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      01-19-2014, 04:50 PM   #53
Needsdecaf
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Drives: 2024 G80 Comp xDrive
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: The Woodlands, TX

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I've been seeing them around more often where I live (point against the whole Maserati thing, IMO) and decided mayyyyyyyybe they didn't look as bad as the first one I saw.

So Thursday, I had a huge work meeting that I have been prepping for two weeks for. It went well and I was out fairly early and there was no way in hell I was going back to work after that. My ride home takes me past dealers of every high end Marque except Bentle, Ferrari and Rolls. So I decided to stop in and seeing what this was all about.

After being greeted by a massively hot young woman with a killer body and a great face (albeit with way too much makeup) she informed me that she was the only one really covering the sales floor, and that she was sorry, but she was working with a client and about to go out for a test drive. She opened up one of the Ghiblis on the showroom floor and said she would be back in 20 minutes (yes, they keep them locked).

First thing I noticed was the nasty-ass Jeep / Chrysler infotainment system. Seriously, this thing was lifted from the Grand Cherokee....of about 3 years ago. I recently sat in a 2014 GC SRT and it had a newer version of U Connect than this. Sheesh. But, I said, it's a Maserati, let's think about the more important things.

So I spent some time looking around the interior. First, I got comfortable. Or tried to. There isn't a lot of room in the car. There certainly isn't the legroom in the 5 series. I sort of got comfortable, even though the wheel didn't really telescope out far enough. The seat, like many for me, lacked thigh support. Headroom was limited, but it's probably not all that much less than in the 5 series. But it definitely was less.

The wheel....well, it was horrid. It was a part wood wheel (not sure if that was optional or not) but it was the worst one I had ever seen. The wood is around the rim in a band, on the outer edge. And it makes the wheel have to have ridges around it to place the wood strip. It's terrible. You can't even see it, it just makes the wheel uncomfortable.

Next, I played around with the dash. There's leather around, but it's not as quality as the nappa in the BMW. The gauge bezel is small, and the display between the gauges isn't very high quality. Then I grabbed the trim around the gauges. The chrome trim was cheap. The plastic shroud was cheap and creaked when I pushed on it. Naff.

The start button is on the left of the wheel, kind of buried in a stupid position. My Porsche starter is on the left, but at least you can see it.

The secondary controls aren't anything special. Oh, there are no shift paddles. They're optional, even on the SQ4.

That Nav / Infotainment is horrible. It's the same as in a Dodge Dart, if I'm not mistaken.

In any event, I was pretty nonplussed.

I opened the door to check out the back seat. They are frameless, and they're not particularly quality feeling. I opened the rear door, and man, was I in for a shock. There wasn't as much leg room back there as in a 3 series!! Seriously, I couldn't even sit behind myself. And I can in an F30. I would equate it to the rear seat space of an E90. Not good.

The trunk is not really very big. Same as a F30, I would say.

So the hottie wasn't back yet, so I walked around the car. Meh, it's ok, but it's pretty bloated and distorted looking when you look at it. The car had 18" wheels on it and they looked very small. So I was not blown away.

It's a good thing I hadn't looked at the window sticker for this steaming heap of mediocrity. Because it was only $87,500.

Seriously, The car has 400 HP, and less than 400 ft-lbs if I recall. It's not particularly good looking. The interior is pretty nasty....I think that the new Acura RLX feels more upscale, aside from it's fake wood. And I don't think it's that much of a stretch to say that.

In the end, the hottie came back, and I told her thanks, but no thanks. I just wasn't that interested. It's not all that great of a car.
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