For those of you who are not already subscribers, may I suggest you buy a copy of EVO magazine. EVO is a car magazine which concentrates on what driving is all about and contains some of the best motoring photography seen in any monthly publication. To get a flavour of EVO take a look at their website at http://www.evo.co.uk. It's well worth a look. They also ran a Ghibli Cup for a few years and know a thing or two about performance cars!
Ghibli Cup update reports:
June 1999
I couldn't do it any longer; poor old M4SER left at home while I enjoyed the pleasures of Quattro motoring. It all started as such a good idea; to use the 4wd Audi in the winter and bring the Maser out when the sun was shining again. Far too sensible, especially coming from someone who thought the world needed a new car magazine and even dared to buy a new Maserati in the first place. There could be no greater contrast between cars than these two. In the Quattro the only consequence of it raining is you have to turn the wipers on. No need to slow the pace, as the car creates the most incredible levels of mechanical grip. Grip: now there's a word the Maser doesn't understand.
Driving it hard in the wet is not for the faint-hearted. The twin-turbo V6 delivers such an explosion of torque at the rear wheels they don't even get a chance to get loaded before they're spinning like Catherine wheels. In the dry things are very different. That same explosion throws you down the road at a pace the Quattro could never comprehend. I always look to the 60-l00mph time to see if a car is really quick. It takes l0.8secs in the Quattro, and a staggering 6.7 in the Maser Compare that to 8.1 for the Impreza 22B. Gripped by those fantastic Recaros, the car is a pretty amazing drive, so much so I've given up the keys to the Quattro to rekindle my love-affair with the Maser.
July 1999
It's been fun running the Maser again. The stalks on the steering column feel just as flimsy as ever. I've no idea what the climate control is set to as its backlit controls are invisible in daylight, and the rear subframe bushes still groan slightly as drive is taken up. I really must get that sorted while the two-year warranty has some life left in it. But at the end of the day the one thing I really like about living with M4SER is that it always feels special.
It's one of those cars that can frustrate you one moment then completely seduce you the next, and I'd struggle to find a car to truly replace it. But that's the dilemma I'm facing now. My 3200GT will be ready in June, so it looks like the Ghibli has got to go. Offers around 30k.
Harry Metcalfe
Harry Metcalfe