Non VX topic - Maserati Spyder

[VXD959]

Need some information here, although I'm researching on the web...

There is a neighbor selling his 2004 Maserati Spyder. It's in great shape. He just told me that if I give him $22K he will sell it to me. I looked online and prices are in the high 20's to mid 30's depending on condition and mileage. His Maserati has 38K miles on it.

I don't know anything about Maseratis. Any feedback? Are they expensive to maintain? What about finding shops that can work on it if needed?
I'm also looking at insurance cost.

Comments or suggestions?

[atilla_the_fun]

I'm pretty sure they are simple to maintain, you'll just have to source most of your parts through your local FERRARI and MASERATI dealership! Are you kidding? Is there any exotic, non-german car that is NOT expensive to maintain??

Those spyders are beautiful, and like the VX - I'm sure they are worth the upkeep, but like the VX - I'm SURE there will be plenty of upkeep.

[RICHARD PAYNE]

Need some information here, although I'm researching on the web...

There is a neighbor selling his 2004 Maserati Spyder. It's in great shape. He just told me that if I give him $22K he will sell it to me. I looked online and prices are in the high 20's to mid 30's depending on condition and mileage. His Maserati has 38K miles on it.

I don't know anything about Maseratis. Any feedback? Are they expensive to maintain? What about finding shops that can work on it if needed?
I'm also looking at insurance cost.

Comments or suggestions?

Hi, I have seen a few of these online with very low prices and low mileage. I have never done the research to see the reason. Maintenance; I am sure there should be alot to do and not cheap except if your are a big banker or major sports figure.

[twalker920]

The engine is built by Ferrari. They are similar in cost to maintain as a modern Ferrari. A friend of mine had an '89 Ferrari 348ts, but he sold it before he hit 15,000 miles on it (bought it with 10,000 from the original owner) because the 15k service was going to cost upwards of $9k at Ferrari of Denver.

The recent Maseratis are beautiful, powerful cars - but they are exotics. Nothing about their maintenance is cheap and I can't really speak to reliability. The 348ts was perfect for the little time my friend owned it. I did help him replace the battery, and that took about 3 hours because it involved removing heat shielding and dropping the battery from under the car (it was a mid engine). The Mas is a front engine V12, right? Road & Track raved about them, I would love to own one, but I am not in that income tax bracket.

My 2 cents. Do your research and choose wisely

[Riff Raff]

Get a CARFAX report on it to see if there are any hidden issues (accidents, etc). If not, I'd say go for it. Sweet car if you like roadster's (just don't leave it parked on the street; make sure it's in the garage overnight). Heck, you can't even buy a used MINI Cooper for $22K these days. Buy it. Worst case scenario, you could always flip it and still make a profit.

[The A Dog]

That's awesome! You should post a pic of the one he's selling! Guess if you do most of the work on your cars yourself then just price the parts and make sure they're available to you and you can save a ton on jacked up exotic labor prices (barring any major repairs). At least you'll know since it's not mid-engined you won't have as many access woes for repairs. Run of the mill stuff like changing the brakes won't cost you any more than usual!

[Exclamation]

I work at a dealership where we sell Ferrari, Maserati, Lamborghini, Aston Martin, and Porsche. We also service the cars here. One thing I will warn you about is if it has the "F1" styled paddle shift gearbox, this is a VERY expensive part and WILL go bad sooner or later. Looking at around 8-10k parts+labor. Sometimes I've seen them go out at 50k miles or. If it has a regular gearbox then id say its a pretty decent car. No other little gremlins that I know about on that car. But as stated before labor hours on cars like this are VERY high. Some of our bills can reach 20k for a service, so id watch out if you don't know how to work on the car a little yourself.

[The A Dog]

Ahhh very interesting! I had fun reading up about the Spyder and was lamenting about the F1 style gearbox just from a personal preference standpoint, but I didn't think of reliability! Wow, very expensive indeed! Just out of curiosity, which of the aforementioned exotics are the most reliable based on your experience working at the dealer? VXD, don't forget to post some pics of the Spyder you're eying to buy!

[BigSwede]

In the words of Ted Nugent, from the tender love song "Wango Tango":

"You got to pretend your face is a Maserati..."

That is all.

[VXD959]

I decided not to go for it. I don't need extra headaches / expenses. Beautiful and affordable vehicle though!

[Exclamation]

Just out of curiosity, which of the aforementioned exotics are the most reliable based on your experience working at the dealer?

Well the most reliable (least often seen up on the lift) from my two years working here would have to be Porsche. The most popular car to go up on the lift would have to be Ferrari and Lamborghini ironically lol

[The A Dog]

Haha cool, thanks for sharing that insight! Very interesting!

[rsteinmetz70112]

I think a lot more Porsches are made and Porsche is mostly not an "exotic" car but a high performance car. Porsche makes over 100,000 cars a year. Ferrari makes around 7,000 and Maserati around the same number.

[Exclamation]

Also Aston Martin is a VERY unreliable car when it comes to the electronics. It truly is a wiring nightmare. We rarely get a used Aston come through that doesn't have some electrical issue. The mechanics part and drivetrain never have problems though.

[The A Dog]

That's unfortunate for the weekend warrior wrencher because electrical ghosts are so tough to eek out! Fun to hear your insight. It's funny because when you don't get close to these cars daily the name and image tend to get in the way of thinking objectively about them and the romanticism of the idea of owning one makes it hard to imagine anything going wrong!