Want to lose a herculean amount of money? Buy a boat. Want to lose an obscene amount of money but aren’t a fan of water? Learn to fly. Want to stay on terra firma but buy something that’s a losing value proposition? Buy a big luxury coupe, almost any big luxury coupe. While enthusiasts love the grand tourer as a genre, the public is cooling to the idea of using a two-door car for continent-crushing duties, probably because an Escalade makes grand touring easier. Still, that hasn’t stopped the new Maserati GranTurismo from existing, with alarmingly discounted results.
Yes, these beautiful coupes are receiving five figures worth of cash on their hoods before they even leave dealer lots, and for six-figure bargain hunters, they could prove difficult to resist. Sure, the Nettuno turbocharged V6 doesn’t have the bark of the old Ferrari-sourced V8, but we’re talking about a drop-dead gorgeous big coupe with a minimum of 483 horsepower on tap. It should still properly move.
Oh, and when I say discounts are in five figure territory, I’m talking deep into five figures. Money that could buy a new midsize sedan outright. Money that could give your house a shower so fancy, it would affect your productivity. Money that could change someone’s life. Seriously, just check out what I’m seeing on major car classified sites, like cars.com.
Back in October, this particular GranTurismo was listed by a Maserati dealership in Illinois for $985 below the manufacturer’s suggested base price. In the nearly two months since, it’s been discounted a further $29,130, an absurd figure for a brand new car in a time of relative scarcity. Oh, but that’s only the tip of the iceberg, because Gran Turismo prices get a whole lot lower than that.
Here’s a nice new GranTurismo at a Maserati dealership in Pennsylvania. With 105 miles on the clock, it’s likely been on a few test drives and what have you, but it’s still effectively a brand new car. This GranTurismo is currently listed for more than $40,000 off of sticker. More than $40,000! To be precise, this car is 21.559 percent off, the sort of discount normally reserved for mall-sourced clothing rather than new cars.
In the words of Billy Mays, “But wait, there’s more!..” Sure, white isn’t the most exciting color in the world, but this brand new GranTurismo is for sale at a Maserati dealer in California with just 41 miles on the clock, and it carries a manufacturer suggested retail price of $193,065. However, it’s currently listed for $145,065. That’s a discount of $48,000. All of my cars I’ve ever owned combined don’t total up to the discount on this Maserati, it’s unbelievable.
Oh, and Maserati isn’t actually advertising any massive factory-authorized cash discounts on its U.S. website, so it’s likely these are dealer-specific discounts. A dealer having more than $30,000 worth of margin on a new car is rare, so you just can’t help but think that there has to be a point where dealerships will cut their losses and dump these things wholesale. Then again, Infiniti is still selling Q60s, and that car was discontinued after the 2022 model year. Weirdly, the Maserati GranTurismo isn’t the only GT car seeing some deep discounts right now — the Mercedes-AMG SL 43 is also struggling to sell at sticker price.
Here’s one in Wichita at the Mercedes-Benz dealer, it has delivery mileage on it, and it’s listed for $18,687 below sticker. That’s a good price if you can deal with the embarrassment of spending nearly six figures on a four-cylinder Mercedes. Oh, and it’s pretty easy to find dealerships knocking a few grand off of a V8 car, although I presume the level of wanting one of those off the showroom floor is lower than with the four-banger.
Now, you might be thinking that massive price discounts could just be par for the course in the GT car segment, but that’s not the case. BMW 8 Series prices are holding firm, as are new Lexus LC prices, as are Bentley Continental GT prices. The outliers here are two GT cars people don’t want, which is a shame because the GranTurismo is just a lovely thing to look at, and it seems a whole lot better than the previous generation of Maserati models to be introduced. Unlike the Ghibli, it doesn’t share prominent switchgear with a Dodge Dart, and unlike the Levante, it’s not slightly ugly. It’s just expensive, and it doesn’t have timing on its side. So, buy-here-pay-here in 15 years, or nah?
(Photo credits: Cars.com Sellers)
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Honestly, I don’t know how you sell one of these without being able to lean on “Ferrari-sourced V8.”
At the very least, I think the price has to undercut the Vantage and AMG GT.
