At $23,800, Will This 2005 Maserati GranSport Prove a Grand Bargain?

Today’s Nice Price or No Dice Maserati offers an exotic car experience at a non-exotic price. Will it prove a good enough deal to fend off claims of poseur status?

There’s nothing better than open roads and a comfortable car in which to ply them. Yesterday’s 1990 Lincoln MK VII LSC was a car originally designed to eat up the miles in capable comfort. It’s a little less comfortable these days owing to its age and wear, but at $2,295 to obtain, most of you were willing to overlook its flaws. That ended up with a 72 percent Nice Price win and maybe hints at a road trip in the Lincoln’s future.

Yesterday’s Lincoln was a big coupe, with plenty of room for four as well as all the baggage that the quartet might carry. On the other hand, today’s 2005 Maserati GranSport is a little more intimate affair. Yes, it does offer two rows of seats and seatbelts for four. And, with a 105-inch wheelbase, its cabin is appreciably more roomy than, say the contemporary Porsche 997 which was one of Maserati’s targets with the model. Still, neither cabin nor boot will provide a weekend away’s space for four grown-ass adults unless they are all horse racing jockeys that like to travel with little more than a toothbrush.

Of course, Maserati’s goal with the GranSport wasn’t to offer public transportation-like capacity. No, the main purpose of the GranSport was to look and sound cool as heck.

To achieve those goals, Maserati started with the Coupe and convertible Spyder introduced in 2001 and 2002 and then massaged the design inside and out. The major results of that work are improved aerodynamics and a more comfortable cabin featuring wider seats and a narrower center console.

Under the hood, the Ferrari-designed 4233 cc quad-cam V8 climbed 10 horsepower from the Coupe/Spyder to a total of 395. Torque remained the same at 333 lb-ft. The V8’s exhaust features a mechanical cut-out that allows the engine to growl in ways that might make nuns cross themselves and both men and women to drop their respective panties for blocks around.

A major difference between the GranSport and its Coupe siblings is in the gearbox department. The Coupe could be had with either three pedals and a traditional manual or the F1 auto/manual. The GranSport only came one way — with the flappy paddle Cambiocorsa F1 transmission. Now, not everyone is enamored with how the F1 operates, especially in around-town action. It can be herky-jerky and unpleasant to drive in such instances. However, get out on the open road, and the F1 comes into its own.

This GranSport comes to us in black over a handsome gray cloth and leather interior. It wears a set of chrome-plated aftermarket 19-inch wheels but those are standing in for the factory alloys which have been refinished and are included in the sale.

The seller describes the car as being in excellent condition and having just 50,800 miles on the clock. They note 46 percent clutch wear which is notable since the F1s go through clutches the way most cars go through cabin air filters, and the replacement is wicked costly.

Another common factor on this generation of Maserati is a nasty sticky, gummy surface that manifests on the control buttons in the cabin. Happily, this car is claimed to be free of that plague. Other notable features here are yellow brake calipers which the seller claims to be a rare option and a built-in radar detector. Do the Po-Po still use radar, or have they all gone to lasers?

Aesthetically, the car seems to live up to its claimed “excellent” condition. The paint looks to be without major flaws, and the cabin shows no obvious wear at all. Plus the car appears to come with not one but two tubes of Chapstick. Bonus! However, a demerit goes to the seller for denying us a shot in the ad of the car’s beautiful engine bay.

A clean title and the plausibility that one extra set of wheels could be resold make this a fairly compelling deal. The question for all of you is whether or not the $23,800 asking price does as well.

What do you think, is this well-presented Maserati a deal at that $23,800 asking? Or, does the F1 and the prospect of Maserati maintenance make that price just a few dollars too grand?

You decide!

Los Angeles, California, Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.

H/T to Don R. for the hookup!

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