Quattroporte, the Quattroporte
S and the Quattroporte GTS. The
first two mentioned are fitted with
a 3,0-litre turbocharged V6 – a
configuration with which Maserati
has had two decades of experience – in either petrol or diesel
form, and the range-topping GTS.
This last-mentioned is the car
we were given to test-drive
and is fitted with the all-new
3,8-litre V8 engine, developed
in conjunction with Ferrari Powertrain, and built in the Ferrari
“works” in Maranello. Indeed,
in the previous edition of MoneywebDRIVE we reported on a
discussion of this engine with a
top Ferrari engineer, as it is due
to debut in the forthcoming
Ferrari 488.
It was tremendous to experience the new engine in the large
Quattroporte. It is rated at 390 kW
and 710 Nm of torque, and even
with some 1860 kg to shift – the
new Quattroporte is in fact significantly lighter than the out-going
model – it will accelerate the car
to 100 km/h in just 4,7 seconds,
which I experienced soon after
taking delivery of the car.
What I didn’t experience – mainly through a sense of legal responsibility – was the rated top
speed of 307 km/h, which Maserati says makes it the fastest production four-door sedan it has
ever produced, and indeed one
of the fastest four-door cars in
the world! It manages all this via
an eight-speed ZF automatic
gearbox driving the rear wheels.