First Drive Review
Up to now, the Maserati Quattroporte was a fine, sporty luxury sedan that was let down by one thing — its DuoSelect transmission, an automated manual similar to the one used by stablemate Ferrari in the F430 and 599GTB. Instant, brutal gearshifts seem to enhance the race-car-style experience in an F430, and the clunky automatic mode doesn't seem to be a problem, either.
But in a luxury sedan, the DuoSelect's superfast manual shifts and clunky automatic mode make for poor bedfellows. In response to relatively disappointing Quattroporte sales — 3374 sold in the U.S. between its debut in the fall of 2004 and the end of 2006 — Maserati has fitted the car with a six-speed ZF automatic transmission. The DuoSelect model, which stays in the lineup, has a rear transaxle with a torque tube betwixt the engine and final drive. To fit the automatic, Maserati had to make several major changes. The torque tube is gone, and in its place are a conventional differential and a two-piece driveshaft. The engine now has a wet-sump oil system in place of the DuoSelect's dry-sump arrangement.
The 4.2-liter V-8 again makes 396 horsepower at 7000 rpm, but torque increases from 333 to 339 pound-feet, developed at 4250 instead of 4500 rpm. The weight distribution has gone from 47 to 53 percent front to rear, to 49/51, which is still more rear bias than its main rivals — the BMW 7-series, the Mercedes-Benz S-class, and the Audi A8 — have.
We drove base Quattroportes on challenging roads around Monte Carlo and found the automatic to be a huge improvement. The car still steers, stops, and goes more like a four-door Ferrari than any of its competitors, but the automatic gives it a far more refined highway demeanor. It also gives away little in spirited driving, because the adaptive six-speed downshifts early and holds onto a gear until redline in sport mode, which also firms up the electronically adaptive shocks of the Skyhook system and sharpens the throttle response. Manual shifting is executed via a lever or paddle shifters. (The latter are optional on the base model and uplevel Executive GT and are standard on the Sport GT.)
With one of the sexiest exhaust notes this side of an F430, balanced and fluent handling, and a relatively supple ride, the Quattroporte is the well-heeled enthusiast's luxury sedan, more involving than a Mercedes S-class. It is on sale already in the U.S., priced at $104,950, $1250 more than the DuoSelect version.
