Yesterday I drove a 2007 Jaguar XJ and a Maserati Gran Sport. For a car geek like myself, this is not dissimilar to my buddy Justin Barksdale meeting Derek Jeter and Ichiro Suzuki. Essentially, I got to shake hands with greatness, but they were great in different ways.
By contrast, the two cars I drove yesterday couldn't be less alike. The Jag (my second 20 mile jaunt in an XJ in two days) was relaxed and comfortable. It was clearly designed to deliver me to my destination without drama. Yes, it accelerates quickly, and the car is capable of being sporty, but it always feels as though it's trying to run while wearing a three piece suit.
The Maserati, on the other hand, wants to be driven as though one's hair is on fire. Yes, it has a semi-automatic transmission (the clutch is computer controlled, unlike automatic transmissions with paddle shifters), and yes the car weighs 3400 some odd pounds, but from behind the finely stitched leather wrapping the steering wheel, you can clearly sense the passion of its design. I climbed into the Maserati and drove it 300 feet to a stop sign, where I turned left and goosed the throttle. With no hesitation, the car ripped from idle to red line while screaming from the top of its Italian designed lungs and I grabbed second gear while holding the slide and preparing for lift off. Yes, you could argue that on paper the Maserati is all wrong, but in the moment, while tearing the fabric of the space time continuum, there is nowhere I'd rather be. The steering wheel is perfectly placed and weighted, the flappy paddles are exactly the correct distance from your fingertips when rocketing towards 60 miles per hour sideways, and the pedals are responsive to the point of telepathy. In essence, the car not only responds with immediacy to your every desire, it is designed in such a way that you become at one with its finely refined magnificence.
And here is where the two cars merge by comparison: refinement. Both the Maserati and Jaguar are immeasurably perfected. On paper they can be beaten by less expensive cars; whether measured by 0-60 times, lateral G's, or trinkets and baubles (neither car is class leading in available options). But unlike the BMW 745i, the Jaguar XJ replaces 400 seat adjustment options with 4. And those 4 options are perfect. The Nissan GTR has a finely tuned, computer controlled, and precision engineered AWD system that plants power to the ground with clinical efficiency, but the Maserati rockets forward with passionate immediacy delivered by only the smoke spewing rear tires. This is Smokey and the Bandit style smoke spewing rear tires. It brings childhood fantasies to life.
Yes, the Jag and Maserati seem to fall short to their competition by all measurable standards. But so does a well wrought beer like the Arrogant Bastard Ale when compared to Coors Light. It is in the experiencing of these refined products that one is reminded of their superiority.
Yes, the Jag and Maserati seem to fall short to their competition by all measurable standards. But so does a well wrought beer like the Arrogant Bastard Ale when compared to Coors Light. It is in the experiencing of these refined products that one is reminded of their superiority.
Refinement, it seems, is worth the cost.
Maserati Grade: A+
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