Maybe it’s because I’m and old Boomer- but to me, so many if the swanky imported GT cars leave me absolutely cold. Beyond Ferraris and Lambos, and Porsche, Grand Touring cars don’t seem to offer and more performance or style than a good sedan. Talking about real world usage. Not impressing people at the club that are completely automotive ignorant.
All that except gimme a station wagon.
Yes!
Like, what’s the point for this thing to exist when you can get the Audi RS6 wagon for a little less?
Maserati is likely giving unadvertised dealer cash on the back end to help move these… it creates the perception its dealer discounts rather than the OEM admitting the car isn’t moving and needs cash on the hood to customers. The dealer can technically do whatever they want with that cash. Smart ones are using it to try to move the cars. Greedy ones are trying to sell at MSRP plus make an extra 20-30k.
It’s a reskinned car from 2008, with the only desirable option (the V8) removed. What do they expect?
Until this year, every time you got in one, the dashboard made you feel like you were in 1999. The new dash is pretty nice though, especially the digital start sequence. Now me personally, I LIKE that feeling of the car being ‘the last of a generation’. I think increasingly, there is going to be throwback styling, precisely because all the EV stuff is trying to be ‘futuristic’ instead. In my humble opinion, we are going to look back on the over-hyped styling of all the EV’s of our current time period, in the same way that we look at all the rocket fins on the 50’s and 60’s and just shake our head.
In what way. It makes me feel like I’m in a Wagoneer lol. At least the old one felt Italian.
I just think it’s cool: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/IhOmzqYfJaw
I mean fair it’s nice enough, but it’s also becoming the generic Stellantis dash and steering wheel setup in all their higher end products.
Whataya want? La Bohème by Puccini?
Come to think of it, that wouldn’t be half bad.
Never mind. You’re right.
Coming soon to buy here pay here lots for $20k in 10 years
And from there to four-figure FB-marketplace postings a few years later… where I’ll be waiting.
Ha ha awesome comment I totally agree and with certain stuff I buy, that is exactly what I like… Buy some exotic depreciated machine and cut the exhaust off and do burners with it till it blows up and junk it!!! I like ur style!
I’ve been starting to see more and more 10+ year old Maseratis (the sedan mostly…oddly enough) driven recklessly by 20-something year old dudes with flat brimmed hats. Of course about 1/5th of the ones I see have windows tinted so dark you can’t see the driver, but I don’t think I’m out on too much of a limb guessing it is another 20-something year old dude.
Based on your handle, we are into the same comedy lol that is one of the best sunny in Philadelphia episodes ever!
> if you can deal with the embarrassment of spending nearly six figures on a four-cylinder Mercedes
Lol
Signed, dual v8 MBs snob
I’ve had the same dealer put $75,000 on the hood of Maserati MC20s. Both the coupe and the Cielo.
He knew it couldn’t swing me (car doesn’t do “the job” I need it to) towards one, but he tried. GranTurismos not moving either isn’t a surprise for me, and even the Levante is sitting.
I knew a guy who sold Maseratis and Bentleys until he became GM of a different dealership in the chain. They let him sell any other car in the auto mall because it was the only way for him to earn a living. He was the *only* Maserati and Bentley salesman in the complex, and if he couldn’t sell anything else he wouldn’t earn enough commission to keep him there.
So what, he’d get some potential Bentley buyer in the box and if the person didn’t want a Bentley he’d go “well is there any other car you’d like?” and hope to hook the buyer on something….anything? Seems like a rough way to try and sell cars.
I don’t think he ever had someone, “in the box.” Not how it works when you start dealing with cars that (at the time) started at around $200K. Customers would never tolerate it and go elsewhere.
I dealt with him personally, as I ordered my first Porsche from him. From my understanding he was assigned a lot of customers for other marques that knew what they wanted. Ones where you couldn’t load them on the front or back., but were still likely at least a very easy commission. However, since he sold other marques previously at the dealership chain, he had people from 15+ years prior still asking for him by name, as new referrals.
Again, the sales volume of Bentley, Rolls-Royce (before they sold the license) and Maserati was nothing, so it was the only way to ensure the guy got paid appropriately. He had immense knowledge about every model for every marque. Super car nerd, but also incredibly cordial and polite.
