The Quattroporte Trofeo here is Maserati’s effort to lure someone away from the Porsche Panamera they're probably thinking about financing. It does that with a direct injection 3.8-litre twin-turbo V8 pushing out 572bhp and 730Nm torque, good for a 0-62mph time of 4.5 seconds and a top speed nudging past the 200mph mark (202mph). It’s the quickest Quattroporte ever made. And it's rear-wheel drive.
It’ll cost from £125,890 exactly when it hits showrooms later this year, probably November, which puts it squarely against the BMW M760Li (£139,000) the Mercedes-AMG S 63 (£127,000) and the Porsche Panamera Turbo (£117,000). And, let’s face it, also the £102,000, 567bhp Range Rover Sport SVR because it’s 2020 and people buy that sort of thing now.
The Range Rover in particular will never match this for noise nor driving excitement though. The Quattroporte Trofeo here is rear-wheel drive for a kick off, sending power from the V8 – and a very beautiful V8 it is, too (see below) – to the rear wheels via an eight-speed ZF automatic gearbox.
It shares its engine with a newly released Ghibli Trofeo saloon (a BMW M5 rival) and a Levante Trofeo SUV, with the trio of high-performance models coming soon after Maserati announced its first ‘electrified’ vehicle in the Ghibli Hybrid; it’s almost as though Maserati had a panic attack after being so soft and immediately decided to do the exact opposite thing. That said, the Ghibli hybrid is hardly a tonic to the world’s environmental issues. It’s just a 48v mild hybrid that improves fuel economy a tiny bit. Read about that car here.
So, the Quattroporte Trofeo. The chassis has of course been fettled somewhat over the standard car, with most of the improvements seemingly focussed on the suspension: it gets stiffer springs, adaptive dampers and revised suspension geometry, all helping to ensure that the tyres stay firmly in contact with the road at all times. The tyres themselves are improved, now Continental Sport Contacts.
A locking rear differential improves handling but also ensures this thing will powerslide with the best of them, and the car comes with a launch control system too. The traction control system can be altered to suit the driver’s tastes, and there are of course a number of configurable drive modes.
Styling wise you’ll recognise this as a Trofeo and not a bog standard Quattroporte because of its forged 21-inch alloys, ground-scraping front splitter (not literally), wider side skirts, new quad exhaust design and contrasting coloured side vents.
Inside, aside from all the carbon fibre, the interior gets perforated leather upholstery as standard, there’s a new 10-inch infotainment system, and a retro-looking pair of analogue dials in the instrument panel; the majority of manufacturers are moving towards digital instrument displays now.
The Quattroporte Trofeo does things quite differently to its main rivals generally. The BMW M760Li, for example, is powered by a 6.6-litre V12 powering all four wheels. It’s bigger and significantly quicker than the Trofeo, with a 0-62mph time of just 3.7 seconds, although its top speed is limited to 155mph as standard, for what that’s worth.
The Mercedes-AMG S 63 L packs the same number of cylinders as the Maserati, getting its punch from a 4.0-litre V8, but with 604bhp it has a little more power and is therefore a bit quicker, getting to 62mph in 4.2 seconds. That’s not the quickest S Class though. Mercedes offers a V12-powered S 65 L (anything BMW can do, etc.) with a 6.0-litre engine developing 621bhp, although that car costs a whopping £190,000 so it makes the Maserati look relatively cheap.
Finally the Panamera Turbo, which also comes with a 4.0-litre turbo V8, in this case developing 542bhp, but with an enormous 770Nm of torque able to push the car to the 62mph benchmark in just 3.6 seconds. Panamera buyers get much more choice with their choice of high-performance drivetrains, however, The £140,000 Turbo S-E Hybrid, for example, is even quicker to the benchmark (3.4 seconds), while claiming a quite amazing and very Toyota Prius-y 80.7mpg WLTP fuel consumption average. The Maserati, by contrast, has a claimed WLTP figure of 12.5mpg. LOL.
Keyword: New Maserati Quattroporte Trofeo: 572bhp, charmingly retro