Review of the new Maserati Quattroporte Range

One day, we might see a Ferrari with four seats but in the meantime, there's always Maserati's Quattroporte. A large and very prestigious saloon with a heritage and sense of spirit missing from its German rivals, it offers a very Latin take on luxury.

Creating the equivalent of a four-door Ferrari is no easy undertaking and it's taken Maserati nearly half a century to perfect its Quattroporte model (this the Italian for 'four-door'). This is the fifth generation version and in truth, the only one to have really hit the mark. Things started promisingly enough with a gorgeous Frua-designed model back in 1963. It was the fastest four-door of its day, inspired by the boom in motorway building that occurred in the late fifties and loved by a whole new breed of customer who wanted a sumptuously equipped, rapid but elegant mode of long distance ground transportation. For drivers however, it wasn't that involving and in their efforts to combine litheness with luxury, Maserati rather lost their way with the three further generations of Quattroporte launched over the next three decades.

Italian Prime Ministers ignored the quirky looks and patchy build quality but other boardroom-level customers generally bought powerful BMW 7 series and Mercedes S-class alternatives instead. Until 2004 and the launch of this car. Despite an original £140 million design investment, it certainly wasn't perfect to start with. There were a few initial quality issues and early buyers were restricted to a clunky 'DuoSelect' automated manual gearbox. By 2008 and the launch of the mildly facelifted version I've got here however, these issues were largely sorted. The cars were now beautifully screwed together and a silky six-speed ZF gearbox suited the needs of a much wider selection of customers. Perfection isn't created overnight you see - but it's worth waiting for.

Turn the key and there's a lengthy starter whine before the V8 powerplant borrowed from Maserati's Gran Turismo coupe springs into life, then settles back into a more subdued but still meaningful rumble. If there's a better-sounding engine in the world, then we can't think of it. It comes either as a 400bhp 4.2-litre unit if you go for the standard version or in 425bhp 4.7-litre guise if you opt for the S, with a more focused 4.7-litre 433bhp Sport GT S model on offer if you really are set on sacking the chauffeur. No turbodiesel of course - that would be very un-Maserati. Nor would this deliver the glorious soundtrack you'll enjoy as you sail up towards the rev limiter, this S model propelled to sixty in just 5.4s on the way to a top speed of 174mph.

"You can drive it, you can draw up in it and you can drool over it..."

It walks the walk as well as talking the talk this car too. You simply don't expect a Mercedes S-Class or BMW 7 Series-sized luxury saloon to be able to attack corners in the way that this one can. Superb body control plays a big part in this, the Maserati's adaptive dampers sensing body movements and reacting instantly to keep the car steady through the bends with eager turn-in. There's terrific grip and if you want to disable the MSP traction and stability control system and indulge in tail-out antics, then you can. The penalty for all this is a rather un-limo-like ride, but it'll be acceptable to most unless they either select the standard versions' rather unnecessary tauter 'Sport' setting (which also speeds up the gearshifts) or perhaps choose the Sport GT S model with its 25% stiffer all-round set-up.

You can't really go too far wrong whichever Quattroporte model you select, unless that is, you make the mistake of selecting the 'DuoSelect' automated manual gearbox on the entry-level version. This works fine if you select the gears yourself using the lovely paddles behind the steering wheel but left in automated 'Drive' mode, it struggles to move this Maserati in the smooth dignified way you'd expect from a luxury saloon. Which is why nearly all buyers go for the fully Automatic model, with its ZF gearbox mounted front rather than rearwards. Blue rather than red cam covers will identify this to your workshop but given that it still offers the same six-speed paddle arrangement, the only real difference you'll notice is the lack of jerky progress when you leave it to its own devices.

Is it really possible to create a car that's as exciting to drive as it is relaxing to be driven in - two cars in one? After a day stressing yourself in the kind of business pursuits that enable the purchase of something like this in the first place, the Quattroporte, in theory, offers a couple of ways to unwind. Depending on your mood, you might want to forget the day's hassles by flicking up down through the paddle-shift gearbox to the tune of a crackling, rumbling V8 at full chat. Or maybe, you might prefer to relax by reclining here in the rear. If you've ticked the right option boxes, you can there be quickly experiencing a seat massage, watching a DVD and enjoying a drink chilled in the centre storage box resting on a pull-out wooden picnic table.

And as a piece of design? Well this is the first Pininfarina-penned Quattroporte and it certainly won't suit if you want to hide your wealth under a bushel. Quite apart from the arresting looks, this car is seriously lengthy. With an unusually long nose that contributes in no small part to a total length of over five metres from tip to tail, the Maserati is longer than a BMW 7 Series, wider than a Mercedes S Class yet lower than a Jaguar XJ. Despite this, it offers a relatively small 450-litre boot (that's 10-litres less than a compact BMW 3 Series), restricted by the size and positioning of the large 90-litre fuel tank. At least the cabin is large enough for both front and rear seat passengers to stretch out in comfort - though it's not really designed to seat three at the back. The chassis is a clean sheet design with a classic longitudinally-mounted engine driving the rear wheels. As for the most recent visual changes, well, there are smart LED strip lights at the front and rear, plus a revised front grille featuring vertical bars and reshaped bumpers.

Maserati offer a choice of a 4.2-litre 400bhp unit (in the entry-level model), a 4.7-litre 425bhp engine (in this S version) and a 4.7-litre 433bhp powerplant (in the flagship Sport GT S variant), an all-petrol saloon model range. On paper, a slightly cheaper BMW 750i or Mercedes S500 would match this car's straightline speed, space and luxury. On the road, their aural and tactile driver experience isn't even in the same league. Yes, you could achieve the driver-focused feel in a cheaper BMW M5, but it's a smaller car that can't offer the same luxurious gait when you're simply not in the mood to go throwing the thing about. An Audi S8 is closer, but still doesn't have this Italian car's spirit. That leaves only much more expensive sporting luxury saloon rivals, cars like Porsche's Panamera, Mercedes' S65 AMG or conceivably even Aston Martin's Rapide or Bentley's Continental GT Speed.

Whichever Quattroporte variant you go for, you'll be treated to a sumptuous cabin swathed in leather, featuring classy materials and lovely touches. The switchgear and the general layout isn't quite up to German standards, but it's not far off and in any case, has its own rather unique appeal. Standard features include satellite navigation, a high end stereo system (with rather fiddly buttons) that features a 30GB hard disc and USB interface, plus of course a Bluetooth handsfree set-up for your 'phone.

As you might expect, running a Maserati Quattroporte isn't a job for the terminally short of cash. The Italians quote a rather optimistic combined fuel consumption figure of 19.2mpg for the 4.2-litre version but possibly more representative is the urban fuel figure of just 12.9mpg. Emissions vary between 340 and 365g/km of CO2 which suggests that perhaps there's a reason why few of these are ordered in green. It gets worse too: insurance is Group 20. There is good news though in the form of strong residuals - an impressive 82% of purchase price after 12 months and 67% after two years. Clearly the market finally agrees with Maserati that the car is now well screwed together.

If you're going to spend £80,000-£90,000 on a luxury saloon, there's a strong argument for getting something unique - something like this. You can drive it, you can draw up in it and you can drool over it. For the independently-minded boardroom buyer who'd like a classic Italian sportscar but needs four doors, there's nothing quite this Maserati. You can buy faster, bigger and brasher supersaloons but you can't buy anything that's quite so ice-cool as a Quattroporte.