Germany V Italy

[Ewan]

My Maserati let me down last week. The starter motor decided to implode in the car park of my youngest daughters nursery. The little poppets loved watching the "Big Truck" take Mimi's daddy's car away.

But no worries. Simply fire up the 951 while the Ghibli gets repaired. A week in the 944 and all will be well.

Or wil it? Er...no. Today it managed about 5 miles before dying. Driving along quite happily at about 60 in 4th one moment, and then total loss of power the next - as if the tank was empty. So I cruised to a halt, and on the third re-start attempt, all was fine. Wierd.

This happened twice more on my way to the Maserati garage to check on the Ghibli.

By which time I'd had quite enough of "German efficiency".

So, as of today, I'm the proud owner of another Maserati. Whilst checking the starter motor repair they showed me a lovely black Quattroporte with a sports exhaust. Obviously, needing a car that worked, I was not in a position to say no. Deal done. And I'm really looking forward to some time in 400 bhp of leather-lined Italian luxury.

And in the meantime the race is on. Which will be working again first? It's Ghibli Cup in the Italian corner V 944 turbo in the German corner. My money's on the Italians...

 

[Diver944]

Have you tried a spare DME relay? They sometimes play up before finally dying on you []

We have a regular customer with a Maserati booked into the workshop next week. Whenever he drops it off he gives us a whole checklist of items not to press because they don't work - door keys, window switches etc. My partner has to drive it because the electric seats are as far back as they can go and I can't reach the pedals, needless to say the electric adjusters don't work. First time I popped the bonnet to look for the paintcode the handle came off in my hand - it's only eight years old

The engine sounds gorgeous though and the leather smells nice [8D]

 

[Ewan]

That old Maserati sounds only fractionally more reliable than a JMG bodged together 3.2 engined 944.....!

 

[Riverside]

ORIGINAL: Ewan

Today it managed about 5 miles before dying. Driving along quite happily at about 60 in 4th one moment, and then total loss of power the next - as if the tank was empty. So I cruised to a halt, and on the third re-start attempt, all was fine. Wierd.

This happened twice more on my way to the Maserati garage to check on the Ghibli.

I had the same problem with my 944 a year or so ago, intermittent fault & a pain to diagnose. After much substitution (DME, Fuel Pump etc) I eventually traced it to a corroded connector in the wire that supplies power to the fuel pump. The connector is underneath the car just above the OS drive shaft. I cut the loom inside the boot, made a new connector there & ran new wires out to the fuel pump, problem solved.

At the time I had an Alfa 166 with similar issues to Paul's description. Needless to say the Alfa is gone but the Porsche is still with me ;-)

 

[Ewan]

Thanks Malcolm. I'll definitely mention this to the chaps so they can investigate this option. If all I need is some new wire and a new connector I'll be delighted.

 

[MarkK]

Quattroporte.......awsome....any chance of a pic or two?
Black aswell....[8D]

 

[Veerzigzag]

I love the mix of people on this forum. Stepping away from the sublime Masser / Porsche combo; we have 5 cars in our family: British, Swedish, Japanese, German, French. Total value about £12k being generous, total mileage around 600k. Everything works on each of them....
But let's have a pic or two of the Quattroporte please.

 

[TTM]

The only thing that doesn't work on my 19 year old Clio is the washer nozzle for the rear window.

Good luck with the Maser!

 

[Riverside]

ORIGINAL: TTM

The only thing that doesn't work on my 19 year old Clio is the washer nozzle for the rear window.

Good luck with the Maser!

A few years ago I decided I needed a cheap car for the daily commute (rather than using the 944). I was looking at anything including low rent Micras, Fiestas, Clios, that sort of thing, my budget was £1000 for a car with 12 months MOT & 6 months tax. I looked at a few cars but couldn't bring myself to lay out a grand on something worthy but a little dull.

So I bought a BMW 735i with a 210bhp straight six, Water Buffalo Hide interior & electric memory seats. Quite possibly the easiest car to live with I've ever owned but the fuel consumption was diabolical. Sold it a year later for what I paid for it.

To replace it I got (in my mind) a more sensible car - a 2.5lt straight six Diesel Omega Estate. Monkfish looks but surprisingly good fun to drive and enormously practical (I can now see why they were popular with the Police), I ran it for a year & sold it for more than I paid.

The Omega was good but I thought I could do with a bit less practicality & more style, a mate persuaded me to buy an Alfa, so I got the biggest one with the best kit, a busso v6 166 with heated Momo leather & electric everything. Fuel consumption was actually pretty good (20mpg bumbling around, 40mpg on a run), it was a fabulous bit of kit to sit in and the engine sounded glorious and unlike the Omega, no rust whatsoever.
So good car then! No.
Everything worked - intermittently. To it's credit I spent little money on parts (stuff just fell off & I reattached it or broke & started working again once it had been hit with a rubber mallet) but the worst part was the drive - it really just felt like a Fiat Tempra in a party frock. Used it for 6mths & sold it for half what I paid (albeit with no tax & only 6mths MOT). It had a lot going for it but the Omega was more my kind of car (plain Jane but fun rather than a pretty primadonna).

