The Gandini One: Maserati Quattroporte IV 1994-2001

#Maserati has been making cars called "Quattroporte" almost continuously since 1963, with the nameplate going through six iterations so far.
Enthusiasts commonly refer to the fourth-gen #Quattroporte, built between 1994 and 2001, as "The #Gandini One."
Over a quarter of a century on, his Quattroporte's boxy, chunky wedge design is an appreciated classic, but in 1994 it was almost laughably behind the times... Much like the car's underpinnings, which still derived from the Biturbo sports saloon.
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[@frazzleface753]

I always go weak for an Italian wedge. Although this car was outdated when it was introduced in 1994, I just love its understated style.

[@joseantonioarandagarcia9966]

Very interesting article indeed. Allways loved Gandini’s Quattroporte design, even since it’s launch. I can’t imagine how beautifull it would be over a larger and longer platform.

[@t2stu]

Always a fan of this Maserati. I'd happily drive one. I didn't realise it was penned by the great man of the X1/9 though so thanks for that Matteo.

[@Celicarz11]

Soooo few!!! That's why I've never come across any in the classifieds! When I saw it in the magazines in 1998 I thought was amazing looking and still droll over it!

[@studiocalder818]

I visited the Turin salon in 1994 and I was deeply in love with that line

[@Matteo_Licata]

Remember the Turin show? Oh dear, the last one has been 20 years ago, but it seems like 40, given how the industry and the world has changed

[@patrickfaure2450]

Hello Matteo, Many thanks for this great expected video! The Quattroporte story in MASERATI is amazing, visionaire and pioneer. Gandini did a great job on this generation. He had to do without spending too much money, but the brand had nice motors to use... When I saw this car for the first time on road, it was impossible to miss it. Design, sound, real touch of class in the middle of the road traffic. We cannot compare it to any other car in the 90’. Porsche wasn’t copying the concept yet. And Mercedes, Bmw, including amg or m series, are serial cars from 4cyl to m or amg version... Maserati is in another league. Exclusive and exotic, so also expensive. And you have to accept some defects. If you have the oportunity, drive a Maserati Quattroporte V8, you will understand what I meaning. Dimensions and price would be not be your priority. For my point of view, the success or not of a brand is also based on communication, sales & after sales service you can get during the car Life time, and for sure it was not so easy to find it for Maserati, and at least serious... Great Video for a fantastical car.

[@studiocalder818]

Perfect 👌 About the communication, sales & after sales services, Alfa docet: so universally loved, so little sold

[@ElectricUAM]

I always thought it was such a beautiful sedan. It reminds me of the difference between an Alfa Romeo 75 and 164 where the latter had the room necessary to go head to head with the competition. The 75 was fine for us without kids and the occasional passengers. Ah, to have a Ghibly Cup, a Shamnal, and that Quattroporte in my dream garage!

[@fhwolthuis]

I love your channel for bringing unbiased and humoristic comments about the great Italian masterpieces (and some other cars). Keep it up 👌🇮🇹🏁

[@Matteo_Licata]

Thank you very much for your kind words. Love telling these stories and, rest assured, there will be many more to come! Watch this space ;)

[@keremtimuraykal4521]

if this car had a German badge critics would have praised it.What a beautiful car it was:....

[@Matteo_Licata]

Probably! :)

[@sunyataanatta1274]

No. This car loves to stay with mechanics more than its owner.

[@sainta2667]

And by far still is !

[@donaldvanvliet9039]

Not really, like the guy says in the vid, it was already behind the times when it was launched…it just looked pretty.

[@veikogarage]

That is an awsome car. It has very odd proportions and it looks very different from different angles, a true masterpiece and a sculpture.

[@tomjanowski8584]

This is my favorite Quattroporte.

[@psk5746]

My favourite Quattroporte

[@italianduded1161]

I love ALL the biturbos!!! (maybe not the spider one... nah I like that one too XD). This is no exception!

[@Matteo_Licata]

The Spider may well be my favorite... But that's because I've always had a penchant for ragtops

[@keszel8287]

Happily I have got one.

[@Matteo_Licata]

Cool! Which engine?

[@keszel8287]

@@Matteo_Licata the proper one, V8 Evo version with manual gearbox.