Again, volume was eff all. Think about it. You’re *the* auto mall in your neck of the woods, and the only way you could earn enough money selling your assigned marques was to sell other things. Granted, he was probably the top salesman (of 60+) in the auto mall, since he was an oracle of knowledge and so easy to deal with. Though since he was basically by himself all the time, his wife came in every day to bring him lunch so he wouldn’t get lonely. She was so nice!
I didn’t mean “in the box” like he whipped out a four square in front of them like they were buying a Nissan Versa with subprime financing. I just meant “client who wants to buy a car”.
Sounds more like this guy was the “VIP department” for the dealership for the higher end clientele. Technically assigned to the Maserati/Bentley dealership, but could take care of a customer for anything.
Want to buy a high-end car? Call this guy. Want to buy your kid a Civic? Call this guy, he’ll take care of you with that too. They aren’t going to pass you off to the chain smoking guy soaked in “Spicebomb” working at the Honda dealer just because you don’t want a $150k vehicle today.
There are some objects of desire, both animate and inanimate, that have too high an opinion of themselves, and require way too much effort at maintenance, to ever be worth a long term relationship. Discounts are merely bait in that trap. Do not be fooled.
My cat is in this comment and I don’t like it
The local Maserati/Alfa dealer does give perks if you buy one of their significantly discounted fleet. But I don’t think they put a cat in it for you.
You can always pick up an aftermarket cat at the junkyard.
My BMW convertible fits this description. I have not yet decided to send it away, but any rational being probably would.
I pretty much did a legitimate spit take at the thought of a Maserati Gran Turismo at $150k (discounted!), as I seriously believed they were high five-figure cars, maybe touching the low sixes. Not that I’d ever spend that much on a new car but the 911T reviewed earlier this week is a million times better value than the GT.
How is it possible to sell one of these for 6 figures when the LC500 exists?
A new V6 Gran Turismo at $150k makes absolutely no sense when you can buy a used V8 Gran Turismo for $50k or less and have $100k left over to cover maintenance.
Well after 105 miles it’s due for a major engine out service
I’m going to throw the bomb and say that I don’t think these Maser GTs are worth more than about $100k new (and that may even be too high). As so many have pointed out, it’s nearly an anachronism at this point. There are individual elements that are interesting, but as a whole package in 2023+, it’s pretty much a fail.
However, I predict there are enough successful first generation Eastern Euros with trophyish wives who will acquire these and drive them with glee to their mid-tier country clubs while feeling like they are king of the universe. That is their true calling.
Also, almost nobody in the US GTs anymore. As TH rightly points out, they just Sclade now.
I know of a man how had a Maserati Ghibli and a BMW i8. He sold the Maser as the i8 was his more reliable car!
> an Escalade makes grand touring easier
Gonna stand on my personal soapbox here and say whoever convinced the world that a truck chassis was a viable basis for a luxury car was a monster on the order of Attila the Hun or Vlad the Impaler. The only reason anyone accepts an Escalade as a black car is because they’ve never ridden in a proper luxury vehicle – leather seats in a light duty truck don’t cut it.
I’m just a philistine, I guess, because riding in the back of loaded Suburban to LaGuardia makes me feel like a rap star.
You say that like it’s a good thing.
There’s a subtext here I will choose to ignore
Rap Stars ride in customized black Sprinters.
And they drive G Classes.
You sound fun!
“an Escalade makes grand touring easier”
An Escalade makes the trip to LAX easier when you and your family are packed for a few weeks in Europe when you order Uber Black – but it’s completely interchangeable with a black late-model Suburban, as nobody is looking for you or at you at Departures and the lighting at Arrivals isn’t that good.
Grand Touring involves 2 people on 2 lane roads with tight corners at great speeds between 5 star hotels & Michelin-rated restaurants – with just enough luggage to handle the tuxedo, an extra sports jacket & driving loafers plus a few appropriate necessities, and equivalent for your driving partner.
The Escalade can’t do the first part, and is overkill for the latter.
