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Drz

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
Sorry to ask such a newbie question...

Does the 2007 Quattroporte come standard with semi-automatic transmission? I'm looking at one for sale online (pictured below) that just says "manual" for the transmission, and wanted to see if I could get that answered before I contact the seller.

Image
 
#3 ·
That's a Duoselect transmission. It was present in cars from 2005, 2006, and first part of 2007. ALthough the car has an "automatic" mode (and is sometimes listed as "automatic" in auctions), most people who own one will tell you that it should really be driven as a manual using the paddle shifters. In later 2007 Maserati switched over to a ZF automatic transmission. All cars from 2008 and beyond are true automatic with the ZF transmission. Those who own a Duoselect seem to praise its more aggressive sport mode, but that comes at the cost of the need for clutch replacement. As someone who has been following this for a few months (and will hopefully soon be posting pics of my new acquisition), it seems that most of those experienced with Maseratis recommended that the newbies buy an automatic - a little less upkeep, a little more idiot-proof. The manual transmissions are easy to tell b/c they have that little silver switch, and the valve covers in the engine are red. THe automatics have a big transmission gearshift (like you see in most BMWs, Mercedes, etc) in the middle, and blue valve covers. THe year is typically a dead giveaway as to transmission - 2005 or 2006 = Duoselect, 2008 or 2009 = automatic. 2007 is the only one that you need to actually LOOK at the pictures to determine since that's when they did the turnover. Again, don't trust auction listings, since they will list the Duoselect as automatic because you CAN drive it in automatic, even though it's truly a manual. I've driven one in automatic, and it has a LONG lag between 1st and 2nd gear, and thus feels a little jerky at lower speeds. Just look at the pics to determine the transmission.
 
#4 ·
I believe this one is a scam

There is a scam that has long been taking place in which the scam artist posts a car for 10 to 20K below market value. They claim that they will ship the car to you for free and you pay via msn. They claim that the money will be held in escrow and you can send the car back for free if you don't like it. The problem is the bank you transfer to is typically offshore and the car never shows up. You are out the money and don't have a car to show for it either. The car you show the picture for is likely a scam. That car is listed as a 2007 maserati on autotrader for 32,500. They will sell this car to many different people and none of them will receive the car but many will transfer the money. Just google escrow scams msn.

If you contact the seller of the car you pictured this is the email you will receive:

Sorry for the delay in my response. The car is still available. The asking price is $29,500 and it is located in Monsey, NY. The VIN is ZAMCE39AX60023172. It is registered on my name and it has a clear title (no liens). The overall condition is excellent, no dings or scratches. I am not a smoker, didn't have any pets and I've always garaged it. The car has never been involved in any accident and never suffered any kind of damage. The regular maintenance was done in time.

My job as a technician for the US F1 team and the fact that I'm always away from home, determined my wife to file for divorce. We recently sold all our assets and split the money so this is the last thing I need to sell so I can move forward.

Because I'm away most of the time with the team, I may not be able to handle the sale in person so I've decided to use MSN Money Central to handle the payment. They will hold the money until you will receive and inspect the car. It will be shipped to you upon confirmation that they secured the funds. You will have 8 days of inspection after you receive the car, to decide if you want it or not. If you decide not to keep it, MSN will give you a full refund and you will have to ship it back on my expense. If you decide to keep it, they will pay me. Along with the car you will receive the clear title and the warranty & maintenance papers. I will pay the shipping fees anywhere in the US.

If you want to see more photos or a FREE copy of the CARFAX report, just let me know. If you are interested please send me your name, shipping address and phone number. The car is priced for a fast sale, so it would be better if you don't need financing.


Mark


> VEHICLE INFORMATION
> Make: Maserati
> Model: Quattroporte
> Year: 2006
> Price: 53655
> Mileage: 10662
> Body Style: Sedan
> Color: UNAVAIL
> Cylinders: Unavailable
> Transmission: Unavailable
> Doors: Unknown
> Stereo: Unavailable
> Description: Highway miles, Looks & runs great, Low mileage, Ice cold A/C, Always garaged, All scheduled maintenance, Fully loaded, Must see, Non-smoker, No accidents, Runs & drives great, Well maintained, Very clean interior, GPS system,

You will notice the actual add says the car has 5,000 miles and is located in Texas and is even priced differently in the ad. Not even the same car in his email reply. I hope this saves some of you from throwing your money away. Only buy a maserati that you can go and see in person and take posession of at the time of purchase.
 
