Click to view more of the classic Maserati fire truck
In case there were ever any doubt that the Italians have more style than the rest of us, just look at their emergency vehicles. While over here, public services use the most basic of vehicles, the polizia have cars like the Alfa Romeo 159 and Lamborghini Gallardo. But what about their fire trucks? Their function usually dictates their form, but in this case, the Italians have got us beat.
Back in 1967, Constuzione Estintori Anticendio (CEA) of Bologna, Italy, took five Maserati Quattroportes and converted them for use as fire trucks at racing circuits. Labeled as "the fastest fire tenders in the world", they could top out at 225 kph thanks to their 4.2-liter V8s driving 260 hp through a five-speed ZF manual gearbox while riding on Borrani steel wheels with Girling disc brakes. All five examples were bought in 1987 by a collector in Austria, who eventually sold them all off except for the finest example, which he is now putting up for sale. Contact Christoph Grohe if you're interested.
Click above for high-res gallery of the Maserati Quattropore S
Let's be honest: cars can be a mode of transportation, but you're not reading Walkoblog or Cycleblog, now are you? At the heart of matters, what we're really pursuing here is that unbridled enthusiasm we had for cars as children. With every comparison of engine output and Nurburgring lap times, we're reaching back to the schoolyard, childishly debating the superiority of one sportscar over another. And all these galleries of high resolution images we bring you are just our updated version of hanging posters of Ferraris and Lamborghinis on the walls of our childhood bedrooms. How disappointed our younger selves would be, however, at what we end up driving when we finally have the means: ho-hum family sedans, bloated SUVs and wobly mini-vans. If only someone made an exotic sedan – not a compromise between the two, but a genuine exotic with four doors. That's exactly what Maserati did in 2003 with the revival of the Quattroporte, with a little help from sister-brand Ferrari.
With the Quattroporte, Maserati has proven itself capable of satisfying both our inner child and the one sitting in the back. A tough act to follow, then, because a sequel is seldom as exciting the original. But after 15,000 units delivered, the Quattroporte was treated to a mid-cycle refresh, sharpening up its already luscious styling, throwing in a host of new features and, most tantalizingly, dropping a bigger, more powerful engine into the mix. With such promise in store, we headed out to Austria to see what the boys from Modena had cooked up... and to seek out that boyhood grin once again.
Last week we brought you the first batch of images and details on the new Quattroporte and Quattroporte S from Maserati. Since we've received requests from several Autoblog readers that we give them a heads-up on events we're attending, and as eager as we always are to please, we're headed off next week to Europe to sample the latest from the master motor craftsmen at Maserati. Until we get a chance to drive and report on the newest offering from the stoic Trident marque, we offer up this video that conveys the new Quattroporte from every angle and in all its beauty. Follow the jump to watch.
Click above to view more of the Burberry Quattroporte
Think "Maserati" and "Burberry" and there are so many ways this could have gone classy. But this isn't one of them. Seems some fool with too much oil money and not enough taste has plastered his Quattroporte in what appears to be perforated Burberry-plaid gift-wrap paper. If this were some sort of new camouflage on a test mule for the newly revised Quattroporte, we'd say it was effective (who could focus on the details in between the bouts of vomiting?), but somehow we don't picture the Italians doing anything this horrendously tasteless. In fact, we'd encourage Maserati to track down the owner and repossess the vehicle immediately. Click on the thumbnails below to see more of the Burberry-spangled Maser... if you must.
Click above for high-res gallery of the new Maserati Quattroporte
It's hard not to love the Maserati Quattroporte. Between its Pininfarina lines and the Ferrari-developed chassis and engine, it's a veritable four-door exotic that makes the top-of-the-line competition from England and Germany look downright ordinary. But both countries are preparing tantalizing new offerings (Aston Martin Rapide and Porsche Panamera), and the Quattroporte has been on the market for five years now. With the complete replacement not due until 2012, Maserati has wisely developed a mid-lifecycle update for its sumptuous sedan. Now after squinting at spy shots for months, details and photos have begun to emerge in cyberspace.
The big question everyone was asking was whether this second-generation Quattroporte would continue with its current 400-hp 4.2-liter V8, or get treated to the more powerful 430-hp 4.7-liter unit that Maserati developed for the Alfa 8C and more recently shoehorned into the GranTurismo S. The answer is, yes. Like its two-door counterpart, the new Quattroporte will now be offered in two versions: the standard Quattroporte and the Quattroporte S. Both will come exclusively with the ZF-sourced six-speed automatic (jettisoning the clumsy sequential transmission that plagued the previous incarnation). Along with the new engine option, the Quattroporte has been treated to some new bodywork: the front grille and bumper have been reshaped and fitted with vertical slats to more closely resemble the GranTurismo's, the front and rear light clusters have been restyled with LEDs, the fenders sharpened up, the mirrors slimmed down and the tail styled more aggressively. Two new colors – a sandy beige and a maroon – are on offer, and the interior has also been ergonomically and stylistically refreshed, integrating the new Maserati Mutlimedia System.
Click on the thumbnails below to view the first crop of high-resolution images of the new Quattroporte.
