Lambo S8 v. Ferrari Quattroporte

With my promotion to mailroom boy, I get to look at other people's mail, including their junk mail. Imagine my surprise when I noticed that the local Maserati dealer is luring the well heeled into its showroom by offering a box of Omaha steaks in exchange for a test drive.

Though most upper income bracket work-a-holics are satiated with the torque-crazy AMG S-class and the hyper-complicated M5, nothing says exotic sports sedan like shoehorning a northern Italian engine into the bonnet. Thankfully, the world currently has two such sedans on sale.

1. Maserati Quattroporte. A detuned 4.2 liter V8 from the Ferrari F430 provides the driver with 400hp. And finally, in 2007, a smooth manu-matic transmission is available (the new tranny's arrival was mentioned in the junk mailer). But what sets this full-sized sedan apart from all others is the Pininfarina body. Mama mia, that's-a spicy meat-a-ball!




2. Audi S8. The S8 gets a detuned 5.2 liter V10 from the Gallardo. But the engine's soul got lost in the translation. Even though the big Audi is chock full of aluminum, it weighs just as much as, if not more than, its 7-series and S-class competitors. And with it looking virtually identical to run-of-the-mill A8s, this car just ain't happening. An example of the Lambo-Audi synergy, this is not.



CKY