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Maserati Quattroporte SQ4 GranSport: No Car For Old Men
MASERATI QUATTROPORTE SQ4 GRANSPORT
NO CAR FOR OLD MEN
Words by Alessandro Marrone
Photos by Jay Tomei
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I mean, finding yourself in Via Ferruccio Lamborghini, not even five minutes after collecting the new Maserati Quattroporte, was a pretty strange situation. A stupid photo to share the moment with my Instagram friends – that’s how my colleagues at the office launched their challenge. I get a message that says “Let’s see if, by sundown, you can bring the luxury queen in at least three different places that marry her philosophy (except hotels and restaurants, too obvious and easy goals)”. Let’s face it, having a miserable handful of hours at my disposal, and still having to drive more than 300km to get home, the challenge seemed really “infamous”, but stand back in front of friends is something that absolutely should not be done, and in any case I would have done everything I could, even at the cost of squandering my bank account in force to supply the thirsty six-cylinder, in order not to go out defeated from this office’s war.
Fortunately, I immediately warned the photographer and so I made sure that Jay was on time to head towards my first destination. But if the desire to laugh in front of my colleagues is devilishly growing minute after minute, the will to taste every single detail of the new Quattroporte GranSport is high too. Maserati gives me the SQ4, which basically is the most suitable to accompany you up to the chalet with your ski rack on the roof. Unfortunately we are still in mid-September and there’s no sign of snow. The main features that distinguish the GranSport from the other versions is a bunch of details that emphasize its sporty nature, such as sports-specific bumpers finished with frames and vents in Gloss Black. There are side skirts in the same finishing too and huge Titano 21” rims who embrace the big red brake calipers. Finally, you have tridents scattered here and there and crossed by blue lines – a little thing you say, a finesse they say. We agree. Big heavy key in my pocket and here we go with the start button and with the V6 twin turbo 3.0cc that comes to life as the temperatures slowly reach the perfect level to begin to move the big sedan.
It was 1963 when Maserati presented the first Quattroporte, which as the name suggests (four doors) was a sedan with generous dimensions with two well-etched targets: to offer the utmost luxury flanked at peak performance, which at the time it was able to catch firmly, resulting in one of the fastest sedans around beating off competition and carving out a special place over the years, with several restyling and updates leading up to today and its sixth generation. In about 50 years the situation around has changed and not only top brands are doing their best in order to grab its throne, but also the German army represents a serious menace. A race against time, a frantic quest for excellence that will allow it to maintain its supremacy, at least since the image is hard to really undermine. That’s why the challenge that I’m in has something firmly rooted in the relationship between luxury and time. To me the task of making Maserati again successful, is just as if the fate of the world was depending on a heroic gesture: two heroes riding their black horse ( “Rebel black” says the House) in search of divine salvation.
I leave a busy Modena and get access to the motorway, surprised for still being in the most comfortable driving mode, one that manages better the new Skyhook suspension and the ZF 8-speed automatic box, finally accurate, fast and ready in any situation. With your hands firmly on the wonderful steering wheel, I can’t help but admire the carbon fiber profusion all around me, while the interior in red leather that contrasts the black surfaces of the dashboard, are exactly the pattern I would ask for if I was in the fortunate position to spec a new Quattroporte for myself. I press the “Sport” button and differences are perceptible instantly, with the steering becoming more direct and precise, suspension too and the gearbox which tends to hold the lower gear, in order to indulge your most sporty nature, or your desire to overtake those in front. Certain that the 2 tons and the more than 5 meters in length do not make it the ideal car for a shot between the bends of some Alpine pass, no motorway will be too small to let it run like its ancestors were able to do, about half a century ago. Maserati range offers a wide selection, through the diesel engines and a couple of 6-cylinder with 250 and 275 horses, while this V6 with 410 horsepower is probably the best choice you could end with. Why do I say this? First, under the hood there are two powerful turbos, one works at low revs and the other at high revs, thus making available a torque of 550Nm at only 1750rpm and delivering maximum power at about 5500rpm. The torque curve is linear, there is almost no delay in delivery and every time I throw down the gas pedal, you will be literally energized by the typical Maserati’s roar coming out of the twin tailpipes. If I wanted to announce my arrival, before even showing a little outline of the “4porte”, I only have to be rude on the throttle. I tend to forget about the maximum priority of the ongoing challenge, by slowing down before entering a tunnel, and then bury the accelerator with the windows fully open – do not try to say that sedans are boring …
Obviously, after selecting the “Sport” mode, that since it made its entrance on stage has no intention to leave me, I always preferred to use the gearbox in manual, aware that in only a very few occasions I found myself with such pornographic paddles – perfectly balanced, fixed to the steering column and perfectly at hand even when the wheel was pointing in one direction rather than another. In those moments, almost frantic, the Q4 system has demonstrated to me what it was capable of. We premise immediately that it is a four-wheel drive “on demand”, which means that the system distributes traction to the front axle only when needed, otherwise while cruising, the rear wheels are those which have the task to make you move, slowly or quickly. With traction control on, as indeed happens in most cases having to do with an elephant of this kind, electronics plays an important role never putting in dangerous or challenging situations the driver, cutting power to the wheels that are struggling to find the right grip and making the driving experience pleasurable even when you are late for your Monday morning meeting. Leaving the motorway I finally reach the Ligurian Riviera and after boarding the photographer with the respective equipment in the shortest possible time, I decide to head for the Golf Club in Garlenda, ideal location for the Quattroporte. Abandoning the fast sections and having to face the coastal road also brings to encounter busy streets full of crossings, but the navigation system is precise, clear, and the display has a generous size as everything in here. Also, the menu is fully customizable at will of the driver, putting at hand, well at fingers, every little gizmo, from the four-zone climate control, to the heated and ventilated seats, passing through the rear curtains and so on pretty much endlessly. Only one note for the touch screen, not sensitive enough or fast as that of a smartphone at which we are now all used and that we often find on other cars.
