Maserati Ghibli Review 2023

Have you already made your way through all of the various offerings in the executive saloon market? If you've tried an Audi A6, BMW 5 Series, Mercedes-Benz E-Class and Jaguar XF, and you just crave something a little bit, well, different? Something a bit more glamorous? Well, the Maserati Ghibli could well be worth a try.

It’s certainly a much rarer sight than its rather ubiquitous rivals, and that alone is likely to stir up a fair amount of admiration, and so is the aggressive Italian styling reminiscent of the Quattroporte limousines. The interior has a fair amount of individuality, too, and what it lacks in sheer quality, it makes up for in style and elegance.

Yes, it’s a pricey option compared with rivals, and it trails behind most of them in several key areas, but, it’s interesting and appealing nonetheless.

We can’t see much reason to go beyond the entry-level trim, as these versions come with most of what you need including two-zone climate control, leather upholstery, cruise control, four powered windows, powered front seats, keyless entry and automatic lights and wipers. 

The only thing that’s really missing is front and rear parking sensors, but upgrading to GranLusso or GranSport trim just to get those is pointlessly expensive. Well, we say ‘only thing that’s missing’; another big omission from the Ghibli’s standard equipment roster is automatic emergency braking, unbelievably, none of the trims get this unless optional extras are added. Maserati corrected this in 2021, with most models getting this important safety tech as standard.

The diesel version will suit most buyers from a rational point of view, but it’s not all that fast and it’s rather noisy. The diesel was axed from the Ghibli line-up and replaced with a 2.0-litre petrol mild hybrid in 2021, which pairs excellent straight-line performance with reasonable fuel economy figures. However, purists will prefer one of the V6 petrols, which are more impressive on pace, but they’re still a little unrefined and very thirsty.

As an executive saloon, the Maserati Ghibli is aimed squarely at rivals such as the Audi A6, BMW 5 Series, Mercedes E-Class and Jaguar XF. You can forget the regular cooking versions of those cars, though: the Ghibli has no intention of dusting it with a 520d SE or an E220 CDI Avantgarde. No, it’s the higher-end, higher-performance variants of these cars that need to watch out, so the 530d M Sports and the E350d AMG Lines. You might also consider a Porsche Panamera or Lexus GS.

The Maserati Ghibli’s interior has many choices of colour scheme, and the more lurid and dramatic of these certainly give a more flamboyant feel than the conservatively designed cabins of rivals from Audi, BMW and Mercedes. Choose the GranLusso trim, and the upgraded leather kicks up the flamboyance a notch further. 

Unfortunately, though, the Ghibli simply can’t match the rest for sheer quality. You’ll recognise many of the switches and buttons from much cheaper Fiat-group cars, which when you’ve forked out top-dollar for a Maserati, is a little bit galling. They look rather cheap and aren’t hugely tactile. The quality of the other materials on show varies as you look around the cabin, wherein rivals, everything is of a uniformly high standard. What’s more, the standard of the Maserati’s assembly doesn’t feel as dense or as substantial as the German cars’, either.

Buy an early Ghibli, and the infotainment system is pretty poor. Trawling your way through the various menus was too difficult, the touchscreen functionality had hit-and-miss responses to inputs and was overly distracting, while the graphics looked too dated for a premium product.

However, the overhauled system brought in with the 2017 facelift improved things considerably. The graphics were smarted up, the menus became more logical, the screen became more responsive and - perhaps most importantly - a BMW-style rotary dial controller was added so that you didn’t have to bother jabbing at the touchscreen at all. Much more like it.

The later system has all the functionality you’d expect too, with navigation, DAB radio, Bluetooth and Apple Carplay/Android Auto. The standard eight-speaker stereo is pretty good, but there are two optional ones - a Harman Kardon one and a Bowers & Wilkins one - that are much, much better.

The best infotainment is fitted to cars from 2021 onwards, with Maserati fitting a swish 10-inch touchscreen. The quality of the graphics is far superior to the old system and you also get wireless Apple Carplay/Android Auto connectivity, which means you do not need to plug your phone into the car to pair the display. You can also access your car remotely with Maserati Connect. The new feature lets you monitor the car's health, locate it in a busy car park and unlock it using just your phone.  

Not an area in which the Maserati Ghibli excels, we’re afraid. Those in the front will have no worries, with head, leg and shoulder room to spare. However, those in the back aren’t nearly so well looked after. Legroom is tight when compared with rivals, and if those up front are six foot or more, a similarly sized rear passenger will find their knees digging into the back of the chairs ahead. 