I had some guests in from Japan, pre-covid, and wanted to give them the full-Amerikan treatment. As part of our itinerary we drove out of the Grand Canyon to Vegas via Route 66 (for some reason Route 66 is a big deal in Japan and somehow James Dean is mixed up in it – I have no idea why).
Anyhow I rented a black Escalade for the trip just for the American excess of it all, and I was incredibly disappointed. It was like driving an airport van, or a small bus. Yeah, it had nice seats and plenty of room, and the trim was acceptable, but my daily is a 5 Series, and I can’t imagine why people would pay more for an Escalade than a 5 Series. It was sure big, but it wasn’t luxury.
I mean I think the luxury in an Escalade comes from willfully paying too much for what you get, which is a nice segue back to the Maserati Gran Turismo. I think it’s at least $50K overpriced and maybe more.
Route 66 has all kinds of significance in Northern Europe, too – we tried to drive it the first summer after moving to the US, but much of it was hard to find.
Escalades are depressing to me, but so are Maserati Gran Turismos. I guess I want something old, something meaningful.
Had friends from the English Midlands rent a car and drive a lot of Route 66. They thought it glorious.
Vlad the Impaler had a very desirable descendant who went by Vlad the Impaler SS.
Many many kids + gear is the only acceptable reason to road trip in a ‘Burban or Escalade. Anyone with kids knows the liberation of road tripping with the bare essentials. Dad here: If I took a road trip with one adult, there’s zero chance I’d drive a land-yacht recreationally unless I was moving.
Only looking at the title of the feature: “Gavel Gazing” and while it’s obviously a play on navel gazing, now I’m wondering do Canadians pronounce “gavel” like “navel”? In the US “gavel” sounds like “gravel”.
Nope pronounced the same, and as there is no auction I don’t see the gavel
“Oh, and when I say discounts are in five figure territory, I’m talking deep into five figures.”
Well for a car that sells well into the 6 figures, a 5 figure discount that amounts to a 21% discount isn’t the biggest I’ve seen.
I recall that in the 1990s when Ford and GM were fighting for the luxury car sales crown, Lincolns that typically had a ~$60,000 MSRP in Canada were commonly discounted by around $20,000… a 33% discount on a vehicle that did NOT sell for 6 figures. The only people who paid MSRP for those are people who didn’t do any research and/or didn’t pick up a local newspaper and see the many dealer ads with heavily discounted Lincolns ‘proudly’ listed.
“Then again, Infiniti is still selling Q60s, and that car was discontinued after the 2022 model year.”
That’s not the worst I’ve seen. I recall that when Mitsubishi pulled the plug on the iMiEV in 2018, you could still buy ‘new’ ones from 2016. I bet they even had some ‘new’ 2015 ones lying around in 2018.
It really baffled me what Mitsibishi was doing back then. They pull the plug on the Lancer and the Lancer EVO (which had to be at least somewhat profitable) but they kept the iMiEV around… a vehicle that wasn’t selling that MUST have been losing them a ton of money.
Stellantis is on a big “% off” advertising kick these days too. Usually 10-15%, which doesn’t seem like it amounts to much on its own depending on the model (15% on a Renegade still has it too high for what it should be) but they do sometimes stack with some other offers. IIRC saw Rams at up to 20% at one point, which that total still isn’t really any different than what you might expect for a truck discount, but does put a new spin on how it’s marketed.
About 10 years ago the Toyota dealers near me were advertising $6k off Camry SEs, back when Toyota was fighting to regain/increase sales volume. For a ~$25k car that came to around 24% off sticker, not something you see often from a non-domestic brand.
I went with my buddy to buy his brand new 2005 Chrysler Crossfire base coupe in 2006 (which I own today). They we so excited anyone would possibly consider that car, which had been on the lot since 2005, that hey sold it to him for $21k after all discounts and it had had a sticker of $30k. Now that’s a discount.
My best deal ever was for my Clarity. $7000 on the hood, plus the tax credit because ew, plug in hybrid. (Houston and pre-COVID)
I don’t think we’re talking $30k in margin for the dealer here. CarsDirect shows a $20k bonus cash rebate on the GranTurismo. Could be dealer cash but still sounds like it’s coming from Maserati, and with the price drops on some of those it seems like they’ve kept upping the amount of cash back over the last few months. If the amount continues to climb, dealers could do a “buy a GranTurismo, get a Giulia or Tonale” promo…maybe even a Grecale.
