Every so often, a legend builds slowly with time, just waiting to be a cover story. The Pontiac Aztek is a prime example, but it’s far from the only one out there. Just take a look at how the fifth-generation Maserati Quattroporte — otherwise known as the Quattroporte V — has risen from initial stumbling blocks to be one of the best used sports sedans on the market today. It might not be the overall fastest or sharpest, but its blend of Ferrari DNA and proper luxury is hard to ignore.
You almost get the sense that it’s the sort of car Maserati might not be capable of making again. It was a rare product of a brief and glorious moment in time when Maserati wasn’t under control of some mass-market automaker, but by the maestros of Modena themselves.
Best of all, you can buy one of these Quattroportes for less than the price of a brand new Mitsubishi Mirage, a little three-cylinder hatchback with double-digit horsepower. Bad idea, right? Well, depending on what you’re shopping for already, maybe not.
What Are We Looking At?
Make no mistake, the Maserati Quattroporte V is the closest we’ve ever come to a series-production Ferrari sedan. After going through Citroen, DeTomaso, and Fiat ownership, in 1997, Fiat sold a 50 percent stake in Maserati to Ferrari, and Maranello want to town, assuming effective control over its crosstown rival. The first step? A new coupe. The second? A new sedan and a re-entry into the American market. The fifth-generation Quattroporte was designed and engineered entirely under Ferrari ownership, and with a cross-plane version of Ferrari’s F136 V8 and a rearward weight bias, the bones were promising. As Car And Driver wrote in a comparison test against the Mercedes-Benz E55 AMG and Jaguar XJR:
The transmission aside, the Maserati puts the least amount of engineered fog between the driver and the experience. The V-8 explodes through its rev band, taking just a nanobreath while your fingertips toggle the suede-backed paddles on each blappa-blap upshift (in full auto mode, the computer will do it for you). The steering is quick, the three-spoke wheel animated by the tugs and scrubs of the tires. Go ahead and hang the fat tail out; this 16.6-foot sedan flits back and forth across the edge of adhesion like a club racer. The brakes let you probe the limit right up to the ABS threshold. Driving that’s this addictive may be why God created Italy.
Unfortunately, Ferrari completely cocked up the early models by fitting a single-clutch automated manual transaxle called DuoSelect that would’ve been appropriate for a 612 Scaglietti but wholly inappropriate for anything competing with a Mercedes-Benz S-Class.
Mercifully, for 2007, Maserati fixed this and re-engineered several frame members to accommodate a ZF 6HP conventional automatic transmission, and the firm changed the oiling system to wet sump while they were in there. The result? Nothing short of sublime. As Motor Trend wrote:
The DuoSelect Quattroporte was a finicky dance partner: There was great performance to be enjoyed, but it took some work, and it occasionally fought back. The automatic-equipped Maser lets you lead and does exactly as you wish. No more hesitation on upshifts. No wiggling a toggle for reverse. No more hassle. Select drive and pedal easy, and the ZF melts from gear to gear. Select Sport or Manual and drive with authority, and it snaps off quick, crisp, confident shifts. It even blips the throttle on downshifts to avoid a forward lurch when you select a lower gear. If there’s any performance loss due to this being a torque-converter-style automatic, versus a manual trans with a robotically operated clutch, we’ll need our test gear to determine it.
Oh, and then there’s the noise from that F136 V8. Not only does an admittedly questionable study from British insurer Hiscox claim it to be an aphrodisiac, it’s just one of the best V8 notes of all time, with the cross-plane crank giving a fuller body to the sound than the flat-plane crank in a Ferrari F430. Add in more leather than an Hermes store and available massive aluminum paddle shifters, and you get a sedan to die for.
How Much Are We Talking?
However, you won’t have to pay Ferrari money to buy a Quattroporte V. Case in point: Here’s an original-owner ZF 6HP-equipped 2007 Quattroporte with 60,000 miles on the clock. It recently hammered on Bring A Trailer for $15,500. That’s a whole lot of wood, leather, pace, sound, and elegance for thousands less than the $17,840 price of a new Mitsubishi Mirage.
Alright, let’s say you prefer the look of the facelifted 2009 to 2013 cars. No problem. This 2009 Quattroporte S sported just 37,000 miles on the clock when it sold on Cars & Bids for an astonishingly cheap $11,300. The best part? Other than a handful of dings and scratches, as far as I can make out, there was absolutely nothing wrong with it.
