Will I be happy with a GranSport??

Rob's correct, no back seat in a GS spyder (which, personally, is why I don't have a spyder - needed that back seat for my children!!). I wonder how many GS have boosters/child seats installed??

 

Ive had my GS for almost a year (1yr in Sept) its an 06 GS coupe, so far so good. Its awesome, alot of car for the dollar and compared to porsches in the same range, no comparison. Back seats are actually usable and I do have a booster in mine for my youngest The best look i get is when I pull up and my 3 kids come out of it, always gets a double take.

 

I have been DDing a GS for the last 3 years, and it has been problem free so far. I have done some slight mods (Formula Dynamics stuff) and the car gets better and better. The main time problems seem to come up (people I know that have one) is when they sit for a while. I am at 42k miles and loving it.

 

Good to hear. Neither of you have had any pre-cats failures? I'm hearing that's pretty common.

p.s. I have an 06 Coupe bought in Feb of this year with 12,500 miles. It's my 3rd Modern Maserati

 

About the reliability issues, there are some issues, but overall if you take care of your car then you shouldn't have many problems.

A guy I know owns a 4200 Spyder with 120k miles. When I asked him if he had any issues, he told me he only had to change the clutch a few times, in addition to the typical maintenance (oils, tires, etc).

There are some common issues that we have identified, here is what I remember right now:


CAT failure
CATs will fail due to bad roads. When they get hit from underneath, they break into pieces. At that point you get a CEL (Check Engine Light). The 4200 and GS have 4 cats (2 sets of 2), if the "primary" cats fail, which are bellow the engine, then the broken up pieces can be sucked into the engine and you can get engine failure (rare but it can happen).

Just take care of how/where you drive, so you don't hit the cats from underneath.

In addition, the cats can fail due to water or water condensation, which can happen in rare cases.


Clutch life
The very early 4200 Cambiocorsa cars (2001-2002 years) had a single-layer clutch, which only lasted about 10k miles. Those where quickly replaced with the 2-layer clutches which lasts a lot longer, which is what we use now.

The GS is even better than the 4200 cars, with improved TCU which manages clutch life a lot better.

These simple rules will allow you to extend clutch life:

1) Use Sport mode as much as possible (the TCU engages the clutch as fast as possible with limited slipping)

2) Don't use AUTO, ever! In auto the TCU forces the clutch to slip, so the changes are as smooth as possible while trying to emulate an automatic transmission. This is deadly to the clutch.

3) Don't reverse uphill and in general avoid using reverse. When you reverse, the clutch is forced to slip all the time, thus if you reverse uphill you will ruin the clutch in no time. In the GS, there is an extra trick that you can use: put the car in reverse then hold the "DOWN" padding for a second, this tells the TCU to engage the clutch and not slip. Still, avoid reversing uphill.

4) A good product that helps with all clutch issues is the FD Drive By Wire, which tells the TCU to always engage the clutch in aggressive mode, thus you save a lot of clutch.

Overall, if you follow a few simple rules, you shouldn't have problems with the clutch and it should last for many many years/miles.


Cambiocorsa Pump and Relay
This is important, so read carefully. The clutch is engaged via a pump which builds up the required pressure. These pumps can fail and if they do, then it will cost you a small fortune because you will have to remove the whole gearbox. Also, when it fails, you'll be stranded, the car will not be able to engage a gear and will sit in "N".

In order to avoid being stranded, listen to the pump when it engages, this happens every time you open the drivers door or while driving (pressure falls, the pump runs to fill it). If the pumps starts to run for a lot more than 5-6 seconds, then you are in trouble.

The pump is operated via a relay. This relay eventually fails after many years of use, once it does, it leaves the circuit open, which runs the pump until it fries (that is why I mentioned above to listen to the pump and make sure it doesn't run for more than 5-6 seconds).

Early 4200 cars have a grey relay made by TYCO. This should be replaced by the newer black relay made by BiTRON, which can also hold more power (50A). Don't use a less powerful relay than 50A. You can still drive with a 40A relay, but a 50A will last longer.

You can order the BiTRON 50A relay from Alfa Romeo for a third of the price.


Heater Core
Behind the dashboard, there is a heater core. This may leak and if it does, then it will cause a lot of damage to various electrical components. If you see water in the passengers footrest then your core is leaking.

This is a VERY expensive job, you need to remove the entire dashboard to get to the heater core.

There are two reasons why it leaks, either the core has broken down (car not used often enough, car subjected to extreme temperatures, etc), or if your car is sitting underneath a tree! Yes, you read that right, if your car sits underneath a tree and all the stuff that falls from the tree are carried through the air intake of the heater core, eventually dirt builds up and blocks the water drain (the header core and the air conditioning element produce condensation, thus there is a water drain underneath them). Once that is blocked, eventually your heater core will spill the water inside the cabin.

There is a nice trick to help prevent this problem, your mechanic can lift the car and use air pressure to clean the water drain pipe if its blocked.

The heater core is also quite expensive, but you can use the same one from an Alfa Romeo for a third of the price.


Interior - sticky buttons
Same with Ferrari cars, many plastic parts (like the buttons) will become sticky and ugly, if you leave the car under the sun. So don't leave your car under the sun

Since prevention is better than running around paying for a fix, here is how to avoid this from happening: use an Auto Gleam product for exterior/interior rubber parts. Apply on all plastic buttons once a year and your buttons will never become sticky.