#5 ·
Never buy a car you have not driven!

and, yes, that's an "automated-manual"/F1/Cambiocorsa/electro-hydraulically actuated 6-speed/"flappy paddle gear box."
 
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#6 ·
'07 Automatic: paddles or no-paddle?

Hi everyone,

I am a newbie myself looking to purchase a 2007 QP this year. I have done my research and hope to find a "true" automatic to buy. One question I have is that some of the 2007 automatics (confirmed by looking at gear shift in picture) have paddle shifters while others do not. Is there a reason for this? Is one better than the other? Thanks in advance!
 
#7 ·
atlqp said:
Hi everyone,

I am a newbie myself looking to purchase a 2007 QP this year. I have done my research and hope to find a "true" automatic to buy. One question I have is that some of the 2007 automatics (confirmed by looking at gear shift in picture) have paddle shifters while others do not. Is there a reason for this? Is one better than the other? Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
I believe that in 2007 the paddle shifters were an OPTION so not all cars have them.



 
Discussion starter · #8 ·
Thank you for the excellent info! Just to be absolutely clear -- ALL 2005 and 2006 QP's are Duoselect? I would prefer an outright automatic, so does that mean I should start limiting my searches to 2007+?

And yeah, like work^3 said, yeah, this is a scam. I was 99% sure, but the 1% idiot part of my brain thought, hey, maaaybe there actually is a private seller who really needs quick money and is selling a low-mileage Quattroporte Sport GT S for $32,500... it was just listed today, maybe I'm the first person to stumble across this. Kind of embarrassed that I thought it was even possible. :anon:
 
#9 ·
Yep, all 2005 and 2006 are duoselect. I just recently went through the same decision process, and am in the process of finalizing a deal on a 2007 automatic. So yes, you're going to have to limit yourself to 2007+ cars if you want an automatic. The Duoselects are often cheaper, but again, that price decrease comes with its own issues of clutch, etc.
There's an awesome looking Black-on-black 2007 Sport GT with light brown stitching on Ebay right now with low mileage, but it's a little weird that it's had 3 owners - makes you go hmmmm.
Anyways, there are a fair # of these out there, but you'll have to spend a fair amount of time getting fooled by a car listed as automatic that's actually a duoselect - just look for the silver lever and keep moving.
 
#10 ·
PS - using Ebay as a reasonable estimate of prices both for sale and sold, you're probably looking at spending anywhere from 62K to 70K depending on mileage, features, etc. As stated above, not all of the automatics have paddle shifters - the sport GTs do, as do most of the executive models, which typically include upgraded seat packages. The base models are some with, some without. Some people have these things listed for >72-75K, which seems a little high - it's rare for an auction with that type of price to actually close with a sale.
If you're looking for a CPO car with an extended warranty (which I decided as a newbie I wanted), there are some in Texas listed on Ebay available from Maserati dealer in Dallas or Plano that might fit the bill for you.
 
Discussion starter · #11 ·
#12 ·
Drz said:
Thanks Jekyll!

There's actually an 07 Sport GT down the street from me listed at what looks like a really good price, so I'm gonna check it out tomorrow. Looks very black, which I think in person I'll either really like or really hate. Kinda wondering why the pictures seem to go to great lengths to not show the dash.

http://www.dominionmotorcarsinc.com/web/2037/vehicle/221649/2007-Maserati-Quattroporte-Sport GT-San Antonio-TX
Click to expand...
That car is a DuoSelect. You can see the brake handle in the picture of the front seat. You can also check out Autotrader. I have seen 07 Automatics there in the 50's and low 60's.
 
#14 ·
Definitely Duoselect on that one - there's a pic way down that's a close-up of the forward/reverse lever. I remember seeing this one as I was looking and getting fooled constantly b/c the picture wasn't easy to find each time.
As someone who has just gotten a black-on-black, and wasn't sure about whether I'd like it (I was leaning more towards silver exterior), I will see that seeing the black in person, it's quite nice. I really like the contrast stitching on the black leather as well - unfortunately mine doesn't have it. If only the previous owner had ponied up the extra $275 at the time! But, that's what you get when you're buying used - 50% off the retail price, but can't have every feature.
For me, I made a list of the things that I wanted and their importance - exterior color, interior color, mileage, CPO, paddle shifters or not, Sport GT or base model, leather options, etc, and used that to help narrow the field down. I decided that even though I wouldn't use them ALL that often, I couldn't justify buying a "sports" car (or at least as sporty as I can reasonably get having kids in the family and needing 4 doors) without having the paddle shifters. Also, I wanted CPO. So, the field got narrowed pretty quickly, but that helped decide on one car, especially once I realized that although the exterior color matters (obviously), I didn't have a STRONG feeling about it. Hopefully a similar process will work for you.
 
