Maserati Quattroporte Automatica (2007) CAR review

An auto box in a big luxury saloon? That’s hardly news…

It is for Maserati. To mark the Quattroporte out as a very different, more sporting proposition to its mainly German rivals, it has only been offered with the Duo Select automated manual until now. Although it has an auto mode, it still uses a clutch and will never be as smooth as a proper, torque-converter auto. This limits the car’s appeal - so now, having established the Quattroporte as the edgy, sporty, driver’s choice, Maserati has bought in ZF’s awesome six-speed auto 'box.

But doesn’t the Quattroporte’s gearbox sit at the back?

It does; by having a transaxle gearbox the manual Quattroporte gets a slight rearward weight bias (47/53) that cuts understeer and aids handling. Positioning the auto gearbox at the front hasn’t required major changes to the car’s structure, but it has shifted the weight forward slightly, to a 49/51 split. The engine that comes with the auto is now wet-sumped and gets blue cam covers; power is the same at 394bhp, but there’s a 7lb ft increase in torque to 339lb ft, delivered 250rpm lower than the dry-sumped red V8 at 4250rpm.