QP first impressions

I took delivery of my used QP yesterday, which I was hoping to be one of those great days of once life that you remember years later. Unfortunately, didn't turn out that way; the dealer (Maranello in St Albans outside London, UK) is amaturish having gone through a management change recently and having hired a bunch of new "top" salesmen from other car makes. These guys might be star salesmen in flogging a Audi or Lexus to somebody, but just don't understand that buying a Ferrari/Maserati is supposed to be special experience and you really don't want to be waiting for 20min for them to look for a PIN for the nav system and that a flat battery when you sit in your new car isn't terribly impressive. Anyway, the dealership aside I thought I would share a few first impressions of owning a QP.

The drive keeps getting better with every miles, I am slowly learning the F1 paddleshifter and taming the engine, having never really driven anything above 200hp. The QP is very smooth in every respect and doesn't suffer the usual problems of a super sports cars; too hard suspension, tire or other noise, "nightclub bouncer" styling, useless backseats etc. In fact it never cross my mind before, but the QP is a actually a coupe, which has been extended so much that four doors fit into the coupe shape. This car is absolutely massive.

Nobody buys these cars for their fuel economy, but still I am shocked at the consumption (11mpg). For our US based drivers, filling the tank of 90l probably seems expensive, but in the UK the 90l sets you back GBP90, which is about $150. I used 1/4 of a tank driving home from the dealer!

A few small things that I hate; the gearbox, brilliant as it is at speed, is useless in a garage or in slow precision driving (parking, garages, slow approaches). The satnav is awfully slow and keeps freezing up (here I have to admit that I choose moble phones based on responsivness). Althought the hifi has very nice sound quality, unless you turn the whole unit off, there is a static noise coming from the speakers. There seems to be no way to have the satnav on without music unless you want to listed to static. Maybe if my QP wouldn't have the glasspack, this wouldn't be a problem, but it is totally silent in the cabin which is amazing feeling in a car (Merc S class doesn't compare). For somebody considering getting the glasspack - don't order it if you enjoy hearing the engining sound. The isolation is very good and I actually have to open a window when I floor it in second gear to hear that sweet spinning / purring sound at 4700 rpm, which is the reason we all love Maserati so much...


- Toffe