Italy has produced some of the most elegant, seductive, perfectly proportioned autos the world has ever seen. To drive a fine Italian car is to experience the Sine qua non–the ultimate expression–of motoring. And something that has absolutely nothing to do with this car. This one was a cut-and-paste job that Maserati fobbed off on a gullible public for a few years before high-tailing it back to The Boot to build other cars, ones where its heart was and where its heritage had always been.
We found this little circle of hell rusting in peace at a U-Stor-It lot in the hills of East Tennessee, and whipped out a camera before it reverted completely to the pile of iron ore from which it sprung. It’s a classic 20 50-footer: looks great from the road, but up close its a family-sized bucket o’ fail. The A-pillars have rusted through and there’s a lot of rocker and (uh-oh) shock tower cancer.
A quick trip in the wayback machine tells us the that BiTurbo washed up on these shores in 1984, with a 2.5 liter V6 and five gears in the box which, in the hands of a capable driver and on a totally flat road… still wouldn’t run without expensive, time consuming repairs for very long. In a word, the M-BiT should have been put back in the oven because it wasn’t even half-baked. Its lack of an intercooler and finicky single-barrel carburetor made taking a long trip in one shot a noteworthy (and infrequent) event, and the inherent oil, coolant and fluid leaks–which remain standard features on Italian cars to this day–didn’t help matters. Add in a weak, apathetic dealer network and less-than-diligent owners, and you have a recipe for a four-wheeled disaster. For a car that stickered near $27k in 1984 (big money in those days and worth about $61k today), owners rightly expected a little more personal attention and, by and large, didn’t get it.
Actually, the Biturbo was aimed at the kind of buyer usually seen spec’ing out a BMW 318/325. The engine and tranny combos were designed to provide the high revving, tail happy scoot needed for capability in the twisties as well as on the interstate–in which regard, Maserati did have limited success. Testers back in the day generally praised the handling, and the engine (when it ran), had more than enough beans for a little back-road fun. Note that phrase: when it ran. And therein lies the problem.
It’s not too much to say that Maserati farmed out development engineering for the Biturbo…to the purchaser, that is. Loose wiring, unconnected vacuum hoses and assorted rattles and squeaks added to the overall misery of ownership. A lot of final assembly was done on return trips to the dealership. Although body fit and finish got high marks, and the interior was exquisite, it was another story in the engine bay. The car’s technical service bulletins made Gone With The Wind read like a haiku. Make no mistake: this car was a tart lemon from build date until the day the exasperated owner finally gave up and unloaded it on an unsuspecting buyer that wanted a Maserati. Lather, rinse, repeat. When Maserati said arrivederci to America in 1991, parts and service became yet another expensive headache.
Given the car’s total lack of build quality and propensity for existential rust-through, there are a surprisingly large number of up-for-sale survivors out there. A recent check of Craigslist turned up a lot of sub-100K examples that “need minor work.” Which begs the question: if these cars weren’t dependable as everyday drivers when new, what are the odds they’ll get better with age? Your best bet is to use one as a weekend cruiser–but stay close to home and put your favorite towing company’s number on speed dial. I’m certain the same advice given when these were new holds true today: buy two–you’re gonna need a lot of parts.
Ever since the babble of the press died down after the release of this Ive never seen a kind word written about it and it seems even here it gets no love. Maserati is usualy spoken of in awe not awful.
Maserati is usualy spoken of in awe not awful.
Usually when I encounter a reference to Maserati, it’s in reference to this car or the
Chrysler LeBaronMaserati TC, therefore awful.To be fair the TC wasn’t a bad car it was just a bad idea poorly implemented at the wrong time.
@Birddog: There was a CC on the TC previously. Neither Paul nor the commenters were particularly kind towards it. I would guess that a high percentage of the TC’s ever made are still on the road, but there weren’t many buyers for these cars when new.
https://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-american/curbside-classic-1989-chryslers-tc-by-maserati-the-deadly-sin-of-pretentious-overreaching/
Yeah, I saw that. I wasn’t a fan of them but in general they weren’t bad cars. Just bad execution.
All I really wanted (still want) from a TC was that sweet 16 valve head…
“…a high percentage of the TC’s ever made are still on the road…”
Probably more accurately represented as “in the garage/barn”….
@BOC: It’s funny you should mention this, I was looking at the local Craigslist yesterday and saw a listing for a 1988 Maserati. The pix clearly showed a Chrysler TC, but the listing insisted it was a gen-u-wine Maserati.
And, they wanted $6500 for it.
These cars were built during the period Maserati were owned by De Tomaso. things improved when Fiat bought them.
