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2014 Maserati Quattroporte to get twin-turbo V6

As we wait for the Detroit Auto Show to get our up-close and in-depth look at the redesigned 2014 Maserati Quattroporte, some details are just starting to emerge about the car's powertrain, but nothing is official just yet. Autocar has posted a first drive of the new Quattroporte, finally spilling the beans about what motivates this sporty and luxurious sedan.
We already knew that the 2014 Quattroporte will offer two engines - a V6 and V8 - but what we didn't know is that both engines will get a pair of turbochargers and direct injection. Previously, we speculated that the smaller V6 would be supercharged, but this 3.0-liter V6 will get turbos instead helping it produce an estimated 410 horsepower. As for the larger 3.8-liter V8, this engine is said to produce 530 horsepower (confirming our previous report) to go with 479 pound-feet of torque; performance specs for the V8 include a top speed of 191 miles per hour and a 0-60 mph time of well under five seconds.
All cars will have a ZF eight-speed automatic transmission, and all-wheel drive will be optional allowing for all of the engine power sent to the rear wheel during normal driving and a full 50/50 split between front and rear axles when needed. As we suspected, the 2014 Quattroporte has grown in size to better compete with the Mercedes-Benz S-Class.

Autocar compares new Maserati Quattroporte to Jaguar XJ

Autocar's Steve Sutcliffe took the 2014 Maserati Quattroporte on a spin along snowy mountain roads to test it for a specific brief: as a limousine for the chauffeured class. It's sporting credentials are impressive: Twin-turbocharged 3.8-liter V8, 532 horsepower, 475 pound-feet of torque in casual circumstances that rises to 532 lb-ft in overboost, a 0-to-60 mile-per-hour sprint of 4.7 seconds and a top speed of 191 mph.
However, citing Maserati's desire to not just increase its sales to 50,000-per-annum by 2015, but to sell many more of its cars in China, Sutcliffe wanted to find out if the livery side of the Quattroporte could match its sport sedan side. So after taking the pilot's seat and trying out the sport settings, Sutcliffe hops in back to test out the CEO's seat.
Then he compares the Quattroporte against the long-wheelbase Jaguar XJ with its supercharged V8, a sedan that's 15,000 pounds less expensive than the Maserati. It doesn't take long for him to find that one of them is a clear winner when it comes to transporting VIPs. To find out which one, enjoy the video below.

Maserati MC20 bringing twin-turbo V6 to September debut

There is a touch more information on the pieces going into the Maserati MC20, starting with intel to Car and Driver that the mid-engined coupe will launch with a "new twin-turbo V6 rumored to make more than 600 horsepower." Last time we heard about the flagship coupe created to return Maserati to the race track — and serve as a halo to burnish the entire lineup and drive more impressive global sales — the rumblings predicted a hybrid V6 making 600 hp or thereabouts. Mystery shrouds the engine's displacement, but the stillborn Alfa Romeo 8C and GTV were predicted to get a 3.0-liter twin-turbo V6. When Car magazine asked a Fiat Chrysler engineer if the MC20's engine would take that motor and enlarge it to 3.6 liters, the response was, "Displacement costs only pennies, but pays back big bucks in power and torque."  C/D writes that a hybrid version of the twin-turbo V6 comes later. Car predicts the electronics crank output to roughly 700 horsepower, which can't be a random number since Alfa Romeo touted the now-dead 8C as having "700+ combined horsepower." The naturally aspirated mill and its sequential turbochargers send power exclusively to the rear wheels through a Getrag eight-speed dual-clutch transmission. The hybrid models, perhaps earning the Trofeo name signifying top-tier grunt, go all-wheel drive with "e-modules" on the front axle. Previous scuttlebutt pegged the most intense trim as having three electric motors, which sounds like the setup found in other super coupes like the Acura NSX, placing one e-motor between the engine and transmission, the others on the front axle. The lineup eventually welcomes a battery-electric model, too, as well as a convertible. Rumor has a massaged version of the carbon tub from the Alfa Romeo 4C sitting between the front axle and engine, although longer and wider and sitting on a longer wheelbase.   With the novel coronavirus still upending everything, the MC20 debut has been moved from May to September. C/D figures a starting price of around $160,000 when the model goes on sale in the U.S. next year, after launching in Europe toward the end of 2020. That theoretical price might sound substantial, but it only adds $9,000 to the MSRP of the current GranTurismo Convertible. Car's figure comes in a little higher, at "less than GBP200,000," around $250,000 U.S. Related Video: