FIRST DRIVE – MASERATI QUATTROPORTE
Maserati: More Than Meets The Eye
Story and photos By Nigel Matthews
The Maserati Company began in 1926, and it originally focused on building racing cars, long before it began venturing into the sports car market. Maserati’s racing success peaked in 1957 with its famous driver Juan Manuel Fangio leading the marque to many racing victories and the ultimate reward of the Formula One World Championship. Instead of celebrating, they were filing for bankruptcy. The Orsi Empire that owned Maserati was on the brink of financial disaster. The company needed a change of direction and soon after, out went the racing program and in came a move towards road car production. The saviour was the first mass-produced road car Maserati had to offer, the 3500GT. Six years later, the Quattroporte would become part of the Maserati portfolio.
In its first four years of road car production, Maserati had started to build quite a reputation for itself. In 1962, Prince Karim Aga Khan ordered and took delivery of a custom-built Maserati designed by Pietro Frua. The following year at the Turin Auto Show, Maserati introduced and launched the Series I Quattroporte, which translated from Italian means “Four Doors.” It looked surprisingly similar to the car built for The Aga Khan!
Since 1963, there have been five generations of the Quattroportes offered, with roughly a five-year gap separating each series.
The Series V Quattroporte has been available since 2004, and new for 2007 was the Quattroporte Automatica. All of the Quattroportes share the unpretentious Pininfarina curvacious shape. The flowing curves are a change from some of the angular and straight lines seen on so many cars of today. The Automatica model is visibly different from the other two Quattroporte models because it is fitted with a different grille, wheels and badges.
For the discerning executive who wants to stand out and drive a high-performance luxury sports sedan, they can look to the Maserati as an alternative from models such as BMW, Jaguar, and Mercedes.
My top choice for a luxury sedan would be the Bentley Continental Flying Spur, but at $80,000 less, Maserati’s super car disguised as a glamorous four-door sedan has to be a serious contender.
The Series V Quattroporte is fitted with the tried and tested naturally-aspirated Maserati/Ferrari (136U) V8 engine. The “U” denotes Umido, and the closest translation “wet” refers to the oil sump, as the earlier models used a dry sump. With a dry sump configuration, the engine compartment is a little cramped having to make room for the external pump, which also results in some additional unwanted engine noise.
The Series I Quattroporte was first offered with a 4.2-litre V8 and keeping with tradition some 41 years later, the Series V model also has a 4,244 cc V8 engine. However, technology has changed considerably, with the new V8 having four overhead-camshafts operating four valves per cylinder with variable valve timing on the intake side. This refined package produces an impressive output of 400 hp and 339 lb-ft of torque. The engine is located behind the front axle, which is similar to the Aston-Martin and Jaguar sports cars. This application is often referred to as a mid-front-engine configuration. The 47/53 front-rear weight distribution is responsible for the excellent handling, as a result of maximum traction directed towards the rear driving wheels.
The collaboration between Maserati and German transmission experts ZF has resulted in an exceptionally flexible and responsive gearbox. This is without question one of the finest available in any luxury car today, with the sixth gear acting as an overdrive by reducing the revs, and improving the fuel consumption.
The Quattroporte can boast some impressive performance figures for a car of its size, including a top speed of 270 km/h and a 0-100 km/h in just 5.6 seconds. The manual-shift lever used to change gears sequentially is located in the centre console and can be a lot of fun, especially when one encounters a road that appeals to more sporting instincts and driving.
The only criticism I have of the entire car is the designer’s choice of locating two huge cup holders below the shift lever in the centre console. They have North Americanized this European masterpiece with ugly cup holders that belong in a mini-van or SUV! Not in a luxury sports sedan.
The steering feedback and immediate turn-in response combined with the rearward weight balance and superior traction make it feel and handle more like a lightweight sports car than a luxury sports sedan. New and improved brakes with cross-drilled rotors are certainly very effective and will bring one to a halt in a hurry.
The fine Italian upholstery, available in nine different colours, is tailored by leather specialists, Poltrona Frau.
Customers can also choose from nine different types of wood trim, including Rosewood, Walnut, Mahogany, Black Piano, and Tanganyika.
The Quattroporte certainly offers a higher degree of exclusivity than the standard production line-built Mercedes S550 or BMW 750i.
To retain this degree of exclusivity, Maserati will build a car to almost any imaginable combination of leather and trim selected by a customer.
The Bose sound system has been specially developed to match the acoustic characteristics of the Quattroporte’s cabin. Personally, I would rather listen to the burble of the V8 engine as it blips during downshifts.
Three different models are available in the Quattroporte range, beginning at $152,000 and costing up to as much as $180,000 if one ordered every conceivable option package, as fitted to my test car. If Juan Manuel Fangio were still alive today, I am sure the Series V Quattroporte would be his choice for a family sedan.
The Italian motor industry has gone through some dramatic changes over the years, but has remained in the hands of Italian ownership and control, unlike the British Motor Industry. Fiat —Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino is where the name cames from, not Fix It Again Tony, as I was once told! — now owns Ferrari, Maserati, Alfa Romeo, and Lancia. It is the largest industrial group in Italy, controlling 1,063 companies, operating in 61 countries, and employing 223,000 people worldwide. 111,000 of those employees are located outside Italy. Fiat’s revenue figures for 2006 amounted to $51,832 billion resulting in a net income of $1,331 billion. As soon as the “Cinquecento,” the retro Fiat Nuova 500, arrives on the shores of North America sometime in 2010, Fiat’s revenue figures will soar even higher.
With Fiat’s cheque book, it is no wonder that Maserati and Ferrari products have improved so much in recent years and sales figures are very healthy.[PSGallery=pf109rx2x]
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