Where did Maserati go wrong?

One big Barbara Streisand........
Go away.....

 

Again I can only go by what we were told by the Manufacture that came down from Orange County. I had no claims about this car I thought it was a regular car with reg. standards. We were told this information; I am currently working with Stuart Avery of MIC to find out everything I can: and he writes

“In regards to your Trofeo, I would like to know the VIN number. I can email Maserati Italy and see if they can provide any production or build data relevant to your car. I would be happy to do this for you and forward any details. For more information on joining Maserati Club International, please visit this link. http://maseratinet.com/MCI/MCImembership.asp

Kind regards. Stuart Avery
MIE Corporation
1620 Industry Dr SW STE F
Auburn WA 98001 USA
Tel. + 253-833-2598
Fax. + 253-735-0946
Monday - Friday 6AM to 5PM Pacific Time”

Honestly, when you purchase a car don’t you believe what they tell you until you find out otherwise? Well we are tying to find out otherwise. And with all the knowledge on this board I am beginning to think that Maserati and Ferrari lied to us maybe to protect themselves. If I am wrong I have no problem admitting it unlike some or most for that matter. And by the way I happen to like that singer and she is a great actress as well.

I thank the Gentlemen that actually supplied me with the PM’s containing resources on where to go and what to do about my car and unlike most whom are just jurks to a lady.
Many Blessing to all of you anyway.

 

Chil out. She is proud of her car and she is trying to find out if what they told her is true. I didn't beleave it too.

 

this is exactly where Maserati (or some owner) went wrong.

 

Thank you, saved me the work. Even the Trofeo light does not have that sort of horsepower.

 

Ferrari of Washington campaigned or more like CAMPAINED a Trofeo Light for a season here in the USA. They did a lot of things to that car including removing the left over factory wiring harness to drop another 100 lbs. I don't beleive their car was even that light. It also didn't have that sort of horsepower. In the end they gave up on it because as a race car the 4200 is terrible. Their words not mine. They won the championship the year before with a 360GT so they know what they're doing. What I was told is that the car wasn't stiff enough and everytime the did a setup, tested it, then came back in the chassis settings would be out of spec again.

The last time I was at Summit Point at a FOW track event someone ran his 2002 spider into one of those large portable concrete guard rails at 90-100 mph and pushed it back about 2 feet. He was ok, eventually, but the car bent in the middle of the chassis. The idea that one of these cars could be made that light in spider form and still be structually sound seems, well, ludicrous.

I think someone's been feeding you some BS here.

 

As stated in my other post I would tell you if what I was told was wrong and just so everyone knows that I am trying to get down to the bottom of this. I would have never known that what they told me I had was not true, unless you guys had told me otherwise. What I should have done was post what I was told my car had long ago If it was not for some of the knowledge here I would have never known it was incorrect, I have been taking it to car shows and telling people what I was told.

Anyway, I called the DMV this morning and asked if my VIN # was registered as “show only and not street Legal" they said "no" it is registered as a regular 2 door convertible “coupe”. So Ferrari & Maserati sales/service caught in first lie, they told me that the “DMV will know how to register this car off the Vin. # and you have a very special car it was modeled after the Original Tropheo/Trofeo”. Now, just waiting for Mr. Stuart Avery of the MIE Corp. to get back to me on what Italy has to say about my car.

I have to say though some of you guys are harsh and it is totally uncalled for. Part of this forum is for education as well as fun, I signed up to be a part of, learn, and have fun but all of you (most anyway) have made it very clear that I am not welcome here. Thank you. Maybe this is some other place that Maserati went wrong and it was not only misinforming their customers by employing some snot nosed kid to sell their cars, or the Mechanics and Managers that can only LIE to a customer that is already locked into a car.

And this goes to the Maserati Salesman I meet with at CC, whom did not know that the Maserati comes stock and standard with a 90 degree angle V8. Regardless of the outcome I still have a nice car, I just will not have as much pride in it as I did. Now Off my soap box or maybe it was just another Barbara Streisand moment.

 

Please don't take personal offense, if you look around the forum certain "heated" discussions are very common and are fuelled primarily by the passion for our cars. I am sure that nobody wants you to feel unwelcomed.

Regarding your car, I don't quite understand the history of it, but if you need to get to the bottom of this please send me a PM: I have contacts that may help you find out what your car "really" is, and if at any stage anyone in the Maserati food chain lied to you, I am sure that something could be done about it.