Discussion starter · #15 ·
Still lookin' around. I test-drove the San Antonio Maserati linked to earlier in the thread. This was my first time seeing a QP up close, and the car itself was an insane beauty. I went there wanting to choose between the QP and an M6 they had, and the QP blew me away. No consideration for the M6 anymore. Why settle?

The drive, however, was underwhelming. :( Particularly the Duoselect. I won't rehash what I'm sure y'all have discussed a thousand times, but I really, really didn't like it.

So, I've been limiting my search to the full automatics. Problem is, the '08 QPs are WAAAY more than the '07s, starting at ~$20K more. I have yet to find a fully automatic QP in the dregs of the 2007 cars.com and autotrader.com listings (<$55K'ish). So, I have two questions:

1. Does that ever happen? Fully automatic QP's for under $55K?
2. Does anyone have a rough guess, %-wise, how many '07 QPs are fully automatic?
 
#16 ·
I agree that the Duoselect drive was underwhelming, at least to my tastes. I ended up recently getting a 2007 automatic, and the drive is amazing. I've driven other European cars before, and this blows them all out of the water. Immediately responsive, both accelerating and decelerating, handles curves nicely, etc. So I'd stick with the automatic if I were you.
1. From my recent 6-month following of prices prior to purchase, no, you're not going to find fully automatic in any reasonable condition with any reasonable mileage (i.e. not greater than 10-15K per year of age) for under $55K. I felt like I got a great price - 65K for 20K mile car in great condition. That seems about equivalent to what others have been reporting here recently. You might find something for around $60, but probably will have some question issues - near end of warranty, prior accident (repaired), higher mileage, etc.
2. Not sure how many are automatic, but the % for sale is skewed towards duoselect, since I think that they don't move as quickly (thus keeping more in the "for sale" pool), and from talking to the dealers it sounds like people who had bought a 2005-2006 upgraded for the automatic in 2007/2008, while I personally wouldn't see any reason now owning an automatic to upgrade to the 09/10 except for improved electronics and potentially bigger engine (if you go for the 4.7L).
Good luck with your search. If you have any more questions, PM me, I'd be happy to fill you in on my recent search and resulting thoughts about the car.
 
#17 ·
Drz said:
Still lookin' around. I test-drove the San Antonio Maserati linked to earlier in the thread. This was my first time seeing a QP up close, and the car itself was an insane beauty. I went there wanting to choose between the QP and an M6 they had, and the QP blew me away. No consideration for the M6 anymore. Why settle?
Click to expand...
Funny, that's how it started for me as well. I went to a dealer to test drive M6. I was underwhelmed by terribly slow SMG transmission. Then I saw a QP sitting near by, did a test drive, and I was very impressed.

The drive, however, was underwhelming. :( Particularly the Duoselect. I won't rehash what I'm sure y'all have discussed a thousand times, but I really, really didn't like it.
Click to expand...
I liked DuoSelect just fine. It shifted quicker than BMW's SMG, and the shift point was a lot more predictable in automatic mode. However I later found out that DuoSelect is particularly costly to maintain, and ended up purchasing 07 Sport GT with Automatica.

So, I've been limiting my search to the full automatics. Problem is, the '08 QPs are WAAAY more than the '07s, starting at ~$20K more. I have yet to find a fully automatic QP in the dregs of the 2007 cars.com and autotrader.com listings (<$55K'ish). So, I have two questions:

1. Does that ever happen? Fully automatic QP's for under $55K?
2. Does anyone have a rough guess, %-wise, how many '07 QPs are fully automatic?
Click to expand...
07 with Automatica transmission is rare. You just need to look hard and have patience for it. FWIW I bought mine for under $55k. Good luck.
 
#18 ·
FWIW, the Duoselect puts more power to the ground, shifts faster and allows better control of gear selection. The auto itself feels a bit bogged down in comparison but is much smoother and that may be more important for many QP owners. It's really just preference!

Best Regards,
-- Jeff
 
Discussion starter · #20 ·
jekyll said:
The manual transmissions are easy to tell b/c they have that little silver switch, and the valve covers in the engine are red.
Click to expand...
I'm still looking and drooling at QP's off and on. Could anyone tell me more about where this silver switch is located?

Here's an example of one I'm looking at... price seems too low to be automatic, but I'm having trouble telling what the transmission is: http://www.expomc.com/invsys/details2.php?id=9935
 
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Drz
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