Maserati Quattroporte & Nikki Photo automotive fashion photography for a magazine, with the new Maserati Quattroporte. Thanks to Steve Harris Imports

“My Maserati does 169... ….Life’s Been Good to Me!” Maserati’s New Quattroporte By AdPix.Biz Model: Nikki Harding The name Quattroporte (literally, “Four Door”) is the only unsexy thing about this car. (Couldn’t they have named it the Maserati Sophia or Maserati Lauren or Maserati Sophia Lauren, anything, not so utilitarian as “Four Door”? It’s kind of like the feeling you had when you first learned what “Grand Prix” means.) The glove-soft leather seats, the genuine solid walnut accents, hints of chrome, a grill and fender vents from the racing Maseratis, beautiful engine song, sinewy lines, the utterly over the top power and speed, a recalcitrant transmission, ah – that’s Italian! It’s everything we like about Italy. It’s also downright dangerous and irresponsible. It’s the kind of car you would hear about on the news involving some reckless movie star “…and then he was arrested again for speeding in his Maserati…” And yet, it is winning awards, impressive ones. Best sedan, Best this, and best that. About the only thing the journalists can come up with that’s negative is the transmission. It seems it doesn’t shift that smoothly. Or at least it doesn’t shift as smooth as the BMW 7, or Audi A8, or Mercedes S-Class, which journalists think are its competition. But that’s like saying Angelina Jolie has rougher edges than Jodie Foster. Yes, that’s true. She’s supposed to. That’s why we like Angelina, she’s dangerous. She tattooed Billy Bob Thorton’s name on her arm, for Heaven’s sake! She’s not polished. She’s not a competitor to Foster. Guys like Jolie; girls like Foster. Well, girls and one guy that tried to kill Reagan over her, but that just proves the point. Would these journalists complain because $400 Italian Gucci loafers had soles too thin? Gucci’s don’t protect from rock punctures or support the arches the way good shoes do, they’d say. Compare them to Birkenstocks, for example, they’d say. Don’t fall for that. This car is so polished that it is obvious Maserati knew what it was doing.

It is not only faster and quicker, in stock form, but it is clearly sportier than any other four-door. It carves up suburban back roads as well as long galloping freeways like a wild stallion. The 394-horsepower red-headed four-cam V-8 motor is built by Ferrari, the company which stepped in to save Maserati in 1997, and it makes beautiful gurgling Ferrari basso profundo (the most serious of the bass sounds) on one end and thrilling caballeta (the quick aria which, in opera terms, anticipates impassioned action) on the other end, generating most of its torque down around 2,500 rpm. This is a 170mph, 5-second 0-60, $100,000, 16 ½ foot-long saloon of sheer sex appeal. For this kind of money you can expect, and get, all the cool electronic goodies: xenon headlamps, six-speed paddle-shifting sequential manual/automatic gearbox, electronic active suspension damping, in-dash navigation, and stability programming which will even activate individual brakes. You’ll also get the best luxury items with Italian touches – such things as the signature analog clock and heated and cooled, and reclining, rear seats. It also boasts impressive hidden technology, such as aluminum pieces engineered in to just the right places to reduce unsprung wheel weight and to bias the overall weight slightly to the rear, at 53% over the rear axle – perfect. You can’t quickly figure out how to put it into neutral? Men haven’t figured out Sophia Lauren, or Angelina either. Is that a problem? While the BMW, S-Class and A8 may be what you need for the boardroom or “Power Golf” trips, this Maserati is for the Paris fashion catwalks, with leggy models in funky sling-back heels and barely-there dresses, especially if you owned the fashion house and had tired of golf. Jay Leno has it right when he says a true car needs loving attention. He likes having to spend a few minutes showing his classic car that he really cares for it by tuning the carburetor one more time. The finicky ones make for loyal owners, just ask an owner of an early Porsche 911, or any British car nut. Maserati may make the transmission better, and add more cup holders. Every car maker does. Your mother may want you to wait. But Angelina is calling.

Maserati’s Back! Maserati was founded in 1926 and was quite famous in Grand Prix racing. Look for a Maserati “bird cage” at your favorite vintage racing event, for example. And they have been making road cars about 40 years, including four prior Quattroportes, the last of which, the third generation, was sold in the US in 1990. Maserati’s history has not been very stable, with infusions of money from various sources over the years, yet not producing the kind of sold product needed for the market they fit. Ferrari is adding more than money. Much engineering and marketing is also helping the company in a way like Maserati never enjoyed before, enabling its return to the U.S. five years ago with solid two-seaters and now this 5th generation Quattroporte, which is very well done. Not coincidentally, Maserati is also returning to sports car racing after many, many years’ absence, with its marvelous MC12, making its debut race at Sebring 2006. Be sure to follow the car, and Maserati’s return to racing, in the American LeMans series.