Control in the Seat of Power
Beat the Inaugural Rush - drive a Maserati around DC now!

Washington, D.C. – America’s capital. It had been a while since I spent time in this majestic city, so when an opportunity to take a tour of the area came up, I wasn’t about to turn it down. Washington is one of those rare places; somewhere I am always glad to return to, with a seemingly endless number of attractions and sights to enjoy. Touring the area at the wheel of a Maserati Quattroporte Executive GT was just the icing on the cake.

Maserati of Washington, which kindly agreed to loan the car, is located in the metro suburb of Sterling, VA; the showroom is not far from Dulles International Airport. The Dulles Toll Road runs for about ten miles towards the airport, but it seems to be much longer each time I use it, so I decided to explore some other roads in the area. The Potomac River lies about three miles north of the dealership; it forms the border between Virginia and Maryland. It has proved a magnet for people looking for somewhere within daily commuting distance of the city, so finding quiet country roads on which to exercise the Quattroporte wasn’t easy – but I managed to stumble over one or two.

We have remarked on it before, but it bears repeating: the Quattroporte is a large luxury sedan – until you start to drive it. The driving experience is much closer to that of a small and nimble sports car, as though the exterior has shrunk; this may be partly due to the excellent visibility, making the car easy to place on the road. Whatever the reason, it is a most welcome trait, especially on narrow unfamiliar roads. In combination with the tremendous road holding and continual feedback the car provides, it gave me the confidence to send the car surging across northern Virginia, seeking out ever more challenging bends, enjoying the howling exhaust note as the 4.2-liter engine soared to 7,000 rpm and beyond.

After a hugely enjoyable time exploring the back roads of the area, I started to head towards the city; but first I took a scenic detour into Great Falls Park. This is where the Potomac river runs through the Mather and Potomac Gorges, dropping 80 feet in less than a mile and creating spectacular rapids and falls. Take a look at the area using Google Maps; it is easy to see the river going from a thousand feet wide to less than a couple of hundred, and the raging white water this creates. The park itself was wonderfully quiet when I visited – I had one entire parking lot to myself, and while I was shooting some pictures of the Maserati in this tranquil setting, a deer ambled across the lot less than a hundred yards away. After admiring the falls, I headed down into Washington, D.C. itself, heading across the Arlington Memorial Bridge towards the awe-inspiring Lincoln Memorial.

If you have not visited Washington, D.C. I would strongly encourage you to add it to your ‘must see’ places. It offers culture vultures, history buffs and students of architecture a dazzling cornucopia of attractions, in a remarkably small area; from the Lincoln Memorial at one end of the Mall to the Capitol at the other is just 2¼ miles. That distance encompasses the Washington Monument, the WWII, Korean and Vietnam War Memorials, the crown jewels of the Smithsonian Institute – Museums of American History, Natural History and Air and Space, Art and Modern Art – the US Botanical Garden, all set amid the wide open spaces of the Mall itself. Off to the sides are the National Aquarium, the National Archives, the Holocaust Memorial Museum, the Jefferson Memorial and (last, but not least) the White House. A week would not be enough to do justice to all that Washington has to offer; you could easily fill a busy month with different activities.

To begin, I cruised down Independence Avenue past the Smithsonian ‘castle’ and the enormous bulk of the National Air and Space Museum. The Quattroporte, with its 6-speed ZF Automatic transmission, purred along effortlessly yet still attracted many an admiring glance from the tourists thronging the sidewalks. With Auto mode engaged, there was no need to use the column-mounted shift paddles; the system’s electronics did a fine job of shifting up and down in smooth but immediate response to the throttle. When not admiring the host of wonderful buildings along the Mall (and avoiding errant jaywalkers), I had time to admire the interior of the Maserati. The light wood trim contrasted nicely with the Poltrona Frau leather in Blu Navy – and since this was an Executive GT, the leather-trimmed steering wheel also had wood inserts. The ventilation function of the front seats – also standard on the Executive GT – came in handy each time I returned to the car, as the early summer sun beat down.

