HEDONISM ON WHEELS
Maserati sedan a sharp handler with sharper looks inside and out
To fully understand the appeal of Maserati’s Quattroporte, you have to have lived in Italy, or perhaps driven there extensively, particularly through its northern mountainous regions.
“Oh, that’s because they drive like madmen,” you’re thinking. And that, of course, would be true. Whatever the case, good luck finding anyone not behind the wheel of a lorry truck driving less than a buck-fifty on a divided highway.
But that sheer turn of speed still doesn’t explain Quattroporte. Maserati’s take on the uber-luxury sedan is markedly different than, say, Mercedes.
What makes the Quattroporte unique — and indeed, Italian cars in general — isn’t how fast they speed, but where that speeding occurs. In Germany,
they drive even faster, but away from their fantastically well-groomed motorways. Germans drive more conservatively — and are more rigidly policed — than we Canadians. Not so in the land of wine and olives.
Not only do they drive like maniacs pretty much anywhere, their highway system, especially in the north, is severely limited. Indeed, drive pretty much anywhere north of Modena (where almost all Italian automakers are located) and you’re going to find yourself on a road twistier than the Circuit de Monaco, being chased by crazed superbikers — and only slightly less speedy tour buses — all leaning on the horn if you’re not keeping up with the program.
Which is why Maserati’s suspension is dramatically firmer than comparable Mercedes and Audi sedans, and its steering much more direct than anything this side of a BMW.
Put the big Quattroporte into Sport mode, and more than just slightly firm damping will have the big Maserati swinging through off-ramps with precious little roll. Maserati, like Ferrari, may now be in a joint partnership with Chrysler — the Quattroporte’s Ferrari-assembled engine’s block is cast in Kokomo, Ind. — but it hasn’t forsaken its Italian roots.
Equally engaging are the engines, even the base 3.0-litre V6. Like I said, the base V6’s block is cast in America, but pretty much everything else is produced by Ferrari. The result is 424 horsepower and an almost identical 428 pound-feet of torque.
Both numbers are impressive and more than stout enough to move the big Maser con brio. Oh, a little more of that Italian flair sees the engine, despite its torque peak rated at a low 1,750 rpm, being a glutton for punishment. Drop the hammer right off the line and there’s a slight bog as Italian pistons and twin turbochargers seemingly need a few shots of espresso to start percolating.
Once sufficiently caffeinated, though, even this 3.0litre is hellishly quick, just one-tenth of a second slower to 100 km/h than the 3.8-L V8.
Put that meagre disadvantage down to the difference between the Continental and North American definitions of performance.
Unlike we drag racing obsessed North Americans, for whom a launch off the line is everything, Europeans care more about high-speed performance. Thus the V8 has a markedly higher — and largely useless here — top speed.
It does make some serious noises at any rpm, however. You need to be in Sport mode for the operetta — Normal chastens the Italian V6 into an almost Teutonic silence — but once above 3,000 rpm, the turbocharged engine fairly cackles. Like all the best Italian
cars, the Quattroporte is at its best when it’s on the boil.
There’s more to the Quattroporte than raw speed. The big Maser is hedonistically sumptuous, if not quite technologically luxurious. In the first case, all the trimmings — be they glove-soft leather or burnished wood — are without compare. To get leather this extravagant, you’ll have to go to a Rolls-Royce showroom. I don’t know what kind of wood was in this GranLusso tester, but my oh my, it looked expensive.
From an ambience point of view, the big four-door is plenty splendiferous.
On the other hand, the interior lacks somewhat in technological advancements. Oh, the 2020 model (finally) gets self-closing doors, and Maserati’s infotainment system — officially dubbed Maserati Touch Control Plus, but based on Chrysler’s Uconnect system — is technically proficient.
But, unlike its main competition, mainly Mercedes-Benz and BMW, lacks any ‘gee whiz’ factor. Its touch screen is an ordinary 8.4-inch affair that could be found in plenty of cars lacking this Quattroporte’s $150,260 price tag.
There’s no BMW-like gesture control or blindingly brilliant Mercedes-like digital assistant. The technology in the top-of-the-line Maserati is starting to show its age: the basic platform was introduced in 2013.
Nonetheless, for the right driver, the big Maserati offers a unique blend of grandeur and comportment unavailable from mainstream luxury brands. How much do you really want that taut European handling? If you just want the illusion of razor-sharp precision, your neighbours will be more than impressed with your next BMW.
If, on the other hand, you actually want that razor-sharp handling, then you’ll be impressed with the Maserati.