4200 or 3200 that is the question

urbanmaser

Member
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2,908
Being the contraversial silly bugger that I am, I thought I would throw the cat amongst the pigeons and reignite the age old Maserati debate......What is better 3200 with its turbo fuelled adrenilin rush or the 4200 with brute power but a more even temper? :confused:
 

conaero

Forum Owner
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34,593
I have said this all along, its simple...

If you want it for a weekend/Sunday morning blast car, 3200
If you need it every day, GS

Simples!
 

lozcb

Member
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12,290
I Fear shortly and given time it might not be that simple any more Matt, with recent developments of the parts issue , and the tempremental nature of the 3200, just throwing money into that maintenance pit may not be a viable option if the parts become increasingly difficult to get hold of, there'l spend even more time off the road , knowing what i do now and full well what happened to the BI turbo's/Ghibli's, its a no go area unless your a sadist , thats unless Maserati Italy relent and start to produce parts for another few years , im sure some keen entrepreneur somewhere would invest £50K and buy a whole host of wishbones wings and bonnets bumpers etc mmmm good pension fund that heheh

regards loz
 

Parisien

Moderator
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34,927
But....doesn't Mercedes and/ or Porsche still produce "in-house" runs of most parts for most of their range going back 20/30/40 years, realising the value and importance of keeping its dyed-in-the-wool enthusiasts happy with as much help as they can give......why don't or indeed do(?) the Italian marques not do this?

Especially as the likes of a one off run of ECUs etc are nigh impossible to replicate get re-furbed etc?

P
 

SimonM

Junior Member
Messages
535
Maybe with tweaks the GS is the best of both worlds?? there's loads more torque available from the FD ECM and a Sports exhaust system, including the soundtrack...plus the DBW makes it all a lot more urgent....

surely it's a no contest ;)
 

urbanmaser

Member
Messages
2,908
I hate to say this chaps but if Maserati have stopped supporting the 3200 for which they made a lot of cars, then there is a very real danger that the same will apply to 4200 and Gransport in but a few years.
 

Predator

New Member
Messages
54
I have said this all along, its simple...

If you want it for a weekend/Sunday morning blast car, 3200
If you need it every day, GS

Simples!

I can't agree more. I also think it depends on your personal budget though. If you have more money, you would most likely want the newer model, which is the 4200/Gransport.

John
 

alfamaserman

Junior Member
Messages
185
I can't agree more. I also think it depends on your personal budget though. If you have more money, you would most likely want the newer model, which is the 4200/Gransport.

John
It wasn't a money issue with me - I just wanted a 3200!
John
 

Predator

New Member
Messages
54
It wasn't a money issue with me - I just wanted a 3200!
John

That's why I said most likely. Not every case will be but certainly a fair few. I've seen lots of people ask which one they should go for and have the budget for both, which is the samea as you. I considered a 3200 about 4 or 5 years ago, but that's partly because the 4200 was out of reach at the time. I ended up with a V8 Esprit instead, lol.

Even now I prefer the look of the 3200 and have said it many times over. But I do prefer the 4200 engine and the car being newer, which is what won me over this time. Has anyone ever shoe horned a 4200 engine in a 3200 body? Yummy!!! :)

John
 

nfm

Member
Messages
856
This is not a bad article in drawing out the differences:

http://www.compucars.co.uk/car-reviews/maserati/review/?4200gt

but whilst I am firmly in the 4200 camp (sub group, face lift/GT!) I can fully understand the arguments in favour of the 3200, especially re those lights!

Also, if you consider boring things such as reliability MP Supercars advised me that quality had taken a serious leap forward by 2005.

Horses for courses, as ever.

Cheers
 

Andy3200manual

New Member
Messages
91
...then again (quoting a well known member to remain anonymous) "do you want the actual sex, or the cuddling up afterwards?" sex please ie 3200!!!! Now I'll await the fallout...!
 

urbanmaser

Member
Messages
2,908
Ok ok ok Andy...........If you want sex the 3200 wins but if you want MIND BLOWING sex it has to be a night out with Gransport :) oooooooooo and if you are Ashley Cole you will have sex with all three :)
 

lozcb

Member
Messages
12,290
Been a few f..kin years since any dame called me tiger i can tell yer even my sons used to say when i eyed up a lass dad dont go making appointments your too old to keep :D its bloody true and all


regards loz
 

Phil H

Member
Messages
4,107
I Fear shortly and given time it might not be that simple any more Matt, with recent developments of the parts issue , and the tempremental nature of the 3200, just throwing money into that maintenance pit may not be a viable option if the parts become increasingly difficult to get hold of, there'l spend even more time off the road , knowing what i do now and full well what happened to the BI turbo's/Ghibli's, its a no go area unless your a sadist , thats unless Maserati Italy relent and start to produce parts for another few years , im sure some keen entrepreneur somewhere would invest £50K and buy a whole host of wishbones wings and bonnets bumpers etc mmmm good pension fund that heheh

regards loz

Loz

If you don't behave yourself I'll tell everyone that a little ol' Lambo put your Larini to shame. So there!
 

Andyk

Member
Messages
61,038
...then again (quoting a well known member to remain anonymous) "do you want the actual sex, or the cuddling up afterwards?" sex please ie 3200!!!! Now I'll await the fallout...!

I like that...not far from trueth.

The thing is most prefer the 3200 for it's looks, myself included...those rear lights/bonnet vents......but, and although I love them, the 4200 is a more reliable car to own and 'less' of a risk these days. And so it should be as thats progress.

Agree that a GS would be the way to go but prices have gone up over the last few months.....a good 42 is around 20k a good GS 30K plus....

I'm a huge Maserati fan and recently went looking for a 4 seater under 15k....I ended up with an E39 M5, but I really wanted a 3200, but just couldn't justify the what the potential bills and reliability would be in the future....plus lack of parts as this would be my everyday car......This is really sad because I loved my 3200.
 

Parisien

Moderator
Messages
34,927
Andy, just going over the prices in Autrotrader over the last 6 mths, for 4200s, they've defintely gone down, now I don't know what quality said cars were, but as in everything for sale there will be good'uns and bad'uns!

Certainly you could with a bit of luck and hard bargaining, PLUS an indy inspection, land a slightly higher mileage car than you thought for not far off that money......ok....maybe a lot of luck!!!

Keep the chin up....you will find what your looking for and once again......drive the dream!!!



P
 

nfm

Member
Messages
856
You're right Frank but even with inspection et al you still need to budget £2k per annum and that excludes clutches and any nasty surprises. This is the real danger for these cars where you get trapped in a vortex of declining purchase price leading to decline in servicing spend, leading to further decline in value etc etc.

Scary stuff!
 

WGG

Junior Member
Messages
68
Got to say that the bonnet grills and boomerang lights of the 3200 have always been my favourite styling parts, now if that had been incorporated on the Gransport they would have designed the perfect car, so obviously I am in the Gransport camp.
 

conaero

Forum Owner
Messages
34,593
Got to say that the bonnet grills and boomerang lights of the 3200 have always been my favourite styling parts, now if that had been incorporated on the Gransport they would have designed the perfect car, so obviously I am in the Gransport camp.

Hum and every time I hear that said, its starts me off on the GS conversion route. I am not a fan of the bonnet vents, they are ok, but prefer it without...and its easier to clean, those vents are a bugger to chamois!