You've got about $130,000 to buy a luxury sedan. We know, it's a terrible situation to put yourself in, but bear with us. You could get the same Audi A8, BMW 760i or Mercedes S-Class as everyone else at the country club. The Jaguar XJ doesn't do it for you and the Bentley Continental Flying Spur is outside your range, so where do you look? The Maserati Quattroporte would be our choice over any of the above, holding down territory as the only four-door exotic on the market. But with newcomers like the Aston Martin Rapide and Porsche Panamera – both from sportscar-makers as reputed as Maserati – the Italians will be keen to hold down their territory. So with an all-new Quattroporte expected around 2012, Ferrari's kid brother is preparing a mid-cycle facelift for its four-door masterpiece.
We've brought you spy shots of camouflaged test mules accumulating development miles, but photos of the revised Maser have now surfaced in cyberspace. From the images – reportedly obtained right from the factory headquarters in Modena – we can see that the physical changes will be kept minimal, but side by side with the outgoing version we're expecting to see new headlights, bumper and grille up front, all subtly reshaped, along with similar revisions to the caboose. What we don't know at this point is whether this facelifted Quattroporte will stick with the same rev-happy engine or swap it out for either the GranTurismo S/Alfa 8C version or the direct-injected variant developed for the upcoming Ferrari California, or if the Trident marque will keep that card up its sleeve for the all-new version to follow. One way or another, the Italians aren't likely to give up to the Germans or the English without putting up a good fight.
Maserati may be finally turning a profit, but it still can't have it both ways. As we previously reported, the Trident marque is apparently looking to have 911rival join its lineup instead of building the Kubang crossover. And while that may be good news for most of us, one oil-rich Arab sheik was hoping for something more versatile. Fortunately for him, cost is no object, so he's commissioning a Maserati wagon of his own.
The unnamed Middle Eastern customer, who has previously ordered several bespoke Ferrari estate wagons, has commissioned this shooting-brake version of the Maserati Quattroporte. Dubbed "Cinqueporte," the coachbuilt special currently exists only as a quarter-scale model, but is being realized by Italian design ateliers StudioM and StudioTorino. The coachbuilders will extend the roofline, craft folding rear seats and move the fuel tank to increase the Maserati's utility. While the cost of the project has also not been disclosed, one of StudioM's previous projects involved crafting a €350k custom interior for another customer's Quattroporte. This thing's not going to come cheap.
It would be hard to argue that Maserati has been getting lazy with the Quattroporte. Following its unveiling at the 2003 Frankfurt show, the Quattroporte went into production in 2004. Since then, Maserati has kept it fresh by introducing the Sport GT at Frankfurt 2005, the Executive GT at Detroit '06, the Automatica at Detroit '07 and the sharpest-yet Sport GT-S at Frankfurt '07.
In today's market, however, not even the exquisite lines of the Trident marque's four-door sedan can go without a visual update for more than four years. To that end, Maserati is expected to debut a mid-cycle facelift for the Quattroporte sometime in early 2008 – and that's coming just around the corner.
This second set of spy shots, following the earlier ones we reported a few months ago, show that the focus of the exterior modifications will be at the front end, which is expected to follow the example of the Quattroporte's two-door stable-mate, the GranTurismo. The rear end is also anticipated to benefit from a little nip-and-tuck, and although the interior is one of the finest in the business, one might expect Maserati to rework some magic inside, too. The sonorous Ferrari-sourced V8 engine and smooth ZF-sourced six-speed automatic will likely carry on unchanged. (That's a good thing.)
Click image for high-res gallery of press and live shots of this hot new Maser
We just got information about this new version of the Q-Porte, the Quattroporte Sport GT S, a couple of weeks ago and now we have a few live shots and our personal reactions to add. First off, it's really hard to even notice that this is a new Quattroporte, when there are three GranTurismos ten feet over from it. Not that the Q-Porte isn't a fine vehicle, but OMG that GT is sex on wheels. The QP is a great sedan (especially in Sport GT guise) and this new Sport GT S has a few minor but important upgrades over already improved Sport GT that should make this an even better driver's car. The problem is that there are very few exterior differences to tip you off that this is the all-new sportiest version. Or rather, they are too subtle to really notice. Not that there's anything wrong with the shape (or the details for that matter), but it's not like the jump, say, Ferrari made in taking an F430 and turning it into a Scuderia.
And in case you're wondering, the Sport GT S actually differs in a number of little ways. The programming of its 6-speed automatic gearbox has been reset for quicker responses. The car has been lowered 10mm in front and 25mm out back. It has stiffer springs and shocks. It features those new dual-cast brake discs developed with Brembo, which use cast iron and aluminum to help improve overall performance and reduce fade. It wears slightly larger rear tires (295/30-20) to improve handling and acceleration. It also features a more aggressive fascia with a black-chrome mesh front grille, body color door handles, new window trim, and twin exhaust tips at the rear too. Just a few of the more obvious (or not) things to help you identify this new sportiest Maserati.
Maserati's full release is after the jump and we've updated the gallery with live shots below.
Maserati only recently started selling the new automatic transmission version of the Quattroporte sedan and now it's being recalled. Apparently there is a problem with the low voltage threshold for the traction control and stability control that causes it to shutdown prematurely when it thinks the battery is low. The software problem evidently doesn't affect the anti-lock brakes, which should continue to function normally. Only 718 cars are affected by the recall that requires a replacement of the electronic control unit, though considering the Quattroporte is a six-figure car, that number likely represents a decent portion of those on the road.
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