[@Matteo_Licata]

@@keszel8287 Yeah! That's the best one, indeed

[@flightis3dollars]

Thanks for another cool video and congrats on 2k+ subscribers.

[@Matteo_Licata]

Thank you for watching :) The growing popularity of this channel is making me very happy, and provides welcome positivity in these dark times. Next week's video is done already, and I've got a good idea for the one after that too :)

[@simonhodgetts6530]

I love these - lovely cars

[@paulqueripel3493]

Those rear wheel arches a Gandini speciality. He often used that style.

[@playtimehulot7383]

Thank you very much. Nice pictures! Pefect. The price comparison between 6 and 8 cylinders! A fact that I ever wanted to know. Thanks for the honest estimation about Gandini´s quality of work in those days. One thing I will correct: It is elm wood in the Quattroporte IV interior. That´s the reason because every car gets a problem after a more or less time. The wood panels get milky dull. The transparent paint isn´t the right for this type of wood.

[@Matteo_Licata]

That's a detail I didn't know! Thank you very much for letting me know!

[@timhancock6626]

It was always the money that killed these cars. Expensive to buy and expensive to maintain. I briefly considered buying one secondhand, but in the end bought an Alfa Romeo 164 because it could do 85% of what the Maserati could do at a fraction of the cost. I know the Quattroporte was not aimed at me, but with such low sales figures you could conclude it wasn't aimed at all, however nice it was. There should be a niche for a fast compact luxury 4 door sports saloon.......ah yes...did I mention the 164 ?.I loved the three I owned.

[@Matteo_Licata]

As I've said in the video, it's unclear who the QP was aimed at! Too small and unrefined to be a top luxury car, yet priced as one... By the way, very cool the 164, great car indeed

[@patrickfaure2450]

164 Q4 👌

[@bath1968]

Another great video!!!!

[@TheAllMightyGodofCod]

I always loved this car's styling, simple, clean, understate and dignified but it doesn't looks expensive and that is it's problem... It looks like something out of the Lancia range and I think it would look at home amongst the Delta, Prisma, Dedra and Thema of the day

[@Matteo_Licata]

Had this car been a replacement for the 425/430 in, say, 1988... It would have been received in a much more positive way. But as a luxury saloon proposition in the 90s it was out of place... It had no chances.

[@lucaspamplonica]

Nice video!! It seems that almos every italian car brand got purchased by Fiat back then... By the way, congratulations for your over 2000 suscribers!!!

[@Matteo_Licata]

Well, it's true. Every Italian automobile brand bar Lamborghini had been swallowed by Fiat before the turn of the millennium. The owners of Fiat were afraid of foreign companies operating automobile factories on Italian soil, given Fiat depended on Italian sales for survival. By the way, thank you! I'm glad this channel is growing so well :)

[@paullacey2999]

Still a visual treasure.Its very much of its time,And its still relatively compact.The QP that followed grew a bit more.

[@Matteo_Licata]

It was relatively small even for its day, that generation of the quattroporte. Charming car indeed, but my favorite remains the 2003 one

[@RWDY]

Really appreciate the use of the Dune (1984) soundtrack! ;)

[@Matteo_Licata]

Must be a similar track, but not the same: KZbin offers a wide range of free music to creators, and I take all my music from them.

[@TheoKoulouris]

@@Matteo_Licata Ιts the Dune soundtrack, kzbin.info/www/bejne/o6GckqJ8fbV1j68

[@Cypress_green]

Great video! You should do an episode on the Fiat Bravo HGT, or just the Bravo in general.

[@gregorysmith3763]

wow, superLOW production total for seven years 🤯 didn't realize that before

[@frazzleface753]

Me neither. It must be pretty rare these days.

[@akr01364]

When I was a kid growing up in the 90's in the US state of Massachusetts the owner of a factory in the next town over had one of the original BiTurbos. I say this as you only ever saw it parked in the lot beside the factory a few times a year as getting it serviced where we were was about as easy as telling your grandmother that her sauce tastes bad. As such, in its bright red it sort of stood out. I don't think it ever achieved more than 10,000 miles over the years and he may still have it,,,,,,,,,,where's my checkbook? ;)

[@Matteo_Licata]

US-Spec Biturbos gave their fair share of trouble to their owners when new. But now, as a classic car proposition, things aren't as bad as most people make them out to be. Get a good one to start with, and then stay on top of things. Spare parts are an issue, especially body and trim, but that's true for most 80s cars today.

