Maserati Quattroporte Range : LATIN SPIRIT

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Maserati's Quattroporte has kept the Italian company afloat. Only right then, that it should benefit from a mid-life revamp. Jonathan Crouch reports

Sharper looks and more power are the highlights of Maserati's revised Quattroporte luxury saloon line-up. A vertically-stacked front grille and LED front and rear lights give it some class but the main news is the introduction of a more powerful 4.7-litre V8 engine in a performance-oriented S model.

Maserati's Quattroporte probably didn't have to be as good as it is. The exclusivity of that badge makes German rivals look like Fords and Vauxhalls. Yet try one and it's hard not to be impressed with this luxury saloon on its own merits, particularly since the smooth automatic gearbox offered a more credible alternative to the clunky `DuoSelect' semi-automatic transmission the car was launched with. The latest changes see Maserati take yet another step forward into a forward-thinking modern era. That's quite an achievement when you consider where they've come from. From the early seventies glory days of the Bora, Merak and Khamsin, Maserati lurched from one disaster to another. There exists a whole generation of drivers who associate cars like the Karif, the Biturbo and the Ghibli with little other than endless warranty claims, oxidisation, oil fires and electrical failures. The 3200GT coupe did much to resurrect Maserati's fortunes in this country but even this model always felt as if it had a little too much `character' to really succeed. The Quattroporte changed all of that, from 2003 allowing the company to sell 15,000 examples of the current generation model before its facelift. Maserati launched a `Sport GT' version of this car fairly early on in its life but enthusiasts were disappointed to find that the badgework wasn't matched by any changes to the standard 400bhp 4.2-litre V8. Now, at last, there's a choice of engines. No turbodiesel of course - that would be very un-Maserati - but at least there's the addition of a 425bhp 4.7-litre V8 to the range in the flagship S model, a unit borrowed straight from the most powerful version of Maserati's GranTurismo coupe.

"You can buy faster, bigger and brasher supersaloons but you can't buy anything that's quite so ice-cool as a Quattroporteâ€¦"

This bigger V8 howls up to the 7,200rpm rev limiter, propelling the car from 0-62mph in 5.4s on the way to a top speed of 174mph. Better still, most of the pulling power is available from a low 2,500rpm, so it's a refined, flexible unit. If you need to go faster, the same 4.7-litre engine is offered in 440bhp form in the flagship Sport GT S variant. The gearbox is the ZF automatic unit that most opted for in the original version of this car. It comes with paddles behind the steering wheel for those occasions when you feel like pressing the `Sport' button and accessing the rather unique dual personality of this Maserati. To start with, as you might expect from a big luxury saloon, the steering feels slightly light but the car turns into corners surprisingly sharply, encouraging you to press on in a way that BMW 7 Series and Mercedes S-Class drivers could only dream about. There's `Skyhook' adaptive damping on the `S' version but even with this, the ride isn't especially firm. This car is seriously lengthy. Measuring over five metres from tip to tail, the Maserati is longer than a BMW 7 Series, wider than a Mercedes S Class yet lower than a Jaguar XJ. The chassis is a clean sheet design with a classic longitudinally-mounted engine driving the rear wheels. As for the most recent visual changes, well, there are smart LED strip lights at the front and rear, plus a new front grille featuring vertical bars and reshaped bumpers. Maserati historians will know the Quattroporte badge dating back to 1963, but the latest model is resolutely forward looking. Gone are the days of boxy, ill-proportioned variants: the latest Quattroporte is the first Pininfarina-designed Maserati for fifty years and it's a cracker. After designing the 1953 A6GCS Berlinetta Sport for Maserati, master stylist Pinin committed himself to Ferrari, then the Trident's fiercest rival. Now that Maserati and Ferrari are effectively under one roof, the Pininfarina design magic has returned to the marque. Maserati claim that the original 1963 model was inspired by the boom in motorway building that occurred in the late fifties. This created a whole new breed of customer who wanted a sumptuously equipped, rapid but elegant mode of long distance ground transportation. The first Quattroporte to wear the badge shared an engine with what was then the world's most powerful barchetta drop top, the Maserati 450S. Other highlights in Quattroporte lineage include the 1976 Giugiaro model that was selected as the personal transport of Italian President Sandro Pertini. Quattroporte buyers will need to decide between the standard 4.2-litre model and the 4.7-litre S, though with just 25bhp between them, some might feel that the premium required to own the top model would be better spent on some well-chosen extras. Before you make that choice, try the two back to back. The Skyhook damping on the pricier car really does make a lot of difference. Whichever variant you go for, you'll be treated to a sumpteous cabin swathed in leather, featuring classy materials and lovely touches. The switchgear and the general layout isn't quite up to German standards, but it's not far off and in any case, has its own rather unique appeal..Standard features include satellite navigate, an upgraded stereo system with a 30GB hard disc and USB interface, plus of course a Bluetooth handsfree set-up for your `phone. As you might expect, running a Maserati Quattroporte isn't a job for the terminally short of cash. Maserati quotes a rather optimistic combined fuel consumption figure of 18mpg for the S version but most drivers will typically see low teens for the car. That said, the ZF gearbox allows for relatively relaxed high-speed cruising which gives the car a decent range. Insurance is straight in at Group 20 although this is par for the course for this sort of model and it's possible to find insurers who will look upon the Quattroporte more favourably than they would a BMW M5, an Audi S8 or a Mercedes CLS 63 AMG. I doubt too many who hanker after a car like this will be overly worried about carbon dioxide emissions, but the Quattroporte emits 345g/km in standard form or 365g/km in S guise. Depreciation is not the nightmare that many would expect, the Quattroporte having established a strong reputation in the used market. It hasn't taken too much to give the Quattroporte a fresh lease of life and the small visual tweaks and the larger V8 engine have been just enough to do the trick. If you're going to spend £80,000 on a luxury saloon, there's a strong argument for getting something unique - and that's just what this Maserati provides. Gran Turismo cars in this classic tradition are increasingly thin on the ground but the market has proved that demand for this most elegant form of transportation still exists. You can buy faster, bigger and brasher supersaloons but you can't buy anything that's quite so ice-cool as a Quattroporte. Preferably in S guise.

Facts At A Glance
CAR: Maserati Quattroporte range
PRICES: £77,335-£89,865 - on the road
INSURANCE GROUP: 20
CO2 EMISSIONS: 345-365g/km
PERFORMANCE: [4.2] 0-60mph 5.4s / Max Speed 167mph
FUEL CONSUMPTION: [4.2] (urban) 12.9mpg/ (extra urban) 26.9mpg/ (combined) 19.2mpg
STANDARD SAFETY FEATURES: Twin front,side and curtain airbags, ABS, stability and traction control, ISOFIX child seat fixings
WILL IT FIT IN YOUR GARAGE?: Length/Width/Heightmm 5052/1895/1438mm