Maserati F160 (3.0 twin-turbo V6)

The 3.0 twin-turbo V6 that is the volume engine of modern Maserati — Ghibli, Quattroporte S and Levante — and, like the V8 beside it, built by Ferrari at Maranello rather than by Maserati.

It is the engine most owners of these cars actually have, which is worth saying because almost everything written about Maserati engines concerns the V8s. A fault on a Ghibli is very unlikely to be described by anything published about an F136 or an F154.

The turbochargers are mounted outside the vee here, unlike the V8 — so the heat-soaked centre of the engine that dominates F154 work is not the same problem, and access is materially better. Read a V8 procedure as guidance about the marque rather than about this engine.

Its long-term patterns are thinly documented, and volume rather than reliability is why. What is established is ordinary for a heavily boosted direct-injection engine: intake-valve carbon at mileage, turbocharger life that follows oil condition, and coolant and vacuum lines that harden with heat cycles. Service history is worth more than mileage on any of these cars, and a gap in it is the finding rather than an inconvenience.