Picked up my car from Emblem yesterday after a clutch change. And the verdict is… What an amazing specialist!
Myles and Martin keep me updated throughout the process. The initial quote was for 12hrs of labour. By the end of the exercise we ended with 21hrs of labour billed - the undercarriage of my car had never been apart. Myles kept me updated through the process with videos, showing what 10yrs and 35k miles on the roads of Britain do to the cars. It wasn’t nice. Problems were clearly identified and various solutions were offered for me to chose from. Martin did his best to keep parts costs down vs timely progress of the project.
Also, while in there, Myles pointed out potential issues for me to keep a tab on/address next year during her bi-annual service.
At the end, she was back together, with a full valet, cleaned to almost perfection, a nice report for the history file, some cool souvenirs for my kids and a bottle of wine for the adults.
The drive back along the A272 was motoring heaven. The clutch works faultlessy, going up and down the box is a pleasure. No more trepidation whether I would get the dreaded gear unavailable…
As you can tell, I am super pleased with the experience and I think that’s where the car is going back next year for its service. Well done, Team Emblem!
I've just utilised Emblem this past weekend. I took it in for their complimentary 'Saturday morning consultation' clinic. I was very impressed indeed. I'd purchased my 2016 GT Sport back in January and was keen to have a second opinion on it so that I could be aware of anything that might potentially sting me in the near future. I bought it with 17k on it and have done another 1k since. I was pretty pleased to hear that I've purchased a pretty solid example. No major issues.
When I arrived, Darren took it out for a drive and we were gone for about 15/20 minutes. He took it through its paces before returning to the garage. From then, I can say that he did a fairly comprehensive health check on the car. He talked me through the 3 error codes that popped up (all cleared, only the parking sensor one returned), walked me round (and under) the car to discuss elements that he wanted to point out and talked over which pieces were priorities (thankfully nothing critical).
Because of this fine forum, I was already aware of certain things to look for and so I could discuss this with him and he could show me specifically (cam cover gasket leak concern, parking sensor check and exhaust valve solenoids). Going there with a little background and investigation allowed me to have a decent conversation without feeling out of my depth. I'm no mechanic but I have interest.
The conclusions were:
- N/S/F parking sensor has gone (which I knew). Not a priority for me just now. I know the trick to get in quick and turn off the front ones so that I can still use the rear ones.
- Slight leak from cam cover gasket on the O/S of the engine. 2 tiny globules were visible. Darren cleaned it away. He didn't consider it a big issue just now compared to the 5-6hr job to open up the cams and sort (but will keep a close eye on) - I would say it's about once a week that I might get the burning smell and it lasts a couple of seconds before clearing.
- Underside is fairly clean, very little rust - just a couple of small areas. Recommendation for a bit of rectification and a lanoguard seal but no urgency.
- Exhaust valve solenoid has failed and the exhausts are stuck open. Again, easily rectified but no urgency.
There was no selling push, no pressure to book me in for the work or anything to that effect. To have had a couple of hours of an experienced Maserati mechanics time for no cost was a breath of fresh air in this modern World of garages wanting to charge just to plug in a laptop and check error codes.
I've been told I'll get a follow-up email detailing the points above and from that I will ask for quotes for getting the work done. I can then get it booked in for some (or all) of the work dependent on the cost/priority.
All-in-all, impressed by Emblem so far and therefore wanted to share with you all
[EDIT] - Based on everything I had read here, I was initially going to head to SportsItalia but by the time I had the car, sadly that was no longer an option. I hope that it will become an option again though!