What's the "new" BiTurbo?

The Cadillac XLR thread made me start thinking.  What newer cars out there are going to (or already are) like the Maserati BiTurbo, an object of desire and fear, known to be a money pit but still going to draw buyers, even though their destiny is to be parked in the backyard under a tarp until passed onto the next dreamer at a giveaway price?

I'm thinking the XLR could end up like that, since it is very limited production, and has expensive trim and body parts.  However, the drivetrain is mostly made of more common parts, so I'd think you could still see them in running, but ugly condition.

Jags with engines with poorly done nikasil liners?  IMS bearing era Porsches?  Land Rover Freelanders?

Tesla's....

after that company gets its butt kicked by a real car company....

https://www.autoblog.com/2017/11/29/build-fast-fix-later-speed-hurts-quality-at-tesla-workers-say/

I had friends who were engineers there and noone knows how to build anything with any sort of scale with good quality.

Um, the new Maserati, is, well, the new Maserati:

https://chicago.craigslist.org/ctd/d/2005-maserati-quattroporte/6404110542.html

As much as I loath to say this: Mazdaspeed branded cars.

There's an aftermarket for them but I suspect it'll dry up in the next 10 years which will make parts unobtainium. Also see the current state of the 323 GTX. Everyone will remember the days of how fast they were back in the day but reality will kill plans.

The rotary stuff seems to have just enough of a following that you can get new engine parts. I don't think the MS3 will be that lucky.

McLaren. The older the better. You get to know your dealer very very well as there isn't any real DIY avenue for the cars at all and something is going to break. Badly. Time is not going to be kind to McLaren cars. 

Robbie said:

Um, the new Maserati, is, well, the new Maserati:

https://chicago.craigslist.org/ctd/d/2005-maserati-quattroporte/6404110542.html

Expensive to maintain Ferrari V8 plus 4 door and dropping values means people aren't going to take care of them.

But god I want one.

In reply to Fueled by Caffeine :

Oh good, I'm not the only one that hasn't been chugging the Tesla koolaid. 

Chrysler Crossfire the bastard child of an unholy union where now both sides would rather deny that the car ever existed.  

MB wont help you fix it and Chrysler cant.

Allroad.

Phaeton.

Things with German computers and tight engine bays.

Phaeton is a good answer.  So is Freelander

mazdeuce - Seth said:

McLaren. The older the better. You get to know your dealer very very well as there isn't any real DIY avenue for the cars at all and something is going to break. Badly. Time is not going to be kind to McLaren cars. 

It's already not kind. The MP12C belonging to Andy Hollis is so bad that he flat out bought a new GTR to run in One Lap this year out of frustration. At the beginning of this year, I think the aftermarket warranty had paid for something like $85,000 worth of repairs. And it spent most of this year in the shop as well. But it's also appreciating in value, which makes it unlikely to show up on CL with a bad cellphone pic.

The0retical said:

As much as I loath to say this: Mazdaspeed branded cars.

There's an aftermarket for them but I suspect it'll dry up in the next 10 years which will make parts unobtainium. Also see the current state of the 323 GTX. Everyone will remember the days of how fast they were back in the day but reality will kill plans.

The rotary stuff seems to have just enough of a following that you can get new engine parts. I don't think the MS3 will be that lucky.

They only brought something like 1200 GTXs to the US, 30 years ago. They were raced hard and all the spares got used up, then they became obsolete as race cars. Being an actual homologation special kinda makes them different from tarted up production cars.

As someone who has some say in the future of the aftermarket of at least one Mazdaspeed branded car - it's not going anywhere. The basic platform covers a 15 year production run and is still ridiculously popular. The Mazdaspeed 6, on the other hand...

I don't know enough of the MS3 market, but if it's anything like the Protege speed market it's going to be a race to the bottom driven by the owners - which is a great way to kill your own aftermarket. Any car that is sold to the youth speed market is going to have trouble in this regard.

Not sure if they count as "new", but a couple cars I've owned might qualify...

Come to think of it, they've both had twin turbos as well....

