I was going to buy a silver one at Ferrari of San Francisco, but I was not "ready" for the CC, so I found a 6 speed ! I paid roughly half the MSRP, and she has only 3600 miles and 2 years of warranty left. The car is stupid fast, and very comfortable. It looks so much better sitting in my garage, or on the road than in the brochure. I also posted some new owner questions on the maseratiforum.net, but if anyone knows the answers... 1. My HVAC system displays the "low Batt" warning when I first start the car. Manual states that the system will return to normal after self diagnosis, but often this takes 5 or more miles of driving until the fan speed can be greater than 3 bars and the display turns black. It usually happens from cold. I checked for drain and battery health, no probs, so I will probably have a dealer look at it. Am I alone with this issue? 2. Since California only has 91 super, am I actually going to see decreased performance. Any chemical engineers? 3. Car was delivered without NAV CD. Can I used a generic one, can someone burn me a copy? 4. My car often dies after starting, both hot and cold. I have seen posts in the archive stating that this is fixed by the ECu update, and also that this was caused by the ECU update. Hmmm..... 5. How do I mount a plate on the front? CA gives tickets for this, so I probably need to source a bracket. Sell me yours if your state law is different? 6. I have slight cat shield rattle at idle, some sealing issues at driver's door, and I need to adjust the p brake, but otherwise, I am pretty happy. I am torn about the Tubi. I love the sound file, but I need to drive one with it to see how bad the under 3500 resonance is. More pics, next to the 250 GTE, in the main forum http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=38007
congratulations on a stunning car. Half of MSRP? wow thats a hell of a deal. Good luck with your new ride. JB
nice looking car. Seems Maserati is worried about battery drain as they have so much about conserving battery in the manual. have you put it on a charge to make sure battery is up to 100%? I thought I was going to have that problem as most of my driving is back and fourth to work which is only about 2 miles each way and was worried if my battery would stay charged. As of yet no problems with that issue. I could burn you a copy of whatever disks you need, I think I read somewhere that this will work. Nice to see another owner with a stick, I had to order my 2004 as all I could locate was Cambio's. And the car I traded in for it was M3 SMG and I found I missed conventional shifting. You should check out the Alum race pedals they look great. Do you find the brake and gas a little to close? I found with my size 11 feet I could not drive car with regular sneakers as it seems they are much wider at the bottom so bought some fila driving sneakers and that solved problem. Get the Tubi, With top up or down I find very little resonance. It really finishes off the car and I would say at least half the fun of my driving is just to listen to the sounds it makes. 91 octane should have little to no effect on performance. The other issues you mention should be checked out by dealer. Good luck with car
Thanks. Yes ! My favorite Melchior Mephistos clip the brake. Cowboy boots are fine. Do the aluminum pedals help in that regard? I see this as an excuse to put some Pilotis in a letter to Santa Clause ! My commute is also about 2 miles...
My Alum pedals actually made it worse. I notice on your pedals the brake is notched where mine is not, So I did grind a little off. I have noticed that the after-market ones I have seen online do have a little cut off. So I would advise buying from them and not Maserati. I have found my favorite way to drive is in just socks but the Fila did help a lot and are only about $50 at http://speedgear.com/ The funny thing was when my wife saw the Alum pedals she suggested cutting out some rubber pieces and gluing them on. Then she just gave me a strange look when I told her it cost me $350 for those pedals. How are you liking the feel of the shifting? I was a little worried while waiting for car because some reviews I had read were not that great but once I got car and drove a couple days I found shifting to be very good. Image Unavailable, Please Login
I am getting used to the shifting. I was surprised to hear some clunking noises, even on the 6 speed, but in some decel/clutch out conditions, it does not seem avoidable. Getting away from a start is not as smooth as other cars (my old V12, for example), but I am getting smoother with every drive. 1st to 2nd is a bit of a long travel, but overall, I am very pleased. I wanted the Cambiocorsa for the novelty of it, but the service techs scared me with 18K clutch expectancy and $18K pump replacement costs. Thanks for the pic. I did see some aftermarket ones with a trident on them and with the indentation.... thx]luke
Luke, Congratulations! Beautiful cars sir! I like the vintage F car as well. If you are ever in the city or the east bay area, I would like to take a close look at either car you happen to be in. Thanks for the kind consideration. -Ryan
In the next 2 or 3 weeks, I am taking the F car to Danville (Auto Affair boutique XMas shopping) and Livermore (drop it off for some door adjustments). It will be a Saturday, but not sure which one yet, will get in touch.
