The Worst Stick Shift with RWD That You Want to Be Good

It’s time for me to start dedicating blogs to the true nature and devotion of this magazine, stick shift and rear-wheel drive.  So why start with a pile of crap?  Why not.  I saw one for sale and started to reminisce to a time when I knew nothing about cars but thought it would be really cool to own a Maserati, especially a Biturbo one.  That’s like more than one turbo, it has two!   Special?  Not really.  In the eighties, everybody was adding turbos to their cars.  Turbo was to four bangers like organic is to fruit nowadays.  Boyce!

“There’s little doubt that a series of niggling problems with the first-edition Biturbos helped dash the model’s early popularity. Mis-set carburetor float levels caused the engines to stumble during left turns, pickup wires in the distributors cracked from the heat, water ran through cylinder sleeves, fluids leaked from faulty seals throughout the drivetrain, fuse boxes melted, and coolant temperature warning lights came on even when engines weren’t over-heating. Clutches, timing-belt tensioners and water pumps had to be redesigned early on.

It was quite disheartening. Nonetheless, it’s amazing a small company like Maserati with no experience in volume production fared as well as it did with the Biturbo. In fact, while the Biturbo’s failings were always annoying, they were usually not serious. And nearly all the car’s bugs were eventually worked out with upgraded parts. … Most notable of all, our experts wholeheartedly agree that the basic Biturbo engine — the block, pistons, etc. — is virtually indestructible.”
— Road & Track, August 1990

Hey Simpson, where’s your loser mobile?!  What a piece of junk.  It’s called testing.  Crap, just drive the car father than from the factory to the ship and off. 

“Maserati boss in the 1980s was none other than the headstrong Alessandro de Tomaso. He did not have the time or luxury to fully sort the early cars before launching them on the modern Maser-hungry masses. After-sales problems were considerable and together with other factors led to the Fiat takeover in 1993.”
— Auto Italia, Jan/Feb 1996

Oh right.  Well… I never liked Panteras, so maybe this is all coming full circle.

A total history on the Biturbo from CarThrottle