Maserati Quattroporte on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Musing on Maserati's SUV chops | 2017 Levante S Quick Spin

Like a lot of you, I spent the weekend patrolling suburbia in a white SUV. Unlike a lot of you, mine had Ferrari-built engine. It went something like this: I'd innocuously pull up to a stoplight in the 2017 Maserati Levante S. Punch up sport mode. The bass comes on. Suddenly my white refrigerator of a retriever hauler sounds like something else. The light turns. I nail the gas maybe halfway. The low rumble turns to a growl. Like a real, legit growl. It sounds good. Not Camry V6 good, but menacing like an Italian sports car. Full-throated and angry. It gets louder. For a moment I think some dude on motorcycle is being obnoxious nearby. That's my car, I realize. Cover blown, I accelerate through the light, merging gracefully ahead of the slower vehicles dutifully cued up. Then I reach over and grab a warm bread stick that's resting on top of a pizza and blithely enjoy some open space on the road. That neatly sums up the dual personalities of the Levante. You can marshal all of the horsepower of 16 World Championships from the Prancing Horse. Or steer one-handed while you cruise suburbia. Your choice. NOTES So yeah, the Maserati-designed Ferrari-built twin-turbo V6 is pretty great. It makes the Levante feel special, more so than a BMW X5 or X6 or Mercedes GLE or GLE coupe. That's the essence of Italian cars: the engine. Blasting around metropolitan Detroit with this 424-horsepower arsenal under the hood is a riot. The downside: As expected, the Levante is thirsty, slurping a quarter of a tank during relatively shortly runs around town, inline with its 14-mpg rating in the city. The highway is marginally better, getting 19 mpg, though with the 21.1-gallon tank, the you could theoretically get 338 miles of range. The Levante looks the part. With portholes, a long, creased hood, bulging fenders, and attractive head-and taillights, it conveys the appearance of Italian sport and luxury. The chrome door handles and trim tastefully add some bling to the design. My favorite part? The shark-tooth grille. With tall vertical lines and a monstrous Maser crest, the Levante almost sneers at you. The idyllic cabin does a solid job of keeping the outside world at bay. The interior is quiet at cruising speeds, broken up only by the engine's bark. I'm quite comfortable. The rich brown leather was supple yet supportive, and I quickly find a commanding view of the road. It's cool how the door pulls are neatly blended into the trim.

100th Anniversary Maserati Ghibli stars in the 2014 Neiman Marcus catalog

Each year, retailer Neiman Marcus releases a Christmas catalog detailing some truly absurd gifts. Chief among them is a Neiman Marcus edition car. Usually from a luxury or exotic manufacturer, the Neiman Marcus models are a limited edition and generally sell out very quickly. Past participants have included the Aston Martin Vanquish Volante, McLaren MP4-12C Spider, Ferrari FF and, the most plebian car in recent memory, the Chevrolet Camaro Convertible. For this year's catalog, the Maserati Ghibli is up for purchase.
Not only will it make a great Christmas gift for the ultra wealthy, but this $95,000 Maser also pays tribute to the Italian automaker's 100th anniversary. Based on the top-of-the-line S Q4 model, this Ghibli adds a few unique features, including bespoke 20-inch wheels with centennial center caps and a black border for the grille.
The cabin features premium leather in Cuoiu, which is basically tan. Black contrast stitching can be found throughout the cabin and on the Tridents stitched into the headrests, while bespoke piano black trim rounds out the interior. Finally, the center console bears a badge denoting the Ghibli's unique edition number.

Maserati GranTurismo Folgore EV shows its shapely sheetmetal

The electric version of the next-generation Maserati GranTurismo is racing towards production. After releasing preliminary specifications, the Italian brand published a batch of photos that show the elegant-looking coupe prowling the streets of Rome, Italy, with very little camouflage. Maserati will lump its upcoming electric models under the Folgore name, a word which means "lightning" in Italian. Its photos suggest that the next GranTurismo will continue to feature the proportions that characterized the original model; the hood is long, the roof line is almost fastback-like, and the trunk is relatively short. These are the styling cues that we expect from a luxury car pelted in the GT segment. Up front, the coupe falls in line with the design language inaugurated by the MC20 and recently seen on the Grecale. The grille is wide and positioned low on the fascia, while the swept-back headlights are mounted higher. We haven't seen the GranTurismo's rear end yet. As we previously reported, Maserati announced that the GranTurismo Folgore will offer over 1,200 horsepower from three electric motors. Figures like the coupe's zero-to-60-mph time and top speed haven't been revealed, but that's a number that should unlock seriously quick acceleration. And, Maserati is committed to letting customers choose whether to go electric. Buyers not interested in getting an EV will have at least one V6-powered version of the GranTurismo to choose from, though here again official details aren't available yet. More details about the Maserati GranTurismo Folgore should emerge in the coming months, and the coupe's unveiling is scheduled for 2023. Looking ahead, the Folgore range will grow with an electric version of the Grecale and replacements for the Quattroporte and the Levante, among other models. On the V6-powered side of the line-up, the mid-engined MC20 will spawn a convertible in the near future. Related video: This content is hosted by a third party. To view it, please update your privacy preferences. Manage Settings.