[dodger]

Since I was a little child, when I first saw ‘The Italian Job’, I’ve wanted to drive my own Italian super car through the Alps and through that famous tunnel where the orange Lamborghini came a cropper with big yellow bulldozer. The dream festered for years and years and somehow faded as I grew up and realized that I was never going to be in a position to own an Italian supercar.
Then ten years ago I saw a 3200GT in the pub car park and the dream was rekindled…this was surely the most pretty car I’d ever seen, it was Italian, it was exotic and I wanted one. The only trouble was that I looked it up and found that it cost more than 68 times what my current car at the time was worth. Still, I could save up surely?....and if I started saving, they would get cheaper as the years went on, just as my savings increased. There had to come a time when both matched.

And so it was in the summer of 2009 that I realized I could buy my dream car, and before I was 45 I could achieve my boyhood dream of an Alpine road trip in an Italian super car (I guess ‘super car’ does not really fit, but it will do for me).

Of course I scoured the classifieds and read everything I could about 3200 ownership. Yes I reckoned I could afford to look after it, if I could get a good one in the first place. I went to view a couple and was heartily depressed at the much used and abused examples you could get for 10 grand. I clearly needed to up my budget and soon after found one that looked promising. Within 24 hours (and use of the credit card for a short term loan) I was the proud owner of a low mileage example with fsh and it had even had the 60,000 mile service 20,000 miles early! OK it was not the colour I wanted, but what I could see that was wrong with it, was more consumable parts wearing out rather than biggies.

After almost a year of ownership and fettling (new discs, exhaust and handbrake shoes…plus the starter motor packed up and a lambda sensor set off the CEL light), it was time for the trip this July.

In 10 days this summer I drove from Hull to Siena and back, with 2 days thrashing around the Alps around ‘Le Petite Col de St Bernard’. The trip lived up to its expectations, I drove through the tunnel from my boyhood dreams watching the film (even if it did have roadworks in it!) and I spent hours blasting around some of the nicest roads in the world. The weather was fantastic, the scenery stunning and with the windows down, every tunnel sounded fantastic.

After 3100 miles of absolutely fault free motoring, averaging 23mpg (just over 19 whilst in the alps and over 25mpg once, on a day of sedate driving through vineyards and sunflower fields) I am absolutely in love with my car. Plans to sell it have been shelved. In total this summer I’ve done 4500 miles in the last month or so and every time I’m in the car I start grinning. I thought I’d hate it by now, but nothing can be further from the truth.

In all this driving I never saw another 3200GT, in fact I only saw 2 other Maseratis and they were both 4 door (and one of them was in the UK). I saw endless Porsches, 3 Ferrari’s and 3 Astons. Every time I stopped someone was looking at the car and every petrol station attendant (yes they still have them in some places) cooed over the car, like it was something very special.

Yes last year I worried and fretted about things that went wrong with it and dealt with the fear of all the scare stories on the internet, telling of impending misery. Maserati forums are great for help when things go wrong (they have really helped me over the last year), but they can make a casual visitor think that Maseratis do nothing but break down. THEY DON’T.

So to any prospective owner I offer this humble advice; go with your heart and not your head (ie don’t buy a bloody Porsche; they are common, ugly and soul-less). Be prepared to compromise on what colour you want and be prepared to travel to find a good one; then pay more than you want to up front, to avoid paying a fortune trying to fix it.Then drive it every minute of every day that you can

[Ferrari Fissatore]

he'll learn!

[dodger]

he'll learn!

Don't spoil the moment

[Ferrari Fissatore]

Don't spoil the moment

I won't. it'll be the throttle body or the heater core or the diff mounts or the clutch or the electrical gremlins or the service costs that do that!

[dodger]

I won't. it'll be the throttle body or the heater core or the diff mounts or the clutch or the electrical gremlins or the service costs that do that!

The poor bastard, should we warn him ?

[Wattens]

I only had throttle body issue (common fault) Mazza Sydney wanted nearly $9k installed, I imported a genuwine massa one from the factory for under $1600.... I had to get it sent to a friend in Italy first then he could send it to me because mazza didn't want to sell to Australia as it cut mazza australias proffit margin...

I got Auto because manual in 3200's are shit, heater core is fine unless you put tap water in the radiator  come on FF you know it happens....

Diff mounts just needed tightening up on mine, didn't need replacement (but i'm sure maserati service centre would say otherwise)

Zero electrical gremlins.... thus far

Buy Aussie delivered and technically you could have a car that is still under the factory unlimited year 100 000km warraty where they fix faults that arn't consumables (unless it has been voided for some reason).

Value for money though, nothing European beats 3200gt

[dodger]

Buy Aussie delivered and technically you could have a car that is still under the factory unlimited year 100 000km warraty where they fix faults that arn't consumables (unless it has been voided for some reason).

WHAT !!!

[Wattens]

some 3200's did for some reason.... I have no Idea about other models though. Mazza fixed my diff noises for free, they said it was a warranty job because it was under 100 000km and it shouldn't have happened. I'm sure if it was out of warranty they would have replaced the parts for a handsome fee 

[dodger]

some 3200's did for some reason.... I have no Idea about other models though. Mazza fixed my diff noises for free, they said it was a warranty job because it was under 100 000km and it shouldn't have happened. I'm sure if it was out of warranty they would have replaced the parts for a handsome fee 

I'll check it out, thanks....

[Ferrari Fissatore]

heater core is fine unless you put tap water in the radiator  come on FF you know it happens....

nope.... it's not the water that makes them split, it's the shit design/manufacture/quality