Maserati 228 as a budget daily driver
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This website is about how I try to keep an
old Maserati going without breaking the bank while still using the car for
my preferred method of transportation. You might wonder why on earth did I choose to buy an extremely unreliable and ugly Maserati 228 for a daily driver? Simply because it has one of the best performance figures for the price and it is a prestige car I could afford. I heard about this particular vehicle nearly accidentally by word of mouth and decided to buy it before I even saw it because the price was affordable enough for me to buy it. Before buying a 228 I hadn't even heard of any other Maserati to be affordable other than the regular Biturbo which although cheap, had not been cheap enough for my budget. I cannot really understand why 228:s aren't any more expensive than regular 2,5 l Biturbos. When new it was much more expensive than its smaller brother, has better performance and more space. Of course buying the cheapest Maserati meant that the car was far from pristine condition. Rust, worn interior and no service history didn't concern me. A good example would have been shame to put into daily use. With this rusty box there's no worry about the car being spoiled by use. It had already been done by the numerous owners in the past. As all rust problems with the car are cosmetic, I don't plan to do anything about it. This car will look ugly regardless of the condition. Mechanically the car seemed to be ok when I first saw the car. Engine running good, clear fluids, no smoke, nearly all electrics, turbos and even air-conditioning worked so it was a good start for a daily driver. What comes to the reliability issue, I take it as a challenge to maintain such an exotic car with as little money as possible still keeping everything working. All the work I try to do myself and whenever possible, avoid original spare parts due to their high prices. Read on to find out how I manage that. Warning to Maserati fanatics: For me this is just another car. I don't care about the origin of spare parts. If I can get something fixed cheaper with a Toyota part, I'll use it instead of an original. Only the end result counts. You can pay extra for a trident badge on the spare part boxes for your own beloved car if you wish, I think it's just downright stupid. |