Quattroporte Sport GT DuoSelect

Long distance touring is an integral aspect of both the North American and European automotive enthusiast tradition. The cry of “Road Trip!” is guaranteed to cause hair on the backs of gear heads’ necks to stand up. But a dilemma is always raised by the thought of a long car journey, be it competitive in the style of the classic movie Gumball Rally or leisurely in the style of the classic family driving vacation: does the enthusiast opt for the raw edge of high performance and extreme handling capability, or the comfort and easy cruising of the grand touring car? In honor and celebration of the then-new Autostradas, Maserati sought to obviate this dilemma in 1963 by creating the first genuine sport sedan, the Quattroporte. In 2003 Maserati successfully redefined the sport sedan with the current Quattroporte, and in 2006 the concept was still further refined for those who leaned more towards sport than sedan with the Quattroporte Sport GT. Further enhanced in 2007, the Quattroporte Sport GT is the sport sedan.

What makes the Sport GT DuoSelect a no-compromises sport sedan? Beginning at the front – and the rear – is balance. With a segment-first rear weight bias allowed by the mid-front engine and mid-rear transaxle connected by a rigid drive shaft and positioned by a wide-track layout including a sport-tuned iteration of Maserati’s Skyhook adaptive suspension, the Quattroporte Sport GT offers a contemporary iteration of a classic sports car platform, writ large enough to seat five in comfort.

The next building block is the sublime combination of Maserati’s Ferrari-derived 4.2l V8 engine and the race-bred DuoSelect sequential manual gearbox. Breathing through a tuned exhaust system unique to the Sport GT, the former produces a massive 400bhp and distributes its torque in a flat but wide curve that complements the relatively high rpm at which peak power is made. This provides sports car engine characteristics, tuned for a sport sedan. Mated to the DuoSelect gearbox, which the driver shifts using fingertips on sculpted paddles behind the thick-rimmed steering wheel with the aid of a computer-controlled clutch, the engine and driver can engage one another fully. In the Sport GT, DuoSelect has been engineered to shift 35% faster than in other Quattroporte models, further enhancing the purity of the Quattroporte Sport GT’s performance capabilities.

Steel-braided brake lines and fixed Brembo calipers – both features found on the best race cars but only brought to the street in the sedan segment by Maserati* – act on massive cross-drilled Brembo brake rotors behind light 20” flow formed wheels to help give the Sport GT decelerative performance equal to a Ferrari Enzo. Road & Track magazine recorded stopping distances from 60mph of 109 feet for both the million-dollar exotic Ferrari and the Quattroporte – a massive 21 feet shorter than the performance they measured for the new Mercedes S550; that’s not just a fun bench-racing statistic to raise over dinner, that is a potential safety advantage for the ride home afterwards. The low unsprung weight allowed by these components, along with ultra-low profile tires, Skyhook, the speed and accuracy of Maserati’s renowned steering and the high-threshold intelligent-intervention of the Maserati Stability program help to keep the agile Quattroporte Sport GT well planted on the road during the most spirited driving of skilled enthusiasts.

Dynamically, therefore, the Quattroporte Sport GT is effectively unmatched on the road. The Quattroporte’s ability to out-handle the vaunted BMW M5 in the real world, and to handily outshine and outrun any other sedan is already legendary and well documented by the press.* The Sport GT’s luxurious appointments, ranging from special carbon fiber trim and sumptuous leather upholstery, not to mention the superb Bose entertainment system designed specifically for the car, might well be overshadowed by its high performance reputation. This is as it should be since the Quattroprote Sport GT is canted towards performance, however no occupant of the cabin will fail to appreciate the extreme level of comfort offered by this spacious sedan which can cruise above 170mph, easily carrying four people and their luggage. In focusing on “sport”, Maserati did not ignore “Grand Touring”.

The combination of high performance, extreme handling, generous appointments and subtle luxury, completed by memorable Pininfarina styling, renders the Quattroporte Sport GT both a supreme Q-ship and an unmatched sport sedan. Time, then, for the classic road trip test – a fast blast along snaking roads from sea level to noticeably high altitude, and with some corners that will load its suspension and likely unsettle all those lesser four-doors.

Description of such a drive in the Sport GT is liable to be filled with hyperbole. The fact is that its pace is akin to that of an exotic two-seater. Precision and balance are the words which, through the silly grin on the driver’s face, come to mind again and again as the car is easily held on an aggressive line through tight bends linked by short straights. The fat torque band and incredibly rapid gear shift allows one to build speed with an immediacy which would be unnerving, were the brakes and suspension not so clearly capable of helping the driver retain control. Less point and squirt than look and trace, the Quattroporte Sport GT can slow time even as it burns up the asphalt; the driver need feel no sense that the car will run wild or that undesired forces will take over. There is no raggedness to the fast line unless injected by the driver, and yet the car provides constant and comprehensive feedback through every control. This is a multi-faceted car for serious driving, even as its air conditioning keeps oppressive heat at bay and its seats cosset one in a degree of comfort which many purist sports cars simply cannot offer.

That is, in conclusion, what makes the Quattroporte Sport GT a car which solves the great road trip dilemma. Integrating comfort with pace, it is a luxury car about which the sports car driver need feel not the slightest degree of embarrassment, unless of course that driver is in some so-called sports car, suffering a harsh ride when dispatched in short order by the Quattroporte driver. The discerning enthusiast matches the car to the task; for road trips across town or Grand Tours across continents the Quattroporte Sport GT is peerless and getting there is far more than half the fun. The only downside is that other competitors in one’s real or imagined cross-country race will always look as if they worked much harder coming second than the Sport GT driver did in winning. Your authorized Maserati dealer will show you – just ask.

* Learn more at http://www.maseratiawards.com.