2008 Maserati Quattroporte Sport GT S

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Every carmaker has to fight the same battle: Make its older products seem fresh in the market against newer competition. It's particularly tough for small manufacturers with limited resources like Maserati. And with the Quattroporte now entering its fifth year of production, it's time for the four-door sedan to be reinvigorated.

As a result, the new 2008 Maserati Quattroporte Sport GT S is the sportiest version of the big sedan yet, refreshed and ready for some fast driving.

Sharpened for Your Corner-Cutting Convenience
While the 2008 Maserati Quattroporte Sport GT S does feature a few visual tweaks of the familiar yet still gorgeous Pininfarina-designed shape, significant mechanical changes beneath the skin are the focus of this makeover. Most of all, the suspension has been retuned to make it more responsive for sporting drivers.

Maserati's fast-response, active-ride Skyhook suspension has been the signature of the Quattroporte up to now, but it has been replaced in the Sport GT S by conventional, stiffer-rate dampers and springs. The new setup lowers the car 10 millimeters (0.4 inch) in front and about 25mm (1.0 inch) in the rear. Making the best of these new suspenders are P245/35ZR20 front and P295/30ZR20 rear Pirelli P Zero tires that have been developed specifically for this car.

Though the new rear tires are only slightly wider than the 285-section rubber fitted to the 20-inch wheels of the 2007 Sport GT (and the new front tires aren't any wider at all), the seven-spoke design of the wheels for the 2008 Sport GT S better emphasizes the width of these tires. The overall result is a lower, more powerful stance for the new Quattroporte, making this car look significantly more athletic.

Complementing the new suspension and tires is an updated braking system with Brembo's new composite "dual-cast" disc brakes. The cross-drilled rotors use both cast aluminum and cast iron in their construction, and the ones in front are clamped by huge six-piston calipers.

Fortunately, Maserati has left this car's Ferrari-built, 4.3-liter DOHC V8 engine alone, as it's already got enough personality. Its 393 horsepower is funneled through a six-speed automatic gearbox, as the 2008 Sport GT S abandons the former DuoSelect automated sequential manual transmission for the ZF-built six-speed automatic with torque converter introduced this summer by the 2007 Quattroporte Automatica. With all the V8's ponies present at a screaming 7,250 rpm — just 250 rpm beneath the engine's 7,500-rpm redline — the Sport GT S should still get down the road with real purpose.

Designed To Impress
On the outside, the big changes that transform a Quattroporte into a Sport GT S include a black chrome mesh grille, black-color window frames, new twin exhaust pipes and door handles finished in body color instead of chrome. The changes are subtle, but they give the car a more serious countenance than before.

Inside, the redecoration includes the combination of the Quattroporte's customary Poltrana Frau, furniture-quality leather upholstery with elements of artificial suede to deliver more overtones of performance. The suede's ability to shed moisture and hold its shape while providing a nice grippy surface on steering wheels and other controls has made it a common upholstery choice in performance sports cars and racing cars.

Maserati has previously used suede extensively in the interior of its MC12 supercar, and it looks both elegant and at home in the Quattroporte Sport GT S. It's used for the center panels of the Sport GT S's seats, much of the door panels and around the rim of the steering wheel. It's also on the rear seats, which have also been recontoured for better support.

The instrumentation continues to feature carbon-fiber trim, but it now incorporates a new aluminum-weave design.

Ready for the Next Five Years
Maserati has been building the Quattroporte — fitfully and in spurts — since 1963, which makes the company from Modena the only Italian exotic-carmaker with a significant sedan heritage. The 2008 Maserati Quattroporte Sport GT S only promises to enhance that heritage.

But heritage doesn't come free. Expect prices to start somewhere north of $170,000 when the Quattroporte Sport GT S goes on sale later this year. — John Pearley Huffman, Contributor