Now this is a cheap Maserati Quattroporté

[Architex_mA8tey]

god these are getting tempting - low miles (28,000) and under £20k uhhhhh
http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/4022178.htm

[47p2]

They are nice but I think I would give that one a miss since it's been his wife's daily drive the past 4 years and she managed to burn the clutch out

[Architex_mA8tey]

Originally Posted by 47p2

They are nice but I think I would give that one a miss since it's been his wife's daily drive the past 4 years and she managed to burn the clutch out

Haha does that scare you? seems pretty good to me for the mileage/price!!

[Adrian E]

I think it'd be less painful to spend £20k getting someone to remove your fingernails with a pair of pliers than to own one of these as a daily!!

The robot manual is a fecking nightmare - I believe about 40k miles is as good as the clutch life gets in these. They did start to produce a 'proper' automatic and if you had to have one, that'd be the only option worth considering.

I knew a guy who works in EMC testing (actually he owns the business) who used to run one of these and he decided to do a regulatory test on it, just out of interest.......£10k bill later and most of the warning lights were out and the car did actually run again! That's a regulatory test, so think about that one for a minute when you ponder what other corners they've cut.....even a Renault Scenic will survive this type of testing with nothing more than the odd flashing light that goes out when the test stops.

[sloss]

Originally Posted by Adrian E

I think it'd be less painful to spend £20k getting someone to remove your fingernails with a pair of pliers than to own one of these as a daily!!

The robot manual is a fecking nightmare - I believe about 40k miles is as good as the clutch life gets in these. They did start to produce a 'proper' automatic and if you had to have one, that'd be the only option worth considering.

I knew a guy who works in EMC testing (actually he owns the business) who used to run one of these and he decided to do a regulatory test on it, just out of interest.......£10k bill later and most of the warning lights were out and the car did actually run again! That's a regulatory test, so think about that one for a minute when you ponder what other corners they've cut.....even a Renault Scenic will survive this type of testing with nothing more than the odd flashing light that goes out when the test stops.

Well, if it's just had a new clutch then you have 40k carefree miles ahead.....

What's a 'semi-auto' anyway?

[graynada]

Originally Posted by sloss

What's a 'semi-auto' anyway?

Usually a gear lever but no clutch pedal. You just move the gear lever and the declutching/clutching is taken care of automatically.

[sloss]

I had a car many, many years ago with a system like that - it was called Manumatic. May have been on a Wolsley or Riley I had then.

It had a button on top of the gear lever that when pressed put the clutch out to enable a gear change.

The clutch was centrifugal so no need for a pedal.

It even revved up on down changes to match engine speed to wheels

[Adrian E]

the gearbox in this thing is basically similar to the BMW SMG box in that it's effectively a manual, because it has a clutch, but the operation of the clutch is entirely controlled by computer. So if you're a muppet driving it it'll sit there burning the clutch out as long as you're prepared to sit there doing the 'wrong thing' with it, until it goes pop.

From a licence point of view it's more automatic than manual (hence 'semi') as there's no 3rd pedal so you can drive it on an auto only licence.

[Architex_mA8tey]

Originally Posted by sloss

I had a car many, many years ago with a system like that - it was called Manumatic.

Lol sounds like some kind of lady's dodgy sex doll!!