Well it is Maseranukkah, I would expect some pretty good deals.
For starters, it’s 4,100 lbs. Mama Mia that’s a lotta’ pasta! This GranTurismo is so damned fat and overweight you might as well be driving a pickup truck or an SUV.
Whatever happened to the light and agile sports cars Maserati use to make? The Tipo 61 “Birdcage” weighed 1,300 lbs. The Osca 1600GT weighed 1,900 lbs. Maserati builds bespoke “cost is no object” cars, and if Mitsubishi can build a 1,900 lb car from conventional materials that passes FMVSS that also happens to be the least expensive new car available, then surely Maserati could build a lightweight, agile sports car using cost-is-no-object exotic materials for the well off that also passes FMVSS.
Given that these vehicles are basically the next step up after a hot 300C/Durango, it’s not surprising that what few customers they have expect a bruiser.
But there’s already Hellcats for that.
The niche of bruisers and overweight rolling ego mobiles is thoroughly saturated in all brands. As is the niche of overpriced feature-laden vehicles in general. Everyone just copies everyone else, and this has gotten so bad we have to now look at the Chinese auto industry, notorious for its blatant ripoffs to the point of patent infringement and plagiarism, for any signs of creativity and outside-the-box thinking…
Oh I totally agree. The insatiable desire for heavy vehicles is truly alarming. Maseratis have always been ego mobiles- At one point ‘light and sporty’ meant something worth bragging about, but it seems those days are long gone.
If you’d told people 10 years ago that Lotus and Ferrari would be selling vehicles that weigh more than crew cab F150s, they’d have thought you were crazy.
Well, I’m not sure about that. My mid-spec crew cab ‘17 F150 is on the order of 5,600#. The gas gauge bears that out. Especially around town in the foothills.
Ooh don’t say anything bad about the Chinese here or you will be attacked.
It is supposed to be a luxury car that is sporty if comparing to Escalade. So going light weight is my favorite it won’t give a luxury ride.
I get that featherweight stuff is your kink, but have Maserati’s GT’s ever been particularly light weight? The 3500 GT was ~3200lbs, and they got heavier from there.
The MC20 is 3400lbs at least, if we’re talking about sports cars. When a Lotus is over 3000lbs, that’s not terrible for something a fair bit more powerful, and how many cars are rewarded with amazing sales for saving weight?
> Maserati builds bespoke “cost is no object” cars
Rolls does. Maserati makes mass produced, off the rack, overpriced jags with an Italian accent.
There is one thing you forget about mass: it helps comfort.
A heavy vehicle is more inert, hence less prone to being bounced around by road imperfections. And Maserati buyers do like comfort.
I think that can be said about nearly every two-seater on the market in the USA. The Miata is the lone exception available in the USA at the moment where dynamics take precedence over comfort and over features, and it’s deliberately underpowered.
Everyone sells luxury cars that pretend to be sports cars because they can pad more bells and whistles and extract more profit margin from the buyer with them. For those who want to go fast, almost no one sells actual sports cars, because that would undercut the sales of more expensive luxury cars that pretend to be sports cars AND actual sports cars would run circles around the luxury cars that pretend to be sports cars on the track for less purchase/operating cost, for a given horsepower.
There’s this unwritten rule in the industry that if you want straight-line acceleration performance and high top speed, you have to PAY for it by buying an overpriced, overweight, overly-complicated, feature-laden, tech-laden, high-maintenance monstrosity, or else that you don’t deserve to. It should not be cheaper for someone to take an old car and reengineer it to make it run circles around a six-figure obese “sports car”, but it is.
Other exceptions are Carerhham and Ariel, but they aren’t exactly cheap despite their bare bone nature.
Their production volume is too low to take advantage of economies of scale to the same extent of mass produced cars. Were the volume higher, the per-unit cost could be reduced to such an extent that the market niche for these vehicles might be greatly increased in size. Plus both the Caterhams and Ariels generally aren’t very usable in inclement weather due to their open top designs.