My first stop was outside the United States Supreme Court, sixteen enormous columns rising in front of the massive bronze doors – each door weighs an astonishing 6½ tons. While researching this article I was surprised to find that the building was only completed in 1935 – until then the court had let a peripatetic existence, being established in New York before moving to Philadelphia in 1790, then on to Washington in 1800. Even more remarkably, the construction project came in under budget – including all furnishings, which had been anticipated to be extra. Just around the corner is the Library of Congress – the world’s largest library, it houses some 130 million items – everything from a book so small you have to turn the pages using a needle, to the world’s largest collection of comic books.

From here, I headed to the White House – or rather, I headed in that general direction. In these security-conscious times, it is virtually impossible to drive anywhere near the Presidential residence. The good news was that the enforced detours took me past some truly splendid buildings, including the Old Executive Office Building. This massive edifice dominates the block; it may be only four stories high, but each one is about double the height of its modern equivalent, and the colonnades and porticos give it an unmistakable grandeur.

Heading towards my hotel, I came across Dupont Circle, and I couldn’t resist the chance of putting in a few laps in the Quattroporte. The car somehow manages the trick of being unobtrusive yet attention-grabbing; it doesn’t stand out, it doesn’t shout its presence like some more self-consciously exotic rivals, yet its Pininfarina styling drew admiring gazes all the same, whether stationary or surging around the traffic circle with the V8 revving joyfully. The position of the engine behind the front wheels, which puts more of the weight on the rear wheels, pays true dividends in handling, allowing the driver to push the Quattroporte on when some of its rivals would be skittering across the road, afflicted with understeer.

I got up at a truly unsociable hour the next day, and headed to the Mall in hopes of lining up some good photos of the Maserati before the parking spaces disappeared and the sidewalks became clogged with tourists… only to find that I should have stayed in bed! It was the day of the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure 5K race, with more than 7,500 people running in aid of breast cancer charities, so not only were there even more people than usual but the police were also present in full force, ensuring that traffic kept moving and no one (‘that means you, buddy’) parked anywhere they shouldn’t. What’s more, an unseasonal mist had descended – and with so many fine buildings and monuments crafted from white stone, the gray skies made photography almost impossible.

Fortunately the event was taking place to the west of the Capitol; I lucked into a prime parking spot on Pennsylvania Avenue by the Reflecting Pool below the U.S. Capitol , and settled in to let the rising sun burn away the mist. This took a little while, which gave me ample time to consider the Quattroporte – not to mention fielding questions from admiring passers-by. “Is that really a Maserati? How fast is that? It sure is pretty – how much is it?” That was typical of the comments. It’s not difficult to see what they found so attractive; while the performance and road holding make the Quattroporte a superb driver’s car, the elegance of its design and the quality, both interior and exterior, set it apart from just about every other car on the road.

With much of the Mall remaining closed off, I decided it was time to head out of town, so I headed over to Georgetown. This is a lovely area – it was first settled back in 1751, and it is filled with street after street of gorgeous old brick-built houses; each one different to the next, some painted in bright colors, some with pillared front porches, all wonderfully attractive. There is a surprising amount of greenery too, with well-tended front gardens complementing the tree-lined streets. The Quattroporte fitted in perfectly – elegant, understated, distinctly desirable.

By now, I should have been turning the Maserati’s wheels in the direction of the dealership – but on a whim, I stopped off at the Italian Embassy. The building is an architectural triumph, the overall square shape of the embassy pierced by a diagonal passageway with a large circular glass-domed piazza at its heart. As a design masterpiece, it seemed the ideal spot to take a few photos of the Maserati – both are the product of Italian designers as the embassy – close by the Naval Observatory and just off Embassy Row – was penned by Piero Sartogo Architects; so proud are they that the building is featured on the home page of the company’s website.

From one classic Italian building to another, the Maserati of Washington dealership: I headed out of Washington for the final time on this trip, vowing to return. It is a tremendous area to visit – being able to tour the sights in a Quattroporte made the trip almost perfect. Maserati of Washington provided us with the Quattroporte I used for this trip, along with helpful suggestions, funny stories and good coffee, for all of which I am extremely grateful.