Perspective
Thread Starter
Rennlist Member
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 6,020
Likes: 319
From: Overland Park, KS
Perspective
I have a dealer's license. The big auction in town is every Wednesday morning. Last night I go to the auction website to see what's going across the block in the morning - anything interesting? Hmm, 2002 Maserati Spyder, 6 speed manual, grey, 50k miles. Auction estimate for sale price is around $11k. Well, maybe I can pick that up to drive over the summer whilst I wait for the right 996TT to come along, but I don't know much about the modern Masers. I read a couple of reviews - basically a Ferrari drivetrain, people seem impressed with them. OK, I start thinking seriously about adjusting my schedule to clear a couple hours for some auction time.
Then, I find a buyer's guide thread on a Maserati forum. Cost to repair common failure items makes the 996 look downright cheap. My favorite? $12,000 for catalytic converters. Seems there are 2 Cats on each side of the V-8: pre-cat and post-cat. The pre-cats are part of the exhaust header, so when the pre-cat goes, you're in it for the exhaust header also. And when the pre-cat goes, it normally takes the post-cat with it.
Here's the kicker-the exhaust design makes the pre-cat especially vulnerable to disintegration if you go over something like a speed bump too hard. So, if you're cruising down the boulevard admiring your bad self in the reflection from the Rodeo Drive shop windows and don't see that speed bump - BAM! That'll be $12,000 please.
Then, I find a buyer's guide thread on a Maserati forum. Cost to repair common failure items makes the 996 look downright cheap. My favorite? $12,000 for catalytic converters. Seems there are 2 Cats on each side of the V-8: pre-cat and post-cat. The pre-cats are part of the exhaust header, so when the pre-cat goes, you're in it for the exhaust header also. And when the pre-cat goes, it normally takes the post-cat with it.
Here's the kicker-the exhaust design makes the pre-cat especially vulnerable to disintegration if you go over something like a speed bump too hard. So, if you're cruising down the boulevard admiring your bad self in the reflection from the Rodeo Drive shop windows and don't see that speed bump - BAM! That'll be $12,000 please.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jun 2013
Posts: 972
Likes: 23
From: USA
From what I understand, that Maserati has a transmission that is considered a ware item. It needs to be replaced at regular intervals. Also, it has serious cowl shake. The engine is awesome though - the poor mans Ferrari.
Banned
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 7,697
Likes: 31
From: Chicago
You wanna feel good about your 996, hang out at the Ferrari Chat forums.
Thread Starter
Rennlist Member
Joined: Jun 2003
Posts: 6,020
Likes: 319
From: Overland Park, KS
Trending Topics
Three Wheelin'
Joined: Aug 2013
Posts: 1,720
Likes: 547
From: Phoenix, AZ
Modified version describing another car, but a perfect fit for any supercar/hyper car. For most people this is the path of the super/hyper car ownership.
Have you ever played darts with a sledgehammer?
People ask me all the time what this car is like, and it's hard to explain, but I will try to answer this question here with the help of some reasonable and not-at-all hyperbolic analogies.
A 911/GS is basically a cartoon on PCP. Remember how in Who Framed Roger Rabbit? there were cartoons mixed in the real world, so there would be a row of normal cars and then a crazy cartoon car at the end? That's what it feels like every time I walk out to the parking lot.
Someone once said to me that the 911/GS was a great car for an Engineer, which is kind of like saying a bazooka is a great toothbrush for a Dentist. A well engineered car is a balance of many different variables which are often at odds with each other. If you have too much power, you might lose out on fuel mileage. Great ride comfort will affect handling.
Porsche/Maserati did not balance these variables with the 911/GS, they just cranked displacement and tires up to 11 and to hell with everything else. The suspension looks like it might have some thought put into it, but the springs are so stiff that the suspension doesn't actually do anything.
The Porsche/Maserati-only parts are a little more pricey, like the airbags which go for $2500 used and the clamshell hood which costs about as much as a new Civic. Given the cost of these parts and the 911/GS propensity to spin out for like, no reason, it is no surprise that there are so many with salvage titles. Minor front end damage = total loss.
The fluids are all supposed to be full synthetic, which you should use anyway, but the service interval is a lot lower than most cars, and it gets pricey when you realize that the engine holds 8 trillion quarts of oil.
Porsche/Maserati does not make a lot of great vehicles, and I know this because I've owned six of them. I also know this because I spend some time with my head jammed in the fender wells of fancy Japanese cars thinking, "Wow, that's really clever," and also some time crawling underneath Porsche/Maserati products thinking "Wow, that is literally the laziest possible way to do that." Maybe it is because my first three cars were Porsche/Maserati products, but I always find some charm in them. When I see something haphazardly bolted to the firewall in a seeming random location with total disregard for serviceability or NVH, I always imagine some Porsche/Maserati engineer, we'll call him Claus/Vincenzzo, saying "It's just an ABS pump, what do you want from me?"
And I shrug my shoulders.
