TAKING ON THE GERMANS IN STYLE

A guttural Italian V8 turned J-JS head this month

Ihaven’t really spent a great deal of time in Maseratis. I’ve had a go in an older Quattroporte and a convertible Bi-turbo, but the brand’s a bit of a blind spot for me. That said though, there does seem to be something about Maserati, so it was about time that I found out what it is.

When it comes to super saloons or coupés with huge horsepower, I always tend to lean in a German direction. But for those who see either Porsche or BMW as a bit too ‘obvious’, Maserati has always represented the deliciously evocative underdog option.

Those who at least pretend to care about practicality have long coveted the QP, though in the early Noughties, desire for the moredoor Maser was kicked up a gear. The fifth generation arrived in

‘Maserati has always been the evocative underdog’

2003, powered by the 4.2-litre F136 Ferrari/ Maserati V8 engine making a whopping 424bhp in S spec. This, with a displacement of 4.7-litres, is the motor powering the post-facelift 2009 Quattroporte S I’m driving this month.

The owner, very wisely, took the decision to chip it up to an even heftier 465bhp. For sale via The Market as we go to press, this QP 4.7 S really is magnificent. With its combination of a history that’s hard to better, bodywork that’s near blemish-free, an interior that’s as lavish as a Milanese tailor’s waiting room, and a sound and urgency that deliver rampant goosepimples, it’s quite the recipe.

The standard QP S will get to 60mph in 5.4 seconds and top out at 177mph, yet this one

has another 35bhp on top. The cobbled routes around King’s Lynn’s historic centre aren’t exactly the place for full-bore starts or top-speed runs, but a brief detour out of town onto the A47 proved revealing. Traction is tricky in the changing weather conditions, but once the Skyhook adjustable dampers manage to get the tyres gripping, the shove for the horizon proves to be prodigious. The sound from that guttural V8 engine makes my jaw drop, only closing again when the high-rev wail makes me purse my lips in faux ecstasy. What a machine.