The words "executive" and "Maserati" may not immediately seem likely occupants of the same sentence, and you might be surprised to find that there is such a thing as a powerful Italian sports car with a bias towards the comfort of the rear-seat passengers. But that's what we have here.The Executive GT represents two models in the seven-strong Quattroporte range. There's the automatic-transmission version which is the subject of this test, plus the one with the semi-automatic Duo Select gearbox which is slightly quicker and costs exactly the same but will probably be far less popular.If you have a keen eye for these things you'll spot the Executive on the road thanks to its 19" wheels (other Quattroportes get 18" or 20" rims) and its chromed front and side grilles. Most of the things which distinguish this car from the others are inside, though, and apart from the wood-rimmed steering wheel they're all in the back.First of all there's a rear seat comfort pack which consists of heating, ventilation and massage systems. Rear passengers also get their own climate controls and and sunblinds, and have access to airline-style retractable tables which fold out from the back of the front seats.These tables cause what is for me the car's biggest problem. In all its other forms the Quattroporte is impressively spacious in the back, and for executives of short stature I'm sure the tables won't impinge on legroom to any great extent. As a 6'3" person I find that my knees are jammed right up against them even when they're folded up, and folding them down fully is all but impossible. Maybe I'm just the wrong sort of executive.Since this car is mechanically identical to all other Quattroportes apart from the racier Sport GT S, comments that you may already have read in this magazine still apply. The 400bhp 4.2-litre V8 engine sounds fabulous and pushes the rest of the car along in a most satisfactory manner whenever you want it to.In fact it sometimes does this even when you don't want it to. You can choose your own gears by switching to manual mode, but that doesn't disable the kickdown facility, and if you accidentally reach full throttle travel when you wanted only 90% travel (easy to do since the pedal requires very little pressure) the gearbox assumes you want everything the car is capable of and jumps to the lowest gear the engine can handle without exploding.At this point you erupt forwards in a blare of Italian V8 noise, which is very exciting but may not be what you wanted at that moment. The executive in the back seat might be rather unimpressed too.Ride quality isn't especially executive-friendly either, thanks to low-profile 40-section tyres at the front and 35s at the rear. But if you want the Quattroporte to handle at all well you have to make the ride slightly worse by pressing the Sport button on the centre console. This makes the car more jittery than normal, but you have to do it if you intend to drive quickly on a twisty road, because otherwise the set-up is far too vague to be able to cope.Priced at over £86,000, the Quattroporte Executive is expensive both to buy and to run. Combined fuel consumption is officially an evil 19.2mpg (and will be worse if you use even a fraction of the potential performance), while 340g/km of CO2 emissions translates into "hand over that wallet" in any tax person's language. Still, if you can afford a car like this and someone to drive it while you do executive-like things in the back, these will be small matters. Engine 4244 cc, 8 cylinders Power 400 bhp @7000 rpm Torque 340 ib/ft @4250 rpm Transmission 6 speed semi-auto Fuel/CO2 17.87 mpg / 370 g/km Acceleration 0-62mph: 5.2sec Top speed 171 mph Price From £83488.00 approx Release date 01/02/2006
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