(first posted 9/26/2017) Most cars made after around 1980 leave me cold, but there are exceptions. The 1998-2002 Maserati 3200 GT is one of those. I remember those when they came out in 1998, thinking to myself: “Hold on. Maserati is still in business? And they’re doing this?” I had seen a couple of Quattroporte IVs on occasion, but they just looked so puny and odd that I figured Maserati were now reduced to building parts for Ferrari or Fiat. I was wrong – the 3200 GT was the start of something of yet another Maserati rebirth.
Bland on the run – clockwise from top left: Karif, Shamal, 228, Quattroporte IV.
In my opinion, the ‘80s and ‘90s were the worst era for Maserati. Boxy Biturbo derivatives galore, iffy quality control and lousy de Tomaso management almost killed the Trident after it had almost been done in by Citroën in the ‘70s. The only model that had any trace of the Maserati magic, to my eyes, was the gargantuan Quattroporte III. The rest of the range seemed miles away from the Khamsins, Indys or 3500 GTs of yore. By 1990, Alejandro de Tomaso found himself in dire financial straits, so he had to sell his participation in Maserati to Fiat, who got Ferrari in on the deal by 1996.
Maserati were chiefly making V6-powered cars by then. Only the Shamal still held on to the V8 mystique, though Marcello Gandini made it look about as appealing as a brick. Infused with far better quality control and management from their neighbours in Modena, Maserati were now in a position to make a clean break with the dreaded de Tomaso era. Italdesign’s Giorgetto Giugiaro was commissioned to design a new swooping coupé, which would use the 3.2 litre V8 – now built under the competent auspices of Ferrari. Giugiaro did very well. The result was a muscular car, not dissimilar to the Aston Martin DB7 from the front.
But the back – oh, the back! – was pure, unadulterated genius. Those daring boomerang LEDs gave the car such immediate personality that it cannot be mistaken for anything else. Somehow, these were never homologated for North America, which pretty much sealed its fate. Barely three years after it was introduced, it was out of production; less than 5000 were made. A revamped “Maserati Coupé” took its place, with completely anonymous tail lamps replacing the LED boomerangs. The lowest common denominator had won again, having claimed the Jaguar E-Type, the MG B and countless others in previous decades.
The 3200 GT’s interior seems like a very snug place to be, too, compared to the nausea-inducing cream leather of some of the Maseratis of the ‘80s. The chintzy gold clock was kept on as a memento of those days of excess. There was a 4-speed autobox available, but the majority of cars shared our CC’s 6-speed manual transmission.
In my opinion, aside from the 3200 GT-derived Coupé and the obligatory SUV, Maserati has been making great cars again since this one. The marque has had such a checkered history that it’s not impossible they will hit another low, but they’ve been at the top of their game for the past 20 years – how many automakers can make the same claim?
Nice find, the gold really sets the boomerangs off. I saw one of these recently – dark blue with the later rear lights. I don’t think it’s held up though, the rear and nose seem overly droopy. Problem for this body is that they got it so much better with the next one.
The US should have had those boomerang taillights. The revised lights could have come from a Kia.
Forgettable.
My gosh, you’re right. The taillights look a bit like those of a Spectra from the mid-00’s. I cannot un-see this.
I always saw 1992-1996 Honda Prelude in those…so they looked dated even when new in 2001.
Funnliy enough, I knew a guy who installed those rear lights on his 4G Prelude!
It was an awful lot of work, but it looked rather good.
The prettier boomerang lights didn’t meet DOT size requirements; that’s why they weren’t used here.
I was never familiar with this particular car, but as for Maserati regaining their mojo at this time, I’d say that’s a fair statement. The marque pretty much fell off my radar after the 3-series-wannabe-styled biturbo of the ’80’s, and stayed in the recesses of my mind right up until one day in 2006. I was shopping at the Galleria in Fort Lauderdale with a friend when we came upon a trio of new Maseratis on display in the central court of the mall. It was a mind blowing moment, as I’d essentially thought Maserati was history up until that moment. Seeing them (and hearing one, as I was having coffee one day on Los Olas Blvd) on the streets shortly thereafter instilled a longing for one that I’d never experienced in all my car-obsessed life. If only…
If I ever reach the day where I’m able to buy an exotic, Maserati is the way I want to go. There’s a nice subtlety about them, completely absent in any Ferrari or Lamborghini, and Aston Martin is starting to push the line.