 

I think your 'education' to other quite knowledgeable folks are also uncalled for.

there's not much knowledge to feel a 2000lb car vs 3000lb car vs a 4000lb car. obviously you have not driven a 2000lb car. go check out an elise and see if the handling and braking feels slightly overweight in your super light weight spyder.

I never knew Maserati 'Manufacture' was based in Orange County.
Maserati NA Inc. is based in NJ.

 

Let's try to defuse the situation, not to inflame it further. We're here to talk cars, not to argue like schoolkids.

Weight:

The rolling chassis plus engine and gearbox of the 4200GT weighs MORE than 2300 lbs, so there is no chance that the car could be so light. The only way to make a car so light is what Prodrive did with the 550 Maranello racing program - they took a stripped bare shell, applied kevlar doors, bonnet, bumpers, underbody aerodynamics and trunk lid, applied an ultra-lightweight racing gearbox, got rid of ALL the interior trim save the dashboard, got rid of ALL the climate equipment, reworked and lightened the engine, built up lighter racing suspension and they ended up with a jewel of a racing car which weighed 1050Kgs down from the original 1690Kgs. And I forgot to mention - the development program went on for YEARS, and the final cost of a Prodrive 550 is measured in MILLIONS of dollars... I seriously doubt that your Maser 4200 has gone through such a development program!

Power:

NO WAY you could get 490 HP from the Maser 4.2 V8 unless it was seriously tuned for racing (and not very useable on the road). Again, Prodrive took the 550 Maranello engine (485 HP standard) and completely reworked it from 5.5 liters to 6.0 liters, with lighter pistons, conrods and crankshaft, smaller flywheel, titanium valves to achieve a power in the range of 600-630 HP in race trim. Again, you don't want to know how much a Prodrive-tuned Ferrari V12 costs... The maximum power you can extract out of an unmodified Maser 4.2l is about 420 HP - this is achieved with a reprogrammed ECU, sports exhaust, free-flow intake filter and higher rev limiter (up to 7700 rpm should be safe for this engine). A German company claims 450 HP on the QP but that is with a modified intake system which I doubt would fit under the tight Coupe's bonnet.

Higher than this and you must use superchargers - there is a famous German company that for a lot of money completely reworks the engine (including valves, pistons, conrods...), adds two superchargers and bumps the power up to 542 HP. These cars really fly, but then they are hardly "official" Masers any more...

 

My original post was one of pride that I had such a remarkable car and was so happy to receive this car as a gift for that matter and, to have something to talk about with the rest of everyone on this board instead of just always reading everyone’s comments and not responding because I had nothing to comment. I am not trying to be a smart@ss or sassy by any means I am being honest and fourth right.

I was told to take my car to Phantoms Ferrari mechanic to do work on it but, I had a Maserati and felt it should go to the Dealer for what it needed so I took my car to Maserati and had them inspect the car. The shop manager told me and my fiancée all these “facts” about my car. They had my car for 2 months, after them screwing up my car I later found out that, was the reason for the manufacturer to come out from OC with 4 of their mechanics to fix my car because the wiped out the upgraded Ecu with the 2005/2006 spec’s for Maserati and no regular mechanic could fix my car because of all the upgrades that had been done, when I originally got my car back it drove like a Mercedes. It had to go back the next day where they had it for an additional 2 weeks. Thank God they saved the original numbers to try and reverse the upgrade. This could have more than likely been prevented if I would have taken it to the Ferrari Mechanic.

You have to admit if you knew nothing about these cars and then had the manager tell you that “this car has been lowered 2 inches, you have upgraded high performance racing springs and suspension” the car “is the fastest most violent Maserati on the road” who are we not supposed to believe? They are my mechanics and authorized by Ferrari and Maserati to work on our cars. And the same mechanics that told me that the car weighs about 2300 lbs and I have 490 hp because they have NEVER driven a Maserati that not only “chirps the tires out of Second but also 3rd, 4th, and 5th”. And that the “Maserati was tested after the repairs had been made.” They told me “490 was read” after the “Hot Start” at a 6500 rpm shift I now know what a hot start is.