Too beige for you? Alright, how about a black Quattroporte to match the dress code? This 2013 Quattroporte S, the last of the breed, sold on Cars & Bids for $13,610 with 74,100 miles on the clock. While not ultra-low mileage, it’s still an incredibly attractive machine with a clean Carfax. Yes folks, they really are that cheap.
What Could Possibly Go Wrong On A Cheap Maserati Quattroporte V?
Hold your breath — this is going to sting a little. There are two big achilles heels to the Quattroporte V, but you get to choose to avoid either one of them. DuoSelect cars have abysmal clutch life and problematic mechatronics, and you’re looking at a $5,000 bill to replace the clutch every 10,000 to 30,000 miles. Yes, that bad.
Want to avoid the DuoSelect transmission? No problem. The later ZF 6HP-equipped cars didn’t have clutch issues, but up until mid-2011, they did have cam variator issues. Basically, the variable valve timing units can fail and start to rattle, resulting in a near-five-figure bill to replace everything with updated parts. However, once that’s done, you should be good to go.
Now, parts for these cars are expensive. A tie rod end through Scuderia Car Parts is $212.62. A new Skyhook adaptive front damper is $1,651.57 for just one. This is still an extraordinarily exclusive exotic car with the bills to match. However, since the later ZF cars have relatively few problems outside of cam variators, it could well be worth it.
Should You Buy A Cheap Maserati Quattroporte V?
Should you buy a Maserati Quattroporte over an economy car? Probably not. However, if you’re in the market for a depreciated sports sedan, you absolutely owe it to yourself to check out a Maserati Quattroporte with the ZF 6HP automatic. It’s genuinely one of the best-kept secrets in the second-hand businessperson’s express segment, a big sedan that drives far, far better than any big sedan should.
(Photo credits: Bring A Trailer, Cars & Bids)
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A used Maserati Quattroporte is one of my favorite bad ideas. It’s a good thing I can’t afford it.
I remember looking these and the GranTurismo up at one point, and the general consensus seemed to be that any buyer should plan to average $5K/yr in regular maintenance expenses plus set aside $15K for when something bigger breaks.
On the plus side, they’re definitely at the bottom of the depreciation curve and you can probably sell it after a few years for your purchase price.
Not only does an admittedly questionable study from British insurer Hiscox claim it to be an aphrodisiac.
I mean my data is no more scientific, but my wife’s reaction to these, or imagining me driving one of these, is definitely…. something
This is one car that if I had the extra income, I would buy and let it be my automotive dominatrix.
Back when I worked in the office, someone else leasing space in the same building as my company had one. Like bought new, for certain. Achingly gorgeous and I never saw it have to be hauled away on a flatbed once. I really don’t think pictures do this car justice.
But no, I would not ever own one.
A lot of heavily depreciated cars make their way into the hands of douchebags trying to look wealthy, but the Maseratis I see seem to be skewing heavily in that direction.
Guess the “Italian-ness” of them really appeals to these guys more than a plain old Mercedes S550.
Not too far from my house is a guy who has a broken down looking metal carport. Underneath that rather dilapidated carport sits a white Maserati Quattroporte. Or at least it was white when I first saw its parked there. Now, about a year later, it is covered in a thick layer of dust and various items that are sitting on top of it. It has never moved from its resting spot, and the longer it sits there the more I’m convinced it never will.
I would bet dollars to donuts someone bought a cheap Maserati, and the parts cost and the difficulty to repair quickly overwhelmed them. And now they have an expensive project that they cannot afford, but also cannot sell in its current state.
I routinely drive past a GranTurismo with badly faded red paint sitting in front of one of those houses with 7 cars spilling off the driveway into the front lawn. It never moves. Wonder what $5k+ repair it actually needs to leave the driveway.
You can sell any car in any given state if the price is low enough. He just doesn’t want to drop the price enough because he doesn’t want to ‘take the loss’ and is hanging onto the dream that he might ‘get it going’ again some day.
But what he doesn’t realize is he has already taken the loss and it’s only a question of when he makes it official.
This article was well-timed – I was driving behind one of these things yesterday. Honestly, compared to the new ones, these look downright classy from the back. Melted, form-fitting soap
I love these things. They’ve been available in various form for about 20-30k for many years now.
