With the recent threads about the lesser Maserati's of the 70s (Merak and Quattroporte), I must admit a soft spot for this marque that has seen so many ups and downs over the years.
Maserati has been on the upswing again since the Ferrari takeover. The 4.3 V8 is in the same engine family as the F430 and the new California spyder. A friend in the local PCA is a Maserati nut (even owns a Qporte III), and he let me drive his Spyder 6-speed manual with a tubi exhaust. It sounded much like this one:
A thrilling drive to say the least. The coupe is not much of a looker, but I love the Spyder. This seems like a Ferrari California Spyder at 1/4 the cost, and better looking to boot.
The latest Masers have trouble with the F1 semi-auto gearbox, but the manuals are fine supposedly. I saw some Maseratis on the assembly line at Ferrari's factory in Maranello in the National Geographic special...are all modern Masers made there? Is there a "Pelican" discussion board on the newer Masers? I'm going to Michigan on business next week, and was thinking of checking out this car:
Maserati:eBay Motors (item 130349117926 end time Dec-09-09 13:33:26 PST)