[Mumbles9]

Hey everyone, i'm new here and i was wondering if you guys could give me a little friendly advice. i am trading in OR might try to sell my 06' MBenz CLS 55AMG w/Carlsson CK55 Kit on it and alot of other engine mods. the reason is,its just too small and im sick of Mercedes cause i had an E55 prior to my CLS and they are pretty much the same vehicle ,except for the look. i have been seriously looking at and recently test drove an 07' QUATTROPORTE Sport GT w/ DUO-SELECT. I liked the car a lot, THE WAY IT HANDLED, BRAKES ETC. It feels a little underpowered compared to the AMG, but the look of the car is amazing,its an exotic that you don't see everyday,it's bigger and i think the price is right. i wanted to know what you guys think of the DUOSELECT Tranny and if you guys like the car or are you dissapointed? My brother has an M5 w/ SMG and i like the car. Little rough in shifting, but the sound his makes with the KREISIEG Full Exhaust is AMAZING. I want to do an exhaust if i do this car and wanted to get some thoughts on this as well. Any information would be Greatly Appreciated and i Sincerely apologize for the post being so long.

 

[maserati of minneapolis]

Personally - I love the DuoSelect. It definitely matches the Sport GT's character better than the automatic. The auto is a really good gearbox, and for the majority of people buying the QP, it is the right choice. However we have a number of customers that bought 05 DuoSelect QPs that traded into 07 DuoSelect cars over going to an Auto. If you buy the car with the right expectations - its a sports car - its a paddle shifted manual not an auto - it has more maintenance costs than an auto - you're likely to love it. I think a lot of the knocks about this gearbox have been from owners who were improperly educated \ informed, and from the press that never bothered to take the time to learn the gearbox. In the past I said it would be like a journalist who has never driven a manual writing a negative article about a car because the car stalled when he couldn't run the clutch. The sheer number of journalists that still don't understand these gearboxes in general, and their proper use is a bit astounding.

The maintenance costs are pretty predictable. Clutch - about every 12-20k miles, depending on how you drive. The harder you drive, the more you use sport mode, the less you parallel park, the more you avoid a lot of reverse, the longer it will last. When you do a clutch, do the F1 pump at the same time. Its just good preventative maintenance.

Beyond that you've got normal stuff. Our full maintenance schedule - oil changes, brake fluid flushes, spark plugs, etc.. runs about $1k per 10k miles. I think clutch service runs about $5k, once every 18 months or so depending on how much you drive, and tires probably as often..

I can only comment on what these items cost at my dealership, others may have better insight to their real world costs.

In the end its a great car - its not the fastest in a straightline, but no factory Merc looks or sounds as good, and no other big sedan handles like the QP. It's the best in the segment, and a viable competitor to think about even if you're looking more for a sports car if you need some real-world use of the car too.. (backseats, trunk...)

- Mark

 

[Mumbles9]

Thank You For The Information

 

[Bcube]

A little review from Top Gear:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Zwm_7hhxbA

With the introduction of the QP Collezione Cento infotainment and mid MY 2008 GTs getting Bluetooth - looks like their isn't any reason NOT to choose a Maserati over the big MBs and BMWs.

 

[GCalo]

--- i wanted to know what you guys think of the DUOSELECT Tranny---

Stay away from the DuoSelect unless you have a spare clutch repair fund regardless of what the fanatics here say! It's a dying dog!

This transmission almost put Maserati out of business again.

A 2 year old QP with DuoSelect is selling for about $65K now. Is that good value? What's it say about the demand for that transmission?

Stick with the ZF auto transmission and you'll love the car long term.

 

[DeaneG]

You do have to drive the Duoselect, even on rainy nights when you just want to get from A to B without drama. Sometimes an automatic is more suited to a set of driving tasks - think about yours and decide.