[@akr01364]

@@Matteo_Licata The emissions control equipment cars had to have here back then made everyone bang the table endlessly and that was always a major problem on Italian, English and French cars. The dealerships were always very far and few between and simple servicing often meant having to rely upon a guy that knew a guy that knew a little. As such it's probably sitting in his garage still, under cover with a blown oxygen sensor and is only a simple LPG conversion away from being great again.

[@reneblanche3573]

Please more Maserati stuff. Granturismo for example❤❤❤

[@Matteo_Licata]

I haven't done anything about Maserati lately because I haven't had the chance to film any, but I hope I will, eventually!

[@sainta2667]

Great review , what a beautiful line this car has .. so amazing and special . Will love you to have Kappa/Coupe reviewed here too. Had 4 Kappa Coupe's and 4 QP ;-) best cars I had. What's the issue with Gandini ;-) from interviews I saw he seems very humble. Anyway - love most of his designs.

[@Matteo_Licata]

Got no issue with Gandini himself, how could I? But I don't like personality cults. Gandini did some extraordinary designs... But the late part of his career is also littered with duds, and we should be able to call them that way when they are. I believe the role of Nuccio Bertone as an "editor" of his designer's operas is underrated

[@studiocalder818]

@@Matteo_Licata D'accordo sul grande Gandini, d'accordissimo su Bertone, che definirei il Ferrari dei carrozzieri. Vi è da dire che fino a qualche anno fa l'unico protagonista della sua carrozzeria era lui

[@avtomad722]

Another fantastic video, and a great insight into a model I was always rather confused by.

[@Matteo_Licata]

Glad you've enjoyed it!

[@chourmouzischrislazarou1586]

Amazing video , great work . Can you please make a video about the alfa romeo gtv/spider 916 or the lancia kappa ?

[@Matteo_Licata]

The GTV/Spider video is long overdue, you're right. Regarding the Kappa I'm not so convinced...

[@chourmouzischrislazarou1586]

@@Matteo_Licata don't you like the kappa especially the coupe variant?

[@midas1929]

@@Matteo_Licata And the Montreal please

[@Matteo_Licata]

@@chourmouzischrislazarou1586 To be honest... No. :)

[@Matteo_Licata]

@@midas1929 The Montreal is one of the cars I've been thinking about lately... I'm certainly going to cover it soon.

[@randellgribben9772]

i would love to have one

[@studiocalder818]

They have one on sell at Schiaretti & Folezzani Officina in Langhirano PR, Italy, at a very interesting price

[@michelinstarschallenger8626]

I do not recall the last time I saw one.

[@Matteo_Licata]

Neither do I :)

[@davidorama6690]

Beautiful clsssic Mazzer sedan.

[@hunchanchoc8418]

I don't care what purists might say, I still think this is THE most beautiful of all the Quattroporte designs, and actually one of the most beautiful cars of all time. (The 3rd generation's styling is cringeworthily clunky - almost looks like an FSO Polonez!)

[@studiocalder818]

The purity of Gandini's Quattroporte wins over almost all

[@Robert-nz2qw]

Where’s the Montreal video? 🙂

[@Matteo_Licata]

That's a cool story... I've yet to decide how to write it though. I'm definitely gonna make it though

[@stefancvetkovic5270]

Sir, can you share the name of the track that starts at 00:47 please?

[@Matteo_Licata]

Yes. It's called "Wild Pogo", and it's a royalty-free track among the hundreds KZbin itself makes available to video creators.

[@stefancvetkovic5270]

@@Matteo_Licata Thank you so much, I want to use it for video about revival of my old Fiat Bravo.

[@Matteo_Licata]

@@stefancvetkovic5270 Cool! I look forward to watch that when you'll upload it

[@gregorizi]

Maybe you could find, year 2010 ultimate car.

[@kadran3263]

I never realised this car was such a huge failure. This is my favourite Quattroporte design 😱

[@Matteo_Licata]

I quite like it too, even if it isn't conventionally pretty. It's perhaps more attractive now than in period, when its sharp lines and wedge profile were unfashionable.

