Maserati Quattroporte 2015 Review

Everybody knew where they stood in the automotive hierarchy not so long ago. Monied individuals bought prestige cars with performance and luxury features mere mortals could never afford.

That's ancient history now; you get a truck-load of gear in an entry-level executive sedan these days, let alone something like the $240k Maserati Quattroporte S V6 we're reviewing here.

Leather and wood isn't enough for the big-ticket players in the prestige sedan class like Maserati anymore.

In the Quattroporte's case, you still get tree and cow, but also the Italian definition of style and flair and a bucket load of room and performance to boot. The Germans still persist with Teutonic restraint in this class, and the fact that their badges are on numerous models these days washes out a lot of a brand's premium feel.

The Maserati, on the face of it, is a high-performance luxury sedan with a great deal of exclusivity. You won't see a hatchback parked next to your Quattroporte wearing the Trident badge.

Mind you, not everything about this sixth-generation Quattroporte is a thing of beauty. The upswept headlights and plain taillights don't do the flowing lines justice. The Quattroporte looks a bit too lanky too. Yet given the head-swiveling going on during our five days in the big Italian, the Maser is certainly noticed; not something you'd say about an S-Class or 7 Series…

The Quattroporte looks big because it is: with its 5262mm length and 1948mm width, it feels every millimetre of it in the city. Even so, you get used to its girth, and the turning circle at 11.8m is not as horrendous as you'd imagine it would be, and with the front and rear parking sensors plus rear-view camera, there's no need for touch-parking.

The cabin is a lush place to sit and watch the world blur by. The seats are bolstered well, keeping you on your perch without making you feels as though you've just been vacuum sealed into a racing bucket. The leather, wood and chrome highlights look exactly right, and the dash even has mood lighting along across its breadth. Nice touch.

What doesn't look quite right inside is the use of components from the FCA parts bin. The instrument cluster, column wands, centre touchscreen, rocker buttons for steering wheel volume and tuning control and gear lever are all used somewhere else in the FCA stable. Once you know them from lesser cars, you just can't unsee them.

You can't help but notice the absence of electronic trickery, either. Stuff like the keyless push-button ignition, active cruise control, autonomous braking, lane-departure warning and blind-spot monitoring are not available in the Quattroporte.

Back seat occupants get an enormous amount of room; while this is the five-seater version (a four-seater is also available) the rear bench is definitely built with two occupants in mind. A bench is exactly what the centre seat feels like to sit on.

Behind the wheel, the speedo increments are hard to read — but at least you can scroll the central LCD screen to a digital speedo read-out.

The gear selector pivots fore-aft from its static position, the idea being you select gears with a practiced flick, but it's hard to get used to its sensitivity. When in Drive, if you operate the touch-screen or climate control buttons, it's too easy to accidentally move gear lever forward, which activates Sport mode. You can select normal Drive mode again by holding lever back for a moment.

When you actually want Sport mode engaged, the transmission switches from a lazy, slurring and smooth auto to a hyperactive one. This is a good thing, with the ability for the transmission to predict the need for not only a higher gear, but also a lower one, is uncanny. It has lovely rev-matching going on for downshifts too.

When Sport mode is selected the exhaust system opens pneumatic valves to give the exhaust gases a more direct route out the back. It allows the engine to delivers all of its 301kW and the sound as it wails up to the 6500rpm redline is just sensational.

The 3.0-litre twin-turbo V6 built by Ferrari in Modena (though the block is cast by Chrysler in the US) is such a sweet engine – its power delivery is linear and you can let it lazily surf its torque band or let it dig deep into the rev range for sling-shot acceleration.

You need to remember to deselect Sport mode when you're not in a hurry though, as the transmission holds on to gears that little bit longer, usually just as the exhaust's pneumatic valves open at 3500rpm and the Maserati for that brief moment before it goes up a gear sounds more windy than wonderful.

Get the Quattroporte into the twisties and it goes from easy cruiser to brawling bruiser. The tyres grip tenaciously, the dampers control movement well and this big, heavy car seems to shrink around you. With its long wheelbase if the rear steps out it's progressive and the (hydraulic-assist) steering is Braille-like in telling you what's going on at the front wheels.

With dampers in their standard setting, the ride is firm but road shocks are well absorbed. In their firm setting, ride is fidgety and this is a setting best left for higher speeds on secondary roads or corner carving.

On an easy freeway run the Quattroporte sipped fuel at 8.7L/100km. Overall consumption with predominately country driving saw an average of 10.8.

The Quattroporte S V6 is a great point of difference among the large premium sedans. The use of FCA parts  and lack of electronic safety gear is a let-down, but no competitor can offer such a flavoursome sports package at the price.