Monday Marvel: A V8 Maserati for £8k
of course it's the 3200 GT - the one with the boomerang lights - but this manual example is particularly tempting at the price
It’s well known as something of a budget used-car hero, but this example of the Maserati 3200 GT looks particularly tempting given the manual gearbox and fairly low mileage. All things you want in a used example of a 3.2-litre twin-turbo V8 Maserati coupe that (once upon a time) produced 365bhp.
Granted, you'll have to look beyond the fact that the seller has written EVERYTHING IN CAPS, which we all know is the equivalent of a person talking far too loudly, about three inches from your face. Even so, this pretty 1999 Maserati is in a good colour combination, has only done 70,000 miles, has a full year's MOT and will cost you just under £8k.
"Hello, this is your common sense talking. Did you say you wanted to buy a cheap, previously crashed Maserati? Yes? It's got a red interior, a V8 and a manual gearbox? Oh. Well that's fine then. Go right ahead. I'll just stay out of this one."
It looks like you'll have some minor cosmetic work to do if you want to get it looking top-notch, but more importantly you need to have a really good look around for any signs of mechanical impending doom. Not only because it's a cheap, used Maserati, but also because this has been a CAT D write-off at some point.
That could mean fairly light, easily repaired damage, so it's worth risking a CAT D car if that's the case, but do ask for every detail the seller can provide regards that ugly moment in this car's history.
Check for cambelt changes, which should happen every 68,000 miles or five years, and throttle bodies are also known to be a weak point so pay attention to any erratic idling or difficult starting that might point to an expensive fix. Clutches can also wear out quickly on the manual 3200 GT, so expect to need a new one roughly every 25,000 miles or so.
To be honest, the Maserati 3200 GT is one of those cars that some owners swear is very reliable and others just swear about. It's safe to say that you should be cautious and it'll be worth taking the time to find one that's been looked after, so get the car professionally checked over and spend time examining that service history before you make any rash decisions.
Having said that, prices for the 3200 GT have been static for a few years and it looks like they could be starting to inch up again, so if you squint a bit at your cracked crystal ball, you could even file it under the 'it's an appreciating asset' justification. I mean, it's a lot of car for the money, right? Go on. You know you want to...
If the listing's expired, have a look at our archived gallery version below.
Tags: #Maserati #3200 #GT #MondayMarvel #used #supercar #eBay
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Comments (3)
The author is being very generous! The cam belts need done every 30k or 3 years and will cost about £2k at a specialist, expect to pay considerably more at a main dealer. Its the chain service that needs done at 68k and costs £2.5-3k. Clutches last around 12k miles and cost about £2.7k. Most cars have had the throttle bodies sorted by now, but if not budget about £1k. The other big expense is the wishbones. When they need replaced its around £3-4k for all 8. If there is no red ignition key you won't be able to get new keys and you might need to replace the ignition ECU at around £3k. It would be much more cost effective to buy one with all these things recently carried out. Hence the saying, "There's nothing more expensive than a cheap Maserati". By the way, I'm a huge fan and absolutely love my 3200GTA.
Hmmmm, I do actually rather like these. That's a lot of car for not a lot of money.
This coupe has never been my favorite, but I did take one through tech inspection at a NASA HPDE event in March. It was in gorgeous shape. Sadly, its driver (a very nice man by the name of, I kid you not, Guido) crashed it in one of his first sessions. I understand he was able to drive it home, but I have to think an insurance claim would result in a total loss.