2006 Maserati Quattroporte. 35k Miles, New Clutch & F1 Pump, 30k Service Done on 2040-cars

For your consideration, on auction today is my 2006 Maserati Quattroporte. Finished in Nero over Cuoio Sella (Black over Saddle), this Quattroporte is in absolutely fabulous condition throughout and has recently been the subject of approximately $13,000 worth of service work performed by Maserati of Cincinnati. This example was sold new and always serviced here in Cincinnati by one technician, Steve Ackerman, and was traded back in to the dealer (which is where I bought it) by the original owner earlier this year on a 2014 Quattroporte. Needless to say, this car has never wonted for anything and after looking at literally dozens of QPs for over a year, Scott at Maserati called me to tell me ‘my’ car was waiting for me, and just five minutes from home. This seemed to be quite the revelation, as nearly every other car I looked at either had dodgy (or no) service history, had been *not-very-tastefully* modified or had been through the hands of five or six owners. My requirements were quite simple; I wanted a Duo Select car, totally stock, and preferred the ‘base’ trim level, as the 18” wheels provide a much more compliant ride than the larger wheels of the Sport or Executive models do, as the slightly taller sidewalls, coupled with the Skyhook suspension, provided exactly what I wanted with respect to highway comfort in such an automobile.

I should mention that the only reason I am selling this car is because although my original intention was to drive the car year-round, I simply cannot bring myself to subject it to cold weather or salt, so I leased a new Mercedes E350 4MATIC which, although boring, yes, I won't agonize over using it daily. Anyhow, the Maserati is a beautiful car, one I have always admired and wanted and although ideally I would prefer to keep it for summer use, and put a 1966 QP next to it in the garage to see the beautiful lineage every morning, it is not a practical proposition at the moment, hence the sale. The car is 100% as it left the factory, which is how I wanted my chosen car to be—no modifications whatsoever.

EXTERIOR: Finished in non-metallic Nero, the exterior of this car is in excellent condition throughout. I will note that the only flaws on the exterior are a few very small light scuffs on the rear bumper panel to which I will also make mention of the notation on the Autocheck report regarding 'slight damage' being reported--this was in fact not due to a frontal "impact" as the report says but rather from when someone grazed the rear bumper panel, causing the aforementioned cosmetic damage. This can be verified by the prior owner. The front is 100% perfect with no sandblasting or rock chips whatsoever. All panel gaps are perfect, per the factory, and the paintwork has always been kept clean and free of any contaminants. Upon my purchase, the car was immediately sent for a full inside-and-out detail using Swissvax products (on the exterior) and shows absolutely beautifully. As you would expect, there is absolutely no rust on or underneath this automobile, as it was used exclusively as a summer car. All glass is original and in excellent condition as well as all exterior brightwork and trim. The car is garaged daily and is not driven in any inclement weather, which will be quite evident upon seeing it in person.

INTERIOR: The beautiful Poltrona Frau leather, finished in Cuoio Sella, is in excellent condition with no abnormal wear or flaws on any of the seating surfaces, door panels or fascia trim. The timber in this example is the beautiful inlaid mahogany and the color spec has the fascia top, seatbelts and upper halves of the door panels finished in Nero--a perfect contrast to the seats. Carpets are light beige (sorry, the proper Italian escapes me at the moment) with factory Black overrugs. There is absolutely no evidence of this car ever having been smoked in or eaten in for that matter—every surface is totally immaculate. And speaking of surfaces, there is absolutely none of the sticky button syndrome in this car whatsoever—not even around the middle climate control vents which surround the clock—a common trouble spot in QPs which have seen excessive UV exposure. There are two small areas of wear inside the car and they are (a.) the driver’s side B-pillar at the bottom where the seatbelt has worn a small area of the leather and (b.) slight warping of the upper portion of the steering wheel—something quite common in QPs. Beyond that, the car shows as new.

ENGINE: The Ferrari-derived 4.2 litre dry dump quad-cam V8 is in excellent condition, providing plenty of torque on-demand, and in general, runs beautifully with excellent idle characteristics unlike a lot of the QPs I had looked at prior to buying this car. No lumpiness, instant starting and no noise from the camshaft variators. I am always cautious to not exceed 3,000 rpm until the engine has had a sufficient chance to warm (not just water temperature, but oil as well). The oil has been changed at shorter-than-factory intervals, having had fresh Mobil 1 0W-40 full synthetic and a new filter on 5,000 mile services. The coolant, along with all other necessary fluids, was changed at the major 30K visit. In addition, the oil/water pump has been replaced on this example as well due to a small coolant leak.

