When luxury saloons attack

The ultimate four door luxury saloon is a car that can carry four to five people in uppermost luxury, that has the latest technologies and that costs over $100,000. There were few choices for this kind of car, precisely five: The Mercedes S-class, the BMW 7 series, the Jaguar S-type, the Audi A8 and the VW Phaeton. Each has a plus side that the others don't have: The Mercedes has technologies, the BMW has prestige, the Jaguar has hand-made stuff, the Audi has control systems and the Pheaton has power & simplicity. Despite that, all are considered perfect choices... or were, before something came along from Italy : the Quattroporte.

Quattroporte means four doors in Italian, so what Maserati is saying is that they made a four door car. Not something new, but it is a Maserati, and Maserati is now own by Ferrari, that means that the priorities are not power or comfort - although it's very comfortable - but it's sport stuff: speed, control, acceleration... the lot, really, when you see that it has a 4.2 liter 400 bhp V8, with rear-wheel drive and a top speed of 167 miles an hour, 12 more than the Mercedes, the Audi and the VW.



Maserati has a plus side: the ride. In the S-class you'll be using the radio-guided cruise control and the massage tool ( or Bangkok-lazy-boy-tronic system as JC likes to name it ), deciding on what movie you'll watch after 22 minutes, as the on-board computer tells you you still have 21 minutes to arrive home. It's all great, but you can never drive fast and sporty, you will always have the feel of very controlled robot car, not a Ferrari. The Maserati on the other hand, is exactly like a Ferrari to drive, and that's quite a rare thing in a four door car.



Mercedes did another trial with releasing the CLS, which is a comfortable four-door car that looks like a coupe, and it was a really good car. Just look at one of those tuned by Brabus in black... A masterpiece ! Nothing of this new category called four-door coupes came along, until this summer, from Volkswagen : the passat CC.

I have to admit I'm not a fan of the Passat, especially when the new one came along, which is just an expensive smugmobile that does look slightly better than the Gee-Wizz, which isn't much. Anyway, VW made this new car and it's really good looking, the side looks just like a CLS. So there we are, two good looking four-door coupes, with a new approach to motoring perfection. Well, there's something else ...

Few years ago, Aston Martin made the Rapide Concept, a four door concept car based on the DB9. It was very long with four full-size seats, wood and leather everywhere, but it was a concept nevertheless. But last Summer, Porsche and Lamborghini made concept four door saloons and said they'll be making them for real and release them in 2009 ! The two cars are the Porsche Panamera and the Lamborghini Estaque.



Nothing can be said about them as nothing is yet known about their engines, so we'll do our best with what we have. So, judging the looks, the Panamera is another Porsche failure after the Cayenne, and it looks like a bugatti sedan which isn't the best looking car, to be honest. The Lamborghini on the other hand looks beautiful, which a very good thing for Lambo. It seems like things could look really good for the Estaque in terms of good looking fast sedan.

So, what's best: luxury sedans like the S-class and 7-series, sport sedans like the Quattroporte, four-door coupes like the CLS or the all-new four-door super cars ? None can tell, but the true fact is that the traditional luxury sedans will attract the biggest crowd, always did and will always do. that said, there are still ideas going on to try to make the best car in the world, the perfect vehicle with the best driving experience.