Pretty hard for the quality to go downhill from this, lada Samara build quality and Cadilac prices what were they smoking its an ugly car and as it turned out rubbish from new.
Always thought these were beautiful in a blockly way but knew they were poision. Sounds like the problem could be cured by an engine swap. (But loosing the essential character of the car in the process.)
So its the same Small Block Chevy Rx that one would provide for Jaguar syndrome (beautiful car with an awful stock motor).
Hey, where’s the love for the Vanagon? That’s the second unmentioned one in the background of featured cars in the last couple of days.
Maybe I am the only Vanagon owner that reads this site 🙂
I’ve got a truly awesome one coming…
Vanagon love, over here.
Had a 1985…great car, sold and serviced by a network of people with the ethics of a grave robber.
Ran great for two years, until the (in the tank) fuel pump failed. Replaced, on the eve of a cross-country move. New one failed upon arrival.
Called for warranty rebate…I was told, get the car down and they’d fix it. Advised that I was now 1000 miles away…the service manager repeated, get it in and we’ll fix it.
Awright…that’s reasonable. Had it done at a local dealer, AGAIN. Told the unit needed a new fuel TANK…a thousand-dollar-plus item. I inspected the tank and didn’t see any rust issues. (that, after dumping 18 gallons of PREMIUM gas, and charging me for hazardous-waste disposal.)
Couldn’t find a tank in any boneyard. Took the old tank to a radiator shop, to be cooked out, lined and painted…and returned tank to dealer and told him to put it together.
He did, and the SECOND new pump failed. Took it back…of course, this time it was possible. At which time he helpfully advised me that there was no warranty on the work, since I rejected the shop’s recommendations.
It was my second, and last, foray into the world of der volks wagen I went Japanese, and there I’ll stay.
No matter HOW good that diesel looks on paper.
Replace the craptastic Maserati powertrain with a Ford turbo 2.3 and that would make for a wicked ride!
One small correction: The Weber carburetor living a brutal life inside its pressurized dome was a 2 barrel model. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/MASERATI-BITURBO-CARBURATOR-Weber-BRAND-NEW-/380325189443
When the car was released, I read that the design that became the Biturbo was an Ital Design/Guigiaro proposal for the E30 that was rejected by BMW. I think it was a good looking car, but I prefer the Claus Luthe design that made it to production at BMW. Researching this, it seems that the BMW design proposal story has been dropped from recorded history.
I just did a search and found nothing on Giugiaro and the E30, but I did find reference to Giugiaro being involved somehow with Bracq’s 6 series. Interestingly, the Biturbo is not featured in the Italdesign catalogue; which is probably more an indication of Giugiaro’s dissatisfaction with the vehicle.
This is not an ugly car, it just not what a Maserati should look like. The Gran Turismo and the just announced Alfieri on the other hand are some of the best sportscar design on the road.
I think I remember seeing a Karif in Adelaide.
The Biturbo was designed in house by Maserati. The inspiration came from the Quattroporte III which was designed by Guigaro.
Yep, that’s in the catalogue, and that was a far more handsome car. I don’t disbelieve what CJinSD is saying, however. Giugiaro had done a successful job on the M1, so its not out of the realm of possibilities that he put some sketches together for BMW, then perhaps gave them to Maserati. CJinSD’s initial reading of the story would be pre-internet, in a time long, long ago when the printed word carried more weight.
Thanks to CJ I now know why these things looked like so much like the then current BMW 318-325 series.
My nephew found one of these things in Jacksonville Florida back in the mid-90’s and called his long lost uncle to see if these were any good. I told him to run, RUN! away from the car, as it would be nothing but a money pit. IIRC It was a choice between this car and a VW Jetta GLI (GLX? I forget right now), that oddly enough, was nothing but a money pit.
Some days I couldn’t win for losing…
EDIT: I knew when I saw the clue it was something Italian (by the rust, really), but I couldn’t put my finger on it. I would have guessed something FIAT.
I remember seeing a couple of these at a local dealer around 1984. They looked exotic, and I remember them as being WAY out of my price range. I will admit to drooling over them a bit. Italian cars had certainly gained a bad reputation by that time, and virtually all of them (but Ferrari and the other exotics) had left the US market years earlier. It looked like Maserati was making a play for the US market again. I expected high maintenance, but not to the disastrous level that level that these required.
I have seen a couple of new Maseratis around recently. Every time I see one, I think of these.
I’d take the later Alfa 164 over one of these junkers any day.