Reality, however, says the best I’ll ever do is a sorted out Biturbo. Which I wouldn’t turn down.
You could easily afford this car here in north america. They are cheaper than a new KIA.
“compared to the nausea-inducing cream leather of some of the Maseratis of the ‘80s”
I actually liked the Biturbo’s interior of the 1980s, along with the chintzy-looking clock. But then again, I like Chrysler Fifth Avenues, too, so maybe my bias is showing through. I do think, though, that in the late 1980s or early 1990s, Maserati began offering the caramel-colored interior like on this 3200, and it was a big improvement. Probably the most sumptuous interior I can recall from that time. The interior on this 3200 looks wonderful.
Overall, I think the 3200 GT (particularly with the boomerang-shaped lights) is one of those few cars that looks better from the rear than from the front. The rear view is a very pleasing combination of shapes and curves. While I have no particular complaint about the front (with the possible exception of the hood vents), it doesn’t capture my imagination quite like the rear.
Like the tail lights. It’s the rest of the car that loses it for me. Big fan of maserati if the 70’s and older. But the 80’s and 90’s including this 3200 shows lack of passion to me. You can buy these cars for next to nothing in the usa and thats very telling. The interiors are nice tho. There was a glimmer of hope 15 years ago with the quatraoorte… Looked good, sounded even better. But now the new quatraporte looks worse than the KIA genesis. Gran tourismo looks nice… But still, to me maserati is having difficulty finding itself.
I understand these are relatively cheap in Europe too – circa €20,000 for a nice one. However, maintenance costs are true Italian-sports-car territory…
I’d rather forgotten about these, since we didn’t get them. It certainly marks a major turning point for the brand, which had been stuck in deTomaso hell for way too long.
I sorta liked the Maserati 430i- to quote Jean Jennings- “the interior is nicer than my underwear!”
Ah, the days when great cars could nearly always be had with a proper transmission!
When I first saw one of these on the street at night with those amazing tail lights I did a triple take. Must have been in Boston or on the streets of NYC. I remember the color too; it was that particularly lovely dark blue they used on this run. This car has aged so well design-wise; much better than its descendant. However as YouTube vids will show, these cars age horribly materials-wise. I think RCR did a piece on them recently?
Scratch that, it was 2001, when I lived in London.
Those tail lights were better executed the first time around…
My thoughts exactly! Plus, the 455 under hood didn’t hurt either!
1968 Bonneville
If Nash was still in business, they could make a credible claim for trademark infringement – that rear-deck script is VERY close to the old Stylized Nash “N” and the Nash script.
Then again…Nash > American Motors > Chrysler Corp. > Fiat-Chrysler…so, who knows, maybe it’d be cool after all.
CC Effect alert, as I saw not one but two of the later, but basically same style, Maserati GT’s or Coupes (4200?) yesterday. On the same stretch of freeway, 5 hours apart, going in opposite directions, but different colors so not the same car.
While I can appreciate this for being the kick that Maserati needed to help them push forward into what is arguably their best decade since the 70s for design and dynamics, the design itself has never interested me. You bring up similarities to the Aston Martin DB7 in its design, and I guess that’s my gripe. I never really cared all that much for the DB7 either, I always found it a bit blobby for some reason, and the similarities of design in the 3200 GT meant that I feel it suffers from the same fate. The details I think are better than the DB7, but the basic design sort of falls flat, for me anyways. Of course that fact that the photographed car is in hearing aid beige doesn’t help, whereas a red, white, or even a silver/gunmetal grey color would help it pop more.
That being said, I do respect it. If not for this car, we certainly would not have the current Quattroporte, one of the most beautiful four doors on the market. Funnily enough, my best friend’s stepdad traded in his Lexus IS F for a black Maserati Ghibli, which I have seen a couple times when I’ve gone to his house.
