Quick fang in a Quattroporte
Maserati Quattroporte
I had the opportunity the other day to go in a quick fang in a
Maserati Quattroporte. At a sneeze off 11 million baht, it’s
not quite what you would call an “entry level” performance
car, but against its stablemates, the Ferraris, it is half
the price. So if you are interested in something Italian,
fast and not too expensive (relatively) then a Quattroporte
could be just the ticket for you.
Styling is always a personal matter, but I do not know of
anyone who dislikes the smooth sweeping nature of the
Quattroporte body. It is honestly one of the most ‘together’
motor cars I have seen. Every section looks right. The
front, the sides, the rear. No add-ons, no flares, no wings
or air dams. They designed the thing correctly, right from
the off. It takes a few minutes for you to really appreciate
that this is a four door vehicle, despite the fact the
Quattroporte means four doors in Italian. And despite the
smoothness of the styling, it certainly isn’t wimpy in any
way whatsoever. Take a look at the open mouth, ready to
gobble you up, and grandma and Red Riding Hood!
Inside, it is clothed in leather, as you would expect, with
half a herd at least, plus a sensible dashboard layout,
incorporating an LCD display screen as well as the usual
instruments. Seating is adequate for five adults, with very
good leg room for those in the rear chairs. The driver also
gets a very snug hip-hugger as would be expected of a
vehicle capable of cornering faster than most drivers would
be tempted to try.
Transmission
is six speed and can be controlled manually, via paddles
either side of the steering wheel, or in fully automatic
mode. The paddles themselves deserve a mention. These are
not the silly small paddle-pop stick type, but substantial
with on one side “down” and on the other side “up” in large
letters. Up-shifting the wrong way because you have
forgotten which side was up has been overcome with this
Maserati.
The Quattroporte has a 4.2 liter V8 up front delivering 400
big ponies through the rear wheels, and any half decent stab
on the go pedal shows that the 400 are ready to run. The
nose lifts perceptively, the back tyres protest until the
traction control comes in and you are away, leaving all
lesser mortals in your wake.
What makes the Quattroporte very special in my book, is the
fact that it is a real four door and real five place. You
can dribble around like a family sedan, and then fire it up
like a breathtaking sportscar. In many ways it has to be the
best of both worlds. There are few drawbacks, but mainly,
for me, it is 11 million drawbacks. But if price were not a
factor, would I own one. The answer is yes. It is that good.
Musical
chairs
With the fact already established that Alonso is
going to McLaren-Mercedes next year, where will all the
other drivers go? Raikkonen wants to be world champion, and
the obvious place for him would be to take Alonso’s seat at
Renault. A well-run, winning team, with all the runs on the
board (I’ve been watching cricket too much). This would make
much more sense than his going to Ferrari, especially as I
believe Michael Schumacher will continue, and Massa has been
doing a good job as the back-up. Why should Ferrari take on
the Finn? If they are to give Massa that heave-ho, then
taking Valentino Rossi on board would make more sense than
Raikkonen.
What did we learn from
the Spanish GP?
Well, for starters, we learned that no matter how
“perfectly” a race can be won, at record breaking speeds,
and no matter how much ground-breaking history is involved,
a high speed procession is mind numbingly boring.
The Spanish GP was won in fine style by Fernando Alonso, but
it was a giant bore. If I were not such a dyed-in-the-wool
petrolhead, I would have turned it off and watched the
cricket instead (a sport I normally also find mindlessly
boring).
What else did we learn? We learned that Juan-Pablo Montoya
can turn his brain off at 300 kph and then fall asleep. With
all the speculation going on about who will be at McLaren
Mercedes next year, do not put your money on the Colombian
being on the payroll.
We also learned that Fisichella may be able to get a good
qualifying lap together, but he cannot keep up that level of
concentration. The commentators have obviously become tired
of the lack of performance of the Roman. Imagine what is
being said behind closed doors in the Renault motor-home?
The only real yardstick of a race driver is your team mate.
Fisichella finished 30 seconds behind his. Do not expect
Fisi at Renault next year.
We also saw a spirited first lap from Raikkonen which saw
him drag the McLaren Mercedes into a credible fifth, but
that was it. As for the rest, we were lucky if we saw them,
the Spanish TV director being enthralled with Alonso’s
efforts, to the exclusion of all else.
Autotrivia Quiz
Last week I asked which car company
called their first car the Model 92? It was produced in 1949
and was based on a German design, though the car company was
not German. The correct answer was Saab, and the car was
based on the DKW. Peter Eades was first in with the correct
answer. Well done, Peter!
