heres a link to the article, just read the end, the QP is a fabulous car. http://www.m5board.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=59740
My neighbor works for BMW and regularly brings home different cars. He had an M5 this weekend. I hardly noticed it except to say that it "is" ugly. The previous model was much more visually impressive and it was no beauty. The only thing impressive about it was that I knew it is very fast. In that respect it is stealthy. Bob S.
Lets think about this for a minute: Are you going to boot out American cars out of America? In that era that many of them were "kicked out" The"Big Three" were making, in your words, "crap cars" too, but they couldn't get kicked out. Citroen, Fiat, etc. were cars for regular people, much like the Plymouth Reliant K, or lets not forget the wonderful Chevy Citation (That car should have received a citation for being ugly). See where I'm going?
anyone have a good interior photo? i love the car, however it begs for the V12; and i just dont see the interior bein as nice as ppl say....still gorgeous on the outside and surely a good chassis; lets hope it stays alive under the new maser management.
FYI, those particular euro brands were not "kicked" out, they stopped exporting their inferior cars here because us Americans would not buy enough of them to make a profit. Who would or could have "kicked" them out anyway? As far as US brands are concerned, remember AMC and Studebecker and countless other brands that could not survive because their products were inferior. It's called capitalism...supply and demand...if your product is not wanted, it is not bought and your company fails. I like it that way, don't you?
theres alot more to the picture than what youve said, small fiats and citroens were lightyears ahead of the americanproducts from that era but they werent able to capture the market, VW is still having a hard time. on the flipside, American cars have had absolutely no success anywhere but america, main reason them being crappy and and other factors contributing to market adaptation
the interior on the QP looks even better in person.im sure its not perfect in an Audi kind of way, but its pretty darn good for a relatively small company.
Fair enough, I should not have used the term kicked out. I like capitalism, but it doesn't foretell if a car is crap or not. Just because Americans won't buy a car (whatever make) does not make it inferior. And on the spirit of "if captalism = crap", Chrysler should have died long ago because thay made crap but the Gov't bailed them out, and it looks like GM is traveling down that road too. Chevrolet can't keep up with Japanese automakers etc., so capatalism could chew them up and spit them out, does that make them crap? Sometimes it boils down to product vs. market. A high quality product in a certain market (i.e. USA) that doesn't sell well doesn't make = crap. It just means you have to find your customer elsewhere. A picture for bostonmini Image Unavailable, Please Login
Unlike any of the German Brands,Maserati's interior has that "bespoke" fit,finish and feel.Immediately it feels "special" and very exclusive,sort of like a 4 door Ferrari. If only it would be available with a V12 it would be the best sedan on the market and my first choice.(instead of M5 coming later this week)
Having owned Fiats and Alfas and having spent several summers of my youth in Italia, the problem with the French and Italian cars was in the failure to engineer/build a product to fit a specific market. The cars were strictly made for the domestic market; any cars imported to the US had stuff added on as opposed to 'engineered in". A winter in the midwestern US is a lot harder on a car than a winter in the south of France..... Example: Fiat sold the 128 here in the early seventies. Cars got great gas mileage but nobody cared because gas was cheap. A/C and automatics were strictly a "crazy american" idea. Obviously, body engineers from Fiat or Citroen/Renault/Peugeot never spent a winter in the Northeastern US and as a result rusting cars became a major issue even after a short ownership period. My old Fiat Strada with an injected 1500cc motor was extremely reliable but the entire car rusted-and it was garage kept for the most part.... In addition, Americans for the most part do a horrible job of properly maintaining their autos and that is a definite no-no with an Italian car. On previous posts I've said that Alfa could succeed in the U.S.;bring in the 166 with a 3.5 V-6, awd and the selespeed tranny. every car should have this drivetrain combo. The engine should have chains, not belts, and hydraulic lifters to keep maintanance to a minimum. Has anyone ever seen an Italian car undergo hot weather testing in Death Valley or cold weather testing in the Artic? Contrast that to the Japanese, who study a market and develop products for that market. Toyota gives the people what they want-affordable automobiles with anvil-like reliability-and soon they will be # 1 in the world. The amazing thing is that when making foods for the American market, italian producers will alter foods to suit the perceived tastes-i.e., they will make it sweeter. They change the stuff they shouldn't (food) and don't touch the stuff they should change (cars with effective a/c, auto trannies and rust free bodies). With safety and emission regs in europe coming closer to U.S. standards I think you will eventually see a return of at least Alfa and Peugeot to these shores.
Just to be somewhat rational here, gorgeous as it is it's also supposed to work. A. It won't hold up as well as an Audi.I've seen the ones the dealers have put 5K on during the introduction. Disappointing for a sedan that will get real use, but then it's typical Ferrari. B. Have you ever checked out the legroom in the front passenger seat? Just what the h*ll do they have behind that footwell area that makes it so dismal. I have no trouble in the drivers seat and the rear seats are OK but the front passenger seat is not one I'd want to ride in. BTW, I'm 6'1/2", not exactly a giant. Bob S. Bob S.
Had a rental in Beverly Hills for a week and was smitten with the car,which is even more telling since rental cars are usually pretty beat up . (had a bad experience with a rental 550 in Europe)
For some reasons Italian car interiors do not hold up well. My 2000 M5 now has over 101,000 miles and the leather interior looks almost new. An Italian car with 5,000 miles or less is already showing signs of wear in its interior. If the Italians are suppose to be so good with leather, why do the Germans seem to find leather that last much longer that looks just as good?
A. it doesnt looks as good nor feels or smells as good B. italian leather requires more treatment, ive seen alfas with high milage and good condition leather, they have to be treated.
So if the QP beats the M5 handily.... and the M5 supposedly leaves the 430 in the dusk on the roadway.... this means that the QP absolutely whollups the 430? Sounds like the QP is a heck of a deal.
lol, after comments like this why does anyone take this clown seriously? In general don't trust anything said on the internet...most of these people are posers who think they're racing drivers when they do a track day with their marque's regional car club.
BTW, just to stop and take a look at the cold, hard facts. BMW M5 HP: 507 TQ: 383 Weight: 4,012 Maserati QP HP: 394 TQ: 333 (most important stat considering weight) Weight: 4,253 OK, so the BMW 103 more hp, 50 lb/ft more tq, weighs over 200 pounds less AND has a 7 speed transmission, but the QP is faster??? Well, something is obviously very fishy with that test. It seems idiotic to get excited over one random test.
I would be willing to bet real money that an e39 M5at 3800lbs with only ~400hp will outrun a QP in a straight line or on the track.
That just shows how ignorant you are. First power/weight etc means nothing EVEN for the only race kind you know, aka dragstrip. Or how could you explain that a Porsche is faster 0-60 than most cars with 100 bhp more ? Simply because it has better traction (mass transfer under acceleration). BMWs, if you ever drove one outside your childish dreams, are very tail-light, maybe not compared to MBs, but compared to real cars, they are. Now on top of that we speak about a track, not a drag strip. This means that the aibility a car has to corner, is much more important than sheer speed (albeit this depends of course on the track), and also for mag' tests, it depends on the confidence the cars instantly inspires to the driver, knowing that he won't spend 50 hours trying to get the best out of it on that track. Also, all M BMs are known to have very poor brakes, but again, on a 0-400 ft race, who cares, eh ? And on a track FADE is an issue very quickly. Frankly, i drove in mountain roads the actual QP quite fast (my wife was sick...), and yes, it is one of the finest handling cars you can find, 2/4 seater. It really IS that good. Of course it lacks power, and i doubt you can even match the 0-60 Maserati is announcing with it. But that's not the point.