Gorgeous specimen. It is true that photos do this car no justice. In the flesh, they have so much character and presence. Forza, Cavallini
hey, congrats on a truly awesome car.... my dad owns a 03 coupe GT, n i dont get to drive it too much( just back up on the driveway to wash it, hey im only 16 n that still pretty gud) but i can still speak for some of the stuff. he has size 11 feet, so do i, n the brake n gas pedal r way too close. the solution was boat shoes although im gonna have him look at those fila sneakers. the Low Batt thing should go away soon, ours took about 2 weeks of regular driving before it would go away in like 2 mins of starting the car. as for the NAV CD's, i can burn u some copies, n send 'em to u but itll take a while from here in toronto. Awesome, awesome car, definately get the tubi. tryin to get my dad to get it but he doesn't like it cuz he says it attracts too much attention. if ur ever in canada, for some strange reason, gimme a call. as for plans for the winter, my dad wants to add a side skirt to make it look like the gransport n maybe add new rims next year Later Vijeet
selling dealer just oferred to overnight a copy of the nav CDs....If I do not get them, I will take one of you guys up on the offer. I will probably get the Tubi after I pay the property taxes...
Need to stop with "probably" on the Tubi. It is a must. I have never done anything after-market on a car that has added as much as the Tubi does. Have been to a couple get together's with Ferraris and my car sounded better than many of them, Something about the chain driven motor along with the tubi just makes for an incredible sound. At 43 my fast driving days are pretty much over but just like the fact that my car sounds and looks it. I do forget how dam fast this car is. As I am getting ready to put car away for the winter I have started to get on it a little more and on my way home from work yesterday I gunned it from a stop where I was taking a left and car went sideways for about 200 feet before straightening out, Had the MSP off and sport on. That MSP sure will save your butt. I also tried boat shoes but even they have that wide bottom, What's great about the Fila's is the bottom is narrower than the rest of the sneaker so does not catch at all. Heard something about Maserati upgrading clutch for free on 2002's does yours have this?
I have the old clutch, me thinks. The car only has 3600 miles. My first service is Nov 18, and I will ask for a printout of the mandatory and voluntary recalls. I would like to find a Maser with a Tubi in the N. CA Bay Area and hear how the supposed "drone" at 3500 is. I had a Boxster with a K&N setup and the resonance at cruising speeds was really annoying. I suspect that it would be not be a major factor with the Tubi. Spending 3K on a 50K car is also different than spending 3K on a 150K Modena. I have always had a lower profile car as my daily commuter. The number of positive comments is something new.... Yet, it is not too flashy, so I do not hear the negative jealousy-tinged comments associated with newer, mid engined exotics. A perfect balance between exclusivity and performance !
Beautiful car, congratulations Luke! With 3000 miles, it is not even broken in yet. You will find that it runs smoother and gets faster as you add a few thousand miles - mine sure did! - Jon
Re #2, No difference in performance. I believe that the car's engine management (ignition advance, fuel map etc) is calibrated for 91 octane from the factory for all North American cars. If you can get 93 octane fuel, you would need to reprogram your engine computer to get a performance advantage. Re #5, isn't this a "fix it" ticket in CA? Meaning no points or fine? - Jon
Good news on the octane, Thanks. Yes, it is a fixit ticket, but I like to avoid fines and I prefer not to give police reasons to pull me over. I am contemplating personalized plates, however. Coastal Commission, or Sept 11 Memorial plates. The CA DMV has a neat web based tool to try available combinations: https://vrir.dmv.ca.gov/ipp/PerLicensePlateServlet F430 + 2 Masrari LMnstro Tridente LBESTIA PLSOFCR (Please, Officer), SOROFCR (Sorry, Officer) ?
Have been driving my car since April 1st and just broke 1,900 miles and will be putting away in a week or so. So I guess I can look forward to a more fun car next spring. It sure is going to seem like a long winter. Jon do you drive your car all winter?
My Maserati has 10,000 miles now - and it is faster now that it has ever been. Now, when accelerating hard in first gear, the rear tires light up around at 5000 rpm. (And yes, the tires are same as original and were recently replaced). My car is going into winter storage in a few days - until April or May. - Jon
Winter just started in Northern California. It rains for two days out of the week. How much road noise do you guys hear when driving the Coupes? I am not sure if it is a break in the seal, or the windows are thin and the pillarless design lets some sound get in naturally... Once I get the Tubi, it will not matter. thx luke
In my Coupe, with stock exhaust... - at highway speeds, tire noise dominates. Little or no wind noise - under acceleration, intake and cam drive noise dominates - fantastic sound! - around town, esp with windows down, exhaust noise dominates fantastic rumble, pops and crackles on deceleration! The stock exhaust has definitely opened up after 10,000 miles and around 200+ laps on the track. - Jon
