Maserati Ghibli Diesel Review- A pretty face with an ugly truth

Finally, after 3 long and agonizing months I had just finished my last exam, when I got back home again I was chilling out to the sound of zero stress and ‘I’m Free’ by The Who, I had torn out my revision mind maps and burnt every school book to a refreshing and delightful crisp! Lovely.

Now I could look forward to the next big event, the annual school leavers prom! All my friends were excited about this, it would be a hefty night of loud music and pretty girls, my ideal kind of evening! Oh yes, there’s one other thing about prom, cars, it would only be polite for everyone to turn up in a top end car of some sort. But in the beginnings, things didn’t look promising.

My best friend was endlessly on hire car websites, searching endlessly for a modern and flashy ride, me on the other hand, wanted something classy and cool, a Jensen Interceptor for example. For months we simply couldn’t agree on what sort of car to take to this epic event, I felt like I’d have to ask my dad to take us in his Mercedes. I was as close as knife on butter to asking him, then I got a text message-

Friend- “Aaron, good news!!! My cousin just upgraded to a Ghibli, and he’s going to take us”

Me- “Nice!! That’s our ride sorted then!”

Initially I was quite excited, but the one thing that was stuck in the back of my head was; ‘God I hope it’s not the diesel.’ but still I was going to prom in a Maserati! That’s one of the coolest things to say to your parents, they sounded very supportive. Then I equipped myself with a suit: (well when I say suit…it was a cream jacket with black skinny jeans and a Rolling Stones ‘Exibitionism’ T-Shirt. Together the outfit looked awesome, very much like Mick Jagger :)

Prom night eventually rolled around, I waited about 5 minutes for the Ghibli to turn up. I was shaking, not because I was cold, but because I was nervous about what the atmosphere of the venue was going to be like. I hope it’s somewhere nice.
Then my other friend turns up, he was in a proper suit, looked very smart, like a comedian sort of smart. With a red bow tie on his throat, he then pointed behind me, and there she was!

The Maser had arrived!! A gorgeous black Ghibli, with it’s front nose beckoning me to open up her sweeping doors, you can’t deny that this is an impossibly pretty car! I climbed in the Italian beauty and away we went.
The first thing that struck me was that there was barely ANY legroom in the backseats, I had to ask my friend to move his seat forward a bit so I wouldn’t lose my amazing dance-moves over cramped legs. There was then a fairly good amount of legroom, but really, there’s actually more room in the back of my mum’s Golf. I had started to look around the interior and couldn’t help but realize that is was SUCH a nice place to be. The dashboard, the seats, the stitching, the materials were just gorgeous, no other car in this class comes quite as luxurious as the Ghibli, it was beautiful. It’s like finding out that Angelina Jolie loves takeaways and Netflix.

But there's an Elephant in the room, a big one.

But there was an Elephant in the room, a big one, in fact, there were a heard of Elephants dropping their waste in the room. Something you simply can’t ignore, I think you may have guessed it from the title, a diesel engine…
Let’s get the basics over with, it’s a 3.0 litre V6 diesel with the help of a turbocharger producing 266bhp, which isn’t as powerful as this car’s main rival, the BMW 535d. But then again if you think about it, Maserati has always been down on power with it’s recent cars, but makes up for it with an amazing experience. Question is, it that the case with this Ghibli?

Simple answer is…..no, not really, I mean yes the interior is gorgeous but then you hear the sound of the smooth diesel engine and don’t really get much torque in return. And you can’t really help but feel a bit sad, a bit disheartening towards one of the greatest brands ever made. It’s in no way exciting, there’s no character, no soul to give you a shiver down the spine. Then again, diesels aren’t supposed to do that sort of thing. So maybe it’s more of a motorway cruiser, like any other executive car. But then again, if that’s all you want, what’s wrong with spending 10 grand less on a 3 litre Mercedes E-Class? I guarantee it’s quicker and more economical, more comfortable too. The Maser’s suspension was a teeny bit on the jiggly side compared to other rivals.

Let’s not forget, before this car was built, Maserati were in trouble, they were losing money because all they were making were big V8 thirsty supercars. So really, to get the money rolling in again, and to keep the company in business, they were pretty much forced to make diesel cars. FCA aim to sell up to 50 thousand Ghiblis per year, which rather loses the point, they’ve built this car to sell, not to thrill. That’s the dark, ugly truth within this car, financial reasons.

As we were cruising along the big windy road towards the hotel of the prom venue, I felt as though I was in ‘Just another car’ which is quite sad really considering when I looked at the little window print and saw the famous Maserati logo. At that point I quickly worked out that this car was rubbish, I promised to myself that I would be choosing the prom car next time. My friend primarily chose this because of the way it looked. Then again, it’s always about looks when you turn up to prom.

We eventually rolled up to the red carpet, many people were starring into the car looking at us, with bright smiley faces and girls looking beautiful in their handmade dresses. They looked at the car, loved it, the Maser looked right at home when it was in the lineup of Bentley Continentals, S-Classes etc. We climbed out of the Ghibli looking forward to the music, and the drinks.
Other people must’ve thought I had a wonderful time in the Ghibli, because to non-petrol heads, a Maserati is a God-like car.
It’s like being part of the royal family, others think that you are living a incomparable dream, but in reality, it may not be so great. And that’s what the Ghibli Diesel is, unknown disappointment.

Thanks for reading guys :D I’d really appreciate it if you left a comment, here’s where I first wrote this review, it’s on an incredibly awesome growing car community called ‘Revving It Daily’ Be sure to check out that website! 👍
Here’s the link- http://www.revvingitdaily.com/