Not your next door neighbor's sedan

MANILA, Philippines - As exotic Italian masterpieces of engineering go, few can hold a candle to the Maserati Quattroporte. Launched a couple of weeks ago by local distributor Formula Sports Inc. to a mesmerized crowd at the Rockwell Tent in Makati, the four-door Quattroporte (which literally means “four doors” in Italian) is a delightfully glorious work of art on wheels. We know. We’ve driven it.

The fifth generation model of this storied line may cost more than just an arm and a leg (ballpark figure says a couple of those mid range German sedans), but as far as delivering the goods are concerned, well, let’s just say its hard to argue with quality like this.

The Maserati Quattroporte is powered by an eager to please 4.7-liter V8 that’s got some 425 Italian stallions under the hood and a whopping 490Nm of torque. As a result, it can burst from 0-100 km/h in a little over 5 seconds. Now, that may be par for the course in sports car parlance but the amazing thing is how the Quattroporte delivers this bloodrush in such a resolutely dignified manner. Yes, the deep gurgle of the engine is quite unnerving, but the car’s almost perfect weight distribution and its kind yet firm suspension set up (you can adjust it, of course) leaves one wondering if there really is more you can ask for in terms of marrying performance and comfort.

The Quattroporte’s 6-speed ZF automatic transmission with manumatic feature makes it one of the easiest thoroughbreds to drive. Inside, one would be hard pressed to find a more precise combination of opulent leather and fighter jet cockpit-like instrumentation. Sitting inside the Quattroporte would be like listening to Joe Satriani play alongside the New York Philharmonic – the perfect juxtaposition of opposites is simply mind-blowing. To top it all off, it‘s got an absolutely sexy body designed by Pininfarina (the Versaces of car design according to Formula Sports Inc. president Wellington Soong).

To say that we had fun driving the car would be an understatement. The only real beef James Deakin, Manny de los Reyes and I had when we drove and photographed this car was that there weren’t really enough roads to drive on. Trying to find a weakness in a car this good is like trying to find the proverbial needle in the haystack. And the three of us are not exactly greenhorns in the motoring beat.

Since its previous variant co-starred in the hit HBO television series Entourage, the Maserati Quattroporte has captured the imagination of more than just a few moneyed folk who had until that time turned a blind eye on this virtual Ferrari with four doors. Well, Vince Chase and company can eat their hearts out because the fifth generation Quattroporte is now available for Filipino entourages as well. And seriously, if you are amongst the few who can actually even think of buying this car, you better give it some serious thought. Because quite frankly, this isn’t your next door neighbor’s sedan – and if you blink, he could be the one bragging in such a manner. You wouldn’t want that now, would you?