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6 Posts
After owning my Q4 for a month, with 1200 miles on the odo, I thought I'd post some thoughts. For background, the car has 19" wheels, Dunlop summer tires, Skyhook suspension, B&W audio, laminated glass option, and paddle shifters.
I finally took the Ghibli on an extended drive yesterday, from San Francisco to Sacramento and back. The drive was a mix of 80+ mph and stop-and-go traffic, with some in-town driving thrown in.
Skyhook: The car rides very comfortably with Skyhook set to normal. It soaks up bumps regardless of speed. Since I find the Skyhook sport setting to be a bit bouncy in certain conditions, I rarely switch out of the normal mode. The sport setting is nice to have, but the car balances ride and handling well enough to leave it in normal most of the time.
Brakes: Herculean stopping power, grabby at the top just like the C63 AMG's. While it seems to become marginally less grabby after break in, I've found that the best way to modulate the brakes is to roll onto the pedal deliberately instead of stabbing it. With practice, the Ghibli can be slowed and stopped smoothly, and I'd prefer strong brakes that are slightly grabby than spongy and weak ones. The pedal itself could benefit significantly from higher tension, wherein a more deliberate effort to operate it would actually translate to easier modulation.
Gas pedal: Just like the brakes, the gas pedal tension is way too soft. As such, maintaining any sort of speed is nearly impossible, and frequently frustrating, and easily fatiguing on long drives when using cruise control is impractical. To me, this seems like an easy fix at the dealership, should Maserati choose to address it.
Steering and grip: Accurate and fairly quick steering, incredible grip. The steering is a bit numb, so I've learned that the best way to steer is with quick, small inputs, an effective technique that also works with large Audis. Driven this way, the car rarely needs any correction and will hold the intended line tenaciously.
Exhaust: Cruising at freeway speeds, the exhaust has a steady boomy drone, which gets tiring on long drives. At any speed, the exhaust rattles from 2-3k rpm. The rattle sounds like a loose heat shield, is most prominent when the car is cold, and becomes less obvious but never disappears when the car heats up. I don't know if this is a design/manufacturing flaw, or was intentional, but I'd prefer not to have it at all. Maybe it's something that my dealership can eventually address during service. As such, the most enjoyable way to drive the car is in manual mode, to keep the revs up. This turns the drone into a sweeter and less intrusive sound and makes the engine more responsive, though at the cost of fuel consumption.
B&W audio: I always listen to music when driving, sometimes at high volumes, and sometimes at lower volumes to hear the engine/exhaust better. Each time I turn on the system, I smile, thoroughly convinced I made the right choice by splurging for the B&W. That said, the speed sensitive volume feature doesn't seem very effective. And of course, the startup acceptance screen and never-sticky surround setting are minor annoyances.
Navi: I can understand people's criticism that the Garmin-sourced Navi looks unsophisticatedly mass market. That said, the system is very responsive compared to contemporary systems used by the Germans, and works very well. The first of only two real criticisms is the lack of an easier way to adjust the volume of the route guidance (or mute it entirely). The second is the poor volume balance between music and guidance; I've yet to find a volume mix wherein the guidance is neither too soft when the music is loud, or too loud when the music is soft. In contrast, I don't have this issue in the systems in German cars.
Sport setting (not Skyhook related): I wish Maserati had decoupled the exhaust from the sport mode setting. For example, in Porsches equipped with a sport exhaust, the exhaust mode can be set independently from the sport mode setting which affects the car's responsiveness. This would allow the car to be driven and enjoyed in a more lively manner, without unnecessarily advertising it to others (particularly any lawmen nearby). And as in a Porsche, I usually find the engine/exhaust sound to be very entertaining as it is in normal mode when I drive the car spiritedly.
Wow factor: Once I got to my social gathering in Sacramento, the car thrilled the guests like no other car I've been privileged to own. Pictures went up on Facebook and Instagram the whole day, and I let several groups take the car out for a spin. None of them had ever been that close to a Maserati, much less driven or ridden in one. I was more than happy to oblige, and the smiles and compliments paid were extremely gratifying.