Amen to that, Thang! I’ve seen Maseratis since I saw my first Coupe at Ferrari Maserati of Seattle when I first arrived in the Emerald City, I fell in love! But one thing nagged me when I asked for a Roadster with a Blue Denim interior, like my “Levis” ’73 Matador coupe. They said they’d check on it. When they did they told me that Denim wasn’t fireproof, but they said that Leather with the SAME Denim tint was available. Strange, though. In Canada you could order one with a Leather/Denim combo, and Still look like a “Mint!”
The “hockey sticks” totally make the look.
The taillights were a great feature on an otherwise completely dreary design IMO. Never found these attractive, nor any other modern Maserati for that matter including the overrated Quattroporte, just 90s jellybean designs with a big pricetag.
Rather Resembles the last generation Chevy Monte Carlo from the side?
You might not believe it but Ital Design originally intended this to become a Daewoo.
It was supposed to be a Leganza Coupe, which Ital had also designed.
The 1997 Asian financial crisis saw and end to that, and many other Korean projects. Just think, with Daewoo’s GM Chevy connection, it may actually BEEN the Monte Carlo had historical outcome been different.
http://www.diseno-art.com/encyclopedia/concept_cars/daewoo_bucrane.html
Wow. That’s interesting. Wonder if the Daewoo version had the fiskar tail lights.
Not sure I have ever read this, but it makes complete sense. Same designer, plausible Asian financial crash backstory, almost identical body lines, greenhouse shapes, and front end arrangements. And I wouldn’t be at all surprised had Daewoo put those daring tail lamps into production. And how perfect that the Coupe update gained tail lights almost just like the Leganza’s. Italdesign seems to recycle their designs more than anyone else, which makes for fascinating connections between manufacturers (see “Jaguar Kensington->Daewoo Leganza”).
Interesting! Not that Daewoo mechanicals would have been much more reliable…
Long time Daewoo whisperer here. I had a ’97 Lanos that was far more trouble-free than my 85 Jetta, other than blowing the timing belt which was somewhat on me.It went at 98,000 kms, 2000 earlier than the4 recommended change interval. And you can blame Holden for that, not Daewoo. They made the engines.
One curiosity; the 3200GT derived Maserati Coupe was one of the last cars you could buy in the US with an old-school mechanical odometer
Good find. Count me in among those who never really got truly excited over these, and even less so the spider version (one of which I saw just the other day). Sure the taillights were cool, somehow the rest of the car was just off.
And regards the similarities to the DB7, I never really saw it, but now I do, and that’s another car I thought was somewhat lackluster when it was current (I think it’s aged well though).
The GT followup is MUCH better looking, and still looks great after a lot of years in production. It’s too bad the rest of the current line doesn’t look as good.
The new Maserati(s) leave me cold. I see many of them on the street as well as Porsche Panamera, Astons, Tesla…etc. Where is the exclusivity of the GT era when Maserati made @250 Boras, @1800 QP III. Even production of the Biturbo and all of its derivatives amounted to @32,000 over a period of a decade and one half.
Manufacturers of “high end” automobiles just like those manufacturing “high end” garments acquired brand names that were considered very exclusive and now crank them out in huge (relatively) numbers for the “label whores” who will pay for the name.
I think the Biturbo gets more hate than it deserves. It was a fine-looking car when it first arrived, and the twin turbo technology was way ahead of its time. Alas, like all Italian cars of this era, quality control and reliability killed it from the start. The later versions were much better in this regard, but by then, the style was very dated.
However…. The Quattroporte IV was an excellent car (especially in phase II form, after Ferrari sorted the quality control), and it still ranks as one of the best-looking four-door sedans to my eyes. Also, they went like stink and handled beautifully, with twin-turbo V6 and V8 engines, manual gearboxes (mostly), and a limited slip diff on the independently sprung rear wheels. It’s like the stretched wheelbase finally gave Gandini’s ideas a proper canvas to express themselves: clean, unadorned and purposeful, it remains a classy saloon to this day. I’d jump at the opportunity to own one in the future.