Maserati Ghibli
Maserati Ghibli is not just another business-class sedan. This car is a milestone in the history of the company from Modena, because it is destined to break all sales records for Maserati. Last year Maserati has announced their ambitious plan to increase sales tenfold, to 50,000 in three years. Will it happen, the time will tell.
The first stage of this exciting mission to the stars was the new Maserati Quattroporte, presented at the end of last year. The car was comfortable and spacious, definitely not the four-door sports car that used to be. The Italians have relied on comfort, and the paradigm shift immediately reflected on the sales of the model. For the first 6 months of this year, sales of the brand exceeded 10,000 vehicles – a record! The second stage of growth should be the Ghibli. Well, the third – the SUV Levante, built on the platform of Jeep Grand Cherokee. Given the passion of the Americans, Russians and Arabic to large and expensive SUVs, the success of the last is not worth to question, but what fate awaits Ghibli?
The overall length of the sedan is 4971 mm, width – 1945 mm, height – 1461 mm, and the wheelbase is 2998 millimeters. The luggage compartment of the Maserati Ghibli is 20 liters smaller than the BMW 5 Series boot, but the 500 liters are more than enough space to fit all the family’s luggage or a set of golf clubs. Some of the interior features are an air-conditioned glovebox, big door bins, folding rear seats and a central storage cubby. However Maserati Ghibli is designed for those who are driving behind the wheel. If you want to ride with a driver – buy another car. The back seats, although comfortable and luxorious, aren’t nearly as spacious as those in the bigger and more expensive Maserati Quattroporte, and tall passengers will struggle to fit in them.
Maserati Ghibli is offered with two petrol engines, 3.0 V6 and 3.0 V6 S. The base unit develops 330 horsepower and 500 Nm of torque and top-end – 410 horsepower and 550 Nm. The first one allows the sedan to accelerate from 0 to 100 km / h for 5.6 seconds, and the second for 5.0 seconds. It is also offered with 3.0 V6 diesel engine, reaching 100 km / h for 6.3 seconds, which makes him a genuine challenger for the likes of the BMW 530d diesel. The added style and the great drive Maserati is so well known for, make Ghibli a rival to executive cars like the BMW 5 Series and Audi A7.
But let’s leave the competition aside. Italian cars do not have to drive only in a straight line, but also provide pleasure in the corners. And Maserati succeeded. Brakes slow the car relentlessly, despite the heat and high speed and all wheel drive allows you to transfer without slipping all the power of the road, even on the dusty pavement. In this case, the Italians use the same wheel drive transmission company Magna, as BMW. Its main advantage is the speed of the connection front axle that allows the use of four-wheel drive only when it is needed. This reduces fuel consumption, emissions and, most importantly, the understeer characteristic of all-wheel-drive vehicles.
The engineers of Maserati Ghibli willingly admit certain technological solutions. The italians really liked the all-wheel drive BMW, and they ordered from Magna the same. But this does not mean that Ghibli is like the German machine. No, it is a wholly-owned Italian. Just Maserati finally got a decent amount of investment that has allowed them to go in the same direction as that of the Germans. Ghibli has perfect motor, perfect transmission and perfect suspension. Maserati did fantastic job with the smooth running. Energy intensity of the suspension are much higher than those of the same GranCoupe. It is as if specially created for Russian roads. Even speed bumps are lost somewhere between the spring windings Italian sedan. And the diesel engine is surprisingly almost the same as the petrol ones. Of course, the idling engine does not sound very noble, but the sound can not be called a diesel rattle. Looks more like a four-cylinder gasoline engine. Because the three-liter diesel weighs considerably more than gasoline engines, in turns Ghibli is less willing to change direction and even slips on the front wheels. But with the heavy understeer of Maseratis V8 this is hardly a flaw.
As a whole I like Maserati Ghibli, and it seems that this sedan will actually sell well. The plant in Grugliasco is able to produce a maximum of 22,000 units per year, which is not much. Given that the prices of the car in Europe are between 50 and 70 thousand euros, and it is no more than the German competitors, the chances of the Italians look good. Moreover, Maserati aims to sell 400 cars in Russia this year, which should be a tenfold increase in sales of the brand in this country.