There you go, now you know why my GS (2006) and other cars have no sticky buttons.


Interior - stereo
The 4200 cars have an archaic stereo which can't be upgraded. There is a trick though, you can get a brand new stereo hooked up to the LCD screen of your car and use a switch to switch between the two video inputs.

The GS cars have the Infotainment stereo, which is an OEM version of the Becker Online Pro unit. In other words, you can replace it with the latest Becker unit (like the Cascade Pro unit), it is plug-and-play and because the new Becker units look like the old ones, you don't mess with your interior. Very few people will even know you changed the stereo.

The newer Cascade Pro units can also change LCD colors, in case you want it to match your interior color and have all the cool techno tricks like Bluetooth.

If you don't want to change your unit, you can always order the iPod cable, it works fine with the existing unit in your GS without a problem.


Interior - Alcantara
Avoid buying a car with Alcantara in "usable" places. What I mean is, that it is fine if the Alcantara is at the roof or dashboard of the car, but not when it is on the steering wheel or seats.

Thats because with use, the Alcantara surface will become all knotty and ugly. There is a special treatment that can help, which uses brushes to help un-knot it, but its only temporary.

It is also hard to clean if something leaves a stain. In general, it is best avoided, all-leather interiors are much more resistant and last a lifetime.


That is all I can remember right now, I hope it helps.

 

Nicely done MB, grazie mille!

 

We've seen the problem with the seats and it is something simple. Usually the seats loose their memory (not the buttons for the memory position), so they need to be "reset". In fact, Maserati knew about this and the manual of your car has the reset procedure clearly described!

Of course I don't know if this was the problem with your car, but usually most complaints for seats not working are fixed with the reset procedure. I have never seen a really broken seat mechanism.

 

The FD stuff has literally made me fall in love with my car all over again. I recently drove a stock GS and there was a world of difference.

 

hmm thats interesting. Was the problem only on one of the seats or both?

 

Haven't yet that problem yet with any of mine...yet?

 

Rob Lay, since the seat mechanism problem appeared so early, I guess it was just a defective part, and not related to the long-term issues we've identified above.

I haven't noticed any problems with the keys, I never had any problems and they've had their share of "misuse" over the years.

I do know that the keys used in the 3200 and the early 4200 (<2003 years) are a bit sensitive, they are the black keys. While in later 4200 (>=2004) and GranSport cars the keys changed to a more hardened shell, which are the blue keys.

The newer GT and QP have the big (and ugly/awkward) shell, which should be even more durable.

 

Rob, I have done the DBW for about a year....after doing the clutch for the first time. And then the FD springs and sway bar. I also have the wheels and brake pads. So far the car is EPIC....my short list of remaining items is the sport decats and FD rotors. During a recent "spirited drive" I found it really easy to keep up with a few supercharged NSXs, even in the turns. I was surely surprised to see how well the car kept up with some of the other cars.

 

I have the DBW and having the springs installed soon.

 

I am not sure if the springs are absolutely nessesary on the GS, because they are already lowered and much harder compared to the 4200. So I am not sure what you gain with the FD springs, at least on the GS.

I've seen the springs on the 4200 and they made a real difference, but my GS with stock springs is already too stiff.

SoIllFerrari, since you've changed the springs on a GS, can you explain the difference please?

 

Thank you for a great list! I've been using my '06 GranSport as daily driver for over five years (it has about 28K on the odometer now) and, other than replacing a temperature sensor under warranty, this is the first time it had to go to the shop for a major problem - let me know if you have any ideas, as both my 'personal mechanic' husband and the dealer are stumped for the time being.

GS has problems with starting - would drive somewhere, park for a little while (so not necessarily hot start issue), wouldn't start to head back. So far only died in our or my husband's shop garage, fortunately. Fuel pump not getting any power. Replaced the fuel pump, replaced the relays, even took out, tested and reset the banking sensor (the one that shuts off the fuel system if the car e.g. flips over), no good. Suspecting the security system, any thoughts?

PS I get about 18k on a clutch, aggressive Sport mode driving only, but I do have to reverse down the driveway out of my garage so than you for the paddle down trick..

 

Not too familiar with the GS specifics that might lead to that, but most cars will have an oil pressure sending switch that also controls the pump. I've seen those leak thru the internal diaphram causing havock with fuel pump diagnosis. Since you've tried everything else it's worth looking...


^^^ That is a fantastic write up in post 84. Thanks.

 

When I had the springs installed I decided to lower the car just a half inch since I use it everyday. The biggest difference I have noticed was that there was a lot less body roll when cornering. I initially thought the car was the same upon my first test drive, but then I realized that I was traveling 20 mph+ through the same corner. I don't know if there is a difference in stiffness but I have not noticed much change in my driving. My drive does encompass some rougher roads and the car still drives the same. I would agree that they are not absolutely necessary when compared with certain parts like the DBW. Especially on a GS. A stock GS just feels a bit floaty by comparison in direction changes. Since I always drive in sport I did not notice much change over bumps.
I must warn anyone that does go down this route that once you start there is no going back. I cannot even imagine going back to a stock GS after driving mine.