Maserati Quattroporte: Ferrari for Five

I have a confession to make. I have biases. As a supposedly impartial car reviewer, this should be a death knell of sorts. But seriously — you can’t blame me. I can’t help but be awed by European overindulgence in all things culturally classy. Italian sports saloons included.

Not too long ago you see, we (this writer and photographer/contributor James Deakin) received an invitation to "test drive" a very special vehicle. Willie Soong, dealer principal of the only legitimate Ferrari/Maserati dealership in the country, was apparently cooking up a Maserati driving exercise at the Batangas Racing Circuit (BRC) and he’d asked a select few to come spread the word. Naturally, those four magic words (Maserati, Batangas, Racing and Circuit) were enough to earn from us a collective nod. A chance to drive a bonafide sports car in a bonafide race track? We’d have been idiots to pass this one up (which we are occasionally, but fortunately, not this time around).

And so one fine morning, off to BRC we went. What we found waiting amidst the perennially grazing cattle was a gem of a vehicle. It was a Maserati, alright. But this wasn’t your typical Spyder or Coupe (not that a Maserati Spyder or Coupe is typical in these shores, but you get the drift). It was a Maserati freakin’ Quattroporte — the luxury car meant to go toe to toe with the likes of BMW, Mercedes Benz and Audi. You know how it is. BMW builds the Z4, Mercedes Benz brings in the SLK, Audi develops the TT, then the Italians get pissed and decide to put together a voluptuous five seater package, slap a Ferrari sourced engine into the car, then go toe to toe with the Germans in the turf they originally had sole bragging rights over. So how does the Maserati Quattroporte compare to sedans made in Bavaria and Stuttgart? Let’s put it this way, for all intents and purposes, the Maserati Quattroporte is a Ferrari made to seat five people. That, as we found out, has its ups and downs.

Before we go into any of that, however, allow us this chance to drool — at least figuratively — at the Quattroporte’s stunning visual dimensions. The Quattroporte’s pedigree is immediately evident in the car’s striking exterior. A massive grille, which proudly carries the Maserati trident, starts off the visual experience up front. Smooth, flowing lines suggestive of movement (even at a standstill) then round it out towards the car’s side and rear. Outside, there doesn’t seem to be a wrong line in this car. Inside, while there could be more legroom, the soft leather and rich wood (as in wood) suggest an aura of opulence — so much so that you can actually forgive the Pininfarina designers for thinking all people were as short as the average Filipino. The look and feel of the Maserati Quattropore is quite simply beyond reproach. The car conveys the class its would-be owners are expected to intrinsically have — period.

Now, as far as the car’s technical specs go, well the numbers might in fact overwhelm at first glance — a 4.2-liter, dual-overhead-cam V-8 engine that’s good for 394 horsepower and 333 pound-feet of torque. Power delivery, however, is completely different from power numbers. Not that the Maserati Quattroporte does not deliver its advertised specs, mind you. It just has its own way of delivering it (and this is where sharing its basic DNA with the prancing horse comes in). A six speed sequential manual gearbox, which comes off an automatic mode, is in charge of distributing all this raw power. It does so in a unique fashion that takes some getting used to. Taking over shifting duties from a sedate automatic mode, you’ll notice a slight lag come into play from gear to gear. The moment you make it to the car’s comfort zone, however, it’ll throw in all that yummy torque ’til you reach the red line. What it does, really, is give you that sensation that there is actually more power under that hood the moment you go up from one gear ratio to another. So it kind of like thrusts you forward each time it gets the message you’re trying to convey through your heavy right foot. What we’re saying, basically, is that while the Maserati Quattroporte looks and feels like a luxury sedan, the car drives and shifts much more like a sports car. (The plus factor here is that it handles corners like one too.)

Therein lies the Maserati Quattroporte’s uniqueness. While it does take the battle to the established luxury sedans, the flagbearers of comfort, it does so in its own terms. You want a car that seats you comfortably, whether in the back or the front seats, go for a German brand — whichever one. You want a car that says, "I’m special, I’m different and I really like driving," then you have the Maserati Quattroporte to turn to. It’s a sports car that seats five. That means more people you can brag to over just one ride. See the way things are in this country today, your neighbor and his mom might have one or more of the Germans in their garages, but not too many of them will welcome an Italian into their homes. And that is cause for the extra swagger that you can display — if only for the fact that you can be called one of the select few who owns an Italian sports saloon.