds with ferocious acceleration in all gears. Running on high octane fuel increases power by a further 15-20 BHP, and at this point believe me that I could outrun in a straight line BMW M3 and M5s as well as any Porsche 911 (except the turbo). You should have seen their faces! The 2.8 is tamer but can easily be tweaked to 340-370 BHP with no major modifications (the engine will take it easily). There's also a 2.0 litre "Cup" with 330 BHP (but I've seen up to 400 BHP for some versions) which is very rare and the best of them all. 2) Excellent roadholding and handling as well as superb brakes (from '95 they were taken from the F355) for the GT version. Early Ghiblis ('93-'94) had inferior brakes with no ABS which would die after 2 laps on a track. 3) Very reliable car if you take good care of it. I always warmed up my engine properly before revving it, I always let it cool down gradually and I serviced it at no-expense-spared to keep it always in top form with the best synthetic oil replaced every 6000 miles. Treat it properly and it will do 120.000 miles between rebuilds. Abuse it and the engine will likely explode in your face after 40.000 miles (I have known of several Ghibli engines destroyed by insensitive owners, including my very own car's a few months after I sold it ). Beware of a batch of '97-'98 2.8 litre cars which had cylinder head problems - they should all have been fixed by now but talk to an expert before you buy. 4) The plush leather trim is high quality and usually well assembled, just some plastic bits are low-rent but you've got to live with that. The bodywork may need some checks - often the doors do not shut flush with the rest of the bodywork, but it can easily be fixed. The bumpers may also need being aligned to the body (often they have uneven gaps) but again it's an easy job. Rust is not an issue. 5) Electrics are OK, except for the Bosch alternator (the only part I ever had to replace) and the fuel injection relays that can overheat and fail in summer(they cost nothing to replace, I always had a few spares in the glovebox). 6) The Getrag 6-speed gearbox is very strong (it's the same as the BMW M5 V8). The original Ranger differential could be delicate, but the post-'95 diff taken from the Ferrari F355 and was very reliable. 7) The electronically adjustable shocks (from Köni) usually work very well but if they fail they are quite expensive to replace. 8) Don't go for an automatic (they're rubbish) but if you have to, it's possible to convert them to manual 6-speed spec quite easily. All in all the Ghibli is an underrated Porsche and BMW M3 beater, much more fun than either of the Germans and also faster. Don't expect German quality - there will be rattles and squeaks, and the bodywork is nowhere as well assembled. It's a car which requires a lot of TLC but which will reward you immensely if you take good care of it. Web resources: www.themaseraticlub.com - we operate worldwide and we have a very active Australian Chapter that can help you find the right car. I am associated to this Club. Also check out www.maseratighibli.co.uk - it's the BEST Ghibli resource website in the world with several cars for sale, technical details, hints and tips. Good luck!
Andrea, I'm the owner of a Ghibli Open Cup and wondered if I could exchange some information with you? You're in Switzerland? Bob S.
Yes Bob, I live in Switzerland but I have some very good friends in NJ - Somerset NJ is the home of the Maserati Club! Are you a member of the club? I would be astonished if you had a Ghibli Open Cup so close to the heart of our Club and no-one knew about it!! In the late '90s I personally sought a Ghibli Open Cup in Milan and organized the import process from Italy to the US for a Club member from Texas. It was with my great pleasure that the very car eventually made it to the Monterey weekend in 2001, being driven at the Laguna Seca historic races. How did you get your car in the US? Was it a road car or a race version? If you want we can talk about the Ghibli privately, just send me a PM and I'll send you my private e-mail. Andrea
No problem discussing the Ghibli publicly, I just thought people would get bored reading about too many details! I promise I'll keep it entertaining
Ok so here's the story. Yes I'm a member of TMC. It's a rather small club locally here. I have known Seymour since about 1995 or 1996? I was at the track at Pocono in 98 when he got this car for John Bookout. That was a bad day for Seymour. Blew the hood back on the GOC and then totaled his car on the way home. The car eventually got to Bookout who had 2 of them and I bought the yellow one a couple of years ago at the RM auction in Monterey. I think both of them were at Laguna Seca on the Monterey weekend for the year Maserati was the honored marque back in 2000. I saw them there. I've been running it at Ferrari club events here in the northeast for just over 2 years. If you're also a member of MIE, every Maserati owner should be, you can see an article I wrote in issue 87 about some of my experiences with the car. Bob S.
Which one of Bookouts cars? Mine is the yellow one. I wasn't aware that he brought them out to Monterey the following year and that they ran at the track that time. Perhaps you can fill me in on what happened to my car after it left Pocono in 1998? There are some mysteries about this car that could use some explaining. Bob S.
Absolutely fabulous looking car, i tip my hat to anyone who owns one, definately a connaiseur car and one of the best from the 90's. I also wouldnt mind the QP Evoluzione.
There are some pictures of my car from the September Watkins Glenn event on this thread: See pages1 and 3 http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=73866
Thanks maranello71, I'm excited to say the least. That engine shot is pretty awesome! It's the 6 speed i'm after. It's good to hear it's a reliable car. If they owner would answer his bloody phone I'd have it next week!
Hi Bob, sorry about my typo - it was Monterey 2000. In 2001 I didn't see these cars at all. Here's the story: Seymour contacted me in '97 to help him find a Ghibli for Mr. Bookout. Road cars would prove impossible to import into the US, so we settled for a race car. I found one (the white/green car) at Mocauto, at the time Milan's only Maserati dealer. The car had been raced in the Open Cup series but for some reason hadn't been taken for the European GT championship (where heavily tuned racing Ghiblis competed - and sometimes won! - in '97-'98 against Porsches, Corvettes and Ferraris). Seymour came to Milan one winter day, I picked him up at the airport and we went straight to Mocauto to negotiate the price of the Ghibli. A price was agreed on, and the car was shipped to the US in the following weeks. As it turned out not all was perfect with this car, as the snaky, slimy salesman had deliberately hidden certain small flaws. A year later Seymour found the pristine Yellow Ghibli (your car now) somewhere else in Italy, I think near Modena, and imported it once again for John Bookout. I thought the car was in John Bookout's collection for several years, I don't know if he used it for any track events in the US. Best thing is to ask Seymour directly.
There wasn't anything "bad" with the car when I got it just some peculiar things like calipers and rotors that looked brand new even thought I saw the car driven at the track. The green white car "looks" like it's modified for the GT races but he didn't auction that one. If it was modified properly that could be a big help as there are several "problems" with the original design that absolutely require attention. Why don't we continue this offline so as not to bore/corrupt this thread? I actually would like to talk with you about the 6 speed trans and getting work done on it. I thought it was the same as the M3 trans from that era except for a different case. You're saying M5, hmmmmmm Bob S.
You might want to join this Yahoo discussion group as there are several members from down under and some with Ghiblis! http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BiturboZentrum
I used to have an audio copy of the car accelerating that I found somewhere? on the web. It was one of those sites that lists various engines sounds. I'd like to find it again because I was going to use it on my cell phone for an answer ring. I used to listen to it while I was waitng for the car to be delivered. It was very accurate as it turns out. When you're driving the car with a helmet on it's so quiet that you have to look at the tach to know what the engine is doing. It's a problem really. It sounds ok to others watching the car go by but it's so much quieter than a F355C or even a F360C. There's very little muffler but there are the two turbos as well. MY video camera picks very little of the engine noise up. Bob S.
