If I were designing the XK8 I would have pushed the cowl (and engine) back about 2" , moved the front wheel opening (axles) forward 1-2", and clipped about 5" off the rear. There is no rational reason to have a back seat in these cars. They look great but are non-functional so why have them? I know; then it would be an Aston Martin.

On the Maserati. I've seen them at the Ferrari dealer in Central Fla. They are "HUGH" cars compared to ours. The styling is nice in front but the cockpit is very big with the functional back seat....I'd rather have a new XKR and the 510hp. Why do you want a 4 seater for your "Toy" anyway?

Only my opinion

 

I think the rear seats in our cars are for insurance purposes or something.

 

Hi daddyo007 It's funny you should mention the Aston looking like a Buick Riviera. Maybe that's why I like it. ha Way back, I owned a 1964 Riviera. At the time, it was fast for a large car and even today I love the looks of it. The interior was appointed nicely and for it's day, it was a pretty good handler. It's probably one of about 4 or 5 cars I've owned, I would like to have back. Thinking about it now, I bought my xkr for many of the same reasons I bought the Buick. That said, I love my Jaguar and I'm keeping it............unless of course I find a great deal on a newer one. lol

 

OK, here's s Jaguar, Riviera story. In about 1983 I had bareboat chartered a sailboat in Destin, Florida. I had a friend from New Orleans who had also chartered one at the same time, same place. We were coming from different towns and met up in Mississippi. We were in my friend's Riviera (V6, supercharged) and when we met up with them, they were in a Jaguar sedan. (don't know what model, but, one of the larger ones) We took off in the lead, speedo reading about 75 or so, on a 70 mph interstate. They kept falling behind and falling behind, and we had to keep slowing down to let them catch up. After about an hour of that, I told my friend, "If they can't drive 75 in a Jaguar, then just leave them behind." It was about a 6 hour trip and we got there almost an hour before they did. They said, "You guys were driving too fast."
On the way home, we were doing our normal 70-75 and came up upon a police car and slowed down behind him. Our speedo said 60 mph. After a while we got tired of riding along behind him and once again I told my friend that he could pass up the police car, since it was going under the speed limit, so he did. Red lights, pulled us over. Cop told us we were going 83. I was sitting in the car, watching my friend talking with the police up by their car. He got a little animated at times. When he came back (without a ticket) he said that he explained to them that surely he saw that they were a police car, and would never pass a police car at 83 mph. Apparently, when our speedo was reading 75-80 on the way there, we must have been going 85-90. No wonder the guys in the Jag said we were driving too fast!

 

Sam, just to give you an idea, oil changes (every 3K miles) or wheel alignments at a dealer range from $300-$400. Annual and 12K service checks $800-$1800 and take about a week.

If you want the real skinny, jump on the Maserati Owners forum, as I have, and read the owner stories about dead batteries in 6 month old cars, trucking Masreatis hundreds of miles to the scarce number of dealerships for warranty work (cars gone for weeks at a time), interior trim falling off, etc... http://www.maseratilife.com/forums/granturismo/

Here's a sample:

Bought it with 7k miles. But in the past month, its been to the dealer three times! First, the hood latch release mechanism broke. Then, the interior leather/vinyl starting peeling. Dealer ordered entire new interior panel replacement, (6-8 week delivery). Next, the passenger door latch stopped working. Had to grab a friend to drive the car to the dealer while I held the door closed for the 30 mile trip! And when I started washing it today, noticed that the "4.7" badge in the rear was missing! Must have fallen off during the drive back from the dealer.

 

Thanks Skid Mark. I'm not trying to "dis" you, but I could hear those same kinds of stories about Jags, too. I've actually been looking at the Maseratis lately. They are still a little more than I'm willing to pay, but if I find a great deal I might jump on it. There are threads right here in this forum about similar problems with Jaguars. Look at all of the problems TexasTim had with his. I'm pretty sure I can change the oil myself for less than $300, and do the 1200 mile maintenance for less than $1800. Luxury car dealers charge ridiculous amounts of money because most of their customers are willing to pay that much.

I've actually been lurking in a Maserati forum lately. Unfortunately the people over there seem to be ********. Someone started a thread about painting their break calipers. Their dealer wanted $2800 to paint the calipers and since I actually had experience doing it on my Jag I decided to throw in my two cents. I was immediately flamed, so I've gone back to just lurking. Jaguarforums.com it vastly superior. Even if I eventually get a Maserati I'll probably still hang out here.

 

Yea!

 

Well, I have the key Fob emblem I found 30 years ago.. You can have it when you get the car.
Nice figg'in car... no dought
Regards

 

Yeah, if you get a Maserati you need to keep us all up to date on it's reliability.

 

why'd they flame you? on what basis? im surprised there is even an active forum for those cars. most ppl who buy them are clueless ppl just looking for an attention grabber. i can't picture a real "car guy" buying a maser, it just doesn't make sense given their lack of performance and overpriced msrp. at least that's my $.02

 

Hey if you have the money, what the hell. Maybe if your 55+ and you what some young stuff?

 

...

 

Go to the maserati life forum and do some research. Most of the cars have the Ferrari F1 gearbox. The clutch is good for about 20K miles and costs $5-6 K to replace. Clutch and gearbox adjustment can only be done with the Ferrari computer program.

There appears to be a problem with the heater core. Replacement requires removal of the dash and center console, and costs about $5K.

Maintaining a Jag appears to be a lot cheaper,especiallt for the mechanically inclined.

 

This is my 1st attempt to post a picture, so hope it works...just copy and paste to here? Anyway it's a Maserati Coupe, and it looks short and stubby, and IMO not a very handsome car. I saw one IRL this weekend and thought it was odd looking.[IMG]file:///C:/Users/Steve/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtml1/01/clip_image002.jpg[/IMG][IMG]file:///C:/Users/Steve/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtml1/01/clip_image002.jpg[/IMG][IMG]file:///C:/Users/Steve/AppData/Local/Temp/msohtml1/01/clip_image002.jpg[/IMG]

 

OPPS that didn't work. Back to read the beginer's manual for the forum.

 

Check this horror story out:

http://www.maseratilife.com/forums/g...-failures.html

 

I like this quote:

 

Envy them now and buy them later at the depreciated value. Let someone else take the big hit. I like the new Alfas myself.

 

I have to agree with Kevin. The Alfa Romeo, I think it's called an 8 C is absolutely gorgeous. Still haven't seen any my price range though. Seems not too many in the U.S either. Think I'll just stick with my Jag until I hit the lottery. ha Not much chance of that either as one of my friends pointed out, you have to buy a ticket. Oh well.

 

Of the few used 8 C's for sale, I saw one asking 310K, somewhere in the mid west I think.