Comments on: Maserati Quattroporte Executive GT Review

By: chanman

chanman — Mon, 28 Aug 2006 10:29:26 +0000

I just saw one over the weekend and a golf & country club. That is some pants-wettingly hot sheetmetal

By: liquidflorian

liquidflorian — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 07:58:42 +0000

I youtube’d the Fifth gear review….. Maybe RF got an oldie?

By: Durishin

Durishin — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 01:54:29 +0000

I’ve got to the bottom and can’t stop laughing @ Lieberman’s comment to Yalej!

The original XJ was the world’s most beautiful car (well, saloon). The QP has supplanted it. I saw one in a sienna color and it looked for all the world like the new century’s version of my mom’s ‘76 XJ6. Stunning and w/o the manual choke.

By: Jonny Lieberman

Jonny Lieberman — Tue, 15 Aug 2006 03:21:55 +0000

On a track, the gear box is great.

But around town — i.e. 99% of the time — it is a dog.

By: liquidflorian

liquidflorian — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 23:37:18 +0000

That car looks like a buick about as much as Jack Black looks like Brad Pitt; they’re both bi-pedal huminoids of male gender. That is where the similarities end. Harley-Earl-esq port holes, do not a Buick make…..

I had thought they sorted out the gearbox. Tiff Nedell drove an “improved” one on Fifth gear and almost creamed his shorts.

By: BarryO

BarryO — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 21:37:52 +0000

Jonny in a Mazda.

Sajeev in two – count ‘em, two – Toyotas.

Lesley in a Hyundai and a Caliber.

Back to reality street. And yes, I am feeling better now.

Love to all -

By: Brandon D. Valentine

Brandon D. Valentine — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 21:32:26 +0000

I’ve been in Truckee, CA for the past week taking in the mountains and Lake Tahoe. I’ve been throwing my girlfriend’s Civic coupe through the twistys and keep nearly stuffing it when I swing by some $100k+ machine doing the same. Yesterday an F430 and a QP at Squaw Valley, and a few days ago a Carrera GT nonchalantly parked in downtown Truckee. This place in the summertime is a pistonhead’s dream.

By: Blunozer

Blunozer — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 21:31:54 +0000

I gotta give props to Maserati for not trying to copy the Germans with dull styling and electronic trickery.

One more thing… GM needs to look at the Quattroporte for inspiration of what a 4 door sedan CAN look like.

By: jackson_jackson

jackson_jackson — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 21:09:30 +0000

The Maserati Quattroporte is for people who value style, exclusivity and performance as priorities (very Italian donâ€™t you think?). The first two characteristics it provides in spades. The third, noâ€¦and unfortunately there is no corresponding positive compensation in ride quality in return for sacrificing of handling dynamicsâ€¦.which brings back the branding questionâ€¦.what is a Maserati?

By: Lesley Wimbush

Lesley Wimbush — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 20:31:56 +0000

Sure it’s prettier.. but tell me it doesn’t bear at least a passing resemblance to this puppy…

http://www.dodgetrucks.org/home/lesley/allure.jpg

By: Jonny Lieberman

Jonny Lieberman — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 20:00:32 +0000

Yalej,

Sure.

M35: Not as good as the M45.

How’s that?

By: yalej

yalej — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 19:55:08 +0000

Can we get a review of an Infiniti M35? :)

By: Jonny Lieberman

Jonny Lieberman — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 19:11:07 +0000

About the looks of this sucker, two-dimensional images do not do the Qp justice.

I remember the first time I saw on in the flesh I nearly drove off the road.

It was all black and just stunning. You need to see it in reality.

By: NoneMoreBlack

NoneMoreBlack — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 19:00:15 +0000

At my job a couple weeks ago (at a posh downtown hotel) there was some kind of charity auction where $7,000+ bought you the right to use a rotating fleet of QP’s as personal taxis all night, and so there were about 4-5 different ones coming and going for hours, allowing us to get in a really thorough ogling.

I was struck by how well they embodied understated-but beautiful. If I looked in the security cameras, I could swear there were a bunch of Buicks or something similarly pedestrian parked on the plaza, but when I walked outside to get a look they knocked me on my ass. I think they are somehow the ultimate sleeper; at first its just another hunk of Detroit iron or Bavarian mishap, but on double take its a masterpiece, with 400hp to boot.