Months after buying, it would look fantastic, sitting there, broken, in my front yard, where my dead (but pretty) Q45 is sitting now.
And the first month’s repair bill will only be as big as a second Mitsubishi Mirage.
As long as you fully understand that the price of entry is merely the downpayment, sure, why not.
These are very cool, but there is always something wrong, especially with a cheap one and it will be very expensive to fix. It’s a pipe dream but I always thought it would be really cool if someone came up with an affordable method to convert the auto manual to a regular manual, allow them to last a lot longer.
I don’t know if there’s something in the water in the UK that makes everything have rust issues, but apparently that’s another one of the issues these have (at least from some of the reviews/guides I’ve seen from over there). I mean, once something is sidelined with an expensive repair issue, it can at least sit a bit until that’s sorted, but rust never sleeps.
What’s in the water in the UK is lots and lots of road salt. And a wet climate to help it work it’s Satanic magic.
I’ve always absolutely loved these. So damn good looking. I would do some research on the cam variator before buying. Is that cost materials or mostly labor? Even if you could DIY it for $2500 that’s really not bad. Budget $20k and pick one up for 15. I bet if you can turn a wrench you could significantly cut down those maintenance costs. Idgaf what the Maser dealer wants for an oil change or new damper because it would never see a dealer again unless it needed some kind of factory tool to calibrate something.
run.
run away.
run away very fast.
Sreten (https://www.youtube.com/c/m539restorations) did a series on what an absolute nightmare these can be when the engine goes sideways.
hard pass.
I was going to say the same thing. The only answers for these dogs are to LS swap, or kill with fire.
Yes, Sreten’s QuattroBroken is already on its second (technically 3rd, but Sreten rejected the actual second engine because it didn’t meet his standards) and amazingly, the new engine he found was an EXTREMELY low mileage engine (3,000 kilometers; apparently the guy he bought it from got it directly from Maserati) and it’s running for now; the current stretch of his videos right now are him rescuing a crash damaged E60 M5 similar to his Project Raleigh.
https://youtu.be/R9MBe0LMrQE?si=5S8lImMSqlx9ci7U
it is definitely a mixed bag, 50 % say get rid f them, the others try to redeem them. but remember the tubers tend to buy junk for content people like to watch. they get bored by perfectly reliable reviews. Though I tend to have a hard time believing Ferrari engines are reliable vs just massive maintenance hogs that do sound decent.
Note that Sreten has the next generation from this that comes with the twin turbo V8.
Should you buy a cheap Maserati Quattroporte V?
Yes, you should
You. YOU. Not me.
But you’ll let me drive it once or twice, right?
I’ve considered one of these many times. Still do. I’ve seen a few conversions where they removed the computer from the DuoSelect and made it a true manual. That would pretty great. Super fun to try and figure out, then the gravy on top of actually driving it that way.
As someone who considers themself a luxobarge connoisseur of course I am familiar with the Quattroporte. It’s an incredibly elegant car inside and out and that V8 is sublime. It’s absolutely not a stretch to say that nothing like it will ever be made again…and the first and second gen ones are from before Stellantis did what Stellantis does and made the brand into a mockery.
We aren’t talking Ghiblis here, this thing is essentially a Ferrari sedan. I’ve actually somewhat seriously considered buying one because they are legitimately special cars that you can get on the cheap; and I wouldn’t be surprised at all if they appreciate significantly in a few years, especially if Maserati continues to work on improving their brand image.
But boy are you going to pay for parts and service. This is an Italian exotic and comes with EVERYTHING associated with that life. Whether or not you’re up for that is up to you. There’s a part of me that says “Hey I financed a $37,000 car, would it really be that different from paying cash for a $15,000 depreciated luxury beast with the understanding that ownership costs will be more?”.
Hard to know for sure, and a heavily depreciated exotic car that will randomly need 4 figure work done for eternity is probably not going to get wife approval. But I do daydream. And I do wonder…
Correction: it doesn’t come with parts.
Go watch M539 Reatorations on YouTube if you don’t believe me.
It’d be better to set a dumpster on fire and throw your hard earned money at it.
Neighbor has one, he refers to it as ‘The Expensive Buick’ more over looks than anything else
“Can” does not equal “should”.
This car is an automotive black widow. Mate with her and she kills you.