Although its UK sales have exploded in the last three years, Maserati's status as a household name in this country was made very clear to me in two separate but similar conversations no more than twenty-four hours apart. On each occasion I was asked what I had been driving recently. "The new Maserati," I replied. Blank stare, followed by the deflating question, "What's that?"My explanation that it was an Italian supercar owned by Ferrari helped to restore the balance, but the simplest thing would have been to drive past in one. The new 4200 Coupé makes its intentions clear the moment you set eyes on it, all the more so thanks to the small but significant styling changes that have been introduced since this car replaced the 3200 GT (in particular a more elegant, if less adventurous, treatment of the rear lights).Where the 3200 GT had a turbocharged 3.2-litre engine, the new car does away with the blower but gains a full litre in capacity. A 4.2 whose revcounter doesn't turn red until 7600rpm is obviously something pretty special, and indeed this unit produces a thumping 390bhp at full chat. In the process it makes a classically Italian-sounding V8 scream, though current noise regulations mean that it does not produce as many decibels as you feel it should.That engine dominates the driving experience. On one quick getaway with the manual-transmission version known as the GT (we'll come to the Cambiocorsa alternative in a minute) the traction control had to work hard to quell wheelspin. Fair enough. Same again when I changed into second. Okay. A shift into third, and the electronics were still required to keep everything under control. Blimey. Not having a race circuit available, I decided not to look for whatever switch you press to disable the traction control system - visions of departing backwards through the nearest hedge were already springing to mind.Basically, the chassis can't handle the power. The apparent reason for this is that the 4200's suspension has been set up for comfort rather than handling. The car has two clashing personalities: part of it thinks it's an easy-going cruiser, and part of it thinks it's a racer. It's down to the driver to find a compromise between the two.There's also a third element to make life even more difficult. The manual gearbox - obviously a very beefy piece of kit, to cope with all the torque - has a particularly clumsy shift quality, not helped by exceptionally stiff springing towards the centre of the gate. As a result it takes a long time to complete a change between any two of the six gears, which wouldn't be so much of a problem except that all those gears are, in terms of their ratios, very close together. Unless you keep squeezing the throttle during each change to keep the revs up, the engine speed falls away while you're manhandling the gearlever, and then shoots back up again when you re-engage the clutch.You can make much smoother progress without losing any noticeable time if you skip gears. I found first, second, fourth, sixth to be a perfectly adequate sequence. Since the engine produces storming amounts of power from 2000rpm to that 7600 red line, you don't compromise the performance by doing this, and I felt that the use of a close-ratio six-speed was more useful in marketing terms than it would be in any road driving situation. Five more widely-spaced gears would do the job just as well, if not better, though they wouldn't sound so good in a pub conversation.Of course, you could also go for the Cambiocorsa transmission, which is still a manual but with electronic control of the gear-changing and clutch. Two sensibly-sized and well-positioned levers on the steering wheel allow you to flick through the gears, and the speed of the change is determined by how hard you are pressing the throttle pedal at the time.Like all systems of this type (see Alfa Romeo and Mercedes for further evidence) there is a basic problem with normal-speed changes. In a car with manual transmission, the car is coasting all the time your foot is on the clutch, but you don't notice this because you're busy with the gearlever. The same process performed by the Cambiocorsa seems to take forever because you're sitting there waiting for it all to happen. This isn't so bad if you happen to be accelerating flat-out, because the changes are much quicker than normal, but if you're just going reasonably quickly what you feel is a series of lurches in what should be a seamless period of acceleration. One or two colleagues have reported that the effect can sometimes be literally nauseating.On the other hand, the physical effort required with the Cambiocorsa is a great deal less than with the GT, especially if you switch to automatic mode and let it decide when to do the gearchanging. In any kind of slow driving (which in Maserati terms is what you will be doing most of the time), and particularly in town, the Cambiocorsa is immeasurably easier to drive. Because of this, I'd say that the Cambiocorsa is the better car, though with considerable reservations.Needless to say, the Maserati in both its forms is very well-equipped and delightfully comfortable to drive. The only exception to this is the fact that the foot rest on the GT is positioned level with the top of the clutch pedal travel, which feels a little strange until you get used to it. There's a lot of room in the front, and although the rear is significantly more cramped it is no worse in this respect than most small hatchbacks.I loved the 3200 GT we tested a couple of years ago and in some ways I still prefer it, partly because it was easier to drive slowly - you could potter around quite happily with the turbo at idle, whereas the 4200 always seems to be straining at the leash. But the 4200 is the better car, and will probably be much cheaper to run now that Maserati has slashed the previously alarming servicing costs.Second opinion: The Italdesign/Giugiaro styling is most impressive - overall and in detail, the Coupé has the appeal of a genuine Italian GT car. And the interior matches it, with leather trim all over the shop, a high standard of fit and finish, and, once again, the finest fascia-mounted clock in the business. Tremendous acceleration here with, for me, a sufficiently flexible engine. I'm happy to see the back of the turbocharged version. As with the Spyder, I didn't think either of the transmission options was up to the rest of the car. The snag about the Cambiocorsa is indeed this business of the cog-swapping being lightning quick, but the automatic clutch operation causing a hesitation at every change. I strongly resent the suggestion (yes, it was me) that a passenger found my driving nauseating. After all, he said he felt "just a little queasy", and was kind enough to suggest it possibly wasn't the way I was motoring on winding hill roads, but had to do with being pivoted forward and back at every gearchange. It's depressing to know that a CARkeys colleague consorts with people who haven't heard of Maserati. Peasants. The car's a classic, and it was good to hear that Maserati will be back on the circuits soon. Ross Finlay. Engine 4244cc, 8 cylinders Power 390bhp Transmission 6-speed manual Fuel/CO2 15.2mpg / 430g/km Acceleration 0-62mph: 4.9 seconds Top speed 177mph Price £59,950 Details correct at publication date
