Pre CV19 I'd have 30 minute+ conversations with strangers in parking lots.
There is something special about the "status" this car has, and I did not realize it when I bought it.
I bought it for reliability.

Coming up on year six of it being my hard driven daily.

 

Boys are little over there ski's on this one lol. I said the Jag is a Classier car than a Toyota Supra. Isn't it? Is it even debatable? I didn't say the Supra was a POS and look down at people who drive one. Second these cars are not that exotic or that exclusive so get over yourself already. When I bought my Maserati Coupe GT used it was the price of New Toyota Camry. My old man said I was crazy. I said in 10 years the Camry will be worth 10K and Maserati 25K so I like long term ownership/enjoyment equation. I was dead on correct. I just bought a 16 F-type S that is almost perfect with 15,000 miles for the less then the price of new Camry. A friend of mine has Lambo Merci that is a bad *** car. People often ask what he does to drive a car like that. "Cleaned Toilets"! Started as a janitor and started his own commercial office cleaning business for 30 years. Saved put his kid through college and bought his dream car for a big down payment, and 10 years worth of payments at $1200 a month. "Still cleaning toilets to pay for it"!

 

Sorry to hijack the thread however Island Maser what is a Silenced Decat is it another name for a hollowed out cat convert?. (kind of a oxymoron)

 

Larini made 2 different one for the this car. Silent and the Loud. It is anything but silent. I can imagine what the loud one sounds like. Car has precats and regular cats to meet US regs. They actually pinched the exhaust pipes to almost flat to clear the steering rack on the US cars. The decat is two 1.5" pipes to flow around that spot unrestricted less the cats too. It was like taking 10lbs off the fly wheel. Revs like crazy now without clogged exhaust. Feels like 50 to 75HP. Car is loud. I should put switchable rear boxes on but they didn't make them at the time. Afraid to loose or change the sound now. Jag sounds good. Maserati and Larini sounds fantastic. Even the Ferrari guys are jealous. Was at a car show. Ferrari guys tracked me down. " We were behind you coming in this morning. We just turned off our radios and listen to your car the whole way. Perfection."

 

I had a cat going bad. Maserati will deny it if the cats are scratched as they hang low on the car. Put mine on a rack and there perfect. Maserati "Is there anything on the car not Maserati" Larini Mufflers- Warranty denied. I was under the car with the Ferrari wrench. I told him I have built plenty of motors myself and I know whatever I got hanging on that car for mufflers behind that pinched exhaust isn't going to make one bit of difference on airflow. He agreed 100%. Larini decat was way less then one Maserati Cat and solved the pinched exhaust issue no brainer. Wife would disagree.

 

I had a Larini decat on my Evora and made a big difference. Sharper throttle, better sound, and saved weight. Also had decats (Velocity AP) on my V8 Vantage; same story. Debating whether to put them on the Rapide. I heard it may be too loud on the V12's since the muffler doesn't muffle much on the V12's.

Larini make great stuff and would encourage anyone interested into trying them out. Same for VAP too. Larini is a little fancier finishing. My local AM dealer is a Larini reseller so I was able purchase right from them and not have a middle man or any hassle if there was an issue.

 

Best part is the Prius. I am half mile down the road and you can still here me. I like the sound of the down shifts best.

 

That is pretty obnoxious sounding, but I LIKE IT!!!

 

Its loud in town if you get on it but just click up a gear in town. Open road is fantastic. It has a little drone between 90-95 but i just go a bit faster and it tames right down. Drove a 450+ HP Cayman GTS last week. Tube headers, Aprovic Exhaust etc. 50K in parts alone. Bad ***. Got my wife in it. "It rides stiffer than the Maserati, It louder than the Maserati". I was trying to drive it as smoothly and quietly as possible. Cars were stacking up behind me at 70. Any throttle and the hounds of hell were released. lol. "Where we going in this thing because I not riding in this to Santa Fe!" Was going to get a PPI and dropped her at home. I had to get out of the car as 30 minutes I wanted to kill myself- the drone, lol. Great track car and weekend only toy at this point.

 

I am 71, started driving in a 140 coupe, then owned a tired 120, sold and bought a MK1 3.4 which I rebuilt the engine and have owned for 45 yrs. In process of restoration and bought another for parts. I have ownd multiple XJ6s and a V-12S Coupe. When Ford bought Jag, sold all but MK1s, and went to Land Rover. Now, 2 Jags, 2 LRs and 2 MINIs.

 

These posts make me want to go stand at a freeway on ramp with " will work for Pentosin " sign. It's pretty clear I'm in the wrong place. Yet everyone I've dealt with in marketplace has been helpful salt of the earth types. Takes all kinds to make a world.

 

thanks for bumping this thread, i'm still relatively new here and i hadn't seen it before. does make me think.

i bought one because it's beautiful, because its a RWD front-engine V8 GT car which is something i want to master, because the brand kind of runs in the family (uncles on both sides, my dad's practical but not very cool) so it was definitely top-of-mind to me, and because the depreciation in market value has made them an absolute steal right now. yes there's all the maintenance costs, but i'd rather my money go to an indie mechanic than into the price premium of a new or CPO car. i prefer to keep them in business, to whatever small degree i contribute, and keep me in the driver's seat of my favorite car.

now that i have it, no i don't play any of that image up, or let it get into my mind. i'm not afraid to get in it while dirty and sweaty to go to home depot and throw a bag of soil in the back. the only thing i won't do is wear muddy shoes, or anything but my designated driving shoes which i keep away from dirt as much as possible, but i'm already weird in that i have different pairs of shoes designated for different behaviors. anyway cleaning the seats off afterwards is easy, but no sense in ruining the floormats in a single ride.

bear in mind, it's not much of a status symbol anyway? if you must see it that way, it's a budget aston martin, or bentley. they both make a proper GT car, with enough quality material, and enough assembly by hand, that it prices out virtually anyone who does not have the appreciation for it. that's where status actually lives.

 

I drive my 3 toy cars pretty evenly. I will say that the 07 XKR is the easiest for a commute for me. Of the Maserati, X100 and X150; it has the most torque and its lowest down. The X150 has great brakes and they are nicely assisted; the steering is a nice weight; the transmission pretty smooth; rides nice. It's really a great GT that is very liveable. That said, it's the most reliable and honestly may be one of the easiest to own sporty luxury cars I've ever owned.

The Maserati sound from the 4.2L, even with stock exhaust is intoxicating. You rev it out more to get the power, and its got 80ftlbs less of torque; but damn that noise is nice. The brakes are nice but require more pedal pressure in regular driving. The steering is slightly heavier. The car overall compared to the X150 feels more sporty in its base settings and configuration. It has real back seats though; which the X100 and X150 do not. The interior outside of the leather seats feels cheaper than the X150; even my earlier X150 that got ragged on. The seats are beautiful. The dash, door panels, center console and such are very cheap vinyl, and *can* get an odd sheen and stickiness to it. I bought mine with a sticky dash and I'm going to be pulling it this winter and recovering in high grade leather. I have fixed the other issue that PLAGUES spaghetti cars; "sticky buttons". They used a soft touch coating on a ton of buttons and panels; and it gets sticky and gummy. Cars before a certain engine, you have the possibility of issues with the variable valve timing system, specifically the camshaft variators. The repair encompasses replacement of the variators and modification of the front cam caps to include a check ball. Dealers nail you about $8k for this. It's about 2k to DIY.

If I were having to pick just one car; the X150 is cheaper to buy and I feel better for DD. I'd recommend the XKR.

I bought all of these since I like sporty luxury cars and they all fit the bill. If I want to impress people, I can do that elsewise, no car needed.