BORMIO, Italy – Maserati has offered greater than 100,000 automobiles with a V8 engine. Its smallest V8s had 3.2 liters of displacement; its largest have been 4.9-liter items. Its first V8 powered the uncommon, short-lived V8RI race automotive launched in 1935; its last V8s shall be inbuilt December 2023 for the Ghibli, Quattroporte and Levante.
After that, the curtains come down. Formally, the Italian model explains its new, 3.0-liter Nettuno V6 (a superb engine that’s twin-turbocharged to 621 horsepower and 538 pound-feet of torque within the MC20) leaves nothing to be desired by way of efficiency. Privately, insiders additionally cite looming emissions rules in key markets as a cause for lastly hopping on the downsizing prepare.
Will the V8 ever come again? “By no means say by no means,” I’m advised, although a return isn’t deliberate as of this writing. To hell with heritage; the price of summoning a darkish cloud of disapproval from regulators world wide outweighs no matter advantages Maserati would reap by saving the V8 within the title of custom.
It’s the top of the V8 period, then, and Maserati is commemorating it with two limited-edition fashions known as Ghibli 334 Ultima and Levante V8 Ultima, respectively. The Quattroporte is accessible with a V8 as properly, however a special-edition model of the large sedan isn’t within the pipeline as a result of Maserati wished to deal with its better-selling fashions. In each circumstances, the Italian firm has saved one of the best for final.
The Ghibli 334 Ultima stands out with an edition-specific coloration known as Persia Blu, 21-inch Orione wheels, Pirelli P-Zero tires made utilizing a stickier compound, and a number of other carbon fiber bits (such because the door mirror caps) that save about 55 kilos. The Rubino Pink “334” emblem painted on every fender denotes the brand new high velocity: 334 kilometers per hour, which represents about 207 miles per hour and makes the 334 sooner than the Trofeo it’s primarily based on by 5 mph — it’s additionally the quickest sedan in the marketplace. The earlier title holder, Bentley’s Continental Flying Spur, tops out at 333 kph, which additionally converts to about 207 mph, however Maserati is Italian and makes use of the metric system to measure its bragging rights. The sedan’s 0-to-62-mph time drops from 4.3 to three.9 seconds, however the engine stays the identical: It’s the tried-and-true 3.8 rated at 572 horsepower and 538 pound-feet of torque.
Inside, the 334 Ultima comes with two-tone Pale Terracotta and black upholstery that echoes a few of Maserati’s traditional fashions with out going full-on retro. It’s a particular look the Ghibli wears properly.
Manufacturing is restricted to 103 items globally, together with 60 examples earmarked for the American market. Why 103? It’s a tribute to the 5000 GT, the primary V8-powered street-legal Maserati. Launched in 1959, and labeled Tipo 103 internally, it was developed on the request of the Shah of Iran after he requested for a 3500GT with extra energy. The 334’s exterior coloration is a tribute to this mannequin as properly.
Levante consumers have two V8 Ultima configurations to select from. The primary seems to be lots just like the Ghibli 334 Ultima, although it’s painted in a distinct shade of blue known as Blu Royale. The second is completed in a shade of black named Nero Assoluto. Each obtain the identical two-tone inside as the ultimate Ghibli, and every coloration is restricted to 103 items for a complete of 206 automobiles, together with 87 headed to the US.
Even fitted with snow tires, the Ghibli 334 Ultima supplies an entertaining driving expertise on the chilly, twisty street separating Bormio from Livigno within the Italian Alps. The inside is OK; it doesn’t take quite a lot of poking and prodding to search out cheaper plastics or switchgear shared with a Jeep, but it surely’s not horrible, and the two-tone upholstery spruces it up. That’s not the purpose, although. The actual gem right here is the engine.
Maserati understandably stopped promoting its V8’s hyperlink to Ferrari when its former sister firm stated “ciao, ragazzi” and have become a rival, however the twin-turbocharged, 90-degree V8 (known as F154 internally) is expounded to the engine that the Prancing Horse has put in a few of its fashions because the 2010s. You’ve received extra energy underneath your proper foot within the 334 Ultima than within the previous California T. The engines aren’t similar, nonetheless: Maserati’s model of it notably makes use of a moist sump and a cross-plane crankshaft.
In some ways, the Ghibli 334 Ultima feels prefer it was forged in the identical mildew because the old-school Italian automobiles that Hollywood romanticized for many years, when tv advertisements for automobiles featured high-speed chases and electrical motors powered the home windows, not the wheels. It’s not as high-tech, as sharp to drive, or as highly effective because the BMW M5, but it surely doesn’t must be; it wasn’t developed as a pastiche of Bavaria’s most interesting. As an alternative, it embodies Maserati’s personal thought of a sport sedan with entertaining, rear-wheel-drive dealing with and the magnificence you’d count on from a automotive with an enormous trident emblem in its grille.
Large energy requires massive brakes, and the 334’s are as much as the duty, although the stainless steel pedal’s really feel leans towards the imprecise aspect of the dimensions. The suspension’s firmness varies relying on the drive mode chosen: Corsa makes the journey noticeably firmer, although it’s greatest (and most safely) loved on a dry, traffic-free street, whereas Sport represents a pleasant center floor for every day driving. Don’t search for a clutch pedal, as the one gearbox provided is an eight-speed automated linked to a pair of steering wheel-mounted paddles.
I’d wager you a negroni that, in 20 years, the Ghibli Trofeo shall be celebrated as some of the underrated sport sedans of its period, and the 334 Ultima shall be a collector’s merchandise — a kind of “if , ” automobiles fans geek out over, a lot to the befuddlement of those that don’t perceive what’s particular about it. It’s a becoming sendoff to the engine that made Maserati what it’s at the moment.
From a technical perspective, consigning the V8 to the pantheon of automotive historical past is smart. It’s not the primary or the final automotive characteristic canceled out by progress. Altering the ignition factors is not a part of routine upkeep on any new automotive, and also you not want to hold spare interior tubes. Maserati hasn’t made a automotive with an armada of choke-operated Weber carburetors in a long time, and it doesn’t want eight cylinders to construct a 580-horsepower automotive. Pressured induction can deal with it.
Innovation additionally shapes telephones, backyard instruments, and microwaves, however fans don’t lump automobiles into the “equipment” column — and Maserati definitely caters to consumers with at the least a small share of ardour of their blood. From the sound once you method the redline in an extended tunnel to the best way it accelerates, a V8 behaves otherwise than a V6, and these traits in flip form the driving expertise. They offer the automotive a persona (some would go so far as calling it a soul) and, from the vantage level of somebody whose mind is soaking in artificial engine oil, make it greater than a heavy, transferring lump of metallic, plastic, and glass. Maserati will hold constructing the quick, fun-to-drive automobiles it’s recognized for with a V6 — the brand new GranTurismo makes an ideal case for this, however the V8 shall be missed.
We don’t want a crystal ball to foretell what’s subsequent. Maserati advised Autoblog that the Ghibli and the Quattroporte will die with the V8 on the finish of 2023, and the model has beforehand confirmed that the 2 sedans will converge. The subsequent Maserati sedan will allegedly be “Ghibli-sized however known as a Quattroporte,” and it’ll launch in some unspecified time in the future in the course of the 2020s with an electrical drivetrain.
The newer Levante will keep it up for a couple of extra years with a V6 as its largest engine, although Maserati advised me that investing within the improvement of a Nettuno-powered mannequin would not make sense. Its substitute is tentatively due out in 2025 and it will likely be electrical as properly. Within the meantime, the second-generation GranTurismo will spawn a convertible four-seater known as GranCabrio within the not-too-distant future.
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