Maserati Quattroporte Facelift Spied Uncovered

Maserati Quattroporte Facelift spy photo

First unclad photos surface

By Frank de Leeuw van Weenen
May 26, 2008 9:29 AM
Filed Under: European, Maserati, Spy Photos

Through a Dutch community website, Autospots.nl have managed to get into contact with someone who knows someone who took these three images at the Maserati hometown of Modena, Italy. Sure the story is sketchy at best, but the pictures look like they may just be the real deal.

The current generation Maserati Quattroporte has been around since 2004 and has been spied numerous times testing around Europe. And as we had all expected, the Italians have reworked the front fascia of the car with new headlights, a new lower bumper and the grille seems to be slightly retouched with a less curvy top and bottom.

Our make-shift Italian carparazzi was not able to catch the rear-end of the facelifted Maserati Quattroporte but we expect matching changes. The Quattroporte will be eager to secure its market position before the Porsche Panamera and Aston Martin Rapide join the scene before it will be replaced by the next generation model sometime around 2012.

Source: Autospots

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Maserati Quattroporte (88 photos)

Comments

BabyMilo

May 26, 2008 10:03 AM

i liked this car b4 but i like it even more now...

odysseus

May 26, 2008 12:39 PM

i love the quattroporte!

Wunderkind

May 26, 2008 2:04 PM

Judging by the reflection in the side mirror in Picture 3, Maserati has not done anything to correct to the out-of-alignment centre console gear shifter plastic moulding. Its a pathetic mistake by Maserati and it's details like these that sets these pathetic Italian wannabe-S Class bovine manure from the real thing. Maserati, please try harder next time!

BabyMilo

May 26, 2008 2:19 PM

wat on earth r u on about???

architect

May 26, 2008 2:17 PM

one of the most beautiful cars ever! superstylish!

Wunderkind

May 26, 2008 2:30 PM

BabyMilo, go to google, and find a picture of the centre console of the Quattroporte. You will see the gear shifter is not exactly on the centre. Just take reference from the twin cupholders behind it and you will see the gearshifter is off centre. It's truly pathetic. It is an intolerable mistake in a car of this class!!!!! I think the problem is that the drivetrain of the Quattroporte sits off centre slightly because the engineers wanted to liberate more foot room for the driver in the Left-Hand Drive models. I am not expecting Maserati to come up with Audi or Mercedes quality interiors. But this and that of the Granturismo SUCK!!!!!!! The interior of the Granturismo looks like it belong to a Peugeot or an Alfa Romeo.

Wunderkind

May 26, 2008 2:41 PM

BabyMilo, check this out http://www.worldcarfans.com/2070109.005/mini5/maserati-quattroporte-automatic-at-naias Its not just the gearshifter that is off-centre (thats quite common). It is the base of the shifter. Look at the chrome gate and use the cupholders as reference. The gear indicator and the electronic handbrake button is another JOKE. The gear indicator is an off-the-shelf item and it is inclined to fit with the handbrake button. Unforgivable flaws!!!!!!!!!!!!!

machida

May 26, 2008 6:47 PM

It's a dual-gate shifter. The left side (if you check that "off-the-shelf" gear indicator) is for the upshift/downshift control, and the right side is for selecting Park, Reverse, Neutral and the automatic drive mode. The shifter is in Park, so it's using the right gate. It's hardly a defect to have some logical asymmetry in a car.

Look at a new M-B SL at http://www.worldcarfans.com/3080123.001/photo1060/mercedes-sl-facelift and you'll see the exact same shifter position in Park. Can't show you an S-Class because it has a column shifter now.

kevoluetion

May 26, 2008 6:44 PM

Beautiful car, with unnoticeable facelift? The gearshift is noticeable from the link, but surely you wont look at a gearshift from that angle once you are seated in there.

ck314

May 26, 2008 8:17 PM

whats all this drivel?? lots of cars have their gearshift closer to the driver (see the corvette or the cadillac xlr among many others)

Wunderkind

May 26, 2008 8:20 PM

Machida, if you read my posts carefully. I said that an off centre gearshifter stick is quite common. I know the Maserati has a dual-gate shifter for auto and manual shifting. What I referred to is the gearshifter base that is off centre!!!!!!!!!!! Look at the rectangular chrome trimming of the gearshifter base. Use the chrome rings of the cupholders as a reference. It is not some logical asymmetery as you suggested. The engineers stuffed up and the interior designers didn't clean it up. The Mercedes SL and C Class all have slightly off centre gearstick because of the gate. But the gearshifter is DEAD-ON CENTRE!