In a way I regret saying anything. Maybe I am just being a girl but if you were told the you were buying a “3 of a kind” and all of this other great crap and I have believed them for 8 months now and then you have a bunch of men in a chat room just totally tearing me apart for something that I was TOLD from and by whom I thought were reputable car care and diagnostic professionals. I admit the only thing that all of this did do was it has helped me find the right people to help me investigate my car (in process now ). I will be using everything that has been written here against Maserati and the Owner of the shop. I was totally mislead and made to look like an ass. I have had my car in car shows telling people and most of all children everything I was told. Be honest with yourself and you don’t have to tell anyone, if you sat and told people about this great car and everything that is has and doesn’t have to have only found out by a bunch of guys in chat room that a “Proposed Professional” had you hook line and sinker. How would you feel? Outraged, embarrassed that we were taken for fools, ect. Then yes. Please don’t think I am a sassy individual but if you were a woman attacked by a bunch of guys in a male dominated field you too would defend yourself.

I do not know why I feel the need to defend myself with all of you but If you would like I am more than happy to give you names, addresses and phone numbers. All I can say is mention you are thinking of purchasing this car and see what line the service department manager gives you. I would almost be curious to see myself.

 

i really feel sorry for you.
how much did you pay for this “3 of a kind”, "the fastest most violent Maserati on the road” ?

1/2 mil?
i feel so sorry for you.

 

1 private owner w/ books 92K 5k racing miles

 

I think we all feel badly for you that you were so mislead. Please don't take the commentary here as personal attacks, it's just the way guys talk. In some ways, you might even think of it as a compliment since the tone of your earlier posts on this thread had me forgetting that you were a woman. You were quoting stats and defending the "facts" you were given "just like one of the guys". Best of luck on your efforts to take this misinformation back to the perpetrators.

 

I have asked before and I ask again, what do you recommend that I do? At this point I am really feeling the need to File a Formal Complaint against my local Service Department and Most of all the MANAGER. Where do I begin?

Please feel welcome to PM me if you feel a broadcast would not be acceptable.

Many Blessings,
JC

 

How long have you had the car?

Are you happy with how it drives?

If you think it's gall darn fast then that's great and maybe you just not should worry about it.

Believe me, if it did have another 100HP and weighed what you thought it did you'd probably already be dead.

That's a serious HP/Weight formula.

Just go have fun.

 

I'm not a consumer affairs lawyer so perhaps those with more experience can chime in. You were given the car, so it's really the purchaser that has a complaint. If the purchaser was misled *and* that was documented (i.e., one of 3, special model, etc versus just a Maserati and VIN on the sale papers) *and* paid an excessively high price as a result (which doesn't seem to be the case at $92K) then the purchaser might have a fraud complaint. Otherwise, I'm not sure you can do anything other than file a complaint with the GM or owner of the Maserati facility that misled you. Unless you spent money on the basis of their misinformation, it just seems like an embarrassment more than anything. Still worthy of a complaint, just to keep them honest in the future, but not much is likely to come of it.

 

Oh thank you it was a very smooth transaction with the purchase.

All of this was told to me/us by the Service Manager at Maserati. When I actually started to have conflict with the Manager because we had a different issue I told him I did not like to be bullsh**ed about my car. He at that point stopped calling me entirely and would only call and talk to my fiancée at that point. I would have to call the Manager back and that is when he transferred me and I had to start dealing with the parts department to find out what was going on with my car and when it would be ready for pick up.

 

Thanks, I have lost control of this car already and almost hit a truck.

 

5k racing miles. wow. i was once told 1 mile on the track = 10 miles on the road... so effectively the spyder is quite high mileage compare to other used spyders on the market.

did they attach any history of winnings?

since this thread is already drifting OT i might as well continue:
which type of racing allows the spyder to compete with its standard rollhoops?

from the only picture posted, it looks like it have the standard seats. where are the racing harnesses fitted? Mrs., do you have any interior pictures of the car?

 

No attached winnings of the car yet, I have asked two people to run the Vin and tell me whats up. I was told that the seats were new and ordered. I can take pic.s of inside. Doors are torn and weathered and not the same color as seats. The seats are darker.

 

The proddrive 550 produces upwards of 800hp with the restrictors removed.
490hp with headwork/compression/cams/full race exhaust system is not unrealistic. Whether this particular car has that much work done is another issue entirely.

 

Come on,this thread is more and more turning into a total joke that it is....