First Drive Review
For most of the past 45 years, Maserati has been a presence, but hardly a dominant force in the market. In sports cars, for example, Ferrari and Porsche have overshadowed Maserati’s best. In luxury sedans, which Maserati has built off and on during that time, its four-doors (known simply as “Quattroportes”) have been a bit oddball at best, horrific at worst.
Since 2003, however, the fifth generation of the Quattroporte has achieved true desirability, thanks largely to a Ferrari-derived V-8 engine and an outstanding chassis. Thus, the Quattroporte is now regarded as one of the sportiest luxury sedans ever, and fittingly, it has become Maserati’s bestselling Quattroporte to date. For 2009, Maserati has improved on the current Quattroporte’s success with a midcycle styling and interior refresh, and just as significant, it’s added a new flagship: the first-ever Quattroporte S, powered by a 4.7-liter V-8 that ratchets up the sportiness to scintillating heights. We headed to Salzburg, Austria, to try out Maserati’s newest.
Beautiful, at Last
Although it was arguably the most sensuous of all Maserati Quattroportes built since the line began in 1963 with the Series 2 Tipo AM 107A, the 2003–08 Quattroporte just missed being truly beautiful. The curvy, Pininfarina-penned body sides and the perfect stance weren’t perfectly matched by a vacant gaze and blunt overhangs. It was far from ugly, but the 2009 sheetmetal refresh is sure to broaden the Quattroporte’s appeal beyond moneyed contrarians to include the mainstream wealthy.
Changes to the Quattroporte’s nose cone include larger lower intakes designed specifically to feed the Quattroporte S’s 4.7-liter V-8 (up from 4.2). Bixenon headlamps follow the fascia’s sloped contours and contain 10 LED turn-signal lamps apiece. Vertical chrome louvers in the slightly beveled grille visually connect the Quattroporte to the even lovelier new GranTurismo.
Maserati installed more LEDs out back, with twin light tubes striking diagonally through the taillamps and flanking a dozen LED brake lights. A cluster of 17 amber LEDs informs trailing drivers of your intention to merge. The triangular taillamp theme is sure to be controversial, but we love them purely because they are so darn Italian. The rear bumper panel, too, is new—lower, wider, and more square. Happily, the cursive “Maserati” across the trunklid is unchanged.
Quattroporte S models wear bespoke 19-inch wheels that are sexy and unique, although their Y-shaped spokes, which poke out a bit at their midpoints, appear vulnerable to curb nicks by klutzy valets. Other than the wheels, only the chrome (as opposed to black) grille vanes distinguish the S model from the standard Quattroporte.
Interior
For 2009, Maserati made minor but significant changes to the Quattroporte’s interior, which we’ve always loved for its sumptuousness but not for its ergonomics. The gauge cluster—still blue-faced, thank you—is more legible. The seats feature new stitch patterns and are firmer on the edges than in the insets. Some of us found them to be a touch wide in the lumbar region, and we were further irked by strange electronic clicking sounds coming from the seats, which we surmise had to do with the massage function. Ultimately, neither could detract from the sheer decadence of the cockpit and the ideal positioning of the driver. And, of course, covered with hectares of gooey-soft leather, so-genuine-it-looks-fake wood, and Alcantara, the Quattroporte cabin remains the olfactory and tactile feast it’s always been.
