Used Maserati 4200 Coupe 2002 - 2007 review

Climb inside and the interior feels very special. You can just about fit four adults in there and the boot will hold two sets of golf clubs. Start the engine, listen to the burble of the V8 at idle and you'll start thinking about signing the finance agreement. Find a clear road, nail the throttle, sweep the Masterai's willing chassis through a few corners and you'll definitely sign.

The trouble is, you'll carry on writing cheques because this isn't a cheap car to run. Although build quality is much improved, loose trim is not uncommon.

Be under no illusions, this is not a cheap car to run. The official average fuel economy is 15.2mpg, and no matter how careful you are with the throttle, fuel stops will come up fast and frequently. Still, on the plus side, that's a lot of Nectar points.

Insurance, as you would expect, is as expensive as it comes. The Maserati needs major fettling every 12,000 miles, which isn't too bad, but the costs for the work are far from cheap.

There is some good financial news for used buyers, however: the Maserati is nowhere near as good at holding on to its value as the Porsche 911, so at any given age, it looks relatively affordable.

Maserati offers the Coupe with just one engine, but it's a cracker. The 4.2-litre V8 pumps out 390bhp, and with a healthy 330lb ft of pulling power, it's nice and tractable and doesn't need stacks of revs to get the best from it. With a 0-60mph time of 4.9sec and a 177mph top speed, performance is far from wanting.

There is a choice of gearboxes, though. The six-speed manual is okay but it isn't as slick as a Porsche 911's. And, while the paddle-shift gearbox is arguably more fun to use, it has its problems: early versions gave a very jerky change and, although things were improved in 2003, it's still not perfect under a hard, full-throttle charge, so we recommend opting for the manual.

Safety and general kit are good with a trip computer display, leather seats, climate control and a CD player as standard.