If the Ariel Atom had a variant with an aerodynamic body over it in coupe form for a similar cost to the one that currently exists, I’d very likely buy one. I really like the Atom and what it stands for, but the car would improve in many ways with massive drag reduction and the ability for the operator to stay dry in the rain/snow and keep the windows defrosted in the cold. I don’t need air conditioning, and rollup windows would be just fine.
Why the hell would anyone buy a Maserati new? Aren’t these things the absolute pinnacle of depreciation? Silly me, I thought that started when they were off the lot. This amount while on the showroom floor? That’s insane.
Maserati is purely marketed to the nouveau riche who don’t know any better. Any person with a semblance of sanity is buying German or Japanese instead.
Hell, even at 20k I wouldn’t consider one over the equivalent BMW.
Oh I would.
At least I would for a lease.
Maseratis are prettier.
And BMWs are just as likely to spontaneously implode these days.
I would also. I’m not particularly concerned with what anyone else thinks about the car I drive. Obviously not many people here care for them. The combination of history, performance, and design of Maserati is more important than depreciation to me if I had Maserati money. If I cared about depreciation I’d get a Tacoma.
But what is even there? You could say that about the previous generation Pininfarina cars, but the new ones designed in-house use Ferrari-fettled Chrysler engines and buttons right out of a Dodge Grand Caravan. For nearly $20k more than an equivalent BMW or Mercedes, that seems like quite literally throwing money away. In my book the craftsmanship and materials should be worth the price premium but they simply aren’t there, and that’s why they aren’t selling. The old Gran Turismo sold quite decently.
I’ll give you that to a point. The previous ones were also sold by FCA though. But then parts sharing is found on a lot of expensive cars these days, is it not? Lotus still uses Toyota engines. If I’m not mistaken the Evora uses a variation of the same engine found in the Sienna. And what’s a Lamborghini Urus but an Audi Q8 with a $170,000 logo on it. Even the Bugatti Chiron uses a lot of the same switch gear as the Jetta I used to have. Did Rolls Royce finally stop using the same infotainment system as BMW? Do they still have the same seat belt warning chimes?
Well, that’s why I find a majority of ‘ultra’ luxury cars to be a waste of money 🙂 Back in the day it was perhaps endearing to be in a DeTomaso or Monteverdi and find some cheap off-the-shelf switchgear, but with modern conglomerates doing that stuff it just shows how massive the margins must be on those sorts of products since the inflated price tag isn’t being passed on to the consumer with increased product quality. A $170,000 premium to make the car uglier? Count me out.
To me the Lotus Toyota thing is different. If Toyota still made an MR-2, sure, but where else are you going to get a mid-engine sports car with Japanese parts availability? My whole thing is if you’re reusing someone else’s parts, you better be doing something damn impressive with them.
> Why the hell would anyone buy a Maserati
Better.
$200,000 for a six cylinder Maserati with the same power as a Mustang GT?
Color me shocked that these are nailed to the showroom floor.
Not to mention a Mustang GT has:
1). 2 more cylinders
2). A manual transmission
3). A convertible option
4). Cheaper maintenance and ownership costs by a factor of 5 or more
5). Can be had for the amount that the second example has depreciated for
6). Somehow, less weight
I must conclude that a Mustang GT > Maserati Gran Turismo
Well you know what they say. Mustang Is Always The Answer
I would like to meet the person who buys this, even for $150K, over a Z06 if you want performance, or an AMG GT if you want refined luxury and snobby badge.
…or just a highly spec’d 911? Or an LC500 and investing the $50,000+ leftover? Or a V10 R8 if you want an exotic GT? Or a base Huracan? It’s a baffling product lol
Base Huracan is $250K and R8 is done after 2023, otherwise I agree with you.
This car is a lot like the NSX 2.0 was, who is it designed for at its price?
I don’t really understand why anyone with 90k to blow would buy anything other than an LC500
I don’t know but a Corvette isn’t built for anyone too tall or too short or too fat. You may fit but not comfortable.
I have no seat time in a C8 so can’t comment on it personally, but I have seen people of lots of shapes and sizes driving them. Maybe there’s just a lot of uncomfortable buyers?
