Faults:

New timing belt when I bought it.

Windshield washer fluid pump.

Turbo-hose.

Carburetter pressure chamber gasket.

General Comments:

I've had a British Layland Mini, a Morris Garage (MG) and two Citroens prior to the Maserati, so I'm used to trouble. The Biturbo has been quite nice, although it was an experience to find out that the garage had a special, slightly higher price to service Maseratis.

The car itself is sometimes a bit hard to start, depending on the weather. When it does start, and ninety-nine out of a hundred times it does, the sound of the engine is like music. Mine is a 1987, built in November 1986, carburetted, original Biturbo. The injected engine is probably more reliable when it comes to starting.

The car is fast and will outrun everyday traffic and a lot more. In acceleration it's like a medium motorcycle, 0-100kmph in approx 6.5 seconds. Compared to other fast cars, like the Golf (Rabbit) VR6, Subaru Impreza GT and Porsche Boxster, it at least feels a lot more sporty and powerful, even if some of them have more horsepowers. But then again, it has less than 1200Kg to drag around.

These other cars feel like insecure handshakes compared to the Biturbo. At full throttle you hear the turbos, exhaust, transmission and it feels like it would rip any other car apart.

It's not a classic yet, but it's straight, cool 1970's lines, great engine-sound and great seats will wake the crowd one day, I'm sure. It is actually quite anonymous in appearance and does not turn a lot of heads, but to me that is a plus. On the other hand, you will notice it when it's in your rear-view mirror...

As they say: It's a sports-car in tuxedo. And it's a lot of fun!