How would you enter a road called Golf’s street, where there is full of “distinguishably sporty” dressed people watching you as if you did not have the proper age to enter into such a shrine of sensory relaxation? Keeping the engine above 3000 rpm of course, so that the roar of the Maserati makes everyone agree that we do not give a damn about rules and etiquettes. We need to document our passage here, it’s a matter of challenge, honor, and so I head for the clubhouse, where the friendly secretary confirms to me the opportunity to do whatever we want. No, do not think that – I could not draw donuts on the grass (even if for a moment I was going through this insane idea). After about five hours since my first encounter with the new Quattroporte GranSport, I get down from the cockpit and take the opportunity to observe it from every angle. That innate elegance has remained intact and goes along perfectly with the desire of sportiness that transpires largely by the huge wheels and the blacks of its profiles. I have a chat with some golfers who show me the characteristics of what would seem to be one of the very few “Roadster” golf carts in Italy and already I shudder thinking to the next stage. A devilish grin draws on my face when I realize that by definition, maybe a little ‘far-fetched, the racecourse will stage the following stop. Jay is fast and sling in the cabin, so I set the sat-nav to the destination wanted and we go where we will have definitely a future job, if we lose this challenge. A few kilometers later we arrive. The racecourse is closed and there is nobody around, so we use the location to check off the second part on our own list of “things to do quickly”, and we decide not to unleash a half dozen horses, but 410. Finally we start to enjoy the capabilities of the latest generation Quattroporte, with an amazing 0-100 kph in just 4.9 seconds, while thanks to an ever-ready and fast gearbox, the engine torque is felt throughout its vigor, making you almost forget to take for a wild ride a leather and carbon fiber beast which boasts more luxury than your standard living room. Oh I love all those carbon that lives in the center tunnel and which is able to make outrageously sexy even an ordinary ashtray.
The third and final stage awaits us and the sun is about to set. Better to call into question the more aggressive side of this Trident and head to the airport of Villanova d’Albenga, great place to bring your super-light plane and take off towards a far more traffic free road from the one we are facing right now. An intersection, another one, a roundabout, a Fiat Panda to overtake, a roundabout faced as if our life depended on that blessed challenge and here we cross the airport gates. The parking lot is completely empty and I have to do everything I could to suppress my most childish instincts and place the big sedan next to what seems to be a now retired jet fighter. Lights effects are gorgeous, the contrast between a living room of over 400 horses and a camouflage bomber are the icing on the cake that sanction our victory as we approach the end of an exhausting working day damn full of emotions. Jay shoots a photo after another, and I already know that these will be the most beautiful images that could tell a similar tour de force, but my focus has always teetering toward that deserted square, nothing more suitable to test the SQ4 traction system in maximum security. This does not happen, because fate had other plans, and has turned an empty place in a meeting point for a huge group of young guys returning from a holiday with their classmates. No chance to be the bad guy today. Tired and overheated from the high temperatures of late summer, I gain the driver’s seat again and I select the “Sport” mode deciding to go home driving the last 40/50 km along the Malpasso coastal road, a wonderful snake of asphalt hanging on the sea that draws the whole coast between Savona and Alassio. With my left arm out of the window and the V6 making its voices echoing against the rock walls, I think I found a perfectly adult and mature sedan with a young soul and that really knows how to entertain. A bit ‘as a young grandfather who takes his grandson to the park and play football with him until the sun wants to go to sleep. Other sedans can do things just as well, some even better, but they do not have such an elegant dress suitable for those situations that require the perfect label. Yes, because elegance is just like attitude, you have it or you don’t and Maserati knows what it is, because it has created this very label. Find me a sedan of this size and with an emblem of this caliber (the GTS with a V8 and more than 500hp would be even better) that when parked in the garage launches a wink as if to say – Are you already tired? When do we have fun again? – It’s your partner in life who knows how to be your playmate. Great, indeed exceptional.
MASERATI QUATTROPORTE SQ4 (2016-)
Layout – front-engined, all-wheel-drive
Engine – V6 cylinder 2.979cc – turbo
Transmission – 8-speed gearbox
Power – 410 hp @ 5.500 rpm
550 Nm @ 1.750-5.000 rpm
Weight – 1.920 kg
Acceleration – 4,9 sec.
Top Speed – 286 kph
Price – from € 126.000
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