Ten Point Test

Auto Trader ten point test rating: 87%

Three supercar makers – Porsche, Aston Martin and Lamborghini – are planning to follow the lead Maserati set with the Quattroporte by bringing out luxury saloons of their own.

Keith Collantine put the Quattroporte to our Ten Point Test to see how high Maserati has set the benchmark for its rivals.

1. Looks 10/10

The Maserati Quattroporte is another masterpiece of design by Pininfarina. Despite its enormous size it conveys both elegance and muscular sportiness.

The concave grille, with its distinctive trident badge, harks back to classic Maseratis, as do the three port holes behind each of the front wheels.

Viewed from the rear, the creases running from the tail lights to the back wheels serve to break up what would otherwise be a characterless plain of metal. They marry with the tall haunches over the rear wheels, disguising the width of the car.

A mild facelift last year gave the Quattroporte new bumpers, LED indicators and brake and fog lights and revised mirrors.

It’s easy to get carried away eulogising over the effortless mastery of Italian car design, but the Quattroporte is a truly impressive creation.

2. Looks inside 9/10

The interior may be splendid but it’s not quite at the same high standard as the magnificent exterior. There are a few too many unsightly buttons for a car costing the best part of £100,000, and the satnav is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.

But these are minor blemishes. The seats are sumptuous yet supportive and rear passengers are chauffeured in the utmost comfort.

3. Practicality 10/10

It’s got four doors, five seats and a 450 litre boot – not many cars with supercar performance can offer that. There are no compromises made on interior comfort – the rear seats can accommodate adult passengers quite comfortably.

4. Ride and handling 9/10

With the V8 lump behind the front axle and the weight distribution 49%-51% front-to-rear, the Quattroporte handles surprisingly sweetly for a car of such size.

The ‘Skyhook’ suspension adapts according to the how the car is being driven. Brake firmly and the front of the car tenses up to stop the nose diving – accelerate hard and the rear suspension does the same to keep the car from squatting.

Our Quattroporte S model offered two driving modes – standard and sport. ‘Standard’ mutes all but the harshest surfaces, providing a supremely cosseting ride. However the soft damping meant the car felt slightly uneasy when changing direction at speed. The ‘Sport’ setting proved the more comfortable option for motorway driving.

Although our car had the larger 20-inch wheels fitted (a £1,978 option) they did little to unsettle the ride, though there was some jarring over very poor surfaces.

5. Performance 10/10

Under the bonnet the red engine cover marks this out as a 4.7-litre Quattroporte – the 4.2-litre version has a blue cover.

Press hard on the accelerator and the engine bellows in approval. It may be whisper-quiet at low speeds but gun the V8 hard and its roar is intoxicating.

The effect is amplified in ‘Sport’ mode. Valves in the exhaust are opened to let the gases exit more quickly, increasing the total power available to 424bhp, and letting the raucous engine scream even louder.

The top-of-the-range Quattroporte GTS gets the same engine, but with power increased to 434bhp:

* Quattroporte: 4.2 litre V8, 394bhp, top speed 168mph, 0-62mph in 5.6 seconds
* Quattroporte S: 4.7 litre V8, 424bhp, top speed 174mph, 0-62mph in 5.4 seconds
* Quattroporte GTS: 4.7 litre V8, 434bhp, top speed 177mph, 0-62mph in 5.1 seconds

The brakes are suitably beefy, and can haul the near-two-tonne car to a halt from 62mph in 114 feet (35 metres). They showed little signs of fading during vigorous runs, too.

The six-speed ZF automatic transmission came in for a bit of flak from reviewers when the model was first introduced in 2004. It’s been updated since then and now operates much more smoothly in automatic mode, and steering wheel-mounted paddles allow you to take over if you wish.

View our Maserati Quattroporte S slide show

6. Running costs 5/10

Fuel economy is not its strong suit. Maserati’s quoted fuel consumption figures for the Quattroporte are:

* Quattroporte: 19.2mpg
* Quattroporte S: 18.0mpg
* Quattroporte GTS: 18.0mpg

Inevitably a car with such a large price tag isn’t going to hold onto its value too well. At the time of writing three-year-old Quattroportes on Auto Trader are on sale at around £35,000.

7. Reliability 8/10

The car has been on sale for five years and the most significant recall occurred in 2007, when 90 of the earlier cars had to have the ECUs fixed.

All Quattroportes come with a three year, unlimited mileage warranty and service packages covering the first three years or 30,000 miles.

8. Safety 8/10

The Quattroporte’s electronic driver aids include stability control (MSP), traction control (ASR), anti-lock braking (ABS), electronic brake force distribution (EBD) and engine torque control (MSR).

It has airbags for the driver and passenger, one for each of the four side windows and two further front side airbags.

However some of its rivals are beginning to offer other accident mitigation systems such as lane departure warnings and pre-crash preparations.

9. Equipment 8/10

The standard equipment provided on a Quattroporte is extensive and includes electric door and boot opening, a 30Gb hard disk entertainment system with satnav and a refrigeration compartment in the front arm rest.

And with an options list including pearlescent paint (£4,485), rear seat entertainment screens (£3,910) and tinted rear windows (£1,081) a fully-appointed Quattroporte will reach into six-figure territory.

But it is lacking some of the cutting-edge features offered by premium-market rivals like BMW and Audi – such as a heads-up display for the driver and rear-viewing cameras to assist in reversing.

10. X-Factor 10/10

Yes, you could buy a Mercedes S Class or a BMW 7 Series and you’d probably be perfectly happy with them.

But would they move you in quite the same way as a Quattroporte? It may not be as accomplished as other luxury saloons but it offers an elegant and statesmanlike air that few others can approach.

It is a highly distinctive choice – at the time of writing there are just 63 used examples for sale on Auto Trader.

It’s not likely to have the supercar-saloon segment to itself much longer. Porsche’s Panamera is due soon, and Aston Martin and Lamborghini are also considering rivals. But for the time being, the Quattroporte is hard to rival.

Key facts

Model tested: Maserati Quattroporte S
On the road price: £96,805
Price range: £77,330-£89,860
Date tested: June 2009
Road tester: Keith Collantine