GEARBOX/CLUTCH: The Duo Select gearbox is in fantastic condition and functions 100% correctly through all forward ratios as well as reverse. The complete clutch assembly was replaced at 28K miles and the F1 pump was replaced most recently, at 33K miles. The kiss point is in perfect adjustment and there are no issues to speak of with the driveline otherwise—no untoward noises or vibrations, etc..I should mention that, having driven both the Duo Select and the Automatica, I much preferred the DS considering the nature of this automobile. Furthering that, my commute does not involve routes which are prone to a lot of stop-and-go traffic, so any driveline wear that has occurred on my watch has been quite minimal.

SUSPENSION: This car is equipped with Maserati’s fantastic Skyhook electronically adjustable suspension. It offers amazingly flat cornering capabilities while still remaining composed and compliant on long highway jaunts. There are no issues of which to speak regarding the suspension—everything is tight and free of clunks or rattles and the car tracks arrow-straight with absolutely no tramlining or wandering (another characteristic which seemed to plague a lot of QPs I drove and not a reassuring feeling on the highway in a high performance automobile!).

BRAKES/TIRES: The tires are nearly brand new Michelin Pilot Sports with approximately 1,000 miles on them. I had them installed at the US headquarters of Corghi S.p.A., the Italian manufacturer of wheel service and alignment equipment whose product is found in the factories of Ferrari, Maserati and Lamborghini, as well as Ferrari’s US headquarters in New York. The tires were mounted using the touchless Corghi Master 26 so as to prevent any chance of damage to the wheels or the TPMS sensors, and upon installation, a complete four wheel alignment check was performed by Signore Marco Bianchi, the Corghi engineer responsible for handling the equipment in the aforementioned factories. The brakes were checked by Maserati within the past couple thousand miles and only the rear pads were found to require replacement, which occurred approximately 1,000 miles ago.

ELECTRICAL/ACCESSORIES: All electrical equipment throughout the vehicle is in proper working condition; power/heated front and rear seats, power windows and sunroof, all instruments, interior and exterior lamps, climate control system, CD changer and hi-fi system. The remote central locking functions correctly and the vehicle comes with three master keys. As for accessories, I equipped the car with the factory spare tire, jack and tool kit, a $2,000 option (most cars came equipped only with the emergency inflator pump—not effective should one experience a sidewall failure!). None of this has ever been used and is in as-new condition.

SERVICE HISTORY/PROVENANCE: This is perhaps the single most important thing, as far as I am concerned, when buying a car such as this. I would not settle for any car with no or incomplete service records. This car has every single document since it was new and has only been touched by one mechanic its entire life. In addition, all documents for additional parts and accessories are present along with the factory leather pouch containing the owner’s manual, entertainment system manual, warranty booklet and service booklet. These will of course be provided to the new owner upon sale of the vehicle and are available for review prior to purchase. Additionally, I will be including the following parts, all brand new original Maserati items, with the car: oil filter, pollen filter, air filter and wiper blades. I purchased all of these just to have on-hand but obviously will not have a need for them upon sale of the car.

INSPECTIONS: I welcome and encourage prospective buyers to have a PPI performed on the vehicle. The Maserati dealer here is literally five minutes from my house, so taking it to them will not be a problem whatsoever. Please note that all inspections are to be performed prior to bidding on the vehicle and are done at the buyer’s expense. I just ask the courtesy of a couple days’ notice so that I can make appropriate arrangements in my schedule during the week.

DISCLAIMER: This vehicle is being sold as-is with no warranties expressed or implied herein and has been described to the best of my ability. Please take a look at my feedback profile, I have sold three of my Ferraris on eBay, and have no desire to sour my reputation, so hopefully this will provide some comfort to those looking at this car from far off distances. Speaking of which, if you have spent any time looking at exotic cars which have lived their lives in warm climates, you will see close up in the details that a lot of them are treated as normal transportation and, as such, will show wear commensurate with that sort of use. It never occurred to me until a friend in south Florida made that point and since then, I have generally always looked to areas of the US where cars such as this are put away for part of the year, as they seem to be in overall better or ‘more cherished’ condition. I certainly found this to be the case with Quattroportes, and happened to luck out that the car I wanted was right here in town. In short, don’t be afraid to bring an Ohio car to California—you’ll likely thank me in the end ;)

QUESTIONS?: If I have failed to address any concern you have regarding this car, please do not hesitate to contact me via mobile (513) 519-7302 anytime until 9pm EST, and I will be happy to answer any questions you may have or set up the inspection. Thank you for looking and good luck in the bidding!