Maseratis in the mud

A DAY IN THE GHIBLI S Q4 IN ASPEN IN SEARCH OF A PATCH OF SNOW

   Come to Aspen, they said. Drive the new Ghibli S Q4 in the snow, they said. It’ll be fun, they said.

   Except that there was no snow.

   At least, not on the roads. And it was unlikely we’d be allowed on the ski slopes, at least without being arrested.

   That was not necessarily a disappointment: We’d still be able to drive the Maserati Ghibli S Q4 on dry pavement, which ain’t bad at all. The Ghibli is Maserati’s best-selling car by far. Of the almost-15,000 Maseratis sold in the U.S. last year, two-thirds of them were Ghiblis. That’s because the Ghibli is the least expensive of them, of course, starting at “just” $71,050 for a rear-wheel-drive model. That’s in the upper half of what the European auto analysts refer to as the “high E segment” or what Maserati calls the “authentic sport executive sedan” segment. Maserati says it includes the Mercedes CLS, Audi A7, BMW 550/M5/6 Gran Coupe and also the Mercedes E400/550/AMG sedans. That’s a lot of high-quality luxury and performance.

   Maserati tries to reach buyers in this segment through a number of creative venues, one of which is its annual Welcome Winter drive program in Aspen. Q4-equipped Ghiblis and Quattroportes (Q4 being Maserati's AWD system) are stationed at select hotels in the area, and anyone (presumably anyone with a driver’s license who looks legit and smells sober; there are probably other requirements) can get behind the wheel. Maybe people think a Maserati is as out of reach as a Ferrari. This program suggests it’s more of a midsized luxury competitor. You, yes you, can buy a Maserati.

   While there are both rear- and all-wheel-drive Ghiblis available in America, Maserati approaches vacationing buyers in Aspen with the all-wheel drivers -- in this case, the AWD Ghibli S, which, like its rear-drive sibling, is powered by a Ferrari-built twin-turbo V6 making 404 hp in U.S. specs -- because of all the snow.

   Except that there was no snow.

   Call it global warming, call it weather, call it bad luck for skiers, but the roads were clear and dry. A high-pressure system parked over the Southwest was blocking all the rain, wind and snow that might otherwise flow east over the Rockies and dump piles of white, powdery splendor all over Aspen and Snowmass, including all over the roads and highways that slithered up, over and around these beautiful mountains.

   So what? We’d find something slippery to drive on somewhere. Right?

   “I don’t know, man,” said Gerold, the Maserati wrangler who’d spent the last few weeks pursuing routes for us to drive. “We went everywhere and didn’t find any snow on any roads.”

   It looked bleak. Then we met Cindy Hirschfeld, a 14-year resident, local skier and the editor of Aspen Magazine, who said she "knew some roads up around Marble that might still have snow.” As with any faith-based decision, we believed her.

   But first we drove up 8,755-foot McClure Pass on Highway 133, because that was our prescribed route. Surely, at nearly 9,000 feet in the Rockies, there’d be snow, wouldn’t there?

   No, there wasn’t. In fact, it was sunny and warm at McClure, and what snow there was at the sides of the roads was getting a little slushy.

   The twin-turbo V6 didn’t care about the snow; it liked the thin air and roared up the pass. In U.S. tune, it makes 404 hp at 5,500 rpm and 406 lb-ft of torque at 1,750 revs. That’s a lot of power to move the relatively lightweight (by standards of the class) Ghibli. Maserati quotes 0-60 in 4.7 seconds, also pretty quick considering that it holds four full-sized adults in more comfort (back seats anyway) than the CLS.

   And when we say it “roared,” we mean in sport mode. In normal mode, it sort of rattled a little more than we’d have liked. So, too, did the paddle shifters exhibit more looseness than we’d have expected. Nonetheless the paddles worked, clipping up and down through the gears on the quick-shifting ZF eight-speed automatic. Through the bends on the way up to McClure Pass, the Ghibli felt downright sporty. We’d have liked to have a few laps on nearby Aspen Racing and Sports Car Club in Woody Creek, just down the hill from Aspen itself, but that was not on the agenda. The idea here was driving on snow, and we were going to go find some if it killed us. Or maybe if it just made us late for dinner.

   Taking Hirschfeld’s directions, we sped off up Crystal River canyon to the town of Marble, known for its … marble. There are sculptures made of the stuff all up and down the road -- some of these sculptures exhibited more taste than others. There are even some that aren’t abstract. While there was snow on the ground in Marble, there was none on the roads. Hirschfeld had suggested a side road just after the big intersection in town, and that’s where we went. And guess what???? We found … mud. Lots of mud. More mud than into which such a beautiful car should be thrown. But we are scientists, sort of, and we wanted to feel how the Q4 system reacted on low-mu surfaces. So off we went up the narrow, winding mud ruts of County Road 3C, which winds up into the hills above and parallel to Yule Creek.

   And indeed, there was slip. We switched the center-console monitor to display driveline torque and were soon bumping up against the 50 percent front-axle limit. Who needs snow? If it was taking 100 milliseconds to transfer torque to the front axle, we sure couldn’t tell. As far as we could feel, it was instantaneous. The fronts grabbed hold of the mud and didn’t let go. The rears, too. Driving the Ghibli through this was a very, very stable experience, even after we’d disengaged the stability control.

   Which was actually a little disappointing. We were hoping to try out a few Scandanavian flicks, or at the very least get some bodacious oversteer and powerslide around the corners. But no, the Ghibli was just safely stable and very predictable, going wherever we pointed it and never flinching.

We went as far as the Treasure Mountain Bible Camp up near the end of the road and turned around, the car plastered with gooey Colorado mud. 

   The Ghibli S Q4, like the Quattroporte Q4, is meant to appeal to snow-bound drivers in the great Northeast and maybe to some mountain-state buyers at Maserati of North Denver. Assuming mud is about as slippery as snow, it’ll certainly do that. And it’s also a car so safe in the slush that even your spouse can handle it taking the kids to hockey practice. It’s a hit, and you won’t hit anything with it, either. Though we might recommend the rear-drive Ghibli if you are looking for more tail-wagging good times.