So I bought my current cheap car - a LWB 2.8 diesel Mitsubishi Shogun for £800. Everything works except the headlight washers, it's acceleration can be measured on a geological timescale but it's as thoughtfully designed as the Beamer, even more practical than the Omega (it's spent the last fortnight in the aforementioned mate's hands while he moves house) and fun to chuck about on a twisty B-road. It's got more rattles than a tin of nails & looks like it should have UN in massive letters on the door; the exhaust tip fell off & I had to replace a split CV joint rubber and anti-roll bar link following an unplanned off-road excursion. It's MOT is up soon & rust is a bit of a worry but it's probably worth spending a bit of money to get it through.

I've had the 944 throughout and all these cars have complemented it well, been cheap to insure and a bit of an adventure to own. I'm not sure a Clio would have done that ;-)

 

[TTM]

It's possible that none of the cars you mention would have fared half as well as a light early Clio on the poor and twisty country roads I'm doing 13k miles on every year.

I was actually recently looking for an Audi S2 Quattro but was put off by the potential fuel bills - I really can't do with a heavy and thirsty car as a daily driver.
My Clio returns 43 mpg on regular unleaded and that even includes the odd Autobahn thrash when I visit friends in Germany.

The thing is that diesel is a kind of fuel that I have always rejected, especially for use in private cars, for health reasons that have been only recently widely acknowledged.
Japan is leading the path in terms of banning diesel from its network, and I sure hope this trend will expand to other countries.

So yes, there are greatly efficient diesel bargains to be had, but I would not have a clear conscience driving one of these.

PS : sorry for wandering off topic

 

[MarkK]

Hi there,apologies for change of subject,is there a big health threat with diesels?I have just swapped to one(past year BMW 530GT) as my daily barge and now you have me worried[&:]
Fumes when filling,in the car?Driving behind one??
Any links to articles appreciated[&:][8|]
Worried now...

 

[colin944]

Best car I ever had as a daily hack was a £300 m reg 1.6 cavalier. Paid £300 drove it for two years ,put 42k miles on it 4 tyres serviced twice ( by me) and 2 mot's .Sold it after 2 years for £300 and it's still going now.

 

[Ex Skyline]

Ewan, why did you go and buy another pile of Italian 5h1t ?!! You should of drove up the coast to where I live and had a go in "YOBO". I might of been persuaded to let him go at the right price! []. Much cooler than a poncey Mas'! [8D][].

 

[Ewan]

I'll post a few pictures when I pick it up next week. I'll also attempt some youtube footage as its got an awesome exhaust that you lot will love to hear!

I ran a 2006 QP as my daily car for a couple years back in 2007/8/9 and it averaged 18mpg. This is pretty much what I get out of my supercharged Range Rover, so as daily cars there's not much between them on running costs. My Ghibli Cup is theoretically better, at maybe 25mpg, but it's not a daily car so is not really relevant. And I can't calculate the mpg of the 944 as currently it doesn't seem capable of doing a full mile wthout having a hissy fit of some form or other.

 

[Veerzigzag]

is there a big health threat with diesels?

Isn't the main threat from carbon particles, which are carcinogenic (like cigarette smoke)? Doesn't the new type of particulate filter trap these particles?
Interesting to have a thread that starts with Maserati and Porsche reliability problems then meanders to diesel health scares by way of Clio anecdotes...

 

[George Elliott]

Have you tried a spare DME relay?

The germans are useless at electrical, but the Italians are not too sprack at sheet fabrication......

George
944t

 

[Diver944]

ORIGINAL: Ewan
I can't calculate the mpg of the 944 as currently it doesn't seem capable of doing a full mile wthout having a hissy fit of some form or other.

You haven't been modifying it have you? Tssk Tssk

+1 on the Maser pics [8D]

 

[Neil Haughey]

I have mixed feelings about Italian cars. My grandad always bought new Fiats, they worked perfectly and drove great but rotted out after 5 years (if lucky). I had a close up look at a 308 on a ramp a couple of years back, my god what a heap of doggy doos. OTOH our little Panda just goes, costs peanuts to run, is fun to drive in a sort of silly way and has been faultless apart from a couple of odd design flaws on them. We also had a new Golf a few years back and that thing had several niggling electrical faults, honestly apart from feeling more solid I see 0 evidence that a modern VW is any better than a modern Italian car. I think small cars are the Italians forte, its what they buy themselves and they seem to do a great job at. I think the French likewise are very good at small hatchbacks.