question about buying an '04 Coupe...

I"ve been considering a Maserati Coupe for a while now and have come across one that I really like. The price seemed to be lower than a lot of the other '04's that I've seen so I figured there must be an issue.

The car is silver/black w/ 3k miles on it and is under warranty for another year. The dealer (authorized Maserati dealer) told me that the car was bought back by Maserati from the previous owner because he hated the F1 transmission. While I don't doubt this I'm trying to figure out if this is still a car I should consider or one I should run away from? I'm sure it's possible that someone bought it and hated the tranny but how much damage could he have done in the 3k miles if he didn't know how to drive it? The dealer acknowledged that the car was priced lower because of this. He said that they purchased it for less directly from Maserati so they could, in turn, sell it for less. Could I trust the dealer to give me an honest answer as to how much clutch life is left or should I ask that they install a new clutch as part of the deal? Also, if the car was a buyback would it show up on the title in MA?

Thanks for your help!

 

Technically the car was lemoned (from what I understand) but they are swearing up and down that it was because the buyer made a huge stink because he didn't like the way the F1 drove not because there was anything actually wrong with the car. The dealer told me that Maserati will buyback a vehicle for a reason like this to keep up brand image and to make the customer happy. As we all know it only takes a few very unhappy customers to do a lot of damage to a brands' image. Is the dealer telling the whole truth, who knows? So far, from what I've researched, the dealer has a very good reputation so I'm inclined to believe him at this point.

The only other reason I believe him at this point is because I had a similar experience w/ my mother's Range Rover. The truck went in for a service (something about the power adjustment on the steering wheel not working) and when she picked up the car and started driving away the steering wheel actually came off in her hands! Nothing happened and she got it back on and stopped without incident but it bothered her so much and she made such a stink over it (as she should have) that the owner of the dealership lemoned the vehicle and put her in a new one as a courtesy because, even though this problem was the service techs fault not an actual problem with the vehicle, she said she just didn't feel safe driving it anymore. Not the exact same situation but I can see, if the buyer wasn't instructed how to properly use an F1 tranny and told what to expect from one, how he might be upset w/ the way the car drove and how he could make a big enough issue out of it to get Maserati to buy the car back.

 

Is that '05 still available?

 

I agree with you. I have a hard time believing that the car was bought back because of nothing more than a complaint (even though I really want to believe them). I ran a carfax on it and apparently the original owner brought the car to, and registered it in, FL. It was last serviced at The Collection in Miami. I'm going to give them a call and see if they can pull the service records on it and see what they come up with.

Like I said earlier the only reason that I somewhat believe them is from the experience I had w/ my mother's Range Rover. She had issues w/ it that were because of a mistake a tech made, not reocurring problems w/ the vehicle. She made a big stink over it because she didn't feel safe driving it anymore. The owner told her that he'd buy it back and to go pick out another one. I'm sure the fact that my family bought 8 or 9 cars from his 2 dealerships helped but it was more of a good faith buyback than a lemon law buyback.