Ian Lamming drives Maserati’s new trump card the MC20
IT’S the 1970s and a nine-year-old me receives his first Top Trumps card game, just the ticket for a junior anorak.
All those cars, all those statistics, all that endless fun. And my favourite? The Maserati
Bora; all sleek, all fast, all Italian. It was a car to rival Ferrari and Lamborghini with its 170mph top speed and six second sprint time, thanks to a 4.9 litre V8 that chucked out close to 300hp. Marvellous, a young boy’s dream.
After that Mazzas went a bit gran turismo; nothing wrong with that of course but they didn’t have the brash edginess to match the true sports car makers, becoming more gentrified than hooligan.
Forty five years after the last Bora rolled off the production line the true Maserati sports car is back with a vengeance in both coupe and convertible form.
A mid-engine, twin-turbocharged, 3.0 V6, MC20 sends 630hp to the rear wheels. With a lightweight body of just 1,700kg that’s enough to propel it to 62mph in 2.9 seconds – that’s proper supercar performance, that is, as is the yowl from the twin exhausts poking from the carbon fibre diffuser.
It’s impressive even if we can’t use that performance on today’s roads. But none of that really matters because I’m sold the minute I set eyes on the MC20, particularly in ‘Cielo’ form.
Cielo is Italian for sky. See what they did there? Yep, it’s an open top sports car and it is beautiful from any angle. The large front grille couldn’t come from any other manufacturer and is instantly recognisable thanks to the shape and its signature trident badge.
The ‘butterfly’ doors open vertically which is cool and also make it easy to alight. Something this special deserves distinctive doors and that’s what you get with the MC20.
Proportions are perfect with a super-sleek silhouette, short overhangs and huge 20in alloys. Flared wheel arches and rear buttresses that stretch from the headrests back to the engine cover finish off a gloriously aesthetic design. Test car comes with £10k Rosso Vincente paint job and £6k carbon fibre pack. Well, it has to be done hasn’t it.
The carbon fibre continues inside to the transmission tunnel, steering wheel and paddle-shifts. Add in leather and Alcantara and MC20’s sporting purpose is clear to be seen. It makes the MC interior surprisingly minimalist like a stripped out, dye-in-the-wool sports car should be.
On the road MC20 Cielo, and its stablemate the MC20 Coupe, are just plain lovely. The Maseratis are unexpectedly easy to drive despite being powerful, wide and low, or maybe it’s my rosso-tinted glasses that leaves me feeling so good about being in the MC that it doesn’t really matter how they perform. That said, I feel immediately at home and even down narrow country roads never fret that I’m behind the wheel of a 300K supercar; I simply love the ride.
It is noisy, but then I’d have been disappointed if it hadn’t been and the aural quality of the V6 is stunning. It is blisteringly quick of course but is equally content pootling and posing through town and village. Body control is sheer perfection but the ride, though firm, never approaches being harsh. Somehow it manages to be the best of both worlds, a razor sharp track tool and a comfortable tourer.
Maserati’s heritage shines through with aplomb and MC20 is a welcome edition that completes an exciting new range. I must get an updated set of Top Trumps to see if the MC is in there and if it is it will definitely be my favourite car again.
Fact File
Maserati MC20
Engine: 3.0 twin turbo V6 petrol
Power: 630HP
Top speed: 204mph
0-62mph: 2.9 secs
Combined MPG: 18
Transmission: eight-speed auto
CO2 g/km: 262
Price: From £230,290, £305,795 including extra