Wunderkind

May 26, 2008 8:27 PM

CK314, I can dig it if the offset location of the gearshifter is by design. No problem what so ever. But when it is due to bad design/engineering..................Sorry! In the above post, I mean the gearshifter gates in the SL and C Class are dead-on centre. It is the gearstick that is slightly offset when in the Parking position.

ck314

May 26, 2008 9:03 PM

well, my uncle owns a quattroporte duoselect, and i admit the interior finish and design isnt up to its beautifully sculpted body.. it looks unachieved, with all chrome parts being cheap plastic and lacking upscale refinement, and this detail you mention could very well be part of the way italians work, they use more passion than maths and they somehow improvise too much.. look at the alfa brera's offset steering wheel for instance, thats scandalous indeed

Wunderkind

May 27, 2008 4:38 AM

CK314, the reason why I'm so vocal about this is because I feel Maserati has the capacity to achieve so much more and the Quattroporte is another missed opportunity. There are also a lot of flaws with the packaging of the Quattroporte. All these 'minor' flaws have made the Quattroporte unappealing to me. Yes, you are right that the Italians have passion but lacks precision. I think it is well-known in the car industry that Italians can't weld and can't produce nice plastic parts. I hope for much much more in the next Quattroporte.

May 27, 2008 5:53 AM

what the hell are you ranting on about. and who are you to determine if such details are a mistake or intentionally done. how do you know if engineers hadn't intended for the car to be that way. this car is much more interesting than that butt ugly new s class. you obviously don't seem to know that the interior of a car has no need to be perfectly symmetrical. with your genious logic why don't you just go on ranting about how there aren't two steering wheels as well. and stop trying to deny what you said earlier on.

Wunderkind

May 27, 2008 6:59 AM

Hi S5, I'm an industrial designer by training. I know a mistake when I see one. For the uninitiated, symmetry is indeed not an absolute requirement (perfect example being the driver-oriented dashboard on the older BMW's and the current Audi's), but that is by design!! Automotive interior designers do spend countless hours getting every detail right so that everything looks and feels right. Getting things right is an expensive business. Why do you think Audis, BMWs, and Mercedes can charge higher prices than others? It's because of the thoroughness of their engineering and design. Ferrari interiors used to be a mess. But things changed for the better with the F355 in the early 1990's. Now Ferrari interiors are much nicer with great simplicity and clarity (almost everything lines up correctly). Though some Fiat-sourced parts have dampened the overall effects some what. I stand by everything I said. No denial! By the way, why should a car have two steering wheels???

afterace2

May 27, 2008 3:04 PM

i see Your point, and I suppose the reason of this is because the Quattroporte's center console was designed straight for the duoselect transmission (with the paddles), and not for the normal AT, with which it seems a bit messed up at this center console. But that's how the Italians make cars, it's their charm and a flaw at the same time. They are not as accurate as the germans, but they pack the cars with a lot more of passion IMO. It's still a buyers choice to prefer this or that.

Wunderkind

May 27, 2008 3:34 PM

Yes Afterace 2. Its like a light switch on a wall that is not straight. It's annoying. You are right in pointing out that the centre console was adapted for the automatic gearbox. Don't get me wrong, I am not trying to trash the Maserati brand. But manufacturers should know that they cannot get away with shoddy workmanship like that anymore. The end result is that hopefully manufacturers will pay heed to our complaints and do a better job next time. It's just that the Germans are so accurate and precise now that others must catch up in order to stay competitive.

afterace2

May 27, 2008 10:33 PM

don't worry, there will come a day they will have to improve the quality otherwise their sales will reach level of the ground.

Decypha

May 27, 2008 5:47 PM

Wow... I'm in disbelief!! people notice things like that? i noticed my uncle's centre speaker has an off-centre label, as if it was intended to stand upright like the left and right speaker (this isn't about a car) so I notice sumthin like that because it's irritating but I never thot that sumthin in a car has been mistakenly made off-centre.

Decypha

May 27, 2008 5:50 PM

OH!!!! yes i see it!

eddie

May 27, 2008 11:38 PM

Love the look and the great sound. The interiors can not be beat with all the fine details. It is the italian stallion.

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