A few guys at my college drove these, members of the crowd that drove 3-series BMWs (this would have been ’87-’91, so you can picture the requisite 318i’s, I’m sure). Not sure what reliability issues they ran into, but Daddy was paying the bills, I assume, so no worries for them. Just seeing one of these makes me think about 1987.
As for myself, I drove a Civic, and wound up with a Civic-driving girl. Don’t know what ever happened to those guys and their Biturbos.
What a craptastic vehicle. This should have been featured in Cars 2 as one of the “lemons.” I don’t think it was??
And you’ve all seen this, of course.
http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1658545_1658533_1658531,00.html
😀
These Maseratis and V12 Jaguars are just so tempting.
I think it was a car columnist in the NY Times (someone correct me if I am misremembering) who said a year or two ago that the highest and best use for any Biturbo was as a parts car to keep other ones on the road, but that is only perpetuating the madness.
My dad actually bought a used 1985 with around 7,000 miles back in 1986 instead of a new Alfa Milano for about the same money. The interior was absolutely beautiful–lots of leather, wood (even if it was fake) and a fake suede headliner. Driving it was a hoot as well. First gear was down and to the right meaning that the power shift from second to third was straight down and that’s when it screamed. If I remember correctly it didn’t have power steering which made it handle much better than any car that looked like a small brick had a right to. It had a few stupid problems and the nearest Maserati dealer was 120 miles away but that was just part of the experience. Acceleration from 30 to 80+ was incredible. All in all it was an absolute blast to drive. It left the family far too early in its life, the victim of poor judgment (not mine) which it wholeheartedly encouraged every time it hit the road.
No mention of the clock? These came with some fancy analog clock – I remember it was a large selling point.
I know these are absolute disasters but I still would love one. Fortunately for my wife they are very rare up here so likely not to happen.
By now there has to be a proper fix for the leaky engine? A weekend or two and a few painless wiring kits should cure the electrical issues?? A megasquirt and some itb’s or even a single throttle body should cure the “when it runs issue??? I’d love to have one of these as they look great in an 80’s sort of way. Id like to think that as a mechanical object it can be rectified with some patience, sympathy and lots and lots of cash.
It looks like a Cavalier to me.
Practical Classic magazine in the Uk called it a Cortina (European Ford Mk III) in drag. Were a few around my town. Panel gaps the width of the english channel on all of them.
Look but don’t touch.Walk away swiftly,a bottomless money pit it makes the $1000 Jaguar look sensible.There’s only one thing worse than a dud of a car and that’s an expensive dud
Guess I should have went for this instead?
http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/csw/cto/4299615068.html
Nah, even I’m not that crazy. (“It is fast and light and fun to drive”… what are the odds the seller actually knows this from first-hand experience?)
Give me one for free, and I’ll show you how we pull a few trinkets to sell on eBay, then feed the rest to the crusher. Perhaps it would be good therapy for the original owner if we tracked him down and let him push the button…? 😉
Even the very worst Italian car looks better and is more interesting than a similar sized US car from then.
They can take the simplest lines and shapes, and somehow make them eye pleasing.
I’d rather push this than have 300,000 care-free miles in a Cavalier/Sundance/Whatever.
Knock your self out. I wouldn’t touch that turd with a 100ft cattle prod. I’d take any Malaise Era turkey of that worthless pig.
These things were bad, but to say even modern Italian cars have leaky enigines and such is a bit BS…….
Ah, the lure of the high-maintenance, sexy Italian. These look good enough that they would seem to warrant some kind of ‘kit’ to transplant a more reliable drivetrain, similar to the venerable SBC that has kept more than a few old Jaguars on the road. But it seems like you’d have to be a real automotive masochist (and one with lots of money) to try and keep a Biturbo running in stock form.
Wonder if things might have been any different if Cadillac had used the same design for the Allante…
Just transplant the interior of one into an E70 Corolla.
I live in Baltimore and Maserati’s national headquarters was here back in the 80s. When it was open it looked like no one was there. The only thing that drew your attention to the place was the 40ft long blue Maserati sign.
I’ve always figured that these were the perfect donor car for a kit car but have never been able to figure out what kit car.
There’s actually a (functional) daily driver Biturbo one town over from me which I have pictures of. One of many cars that I’ve been meaning to write up and submit to CC… one day!
I’ve always loved this styling and think they were a fairly ambitious, but completely flawed, effort by Maserati. It’s way tougher to go downmarket from your core business than going the other way, and Maserati had largely spent their history building exotics that might do 5k miles a year at most, owned by people who had no problem shelling out a few grand like clockwork a few times a year to keep them running properly. Surely they knew that the Biturbo would have to be a little more livable than that, but were completely incapable of actually building it that way. I’ve always wondered if the later versions (I think the 228 or whatever was built well into the late 90s in Europe) were more reliable than the ones we got in the US. A twin-turbo carbed V6 is a majestically complicated beast and converting one of these to a Megasquirt EFI or similar system would probably save a ton of headaches.