I finally took the Ghibli on an extended drive yesterday, from San Francisco to Sacramento and back. The drive was a mix of 80+ mph and stop-and-go traffic, with some in-town driving thrown in.
Skyhook: The car rides very comfortably with Skyhook set to normal. It soaks up bumps regardless of speed. Since I find the Skyhook sport setting to be a bit bouncy in certain conditions, I rarely switch out of the normal mode. The sport setting is nice to have, but the car balances ride and handling well enough to leave it in normal most of the time.
Brakes: Herculean stopping power, grabby at the top just like the C63 AMG's. While it seems to become marginally less grabby after break in, I've found that the best way to modulate the brakes is to roll onto the pedal deliberately instead of stabbing it. With practice, the Ghibli can be slowed and stopped smoothly, and I'd prefer strong brakes that are slightly grabby than spongy and weak ones. The pedal itself could benefit significantly from higher tension, wherein a more deliberate effort to operate it would actually translate to easier modulation.
Gas pedal: Just like the brakes, the gas pedal tension is way too soft. As such, maintaining any sort of speed is nearly impossible, and frequently frustrating, and easily fatiguing on long drives when using cruise control is impractical. To me, this seems like an easy fix at the dealership, should Maserati choose to address it.
Steering and grip: Accurate and fairly quick steering, incredible grip. The steering is a bit numb, so I've learned that the best way to steer is with quick, small inputs, an effective technique that also works with large Audis. Driven this way, the car rarely needs any correction and will hold the intended line tenaciously.
Exhaust: Cruising at freeway speeds, the exhaust has a steady boomy drone, which gets tiring on long drives. At any speed, the exhaust rattles from 2-3k rpm. The rattle sounds like a loose heat shield, is most prominent when the car is cold, and becomes less obvious but never disappears when the car heats up. I don't know if this is a design/manufacturing flaw, or was intentional, but I'd prefer not to have it at all. Maybe it's something that my dealership can eventually address during service. As such, the most enjoyable way to drive the car is in manual mode, to keep the revs up. This turns the drone into a sweeter and less intrusive sound and makes the engine more responsive, though at the cost of fuel consumption.
B&W audio: I always listen to music when driving, sometimes at high volumes, and sometimes at lower volumes to hear the engine/exhaust better. Each time I turn on the system, I smile, thoroughly convinced I made the right choice by splurging for the B&W. That said, the speed sensitive volume feature doesn't seem very effective. And of course, the startup acceptance screen and never-sticky surround setting are minor annoyances.
Navi: I can understand people's criticism that the Garmin-sourced Navi looks unsophisticatedly mass market. That said, the system is very responsive compared to contemporary systems used by the Germans, and works very well. The first of only two real criticisms is the lack of an easier way to adjust the volume of the route guidance (or mute it entirely). The second is the poor volume balance between music and guidance; I've yet to find a volume mix wherein the guidance is neither too soft when the music is loud, or too loud when the music is soft. In contrast, I don't have this issue in the systems in German cars.
Sport setting (not Skyhook related): I wish Maserati had decoupled the exhaust from the sport mode setting. For example, in Porsches equipped with a sport exhaust, the exhaust mode can be set independently from the sport mode setting which affects the car's responsiveness. This would allow the car to be driven and enjoyed in a more lively manner, without unnecessarily advertising it to others (particularly any lawmen nearby). And as in a Porsche, I usually find the engine/exhaust sound to be very entertaining as it is in normal mode when I drive the car spiritedly.
Wow factor: Once I got to my social gathering in Sacramento, the car thrilled the guests like no other car I've been privileged to own. Pictures went up on Facebook and Instagram the whole day, and I let several groups take the car out for a spin. None of them had ever been that close to a Maserati, much less driven or ridden in one. I was more than happy to oblige, and the smiles and compliments paid were extremely gratifying.
