It's very slippery as well, having a dynamic coefficient of only 0.31, and a completely flat belly reduces lift by 24 percent, increasing stability at high speeds and reducing consumption. The Maserati’s CEO, Harald Wester, thinks that none of the important lux manufacturers are going this far, and work closely with Ferrari too.
Can we mention about Ferrari? It seems we can. Especially that Paolo Martinelli was the main engineer of Scuderia Ferrari, supervised the development of engines for QP, which will be designed, like until now, down the road, in Maranello. Well, this guys know what they’re doing. A V6 of 3.0 liters and 412 HP will come soon, but until then we must deal with the top of the notch, V8 bi-turbo with direct injection of 3.8 liters and 530 HP. It has a lot of torque as well-650 Nm from just 2000 rpm and 718 Nm with over boost. On paper, you have to admit that it sounds interesting, same as the 20% drop in consumption, although the purists might complain the potential strangler effect of those two turbochargers.
More leg space. Turbo. Maserati have tried this things before and it was not quite a success.
We are heading to the hills, more exactly Le Gorges Daluis, from a few hours nord-west from our base camp from French Riviera it immediately becomes obviously the fact that, the new QP is different. Walking through Nisa on Promenade des Anglais (you can thank the British tourists from XIX century for the name, and obviously is more beautiful here than in Bournemouth), it is silent, subtle and extremely refined. What unimaginable madness is this? The old one shatter windows only with its ancestral ignition engine roar.
Left on “D”, in normal mode, the ZF box with eight reports shifts gears with an abnormal discretion. Due to the navigation when going through Nisa at rush hour it is a painless job, just as the sequenced Cambiocorsa box of the old one transforms any minute spent in traffic in a nightmare. A gorgeous solution used, oh well, by most of all, Maserati has developed its own software for the gear box so it can get changes with 40% faster in Sport mode. It’s time to play.
Besides “soul”(and “emotion” or “legend”, because it came up),there is another word that is not very strange to QP: ”bipolar”. Obviously, Maserati use it to describe the new QP, although I have to admit it’s fits perfectly. With a portion of highway in front of you, I get in manual mode, pull the left paddle several times, press the accelerator pedal with a surprisingly long range and I pull back my ears because the sleeping V8 now has began to roar like a tornado. With the red zone starting at 7,200 rpm, the big Maserati hits the perfect note in any gear. Not even the magnificent V8 of 5,5 liters from AMG does not sounds the same. Actually, it’s not even necessary for you to throttle to interpret a score: lift you leg off the gas-preferably in the tunnel-and you will hear a baritone round rumble, with a very sharp side. It’s like you’re being rubbed by a angry opera singer.
The story repeats even when you try to explore the handling limits. Steel springs and a revised version of Skyhook system with adjustable absorbers makes possible the hardening of the suspension, but as they are already rigid, you’re not getting anything more than shakes. The steering uses an excellent electro-hydraulic system (a pure electric one was tested and rejected),and on the winding road to pictures location, everything is so linear and without interruption that you refuse to believe that you’re standing in a two tone car long as house. You have grip, handling and fully communicability. The brakes are over assisted, but efficient and practical, you are too busy feeling comfortable to notice the pretty bad consumption. You’re feeling like in a phenomenal car.
Until it start’s snowing badly. time in which trying to put 530 HP on road covered with snow through a pair of 285/30/21 Pirelli tires becomes a task than even Felix Baumgartner will think twice before doing it. Yes, Quattroport is absolutely shitty on snow. Fortunately, a four wheel traction model is available, but not in England as well (where it hardly snows, as everyone knows).
The hilarious descent cautious give me time to analyze the interior, which is much more Italian than what is outside. This brings bad an good as well. Stratified as a MasterChef dessert, the board is covered with leather on top, in middle hood, the doors have a glowing material on top, and everything is animated by the brushed aluminum finishing of the Maserati Touch Control system. And this operates very good as well, and audio part from Bowers&Wilkins is sublime. Although the shifter is absolutely horrible, and the surrounding material reminds at touch of an cassette player from 80’s. Even the font used is a little Kitsch. This details counts at the car that costs over 100.000 Euro and, in totall, does not approach the quality of the execution of an A8, 7 Series or Jaguar XJ.
And yet. The stitched leather seats are incredibly comfortable. The position at the steering wheel is excellent. The doors had frameless windows. One of the best engines in the world stands in front of you, Marvin Gaye resonates in speakers, and the entire car emanates that indefinable quality which Clarkson managed to dissect during an entire book.
The life would, definitely be, frustrating in a
Quattroporte. But it would be boring even a moment.
Author Bio:
Andrew is a Maserati enthusiast.We would
realy like to purchase one. Andrew also loves reading articles on: http://www.coopskw.com/