[@kadran3263]

@@Matteo_Licata I loved it on sight back then too :D

[@dough740]

I think the Gandini looked beautifully understated (i always liked the BiTurbo for the same reason). However, how on earth did they come up with that dreadful rear wheel arch?

[@Matteo_Licata]

It was kind of Marcello Gandini's signature, which he used on several of his late designs. But I'm with you on this, it doesn't look good.

[@patrickfaure2450]

Complementary vids kzbin.info/www/bejne/r4XZd61jesakh9E kzbin.info/www/bejne/hXKsnqmeaq-rebc kzbin.info/www/bejne/nZaoeKSepcinnKc

[@Matteo_Licata]

I've subscribed to the French channel that made the first video. Sadly I can't speak French, but I adore how its sounds and can understand it pretty well. Fantastique!

[@patrickfaure2450]

Roadster Life Yes, they have a nice way to focus on automotion... Des “bobos parisiens”!

[@0990ftn]

As much as how handsome Quattroporte IV was, it surely wasn’t a cutting edge, matter of fact almost none of his 90’s work was. Chubasco, V16T, Diablo/ EB110 Prototype, all were striking but even in the 90’s it looked old. In the world of car design you can’t be top dog forever, just take a look at Paolo Martin’s sketch in 2010’s, even the former Pininfarina designer can’t escape the aging. Gandini’s peak came rather early, far earlier compared to Giugiaro, Spada, and Fioravanti. His contract with Renault ended in the 90’s forcing him to retire by the 2000’s.

[@noserly]

Need.

[@josedealbuquerquejr.941]

Quattroporte 2 was also penned by Gandini

[@gorkab8461]

It is true that the boxy, wedge style was outdated, but when you look at the "mainstream" luxury saloon designs of the mid-nineties the alternative was worst. BMW 5 series was becoming boring and the E-class restyling around 95-96 was bland and plain ugly!

[@playtimehulot7383]

This is even true. A bad time for good shapes....

[@bojanarezina2352]

mk2 was also gandini

[@Matteo_Licata]

Yes it was. But it's not a commonly known model, as it never quite passed to full production stage, with only a few pre-production examples making it out into the wild

[@bojanarezina2352]

@@Matteo_Licata cool, i didn't know that

[@MrRea112]

A very sad story. This car was beautifully styled and had a look with attitude. However woeful build quality and reliability made it a bit of a joke that buyers saw.

[@spagbowlsparmacheese629]

Great marque but always reliability and resale were a prob

[@Matteo_Licata]

Very true!

[@studiocalder818]

Well, during a certain period, only. For example a Mexico or a Sebring were easier to maintein than a Ferrari, later the Shamal was a solid perfect car

[@marcbrasse747]

You are rather hard on Ghandini, suggesting an also oberblown ego. Is that so? I know from interviews that he was not a very open and sociable type to start with and had the good luck to have Bertone do all the promotional stuff. His case might actually proof that real talent is in the end more important then social skills, providing such talent get's an honest chance at all. Nowadays the world is full of politically skilled "managers"' and "designers". It is however rather starved of good designs. Anyway. With such an ouvre he might be forgiven. Few people can design such a beautiful mistake. It migth have been out of touch with the times but it also proves that a good design will always survive fashion. By the way: I drive a Citroën which is not from Ghandini but still seesm to contain a lot of his spirit. To me this Quatroporte seesm to confirm that the typical "architectual"' aspects of many Bertone designs came mostly from him, the Bravo being a very fine example. Just an opinion though. :-)

[@servevliegen]

Marc are you from Limburg. Bame sounds familiar

[@marcbrasse747]

@@servevliegen Yep! Toch neet Servie van de Fanfare in Puth, he?

[@ianstewartorr8455]

It looks like a daewoo Espero

[@kasimirdenhertog3516]

Yes, that was it! I remembered there was some dreary Kia or Daewoo that looked like the Maser. It had this daft 'extra pillar' and glass at the rear, but I couldn't remember the make & model. Looking at the Espero again, it is kind of like how an MR2 looks like a Ferrari: same proportions and general shape, yet completely different when you look more closely.

[@christianro7010]

Beautiful video, but i prefer the language italian .I am italiano.Bye

[@sunyataanatta1274]

Reliability nightmare. Absolutely money pit.