With a retractable glass roof, the firm's flagship sports car combines thrilling performance with the ability to top up your tan. But, how usable is the Maserati MC20 Cielo on UK roads?...
On sale: Now Price from: £235,225
What’s in a name? Well, with the Maserati MC20 Cielo it’s going to be easy to identify this model as the convertible version. You see, since Cielo is the word for ‘sky’ in Italian, this very much seems straight to the point – especially when you can electronically stow away the glass roof within 12 seconds to reveal the outside world above you.
And why not a soft-top? Well, the solid glass roof means the compromise in structural rigidity should be minimal. The MC20’s basic carbonfibre structure is very light and also extremely stiff, so, to bolt on a lot of reinforcement seems a counterproductive exercise in a flagship sports car. The solid roof panel means you get to maintain the refinement of the coupe model as well.
The thing is, can you really have a hit of Vitamin D in your thrilling supercar, or have there been too many chefs in Maserati’s kitchen when cooking up their flagship model? That’s what we’ve been finding out.
What’s it like to drive?
Press the Engine Start button and a 3.0-litre turbocharged V6 engine fires up into life. Its loud, deep-sounding note is rather angry, if a little agricultural. It’s not quite as exotic-sounding as the V10s engines fitted in the Audi R8 Spyder or Lamborghini Huracan Evo Spyder, but certainly less gravelly than the V8s found in Mclarens.
With 621bhp and a 0-62mph time of less than three seconds, the MC20 Cielo is just as powerful and barely any slower than the Coupe version. That’s hardly a surprise when the Cielo weighs just 65kg more than the regular coupe, and the way the engine responds and picks up speed from low revs makes it easy to drive when pootling around town.
Our test car might be optioned up to an eye-opening cost of more than £300,000, but it’s not daunting to drive at all. The controls are light and the size is easy to thread through small villages.
Plant your foot on the accelerator pedal and engine fiercely revs to the limiter with little hesitation. The eight-speed double-clutch automatic gearbox changes gear quickly and smoothly (especially when using the paddles) and while it’s a little docile in its responses in GT drive mode, it does suit a more relaxed drive in low-speed town driving. Switch over to Sport and it’s much more keen to shift down a gear.
Speaking of which, you can cycle through Wet, GT (the default setting), Sport and Corsa drive modes using the rotary drive selector. This spring-loaded dial isn’t the easiest to use, because you don’t always know whether you’ve succeeded in engaging the mode itself, but even in the more aggressive modes, the MC20 Cielo never becomes harsh or uncompromising to drive.
Indeed, the ride is firm and can fidget over country roads, but the suspension manages to round off the harshest of bumps so well you very quickly learn not to wince when approaching potholes on the road.
And while you can sense a few tremors being transmitted through the car (or see the rear-view mirror wobbling away slightly), the MC20 Cielo’s carbon structure feels stiff enough to deal with it all. There are no creaks and it far from ruins the experience.
The steering is light and direct, and while the response isn’t as instinctively accurate as the one you’d get in a Mclaren, it is still very easy to build into a rhythm down a twisty road.
The brake pedal is perhaps the biggest bugbear. The brakes themselves are strong and very effective, but the pedal itself needs pressing quite far down before they actually bite – and even then, they could be more progressive.
Nevertheless, the end result is something that lets you enjoy this sports car more often than you may expect. Sure, there are more hardcore rivals out there, but MC20 Cielo’s suppleness lets you flow down our poorly-surfaced roads without feeling as though you have to dig deep and push the limits in order to do so.
What’s it like inside?
Lift up the very light doors, lower yourself into the sports seats and your eyes fall upon a very simple interior layout.
It’s very easy to find a comfortable seating position in the MC20 Cielo, with plenty of adjustment from the seating and steering wheel, while the pedals are perfectly lined up. The seats are supportive with plenty of side bolstering to hold you in place.
The digital instrument panel has a few layouts that will change depending on the drive mode and can show various forms of data, although it can be fiddly trying to cycle through them with buttons on the end of the indicator/wiper stalks.
The low dash helps with the view out front, but the view out back is very restricted. Because the roof is stowed away above the engine, the lid and the buttresses sat on top behind the occupants is effectively raised. Depending on your seating position you can only see over it with the top half of the rear view mirror, while the view over the shoulder is effectively non-existent.
Despite a glovebox, a narrow cubby for a phone and a small cubby under the centre armrest, there’s not much in terms of outright storage space.
There is, however, plenty of room to stretch out as an occupant and it certainly doesn’t feel like you’re cramming yourself into a small sports car. Not only is there plenty of legroom in terms of length, but the footwells are also wide, and there’s enough room for anyone a little more than 6ft tall with the roof up. You might have to fight over who gets to rest their elbow on the narrow centre armrest, but there’s otherwise plenty of width between shoulders.
You might recognise some switches also found in some Alfa Romeo cars but the button count is low and mainly focused on the driver controls.
The glass roof has an electronically controlled film that can become opaque to reduce glare from the sun and can be adjusted on the touchscreen infotainment system. Likewise, the roof can be adjusted on the same sub-menu.
While the infotainment system is packed with features and is easy enough to connect your phone for using Apple Carplay or Android Auto, the icons are small and can be fiddly to aim for when driving. The row of shortcut keys could be placed on the right hand side of the screen closer to the driver, too.
The slightly awkward shape and capacity of the 100-litre rear boot means it’s accommodating enough for a couple of overnight bags, while a smaller area up front is quite shallow. You’ll have to pack light if you plan to go far.
Keyword: 2023 Maserati MC20 Cielo review