15 Jan 07
That call became even louder after first Aston Martin (DB9) then Jaguar (XK) launched cars whose ZF six-speed automatics were programmed with a quicker, more responsive manual-shift mode than any automatic, Porsche Tiptronic included, had ever managed before.
Once moving off, these cars kept their torque converters pretty much locked when being driven in manual mode, so the engine and transmission felt properly connected as they do in an F1-Shift-type robotised manual. Even better, they blipped the accelerator on the downshift before engaging the lower gear, so the shift was smoother and racier. The blip happened later in the shift than it does in the better robotised manuals, but it was enough and it was in time.
This was exactly the sort of transmission the Quattroporte needed. And yes - you've guessed - it now has one. It's that ZF six-speeder again, but its adoption has meant a surprising amount of re-engineering before the Maserati Quattroporte Automatica was pronounced fit.
Most significant is that instead of including the autobox in a rear-mounted transaxle, as with the DuoSelect, the gearbox is conventionally mounted on the back of the engine. This has necessitated a new rear suspension subframe, the deletion of the long torque tube that anchored engine and transaxle together as a rigid unit (there's now a conventional propeller shaft instead) and, curiously, the replacement of the former dry-sump lubrication with a conventional wet sump under the engine.
Why this last one? There's no reason why you can't attach an automatic gearbox directly to a dry-sump engine, after all: Porsche has been doing it for years. The reason, says Maserati, is that a wet-sump engine is quieter and it suits the new car's demeanour better. The re-engineering even went as far as the engine block, redesigned to cope with the new oil supply system and crankcase breathing requirements. The cam covers are new castings, too, and now painted blue instead of red.