And there’s nothing wrong with ox carts. 4 Octane is cheap nowadays!

By: imageWIS

imageWIS — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 18:56:40 +0000

Adding a real automatic transmission is a very good idea, but an even better idea would be to either: use a DSG gearbox or at least have the option to buy one with a proper manual transmission.

Jon.

By: imageWIS

imageWIS — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 18:52:21 +0000

Some of us arenâ€™t in the business of following movie stars to see if they want to show up with us to a house party, then having the movie star give us their QP for the end of the lease term. ;-)

Jon.

By: The Comedian

The Comedian — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 18:44:56 +0000

Wow, 25 comments and not one allusion to Entourage.

Don’t any of you pistonheads have HBO? Not even a surreptitious turtle, drama, or “bigger the [body part], the bigger the star” reference?

For shame, for shame.

By: Lesley Wimbush

Lesley Wimbush — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 18:32:10 +0000

Haaahaaa… I’m in a Hyundai Accent Hatchback this week!
Caliber R/T next week.
Oooooo – the luxury!!!

Um, as for the Maserati’s “phallic” front end … to me it’s very alluuuuuring… as in Buick Allure.
Or Lacrosse as you guys know it.

By: Sajeev Mehta

Sajeev Mehta — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 17:59:24 +0000

I’ve got two (comparatively dull) Toyota reviews in the works. Feel better, Barry? :)

By: Jonny Lieberman

Jonny Lieberman — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 17:57:00 +0000

Barry.

I’m getting a Mazda in two days.

By: BarryO

BarryO — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 17:50:53 +0000

Jonny,

Your reviews notwithstanding, the last 5 on the site were –

Maserati
Porsche
Mercedes
Your Mustang review
Aston Martin

And, my ox cart is currently in the shop. Way to go, hit a guy when he’s down…

By: Maserati Quattroporte Sport GT - don’t mention light clusters - SlashGear

Maserati Quattroporte Sport GT - don’t mention light clusters - SlashGear — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 17:49:43 +0000

[...] Niche, you see, is cool but not especially lucrative – particularly when you’re owned by Ferrari and are inevitably seen as the loss-leading mass market option. So it must be to accountants’ dismay and enthusiasts delight that the Maserati Quattroporte is still a rare sight on roads anywhere. A four-door behemoth, snouty and sleek, forced along the road by a 4.2l V8 inside which they’ve managed to squish 400 feisty horses, the Quattroporte offered an interesting alternative to the capable-but-bland Mercedes S-Class, “Best Buy on wheels” BMW 7 Series or any number of wannabe-luxury American SUV pretenders (memo to all: rouched leather does not a quality car make. Few plutocrats want to drive round inside of a petrol-powered labia). Come 2006 and they’ve fettled it a little further, shoeing it with fancy low-profile tyres and gluing on “Sport GT” badges. As Jeremy Clarkson and The Truth About Cars cannot help but remind you, the awkward paddle gearshift is still, well, awkward. Perhaps save off your $115k purchase until the new automatic version arrives. But please, let that be the only concession to populus opinion – leave the supercar handling in place, don’t dare flood the restrained interior with gauche cupholders. Because there are a fair few people with memories of light clusters who are just waiting for an excuse to start complaining. [...]

By: Sajeev Mehta

Sajeev Mehta — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 17:25:06 +0000

A low slung sedan with 19″ wheels from the factory? No wonder it rides like crap!

By: Jay Shoemaker

Jay Shoemaker — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 17:16:34 +0000

Gee, I got grief for reviewing the Nissan Versa, since car folks shouldn’t be interested in rides like these. I think it is good to have a balance between cars we really might buy and those that we onlywould buy if we won the lottery.

The Maserati is an Italian supermodel, best appreciated from afar. I have ridden in one with less than 10,000 miles on the odo and it rattled like a calypso band, not only because it wasn’t well assembled, but also because the transmission made everything, my teeth included, rattle.

By: Tyler D

Tyler D — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 17:16:23 +0000

I drive an Ox-Cart… What of it?