The first bunch of
Maserati Quattroporte Automatic super-sedans will soon be shipped to dealers in Italy, Germany, France, Spain, Portugal and Belgium. The new vehicles were officially presented to the public at Modena's Military Academy.
Maserati Quattroporte Automatic will be shipped with a new ZF hydraulic six-speed automatic transmission, which is available as an option to those buyers who just don't want to bother with the standard semiautomatic gearbox. As we reported almost a year ago, some drivers were complaining about the F1-style DuoSelect clutchless semi-auto's constant jerks and lurches while in "auto" mode, so the transmission was more "manual" than "automatic".
The new transmission, Maserati promises, is free of this defect, balancing comfort and driving dynamics of the luxurious sedan. The transmission range is designed for input torques of up to 750 Nm – perfect for the powerful Maserati featuring 400 HP and 460 Nm. It also features a manual shift mode capable to get you from zero to 60mph in about 5.5 seconds.
Although the Italian luxury performance sedan is still not powerful enough to compete against the Mercedes-Benz S63 AMG and the Audi S8, it can give a mighty kick between the tailpipes to such competitors as the
BMW 7-Series, VW Phaeton V8 and
the Mercedes-Benz CLS-Class. Bear in mind that its base price about 1.5 times higher, though, and the car is only available in an RWD version while its German rivals are offered as AWD vehicles (the
Mercedes S-Class can also be ordered with a rear-wheel drive powertrain).
See also: Maserati Quattroporte to Get a 'Real' Automatic Transmission
