Maserati Quattroporte Sport GT S Car Review

Facts At A Glance
Car: Maserati Quattroporte Sport GT S
Prices: £89,865 – on the road
Insurance Group: 20
Emissions: 365g/km
Performance: 0-60mph 5.1s / Max Speed 177mph
Fuel Consumption: (urban) 11.7mpg/ (extra urban) 25.8mpg/ (combined) 17.9mpg
Safety: Twin front,side and curtain airbags, ABS, stability and traction control, ISOFIX child seat fixings
Dimensions: Length/Width/Heightmm 5052/1895/1438mm

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Our Rating: 7.6 / 10

Maserati has turned up the wick on its sleek Quattroporte saloon. Steve Walker takes a look at the Sport GT S model.

The Maserati Quattroporte isn’t your average luxury saloon car. It takes a far more sporting approach than the majority of four-doors its size and the Sport GT S model is more aggressive still. The all-round build and materials quality of the Maserati leaves something to be desired and the interior isn’t particularly roomy for such a big vehicle but it has a superbly charismatic engine, sleek looks and it feels special.

When you get to the very top end of the luxury saloon segment, you start to come across cars that have been designed with at least half an eye on the owner spending a lot of time sitting in the back. Being chauffer-driven is par for the course when you’ve got the best part of £100,000 to spend on a saloon car and top line versions of the 7 Series, S-Class and A8 all pay as much attention to the contentment of rear-seat occupants as they do to pleasing those behind the wheel. The Maserati Quattroporte is different and particularly in the Sport GT S model, there’s no doubt as to the location of the best seat in the house.

The Quattroporte has never been a direct alternative to range-topping iterations of the big German saloons. Its efforts are directed in a subtly different direction. You can call it character if you want, Maserati would probably like it if you did, but what the car really has is an alternative focus. Despite its size, the Maserati four-door is more of a sports saloon than a luxury one and the Sport GT S model we’re looking at here is even more targeted at the dual goals of going quickly and entertaining its driver. Sitting in the back would still be perfectly agreeable but perhaps not if the person behind the wheel is driving in the fashion that Maserati intended.

The Maserati 4.7-litre V8 engine produces 440bhp in the Quattroporte Sport GT S, an increase in power over the standard cars that can mainly be attributed to the introduction of a sports exhaust system. Luxury saloon manufacturers usually put an inordinate amount of effort into achieving near silent running but Maserati has installed a small valve in the system that says a great deal about the thinking behind the Sport GT S as a whole. In normal mode, the valve is closed forcing exhaust gases through a long section of curving pipes where their acoustic energy is dissipated. Press the sport button and the valve opens, letting the gasses rip through on a more direct course and producing th

Given its head, the Maserati Quattroporte Sport GT S can cover the 0-60mph sprint in 5.3s which is seriously quick for a car of this size but that time can be lowered to 5.1s with the aid of the MC Start launch control function. Despite a heady 7,200rpm redline, the Maserati V8 is very flexible with a flat torque curve and plenty of pull from low in the rev range. This will help on the occasions when owners prefer more languid progress.

You’d expect a car carrying the Maserati Trident on its nose to look the part and it’s hard to argue with the Quattroporte’s flowing, elegant lines. The Sport GT S model boosts the aggression of the standard car’s appearance with its lowered sports suspension and black grille crossed by vertical fins. The fact that this is a rather special Maserati Quattroporte is highlighted by red highlights on the grille’s central trident logo. Arch-packing 19" alloy wheels are fitted as standard and there’s more black detailing around the doors. The cabin features leather and Alcantara sports seats, titanium trim finishes and the Quattroporte Sport GT S legend writ large across the carbon fibre-effect dash. The sports suspension drops the car by 15mm at the front and 11mm at the rear compared to that of standard Quattroporte models, enhancing grip and body control at the expense of a firmer ride.

In size, the Quattroporte stands comparison to other top luxury saloons at over five meters from nose to tail. Its packaging isn’t quite as adept as that of the leading lights however, and rear legroom is more pinched than you’d expect. The boot too is rather disappointing considering the overall bulk of the car. Inside, beneath the fancy detailing on the Sport GT S, some of the materials aren’t of the calibre found in rivals. The design too is a little muddled with an overload of buttons on the dash caused by the absence of the sort of integrated control system that’s become a routine inclusion elsewhere in the sector. What the Quattroporte Sport GT S