Agreed my only experience was going to test drive hoppedin and said nope ain’t gonna happen. For me comfort is job 1.
Mustang – Those are the 2 door cars in the Hertz rental lot, Amiright?
I hope you like the feel of plastic, and the color Black.
That’s just embarrassing when you’re pulling up to the valet stand – because even they drive nicer cars. When you leave, it will take them at least 20 minutes to retrieve it for you when you leave the restaurant/hotel/Neiman Marcus, because it’s been parked as far off-site as humanly possible.
My 14 year old Mercedes-Benz convertible will be delivered faster.
Meanwhile, the Maser will be parked out front, and the lady who owns a few restaurants and has been in a Realty TV show for decades getting out of her Ghost will give you a nod and a wink because she believes you’re part of the club.
This issue is that the Gran Turismo and the the SL just aren’t special enough. The LC and the 8 series have more flair to them, which is what you’d want if you’re buying a coupe for this amount of money. Especially the LC. It has more thought put into the design and just feels like Lexus had some passion behind the development. BMWs ttv8 and the 5.0 in the LC also have way more character. They bark and shout and crackle while the Maserati just has a slight turbo whistle and the SL’s v8 has the synthetic, monotone sound.
Plus the Lexus won’t fail.
The LC, yes. The 8-series looks like someone photoshopped a pig nose onto a Mustang. I’m sure they’re great cars, but nothing about them ‘looks special’ to me.
Im not talking specifically about looks I’m talking about the vehicle as a complete package. I mentioned engines and sound but nothing about looks. If that was the case then I would be defending the Maserati.
Last winter, on a night when it was roughly zero degrees freedom (-18 Canadian) without factoring in a moderately aggressive windchill, I encountered a red late-’00s/early-’10s GranTurismo coupe at my local convenience store.
I don’t know how it got there, nor how it didn’t strand its occupants (who looked as new-moneyish as you’d expect) but I was proud of it for doing Car Things.
(Edited for one particular damn typo.)
I laughed out loud when the original prices of these were announced. While I kind of understand the appeal of a Maserati as a unique and soul stirring car, paying nearly $200,000 for one is just hilarious. At that point you’re in the same ballpark as a GT3/Turbo S, you can buy a V10 R8 with money to spare, a base Huracan is within $20,000, you’re paying nearly twice the price of the greatest touring car ever made in the LC500, I mean dear god.
Every single one of those will depreciate far less, has a more interesting engine, is similarly exotic, the list is endless. Hell the Porsche and Lexus will run laps around it reliability wise too, and I’d imagine the Lamborghini/R8 will too because that V10 is well sorted at this point. You could also get TWO Emiras.
When it comes to the Merc the thought of paying six figures for a car with a turbo 4 cylinder is hilarious. Mercedes really jumped the shark in forcing that stupid, shockingly over stressed 4 popper into everything…especially when their German competitors are still offering 6 and 8 cylinders pretty much across the board. I think they’re going to be sitting on a lot of unsold AMGs a few months down the road as a result. They really lost the plot…
Anyway, I wouldn’t even want one of these Maseratis at the discounts being offered. There are just way more appealing and way less risky buys out there. Once you’re around 150k there are just too many compelling options…and I really don’t know who Stellantis thought would buy these damn things. I think they have a similar problem to Alfa in that the brand just doesn’t have enough cache in the States.
Maybe I’d pick one up in 4-5 years when they’re sitting on buy here pay here lots for $30,000…but even then I’m not sure that the risks outweigh the rewards. Like all of us I’ve done plenty of research on whether or not I could make a heavily depreciated exotic work and the answer is always a resounding HELL NO. The parts/maintenance/labor/etc. don’t depreciate along with the car.
As usual a 911 or LC500 are the answer.
Yup. These things just don’t make any sense unless you’re trying to burn cash and want to feel ‘seen’ doing it.
