Category: Large Executive 
Price Range: No data available
Superb ride and handling; luxurious; stylish; great engine/gearbox combo.
Switchgear could be better; sat nav is unreliable and unintuitive; expensive, especially when you start adding options.
This new, more powerful and sportier Quattroporte is great to drive and has a real presence on the road.
Car companies, bless 'em, do like to get all highfalutin' on us. For the launch of the Quattroporte S, Maserati has even taken to quoting Leonardo da Vinci.
Now it's not comparing its products to the Mona Lisa - which would clearly be folly - but the Italian carmaker is on something of a hiding to nothing by even juxtaposing itself with the renaissance master's works.
The thing is, it doesn't need to. The Quattroporte is a work of art in itself. Designed by Pininfarina, it's the Scarlett Johansson of the automotive world, a real looker with the ability to turn heads wherever it goes. And with the introduction of the more powerful Quattroporte S, it's taken the opportunity to give the car a bit of a makeover, with a new grille and lights at the front, plus new side skirts and rear lights.
Taking the 4.7-litre V8 from the GranTurismo S, the Quattroporte S is now quicker and sportier. Not bad for what is, in essence, an executive saloon.
But the question is, is it sporty enough to compete with the likes of the Mercedes-Benz CLS 63 AMG or Audi S8, or sufficiently statesmanlike to cope with being an executive saloon such as the Mercedes-Benz S-Class or Audi A8? Or is combining the two characters in one car a compromise too far?
