Teamspeed.com - Teamspeed First Drive: Maserati Ghibli S Q4

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Teamspeed First Drive: Maserati Ghibli S Q4
Compact Maserati promises fun and entertainment, and maybe the odd anxiety.
Text by Peter Burgess- Teamspeed European Editor

What is it? New smaller sedan to form a mainstay of the Maserati range in coming years.

Why do I care? Because every petrolhead should own an Italian exotic sometime their life.

How fast is it? 2,979 twin-turbocharged V6, 410hp@5,500rpm, 406lb ft@1,750rpm, 0-62mph 4.8sec, 178mph vmax

How much is it? $75,000 (est)

There’s something intrinsically pleasing about testing cars in Italy. Especially fast cars. You sort of know that this could be your one and only chance to drive faster than you really should. Never again will you be able to experience the magnificence of the most challenging Italian roads with apparent impunity. Why? Because the police seem to work somewhere else when Ferrari, Lamborghini or Maserati are demonstrating their latest wares.

Simply writing this down could be the biggest mistake I have made in my journalistic career. Next time they’ll probably be waiting right around the corner for me in a unmarked van with bars at the windows. Yet I won’t easily forget the time local polizia made the foolish error of stopping no less than four Ferrari 458 Spiders simply because they made a lot of noise. It had to be explained to him how these things work.

And so it was that I was in Tuscany to evaluate the new Maserati Ghibli on roads with nonsensically low speed limits that occasionally had to be taken with a pinch of salt. Not in the villages or near cyclists, but in the middle of nowhere they were fair game.

The Ghibli is intended to be the car that opens up the world to Maserati. Last year it sold fewer than 7,000 cars. By 2015, it aims to sell 50,000. No, that’s not a typo. The BMW 5 Series-sized Ghibli and the forthcoming Levante SUV are the cars to build the volume, they say.

The Ghibli gets a new 3.0-litre V6. The single turbo version produces 330hp, the twin-turbo S 410hp. Handy figures, which though not at M5 or E-Class AMG level, promise entertainment. Significantly, for Europe, there’s the first ever Maserati diesel, also a 3.0-litre V6 with 275hp.

The base 330hp Ghibli is not to be dismissed lightly. It makes all the right noises, zings through the rev range and, if you take it by the scruff of the neck, is genuinely entertaining. Driver enjoyment is directly related to how much you put into the experience in the first place.

Transmission is eight speeds from ZF, the same unit found in countless other high-end cars, though calibrated uniquely for each. It shifts pleasing quickly via the paddles but works equally well in full auto mode. Sport gives you all the downshift action you can ask for when going for it, though maxing out you’ll want to keep it in manual and shift yourself.

There’s little that’s particularly fancy about the suspension, but that’s no problem if it has been designed well, as it has on this Ghibli. It rides smoothly when you need it too and there’s a decent firmer setting that can be selected for more serious work. Unlike so many cars, the ride doesn’t deteriorate in the sportier setting to the extent it’s suitable only for a track day.

Then there is the Ghibli S. It looks likely that four-wheel-drive will be the standard fitment with this engine in the US. It provides endless amounts of grip, while steering feedback is as good as in the rear-wheel-drive model. And the performance is a quantum step up the scale.

0-62 is down to 4.8 seconds, genuinely quick in most people’s books. There’s a punch in the back available any time from the twin turbos, an even more musical sound to the engine and a childishly pleasing waffle from the turbo wastegate every time you change up a gear. I found it a thrilling car to drive.

Seating for four
With an overall length approaching 5 metres, the Ghibli should be roomier inside. It doesn’t have the leg or headroom of the BMW in the rear so trying to fit four large guys inside will call for some compromises.

The luggage space is respectable though, light-years ahead of what you got in a Quattroporte 10 years ago. The Ghibli is intended to be an all-rounder and Maserati has the balance about right.

The brochures show some dramatic colour schemes for the leather interior which look bold and are expensive, but they are worth the extra cost. This is a pleasant place to be, with the distinctive Maserati clock in the centre of the fascia and enough Maserati logos to remind everyone of the Italian heritage.

There’s navigation with a massive screen and a dual zone climate control that’s very effective. Yet it is extremely hard to read the latter’s controls, or the buttons for the chassis and sport settings.

Summing up
Reliability and build quality? Two issues that can’t be scanned over and it seems the US experience has been less than convincing in these areas. Maserati needs to address these concerns and says it has. Certainly the Ghibli seemed solid enough for the romance of the Italian brand to counterbalance worries.

But only you can decide. Personally I liked the car a lot, love the idea of finally buying a Maserati and reckon the pricing is spot on. I’d like to think I’d still feel like that after 12 months. But I can’t be sure.

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