After the 2002 generation, the 911/GS classed itself up a little. It's like that friend of yours that got a nice haircut, started showering every day, and traded his oil-stained jeans and Metallica concert tee for a nice button up shirt and khakis. Sure, he looks like a classy professional, but you still remember that time he got kicked out of the Waffle House for throwing up on the jukebox.
Okay, so I lied about not using hyperbole, but that's really what the 911/GS is. It is an exaggeration of a normal car. If you take yourself seriously while driving it, you will look ridiculous. Driving it is kind of like wearing a clown wig. A clown wig that is on fire.
It's not a good car, but it is, in a few ways, a great car. It is what it is, unapologetically. You know what you're getting into. It is all laid out on the window sticker: it is small and has crap build quality, and at some point you will slide full oppo into a tree.
I get asked all the time what it is like to own one. You want to know what it is like? Go buy one. Work hard for a few years, save your pennies and get a used one; they cost about the same as a V6 Accord. Buy one and drive it every day for 6 months, then sell it and use the money to buy a Lotus Elise and drive that for 6 months. Then, after you've realized that what you thought was a great idea in college is not actually a great idea, sell it and use the money to buy a V6 Accord. Then casually waft to work every day in the quiet comfort of cushy suspension and cupholders, knowing what that guy in the 996/GS next to you on the 405 is slowly figuring out: That driving a 996/GS is like driving a cartoon bazooka that shoots sledgehammers while wearing a flaming clown wig and throwing up on the jukebox at the Waffle House.
Have you ever played darts with a sledgehammer?
People ask me all the time what this car is like, and it's hard to explain, but I will try to answer this question here with the help of some reasonable and not-at-all hyperbolic analogies.
A 911/GS is basically a cartoon on PCP. Remember how in Who Framed Roger Rabbit? there were cartoons mixed in the real world, so there would be a row of normal cars and then a crazy cartoon car at the end? That's what it feels like every time I walk out to the parking lot.
Someone once said to me that the 911/GS was a great car for an Engineer, which is kind of like saying a bazooka is a great toothbrush for a Dentist. A well engineered car is a balance of many different variables which are often at odds with each other. If you have too much power, you might lose out on fuel mileage. Great ride comfort will affect handling.
Porsche/Maserati did not balance these variables with the 911/GS, they just cranked displacement and tires up to 11 and to hell with everything else. The suspension looks like it might have some thought put into it, but the springs are so stiff that the suspension doesn't actually do anything.
The Porsche/Maserati-only parts are a little more pricey, like the airbags which go for $2500 used and the clamshell hood which costs about as much as a new Civic. Given the cost of these parts and the 911/GS propensity to spin out for like, no reason, it is no surprise that there are so many with salvage titles. Minor front end damage = total loss.
The fluids are all supposed to be full synthetic, which you should use anyway, but the service interval is a lot lower than most cars, and it gets pricey when you realize that the engine holds 8 trillion quarts of oil.
Porsche/Maserati does not make a lot of great vehicles, and I know this because I've owned six of them. I also know this because I spend some time with my head jammed in the fender wells of fancy Japanese cars thinking, "Wow, that's really clever," and also some time crawling underneath Porsche/Maserati products thinking "Wow, that is literally the laziest possible way to do that." Maybe it is because my first three cars were Porsche/Maserati products, but I always find some charm in them. When I see something haphazardly bolted to the firewall in a seeming random location with total disregard for serviceability or NVH, I always imagine some Porsche/Maserati engineer, we'll call him Claus/Vincenzzo, saying "It's just an ABS pump, what do you want from me?"
And I shrug my shoulders.
After the 2002 generation, the 911/GS classed itself up a little. It's like that friend of yours that got a nice haircut, started showering every day, and traded his oil-stained jeans and Metallica concert tee for a nice button up shirt and khakis. Sure, he looks like a classy professional, but you still remember that time he got kicked out of the Waffle House for throwing up on the jukebox.
Okay, so I lied about not using hyperbole, but that's really what the 911/GS is. It is an exaggeration of a normal car. If you take yourself seriously while driving it, you will look ridiculous. Driving it is kind of like wearing a clown wig. A clown wig that is on fire.
It's not a good car, but it is, in a few ways, a great car. It is what it is, unapologetically. You know what you're getting into. It is all laid out on the window sticker: it is small and has crap build quality, and at some point you will slide full oppo into a tree.
I get asked all the time what it is like to own one. You want to know what it is like? Go buy one. Work hard for a few years, save your pennies and get a used one; they cost about the same as a V6 Accord. Buy one and drive it every day for 6 months, then sell it and use the money to buy a Lotus Elise and drive that for 6 months. Then, after you've realized that what you thought was a great idea in college is not actually a great idea, sell it and use the money to buy a V6 Accord. Then casually waft to work every day in the quiet comfort of cushy suspension and cupholders, knowing what that guy in the 996/GS next to you on the 405 is slowly figuring out: That driving a 996/GS is like driving a cartoon bazooka that shoots sledgehammers while wearing a flaming clown wig and throwing up on the jukebox at the Waffle House.
Advanced
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 83
Likes: 0
From: Denver
