Lovin’ A Little Italian – Maserati Quattroporte GTS

Lovin’

a little Italian

Shane Oosthuizen does the unthinkable and loses his heart to a four door. The Italian Maserati Quattroporte GTS.

Ask a non-car person to tell you what a car is, and you’ll get a generic answer including “four wheels, boot at the back, four doors in the middle, bonnet”. In most cases, describing ye ole’ basic saloon car then. It makes sense too, as the vast majority of family and executive cars are of the saloon variety. They boast space and practicality, and with the right badge upfront, can highlight success and status too. But in essence, when you get down to it, they’re all much of a muchness.

That is until you get behind the wheel of the Maserati Quattroporte GTS. No ordinary saloon car, this! In fact, it’s not even that – it’s a full-size luxury sports limo. And it’s that little addition of the word “sport” that makes the Quattroporte GTS something of an anomaly in the world of four-door luxo-barges. An anomaly that even non-car people can appreciate.

The QP has been updated for 2016, with the look sharpened somewhat over the earlier models, and the addition of a diesel to the lineup.

New front and rear treatments have been nicely focused and more defined, giving the car a handsome, less awkward stance – not that the outgoing model was ugly (Maserati doesn’t do ugly) but this one is just a little more slick.

Only the Italians can get away with calling a car “four door” and make it sound exotic. But don’t let that bland display of the obvious take away from what is essentially a Ferrari-derived driver’s car.

In GTS guise, the big Maserati sports a Ferrari-developed 3.8-litre, Twin-turbo V8 mill, mated to a creamy smooth 8 speed, ZF automatic gearbox. This equates to 390kW and 650Nm of twist from only 2250rpm, taking the big Maser from 0-100kph in 4.7sec and onto a top speed of 312kmph, making the QP GTS the quickest V8 saloon on the market.

While you’ll get more standard kit in an AMG S-class, and you’ll do no worse in an Aston Martin Rapide or a ‘hotted-up’ 7 Series, what they lack is the same sense of occasion when you’re firing up the big Maser.

The new 3.8litre GTS isn’t quite as vocal as the old 4.7litre V8, but there is no mistaking its supercar heritage. Press the starter button and the engine growls into life with a bark that turns heads everywhere.

Inside, the re-worked centre console features a new higherresolution infotainment screen that now matches contemporary standards. The quality of the leather seats and general fit and finish of the somewhat conservatively styled cabin, are as sumptuous as you’d hope for the price tag.

You don’t slide into the cabin as much as step into it. Make no mistake – this is a big car. At 5.3metres in length and almost 2metres in width you have to remind yourself that you’re piloting a very large vehicle.

Nonetheless, this two-tonne limo-esque Maserati is dynamically as close to a driver’s car as you’ll get. Regardless of where or how you drive it, the QP responds in just the way you might expect from a Maserati. It rides beautifully on most surfaces, the tyres biting when you really want them to, and the motor more than happy to rev.

Driver’s can control the suspension mode too, switching between Sport and Normal, however most will opt to leave it on Normal and simply cruise. The beauty of this, is that you can leave the motor and exhaust settings in Sport, without compromising ride quality, with a lovely V8 burble as accompaniment.

Sadly, you won’t hear much because the double-glazed acoustic glass keeps all the good stuff out of the cabin.

Assistance from the two turbos means acceleration and overtaking is a doddle, transferring all that torque to the road smoothly and without fuss. It’s deceptively quick too, and you won’t realise you’re traveling above the speed limit until you actually look at the LCD speedometer.

But above all else, the real win here is the steering feel.

Maserati has opted to stick with hydraulically assisted steering protocols instead of the now-almost-expected electrically assisted racks. While it’s a small victory for driving enthusiasts, it’s a bolster to the confidence that Maserati gave it considered thought.

At the end of the day, the Quattroporte GTS takes all the strengths of sporty V6-powered cars and adds the V8 punch and soundtrack, without losing out on ride quality and overall luxury.

But you’re not going to be buying a Maserati for high-tech toys and plushness. This is car you drive, and put the chauffeur in the back.

It’s old-fashioned in the sense that you relax into the leather and enjoy the ride, whether you’re steering or lounging about. It may sound like a cliché, but as I mentioned earlier, every time you step into a Maserati it’s an event and that’s where your money goes.