“We bought this car for our son to get around Toronto while he completes his studies- with the garment factory money we hid from the CCP”
“My dad bought me this Maserati with cash from his paving company. after I wrecked my 300C drunk driving”
“I’m a drug dealer and I need a car that helps my customers recognize me in parking lots”
Back in Texas, I knew an independent mechanic that used to work on all kinds of exotic cars. An ’08 Maserati GranTurismo was brought in by a customer. It needed a head gasket replacement. The owner was said to have paid $20,000 for the car. The mechanic told me it was going to run the owner about $30,000 to fix.
You can find countless Maseratis, Bentleys, etc. in my area for between 20 and 50k or so for this exact reason. You might be able to get into an exotic for the price of a well equipped family sedan or mid sized SUV but that absolutely does not mean that you should. I remember talking to a Porsche sales rep when I was car shopping with my old man once who had a Continental GT.
He told me he’d just talked his mechanic down into the teens for some exotic brake service it needed done and that it had a unique braking system that more or less needed this done every few years. I don’t remember the specifics because I wasn’t as mechanically savvy in my mid 20s but even back then I was wise enough to be like “holy shit I’d never put up with that”.
Don’t get me wrong-I salute the people that are willing to take such daunting task in the name of having a cool car. But I never could personally. That being said plenty of ding dongs who don’t know anything about cars buy them to try to flex and then ruin themselves financially. The Maserati Ghibli forums are full of those folks and are a theater of misery. I oscillate between feeling bad for them and having a laugh at their expense.
If I had the money, and I would be tempted to buy a Bentley Continental for dirt cheap and waste years of my life swapping out its parts for off the shelf stuff. American V8 and trans, normal brakes and suspension, etc. I’ve always found them to be pretty looking
Out here in rural PA I couldn’t find anyone to do a head gasket on a Lotus 907. Even good mechanic friends who serviced my company trucks even if offered unlimited time and paid under the table at their house instead of the shop they worked at.And knowledgeable DIYers do their own all the time.
Yep, which is why I don’t have a Bentley Turbo R as my hobby car right now. I could have easily bought one for $20-30 thousand, but I quickly realized the insurance and maintenance costs were going to eat me alive. Instead I bought a cherry, low-mileage 1988 Jaguar XJ6 for $5600 and it pretty much feeds the exact same pleasure receptors at a much lower tariff. The Jag has been surprisingly inexpensive to keep compared to its reputation.
Mercedes-Benz pushing the 4 is even more bizarre when they have great 6 and 8 cyl. engines already – so why put a 4 in an AMG?
If I recall correctly the AMG straight 6 actually gets better fuel economy than the 4 too. In the C43 the 4 can’t even hit 20 in the city with mild hybrid assistance. Whats the fucking point? I consider myself environmentally conscious and even I don’t really understand what advantages a stupefyingly overboosted 4 has in these applications and I’m almost certain the emissions benefits/overall impact will be negligible when all the extra work it’ll take to keep that engine running long term are factored in.
I think Mercedes has tried to lean into the “most powerful production 4 cylinder” marketing of it and they jumped to electrify AMGs early too…so I guess they can’t just turn the entire ship at the drop of a hat but no one wants that engine. The C43 and 63 have gotten absolutely panned so far and the main take away from the SL that I’ve seen is “why the hell is there a 4 cylinder in this thing?”
I mean shit. I paid $36,000 for a car with a 286 (that’s likely underrated from the factory) horsepower turbo 4. For that price it’s cool! For 2 or 3 times that price it should be satire…but it isn’t!
My guess is the inline 6 doesn’t fit due to it’s length.
And you might recall that this isn’t the first 4 cylinder SL, nor the first 4 cylinder AMG.
An AMG with fewer than 8 cylinders is utterly absurd.
This thing is priced about $50k high for the segment, and is going to be the most troublesome option.
It’s pretty, but that just means more eyes on you in the restaurant parking lot when it’s being loaded onto a flatbed.
In 20 years these will make very pretty electric conversions.
Edit: maybe 10 years. The depreciation is strong with this one.
You mean the Folgore EV variant that Maserati is selling alongside the V6?
Brand that is less reliable than Alfa. Charges eye watering prices. Eh, buy it for the opportunity to enjoy some beautiful rural scenery and hopefully wine waiting for the tow truck. Since the towie will be doing the driving. Or as garage art.