2015 Maserati Quattroporte, Ghibli review, test drive

Trident Test

But these are Maseratis, so they’re also very much sportscars, which is evident the moment you hop into the driver’s seat. It’s properly low, even when you’ve raised it all the way, and if you’re not very tall, your view out the front is nothing but endless bonnet. These cars also have long wheelbases and generous overhangs, which makes the ramp breakover and approach angles woefully inadequate on Indian roads. Quite frankly, most supercars aren’t as much
of a bother on Mumbai streets as these two are right now. The ground clearance is low, and prohibitively so. If those Italian good looks didn’t draw the crowd, the fact that I have to crawl sideways over even medium-size speedbreakers surely has. And after doing this a few times, I realise the steering weight gets quite taxing at low speeds. It makes you feel every last inch of these cars’ massive dimensions, and that’s before I’ve tried parking in a tight spot. Flicking between Drive and Reverse on the electronic gear selector is infuriating; it’s all too easy to jump into Park or Neutral, and you find yourself tapping the lever to and fro a few times before getting it right.

By now, that feeling of supremacy is scrubbing off fast. Redemption, however, comes as a section of flat empty road opens up. That snarl I heard earlier came from the Quattroporte GTS’s 523bhp 3.8-litre, all-aluminium, twin-turbo V8, which is very closely related to the ones Ferrari uses in the California T and the 488 GTB. Yes, all is quickly forgiven as the 1.9-tonne limo hikes up its skirts and scoots away briskly thanks to 72.4kgm of turbocharged torque. It does sound a little more muted than I expected inside the cabin though. 100kph comes up in just 5.13 seconds and though this iteration of ZF’s eight-speed auto isn’t perhaps as smooth as we’ve seen elsewhere, it sure is quick to shift. Less impressive is the 271bhp 3.0 V6 diesel in the Ghibli; the same VM Motori unit that’ll be used in the Jeep Grand Cherokee. It’s right now the only option on this car, though the 404bhp twin-turbo petrol V6 that Shapur sampled last month will be coming next year. The oil-burner isn’t as lively as any of the other luxury sixes around. In fact, for the first half of the accelerator pedal’s travel, you get almost nothing, and it rolls off the line very leisurely. I push further and it wakes up, smoothly and gently, with a strong 61.18kgm gust. Push too hard and there’s a tsunami of torque which gets the rear-end wiggling alarmingly, even with the traction control on! I soon realise the performance is all there, but it’s just not as manic as you’d expect in a Maserati, and the powerband is quite narrow. This one is definitely more GT than sports sedan. One pleasant surprise is the sound – press the Sport button and it belts out a delicious rumble that’s enough to turn your perception of diesel engines on its head.

The dynamics depend in a big way on whether Maserati’s ‘Skyhook’ adaptive suspension is checked on the options list or not; this Quattroporte has it, the Ghibli does not. It could be that the big limo is set up with a little more comfort in mind, as the ride in normal mode is really rather good. In Sport, it does dance around a bit more on an uneven road, but it’s still quite absorbent, which is great given how much more controlled it feels around corners in this mode. The Ghibli, on its passive dampers, feels neither here nor there, with a lumpy ride at low speeds ◊ ∆ that improves only slightly as you go faster. There’s also quite a bit of scuttle shake over bumps. The weighty steering does give me confidence as I hammer it around the corner, but it’s not very direct, and there is a little more body roll than I would have liked. Shame.