.jpg)
Introduction
Maserati Quattroporte -- 2005 Review: Like international screen siren Sophia Loren, the 2005 Maserati Quattroporte’s timeless Italian beauty speaks volumes about its culture and class. Across the parking lot, our Quattroporte awaited a test drive, cloaked in gorgeous sheetmetal draped ever so skillfully over its voluptuous curves, making instantly clear to any onlooker that this is no ordinary car.
In a confirmed enthusiast, just the sight of the Quattroporte can make the heart race, perspiration bead, and muscles quiver with anticipation. With the keys to the ignition in hand, the effect is quadrupled. Emblazoned with a dominant trident badge in the center of the massive grille, the Quattroporte’s appearance and pedigree intoxicate, casting a spell even before the big V8 engine under the hood roars to life. Driving the Quattroporte, caressing the soft leather steering wheel rim while goosing its Ferrari-sourced engine through the accelerator pedal, is like a triple-shot dose of espresso, setting every nerve on full alert.
Indeed, the Maserati Quattroporte is not just about looks. This is one wonderful sedan that is just as pleasurable to drive as it is to view through star-crossed eyes.
Model Mix
In typical Italian fashion, the 2005 Maserati Quattroporte comes one way, but with a wide range of optional features to personalize the car to your liking. There isn’t an entry-level model, or an up-level model. There’s one engine offering, with one transmission delivering power to the rear wheels. And thanks to bespoke tailoring through a wide range of colors, interiors, and options, the plethora of resulting variants virtually assures that every one of the 1,500 Quattroportes coming to North America is certainly one of a kind.
Our test car was covered with a gorgeous burgundy mica paint that appeared coated with Teflon, so shiny and luminescent was its finish. This is just one of numerous deep, classic colors offered as standard equipment, and with the Maserati Personalization Program you are literally offered four million color and interior material combinations.
When it comes to the interior, we wouldn’t mess with the fashion sensibilities of the designers at Maserati. Supple leather covers everything you touch, and what isn’t upholstered in leather is trimmed with the most exquisite woodwork we have seen in a modern motorcar. Our Quattroporte’s luscious mahogany wood trim was to die for, coating the center console and making it resemble a fine piece of furniture complete with jointed corners. Turning thin layers of wood into art is difficult for most, but not so for the craftsmen at Maserati.
|