How out of place does this look amongst split-ranch whitebread suburbia?
Your hunch is mostly right. The carbed cars were the ones that earnt the Biturbo it’s reputation. The injected ones were much better, and by the time you got to the 4v engines they’re pretty solid.
I think they still had some lingering problems with electronics, but not related to the engines.
“How out of place does this look amongst split-ranch whitebread suburbia?”
Not at all. The resemblance to a GM J-body blends it right in.
That looks like the car below? Can’t say I agree, except that they both have two doors and obviously come from the same decade.
The Lancia and BiTurbo’s of the day needed scale slips for accurate appraisal.
That’s the odd thing about these cars. They used this platform to underpin their cars for 25 years, yet no-one remembers anything but the first few utterly dodgy years of production.
When the injected engines started coming in the reliability rose to perfectly acceptable levels. My dad daily drove his 228 (my namesake) for 4 years with not a dicky-bird reliability-wise. It’s got 116k miles on original turbos, and still starts now, despite being layed up for a good year awaiting rust repairs.
Ah. There it is. Rust. There is lots of it, on the early cars at least. They started galvanising them after 1990, so buy a later one and that’s not nearly the problem it is with the earlier cars.
Other problems I’ve read about mainly centre around iffy handling, especially in the wet with STAs. Again, later cars were much improved with rear ARBs, wider rubber and torsen LSDs.
Any more issues? I’m sure there are, but I can’t think of them 🙂
This is all coming from a man who’s online presence is named after these cars though, so take from that what you will.
Had you heard about the BMW rejection as CJinSD has mentioned above?
I did read that yeah. Interesting 🙂
I like the design, but then again I’ve probably got a little of the rose-tinted spectacles on. It’s certainly not quite as well reformed design-wise as the E30. Not in the actual shape, but in the details like the headlights and grille.
Oh, I forgot about the electrics. I understand they never quite got them sorted out to the German standard. They certainly got better though, although not by 1990 when our 228 was made. That managed to develop a fault where turning the A/C on would set light to the dash. Sort of defeats the point of A/C to be honest 🙂
Electrics were also the bane of the Fiat 130 Coupe.
I don’t mind the Biturbo design, but its so understated. Its almost as if Alejandro de Tomaso was preparing for retirement in witness protection and he needed a car to match.
It is a little tame, especially compared to the rest of the Maserati catalogue.
3500GT, Khamsin, Bora, Isuzu-Impulse-alike, 3200GT, GranTurismo.
A little less flashy though, which I rather like.
What is the definition of insanity? Repairing a Biturbo over and over and expecting a different result. Someone was paying to store that thing? Apologies to owners of later improved models the US never got.
Horrible, horrible car, cheap ceran wrap qualilty leather/vinyl. When driving them I was always waiting for an explosion. One I remember on the lot had to go away once a month the have the rust repaired in the door – they had an intrusion bar that must have had foam or other water holding material that created a hole in the door. I finally sold that car, traded an Audi 200 Turbo. The guy rang an hour after delivery in a tropical storm bleeting about a failing electrical system – no demister, no wipers you can guess the rest!
My last experience was in 1994 with a new factory order spyder, it arrived for delivery, paint looked like it came out of a rattle can, the doors and other hang on panels had to be re aligned prior to delivery. It also took a complete repaint. Owner loved it, I remember the crank pulley snagged the hall sensor and strung about a kilometer of copper wire around the engine bay. Of course, it stopped as well.
Best thing was the cool clock on the dash. It was often stolen.
May they rust in hell.
KJ
I recall a top-ten list long ago selected the Biturbo as the number one car to leave your ex-spouse in a divorce — superficially attractive but a complete nightmare in unreliability and maintenance expense.
It’s really saying something when the most valuable thing in a car for a thief to steal is the clock.
Reminds me of The Godfather: “Leave the car. Take the clock.”
hehehe +1
That “Si” series callout looks like they made it from letters bought at the hardware store.
They actually might be, I don’t think there was an “Si” model Biturbo in 1984, they were just “Biturbo”. Very good chance those letters are not factory, and were intended to go on a mailbox or porch.
Getting picky, but they don’t even look like the same typeface. Given most badging on cars, that’s never been a problem however.