Another one that's obvious is the Mitsubishi 3000GT VR4:

On a lesser degree, the 300ZX TT:

Reaching for the more modern, I'd toss the WRX up there. There are plenty of way overpriced broken ones on Craigslist these days looking for dreamers to fix them up someday:

All that said, the current/recent Maseratis are still Maseratis. 

Ooh, yeah the Phaeton is rapidly headed there.  Most of the ones I see for sale online nowadays are on BHPH lots anyway, like quite a few 2000's full size Euro luxury cars, now that I think about it.

I just could never get into the new Maseratis' looks, but yeah, I could believe it.

Teslas, I kind of wonder if they'll survive with a bunch of modders, as battery and motor tech improves.  Actually seems simpler than internal combustion engines to upgrade.  Body and trim will be interesting, especially with all the hand fitting that seems to have to be done.  Improvements in 3D printing might take care of some of that.

FDs, even shells seem to be headed north in value.  Although, I thought pre-Renesis engine parts were getting harder to come by.  Is someone out there reconditioning housings and rotors nowadays?

The more I think about it, Freelanders will probably just end up getting crushed.  Non-runners just won't be desirable enough to people who wrongly think they can resurrect them.  They've already pretty much disappeared from roads around here (southern Ohio), and I suspect few are holding on to them thinking they'll get around to fixing them someday.

Rx8

I like the hot rod Audi idea. My dumbass brother-in-law's even dumber brother paid through the nose for a high mileage wagon with That Engine. And now there are chunks of timing belt guide in the oil. But it's a twin-turbo wagon that looks great and has the whiff of German prestige, so this will be a story that continues.

I can't think of the last time I saw a Freelander. And I saw 8 XJs when I went out for lunch.

In reply to Tony Sestito :

Now that you mention it, the VR-4 is probably as close to BiTurbo status as it'll ever get.  They can be made to run reasonably reliably, but the people who can afford to take care of them can buy from the small pool of ones that are still in really nice shape, and everyone else is swapping dying and dead ones with each other.  The 300ZX TT is in a similar position.  Both cars are set apart from the BiTurbo, as it seems the percentage of good ones is way better.

The WRX issue has me thinking I should just get a JDM one, now that they are starting to make their way to the US.  I like the looks of the GC over the GD anyway.

Patrick said:

Rx8

Are there well documented LS swaps for these yet?  If so, I suspect they'll be out there and running for a long time.  Seems like a lot of older RX-7s have gotten a new lease on life with V8 swaps.

SVT Focus?  Approx. 13,000 built.  When I occasionally pay attention it seems like there might only be 1,300 left in ten years at the rate of attrition.  Probably still won't be worth more than a few grand.  The Z32s?  I dunno.  Gotta think Nissan will wake up to their importance before they all disappear off the roads. 

Just thought of another - V8 Audis

Keith Tanner said:

I like the hot rod Audi idea. My dumbass brother-in-law's even dumber brother paid through the nose for a high mileage wagon with That Engine. And now there are chunks of timing belt guide in the oil. But it's a twin-turbo wagon that looks great and has the whiff of German prestige, so this will be a story that continues.

The 2.7T is actually a decently reliable motor, at least until you turn the boost up to the moon.  The Audi engine everyone's terrified of is the 4.2 V8 -- I had one of those too. :)

In reply to Keith Tanner :

The MSM is lucky to have you in that regard. I look at the current state of the Mazdaspeed "community" and sometimes wish it would turn to salt.

MSO has been quite a bit better than MSF but I worry about it's longevity. Vendor wise Corksport has been doing a pretty good job supporting the platform, so I'm hoping they'll end up being the FM of the MS6 and MS3. It seems like other vendors have been backing away in favor of the Ford RS and ST products.

I should really pick up an MSP before they all disappear. Wow this was full of acronyms I apologize to everyone.

That's the one. The one with the timing chain up against the firewall.

Crossfire doesn't count, BiTurbo's actually looked nice, and seemed exclusive-ish. Crossfire was always kind of a cheap affair. 

Keith Tanner said:

That's the one. The one with the timing chain up against the firewall.

It's a glorious engine. :)