Quattroporte GTS is an offbeat limo

ROAD TEST:

Maserati Quattroporte 3.8T GTS

Johannesburg - Mention Maserati and most people think of sporty two-door coupés and grand tourers for rich playboys (or girls), not large and sensible family cars.

But the sporty Italian marque is also a player in the big-sedan league with cars like the Quattroporte and new Ghibli, both of which are endowed with a sensible four doors and a large boot.

Maserati SA, the new importers of the brand in this country after splitting from Ferrari, are launching the medium-sized Ghibli here as you read this, to compete in the BMW 5 Series/Mercedes E-Class market.

The full-sized Quattroporte, on the other hand, is the Italian firm’s offering in the size-trumps-everything league contested by super-luxury sedans of the Mercedes S-Class, BMW 7 Series, Porsche Panamera, Jaguar XJ and Audi A8 ilk.

A DIFFERENT APPEAL

Rather than being just another gadget-stuffed luxury limo that can virtually drive itself, the sixth-generation Quattroporte puts a different spin on the market segment with a more sports-focussed driving experience. The Italian sedan does have standard big-car luxuries like electrically-adjustable seats and steering column, along with a premium sound system and infotainment, electronic stability control, a reversing camera and a glut of other toys, but doesn’t come with the fancy night vision, collision-avoidance and various self-driving features found in gizmo-crazy German execs.

That it’s an offbeat kind of luxury car is immediately apparent in the styling. It’s difficult to make large look sexy (as proven by the Panamera) but the Quattroporte’s stylists have had a good stab at giving this stretched sedan a bit of a suave and eccentric character with its long nose, the large trident in the grille and the chromed side vents. In the stuffy suit-and-tie executive-car market, the Maserati’s the one with the rolled-up blazer sleeves.

The interior is exceptionally roomy and has an elegant simplicity, blending classic luxury cues with modern elements like the large touchscreen infotainment system and premium audio. It has the obligatory leather and wood trimmings, along with the beautifully-styled analogue clock of long-standing Maserati tradition, though the overall feel doesn’t quite match the classy opulence levels of some rivals, and some of the switches don’t move with the same precision.

HAIRY-CHESTED ENGINE

The Quattroporte (which means four doors in Italian) uses a mixed steel and aluminium unibody chassis and comes in three versions: a 3-litre turbodiesel, 3-litre turbopetrol V6, and 3.8 turbopetrol V8. It’s the V8 on test here, which carries a GTS badge to identify it as the flagship.

Boasting hairy-chested outputs of 390kW and 710Nm, this 3.8 twin turbo is developed in partnership with Ferrari and is the same engine used in the Ferrari California T.

It’s a honey of an engine, both in terms of performance and smoothness. It does a fine job of getting 1.9 tons of big sedan moving along in a great hurry, and when we strapped on our Vbox testing equipment the fire in its belly produced a very swift 0-100km/h sprint time of just 4.8 seconds at Gauteng altitude – just one-tenth slower than Maserati’s sea level claim.

With the aid of a responsive eight-speed auto gearbox that smoothly shunts the power to the rear wheels, the big Maserati chases speed with an effortless lope. Pace is delivered with linear thrust that’s available from the first throttle-tickle, untroubled by any hesitations, and the car displays impressive high-speed stability as it surges towards its 307km/h top speed.

Not surprisingly fuel consumption isn’t this super-sedan’s best feature and our test car averaged around 18 litres per 100km.

The accelerative fury is muted by a low-key V8 voice that never quite turns into a roar. Pity, because a more full-throated bellow might have helped drown out the very strident wind noise around the frameless side windows – a design flaw that’s somehow out of sync with a R2.5-million luxury car.

STEERING QUIRK

Unlike most cars which get electrically-assisted steering these days, the Quattroporte has a more old-school hydraulic system which in theory provides more feel and responsiveness. However, the steering felt very odd in this car, and in low- to medium-speed driving it tugged from side to side, very sensitive to road camber changes, as if the wheel alignment was out.

This steering quirk disappeared when the pace picked up and the car was thrust through some corners, and twisty tar brought out the extrovert in this Italian sports sedan. With its lightened mostly-aluminium body and 50/50 weight distribution, along with race-bred double-wishbone front suspension, the Quattroporte hustled through fast curves with a playful nature for a car this size. Stability control and a traction-enhancing limited-slip differential prevent all that rear-wheel thrust from degenerating into hooliganistic power slides, without being too intrusive.

A Skyhook adaptive damping system electronically controls the suspension stiffness, and for the most part the Quattroporte delivers a comfy ride. It did become somewhat jittery on bumpy roads, pointing to this car being more sports-focussed than the average large luxury barge.

VERDICT

Maserati’s sophisticated but sporty Quattroporte marches to its own beat in a luxury-car market dominated by luxurious but sometimes soulless German efficiency. Captains-of-industry wishing to stand out from the chauffeur-driven herd will like its Italian eccentricity, if they’re willing to turn up the audio volume to drown out that wind noise.

FACTS

Maserati Quattroporte 3.8T GTS

Engine: 3.8-litre, V8 turbopetrol

Gearbox: 8-speed automatic

Power: 390kW @ 6500rpm

Torque: 710Nm @ 2000rpm

0-100km/h (tested, Gauteng): 4.8 seconds

Top speed (claimed): 307km/h

Consumption (claimed): 11.8 litres per 100km

Price: R2 477 000

Warranty: 3-year/unlimited km

Maintenance plan: 5-year/100 000km