So to this week. Since I experienced a Maserati, a Maserati
question. Two of the Maserati brothers had the same name.
How did this happen?
For the Automania FREE beer this week, be the first correct
answer to email [email protected]
Good luck!
Safety – whose
responsibility?
The end user, or the manufacturer?
Vehicular safety is an integral part of
the automotive business these days, and with the publication
many years ago of the book, “Unsafe at Any Speed” by Ralph
Nader and the following up and hounding of the auto industry
by Nader’s Raiders, there is no manufacturer who is not
aware of the safety factor. Most countries have either
testing facilities, or rely on results from national testing
organizations, to even allow production vehicles to be
registered in that country. Numerous vehicles have been
sacrificed to the immovable concrete block, in the quest of
vehicular safety.
On the surface, it would seem that the legislators have
decreed that it is the manufacturer who has to carry the
responsibility. However, the end user should also shoulder
some of the responsibility, or even blame, for road
fatalities.
For example, read a BMW handbook, where it will go into
detail to explain their version of electronic skid control,
braking control and aids to road-holding, with all the very
latest electronic gizmos and gadgetry to assist the driver
stay on the bitumen; however, right at the end the driver’s
manual will point out that despite all the electro-trickery,
physical laws still have to be obeyed. If the corner can be
taken at 60 kph and you enter it at 120 kph, centrifugal
force will overcome ESC, ABS and all the other acronyms that
the manufacturer can throw at the car. And centrifugal force
is that physical law which must be obeyed. Yet surprisingly,
until you stop to think about it, that physical law called
centrifugal force is actually under the control of the
driver. The entry speed is controlled by the human being,
not by the manufacturer. The end user must take the ultimate
responsibility!
The vexed question of drink driving comes in here too. We
know that alcohol is involved in many car accidents,
injuries and fatalities, and there are many “Don’t Drink and
Drive” promotions all over the world, but the simple fact is
that the human element falls down at the last minute. Drunk
people have lost their sense of judgment, so it should not
come as a surprise that drivers make the wrong decision and
get into their cars to drive home.
The manufacturers have undoubtedly given us safer cars to
drive home drunk in, but that is about it. Here’s your
padded box, it has no sharp edges, it’s got airbags so you
won’t hit the dashboard, even though you forgot to wear your
seat belt, the doors won’t fly open, it won’t catch fire,
the glass won’t slash you to ribbons and many other
secondary safety features, but what is better – an ambulance
at the bottom of the cliff, or a fence at the top of the
cliff? Preventive features win every time, in my book.
I recently came across a report of some preventive features
being trialed by Volvo. These include a breathalyzer,
integrated with the seat belt and a speed limiting ignition
key.
The breathalyzer unit needs the driver to perform a two step
safety check before the vehicle will start. Just to do that
will weed out several would be “just going to go home
slowly” drivers.
The way the Volvo system works is that the driver must first
blow into the built-in breathalyzer lock and the driver must
also fasten the seat belt. When the breathalyzer detects
alcohol or if the driver does not fasten the seat belt, the
engine will not start. The breathalyzer will illuminate red
when it positively detects alcohol, and the breathalyzer
will illuminate green when it does not detect alcohol.
International statistics also show that youngsters are
clearly over-represented in car accidents, even taking into
account that many of them are behind the wheel more often
than their older counterparts. The risk of 18 to 25 year
olds being involved in an accident is more than twice that
of people aged between 26 and 50, according to EU
statistics. The accidents often result from high speed
combined with inadequate experience. If speed is a factor,
combined with inexperience, just how do we get drivers, and
young drivers in particular, to slow down when driving the
family car? The answer, according to Volvo, is a special
ignition key. This key can be programmed to limit the car’s
speed to a predetermined limit such as 80 kph. This is also
a technology that lends itself to implementation in
different types of commercial traffic. A distribution truck
that never leaves the urban area, for instance, never needs
to exceed 70 kph.
Volvo’s special ignition key can be pre-programmed to any
speed limit. In certain European countries, there is already
a “youth license” whereby the driver is not allowed to
exceed 90 kph for a pre-determined period, indicated by a
“90” sign on the car. With the speed key, implementation of
this rule would be much easier to ensure, and free police
personnel to go on with other duties, not just sitting there
hoping to catch speeding youngsters.
There will be many who will say that Volvo are on the right
track with this development. While they have not taken away
the personal responsibility from the driver, they have
certainly made it easier for drivers to meet their personal
responsibilities.
