There's always another way - a manner of
approaching the otherwise conventional that differs ever so slightly in order
to produce something special. You can aerate a bottle of fine red wine by
popping the cork and leaving it on the kitchen sideboard almost as easily as
you could by decanting it into a carafe. Both will ultimately see you sipping
your wine, but the latter shows a good deal more panache and the accompanying
bouquet makes the end result something to savour.
Grand saloons are a similar case in point.
Broadly speaking, a manufacturer can build a luxurious car trimmed with frills
suggestive of the high life that shield you from the world. Usually German,
they're calculatedly impressive and by no means ineffective, but some will
wonder if there's another way; a way to inject such a means of carriage with a
bit more soul.
This is where the Maserati Quattroporte
steps in. It's never been the de facto choice in its segment. It may not even
pop up on your radar in the grand-saloon environment. But, while it's broadly
cast in the same mould as its peers, there are certain nuances that make it
special.
The
Maserati Quattroporte S is a visual standout from every angle, inside and out
Sometimes, it's the smallest of details
that really gamer attention and none more so than the QP's key. Unlike the
generic, lightweight fobs accompanying most cars of its kind, the Maserati's
item is a fat, hefty nugget of brushed chrome and rubber.
While this action is usually the precursor
to plonking yourself into a luxury car's leather-trimmed cabin, with the QP it
brings you out of your routine and asks you to step back and admire what
stands before you.
There's a strange mixture of voluptuousness
with a hint of muscularity about the manner in which the car's flowing sheet
metal tautens along its flanks and billows on the haunches as if caught by the
wind. The quartet of ovoid exhausts that slash across the rear valance and a
mildly kicked-up tail suggest a touch more dynamism than a conventional grand
saloon would offer. But, while it turns heads, it does so in a graceful manner
that doesn't impose.
Step
inside and the spacious, high quality interior of the Maserati Quattroporte S
still impresses
Preconceptions of Italian cars suggest a
cabin that's beautiful but brittle, yet the QP doesn't fall into the latter
trap. The material quality and the operation of the cabin's moving parts aren't
quite as polished as those of the Germans, but it's beautifully crafted. It
takes a bit of seat and steering adjustment to bed down comfortably but, once
ensconced in the firm but shapely driver's seat, you take in such delightful
details as the traditional Maserati oval clock in the middle of the dash and
chrome-cowled dials with faces finished in a deep blue like the face of an
expensive watch.
Owing to the QP's sport-saloon proviso,
you'd expect the cabin to be somewhat cramped, but its gracefully proportioned
body hides a 3,171 mm wheelbase that's considerably longer than those of the
Mercedes-Benz S-Class and Jaguar XJ LWB, freeing up a surprising amount of rear
legroom.
Power
is sent to the rear wheels via an eight-speed automatic gearbox
But it's not a muted cocoon that shields
you from the world outside... There's always a faint ripple of an exhaust note
and a murmur of engine noise. Similarly, the ride isn't cushiony. It's not
jarring, but hardly a lullaby. Those accustomed to the coddling nature of most
grand saloons would find these little intrusions something of an irritation,
but in the QP they gently remind you of the mechanical air.
In its normal drivetrain setting, the QP is
serene. The electro-hydraulic steering is fingertip light, throttle response is
on the leisurely side and the eight-speed ZF transmission smoothly trickles
through the gears. The unfussy yet luxurious trimmings and fluid motion are
almost akin to standing at the tiller of a yacht gently sweeping along the
Atlantic Seaboard.
