We car nuts give thanks every day to
great designers, great engineers and great drivers, and we should all
pause and pay homage (once again) to Pininfarina. Among many design
milestones in the fabled history of this exclusive Italian
carrozzeria, we applaud the heart-breakingly beautiful Maserati
Quattroporte sedan in its latest iteration.
This is without doubt currently the
most beautiful of the big, powerful sedans on the market. It drives
as beautifully as it looks, and it has Italian panache in its DNA. Forget those S-class Mercs whose wheel
arches ape the latest Ford Fiesta; forget the BMW 7-series, which
despite de-Bangalizing, still looks gross. The big Rolls-Royce
Phantom and Mercedes Maybach simply shrivel into irrelevance by
comparison with the svelte and sexy Italian.
The Quattroporte is not new, you say.
So, why this lavish praise? Well, dear reader, Maserati has corrected
the only obvious flaw in its Quattroporte model plan. It has decided
to offer a ZF 6-speed auto alongside the DuoSelect sequential
transmission. Again, how come an enthusiast is
hailing a slush-box? Well, while we may love slashing around using
the Formula One-style DuoSelect sequential shift, the lack of a full
automatic has stunted the Quattroporte’s sales growth in all of its
big, wealthy markets.
 The fact is this car deserves to sell
more than it does, because it is not only beautiful inside and out,
but it features a V8 engine built by Ferrari, and a ride and handling
balance that puts it definitely on the sporty side, as opposed to
land yacht status. When a car like this is created, you
hope that the cultural speed genes that flow through the Italian car
industry will override the natural tendency for a big four-seater to
wallow and pitch because of weight, luxo spec and footprint.
Your first few minutes behind the wheel
of the Quattroporte confirms that tiny Maserati, with a lot of help
from Ferrari, got just about everything right. Whilst Bentley got most things right
with its Continental Flying Spur, it does not have the svelte looks,
the trim profile, nor the sporty handling that Maserati has endowed
on this beauty. This evolution of the Quattroporte did
not just jump off the design desk, it represents a considerable
engineering task, because the DuoSelect-equipped sedans have the
transmission mounted ahead of the rear axle (giving almost perfect
weight distribution), and the fitting of the German-designed ZF auto,
means the transmission is back in the conventional location, right
behind the engine.
This could have completely upset the
car’s balance and its handling precision, but the Italian engineers
scored big brownie points by keeping all of the finesse of the first
model, and providing greater refinement, and precision pointing in
the full automatic. The suspension was re-calibrated to
slightly soften the ride, but the new Quattroporte is no slush-bucket
(aka land yacht).
ROAD TEST
Thankfully, it was easy to grab a car
from the Maserati distributor in Sydney for initial driving
impressions. The dealership is in the heart of
Sydney, so there’s a bit of traffic shuffling to get the Maser
heading south, to find a great driving road. But, hey! Aren’t we
testing an automatic? Right again. The ZF 6-speed automatic is used by
Bentley, Jaguar, BMW and others because it’s the only automatic
transmission available which can handle large power and torque
outputs. The Quattroporte’s V8 delivers 400 hp, which flicks the
4,387lb sedan along very briskly. It loves to rev, and this gives you
a 0-60mph acceleration time of 5.6 seconds! Not too dusty.
However, it’s the overall package
which gets your attention. The combination of the re-calibrated ride,
the double-glazed windows, the sharp response from the engine, and
the beautifully precise handling makes every mile a joy. With the
Maser in ‘Drive’ we cruise through the city streets, in comfort
and style. It takes a good hour to clear Sydney’s
growing traffic snarls, but as you head south through the idyllic,
virgin bushland of the Royal National Park, you embark on one of the
greatest driving roads (close to a big city) anywhere in the world.
Mind you, there are a few sightseers
and picnickers here and there, but the undulating and curvy blacktop
just invites you to keeping pushing the Maserati deeper into the
corners, and squirting the power on the exit just to feel its Italian
heritage showing through.
You emerge from the bushland of the
national park at Stanwell Tops. There the road clings to the cliff
face at a spot where hang glider pilots gather to launch themselves
and float across the azure sky. The road then dives downhill to a
gorgeous, sinuous highway that is composed of blacktop snaking around
the cliffs just a hundred feet above the ocean, and crossing the
yawning chasms of the inlets on the smooth, newly-engineered Sea
Cliff Bridge that bring to mind a recent drive along the Amalfi
Coast in Italy.
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