Saw one of those in Maine sitting outside a repair shop next to a VW bus, right where it belonged
I know where this car is and pass by it on a regular basis. It has been sitting in its current location for a long, long time, with me wondering how a Maserati came to be stored there. Indeed, it looks a just little better from the 4-lane. I have been tempted on many occasions to pull over and look it over. No need now. Thanks, Submitter!
BTW, did not Jeremy Clarkson intentionally crush one of these on Top Gear?
Right here —
They’re trying again, hopefully more successfully. In Fridays mail we got a beautiful color flyer, addressed to Mrs C, advertising the new Ghibli. She’s not really a car person, so the only thing we can think of is that they blanketed our whole zip code which does include a few pricier neighborhoods.
The Biturbo SI made it’s appearance in the US for the 1987 model year. This was the first Biturbo with FI. Prior to 1987 all Biturbos were carbureted. Rust seems to be endemic on Italian cars of this period. I’ve read that it was the cheap Russian steel that Fiat and others were purchasing. The other reason is that the steel is VERY thin. Funny how on some very high priced collector cars thin sheet metal is a positive attribute attesting to their racing pedigree. But on Biturbos it’s a flaw.
I like odd ball cars so I have 4 Biturbos (none of them run) and 2 spare engines. Someday I will get them sorted out. Hopefully before they completely turn to rust.
Back in the day, those things looked considerably sportier than the period BMWs. Quite a few were bright red with a very luxurious, tan leather interior, so they appealed to me. Having a twin turbo sounded really awesome. And, after being around only a few years, their enormous depreciation made them almost seem somewhat affordable. And, they were often still in very good condition. Luckily I’d learned of their reputation for engine troubles.
I got a hair raising ride in one of these cars back in the early nineties with a designer at the GM Tech center, Warren Michigan. He had just bought it at a house moving sale for around three thousand dollars from a brilliant designer that was moving to Europe for a new job. The turbos had been redone recently with a higher spec and really knocked out the power he told me as we got in the car. I briefly marveled over the hand stitched leather on the seats and instrument panel and put on the seat belt – for whatever they might have been worth. I reached out to touch the padded panel in front of me, but realized I couldn’t due to the acceleration, which was amazing enough to suck me back into the seat. I thought to ask about the power of the brakes as we rocketed towards a ninety degree bend at the corner of the tech center. He assured me that there were no worries, we should be able to get it back down to less than 80 before the corner. My intitial impression was that this Italian machine was pretty amazing, nerve wracking and wonderful. The car was thrill ride bargain for young impractical types since the turbo upgrades probably cost twice the purchase price. I don’t think he kept he car more than a few months, and have no doubt it broke down just before or shortly after he sold it.
While the V6 is related to the engine used in the Citroen SM (not forgetting the latter’s origins as initially a Maserati V8 minus 2-cylinders), would it be correct to say the Maserati Biturbo is essentially a downscaled De Tomaso Longchamp with both the Maserati Kyalami and Maserati Quattroporte III being derived from the latter?
I had a love/hate relationship with my ’85 Biturbo S. I bought it around 1989 from a friend who owned an exotic dealership in Beverly Hills and paid $8000. It was black and the original owner, the producer of Twin Peaks, had traded it for a Porsche. He had put in an electric sunroof that looked factory, a cell phone, and gold BBS honeycomb wheels with low profile tires. That car was a blast to drive and the interior was super-luxe, basically the same as the Quattroporte. Sure, the fuse box would occasionally melt and it had a manual choke and it would randomly go totally dead and then start right up a few minutes later but it was sure fun. I even got Maserati to replace the rear cross member of the frame when it started splitting apart (due to the torque) with a newer revised one. Ironically, after I had fixed everything and sold it to a friend, I ran into the guy he sold it to 3 years later and neither of them had any problems at all.
Maserati homolgated the Biturbo to compete in FIA Group A touring car racing in the late 1980’s. The Biturbo looked good on paper – a quad-cam 18-valve fuel-injected V6 of 2491cc, heavily oversquare at 91.6mm x 63mm bore and stroke, with twin IHI turbochargers developing 360bhp at 6,500rpm, a 5-speed ZF gearbox, 9.75” x 16” wheels all round and a reasonable weight at 1185kg.
On the track was another matter – run in the 1987 World Touring Car Championship by the Pro-Team/Imberti team, the Biturbo was never competitive, due to poor suspension and a propensity to blow up the IHI turbochargers, along with the team not being able to do any testing prior to and during the season. A couple of Bi-Turbos ran in the 1988 European Touring Car Championship and the 1988 & 1989 British Touring Car Championship with a similar lack of success.