Headroom is fine, but the high window line makes sitting in the back quite a claustrophobic experience, because you’re surrounded by too much metal and not enough glass. That makes the back seat a wee bit short on natural light too. A comparatively narrow cabin makes seating three across the rear bench something of a squeeze too, and because there’s a big hump running down the middle of the floor (caused by the transmission tunnel) and a middle seat that’s harder and higher than those either side, whoever finds themselves in the centre seat will not be in for a comfy time.

The Maserati Ghibli is more competitive with its rivals on boot space at 500 litres, but it’s still slightly behind, and the space isn’t as easy to get at, with an opening that’s narrower and shallower. The rear seats can be folded in a 60-40 configuration, but the backrests don’t go flat, leaving you with a sloped load area. There’s a small, awkwardly-shaped aperture to push items through as well, although that’s also the case in all the Ghibli’s saloon-car rivals.

In terms of exterior dimensions the Maserati Ghibli is similar in size to the Audi A6 at 4971mm long, 2128mm wide and 1461mm tall. 

Most Maserati Ghiblis come with a 3.0-litre V6 engine, the entry-level one being a 275PS diesel, the first diesel engine ever used in a Maserati. However, despite its generous output, it doesn’t really feel all that quick, certainly not as quick as you’d expect a Maserati to feel, and that’s the case whether you're getting away from a standing start, or picking up speed on the move.

The other choices are petrol-powered, and these feel much better suited to a sports saloon. The V6 has 350PS, while the S version uses the same engine, but with the wick turned up to 430PS. We haven’t tried the S, but even the lesser engine makes the car feel properly quick, with plentiful pull right throughout the rev range.

The Ghibli Hybrid was added to the range in 2021 as a replacement for the V6 diesel. The hybrid doesn't have any plugs or leads; instead, it uses a 'mild hybrid' system that combines a turbocharged four-cylinder 2.0-litre petrol engine with a battery, a belt starter generator that acts as an alternator and an eBooster unit. 

The hybrid system doesn't allow the Ghibli to run on electric power, but it does provide V6-rivalling performance with the eBooster assisting the engine under heavy loads. Advertised fuel economy is also reasonable for a petrol Ghibli, up to 33mpg.

All cars come with an eight-speed automatic gearbox, and it’s pretty good, swapping gears smoothly and briskly. It reacts swiftly when you use the manual override too. However, only the GranSport version gets paddle-shifters on the steering wheel as standard. Using the manual override on the other versions involves mucking about with the gear selector.

All the engines we’ve tried are disappointing in this area, especially the diesel. It clatters away uncouthly, even when idling or at low revs, and the noise levels increase as the revs rise. The grumble doesn’t fade away once you’re up to motorway cruising speeds either, and all the while, too many vibrations are sent through the controls to the driver’s hands and feet. Consider the super-impressive engine refinement in rivals from Audi and BMW, and this becomes all the more disappointing.

The petrol engine we’ve tried is better, staying quieter for more of the time. However, although it sounds suitably fruity when you pile the revs on, you'll feel vibrations making their way into the cabin that you just don’t feel in rivals.

The Maserati Ghibli’s slippery shape helps it cut through the air reasonably cleanly, although you do hear a wee bit of wind noise fluttering around the door mirrors, and the fat tyres do kick up a bit of road noise.

The Maserati Ghibli scored the full five-star rating in Euro NCAP crash tests when it was assessed way back in 2013, but we’re sure it wouldn’t score the same rating if it were tested now. The standards, requirements and thresholds for these tests get tougher year on year, and there are one or two things missing from the Ghibli’s roster of safety kit that would prevent older models getting a perfect score under the latest standards.

The biggest omission by far is automatic emergency braking. Yes, you can have it if an option pack is fitted that also includes active cruise control, lane-keep assist and blind spot monitoring, but you couldn't get it as standard on most models until 2021. On a car that costs this much, that’s borderline scandalous. Seven airbags, stability control and tyre pressure monitoring are included, but there’s a tyre repair kit rather than a spare wheel.

Whilst Maserati didn't feature on the latest HonestJohn.co.uk Satisfaction Index, it's part of the Fiat Group. Fiat placed 30th out of 30 manufacturers with a score of 82.3% satisfaction, trailing far behind the likes of BMW and Audi that both scored 86.9%. As Maserati isn't a big seller like the German brands there's fewer reports of reliability concerns. 

It’s expensive. It’s got lots of power. It’s a Maserati, for heaven’s sake. No surprise then, that all versions of the Maserati Ghibli lie in the most expensive group - group 50 - for insurance. However, if you can afford to buy a high-end car like the Ghibli, then forking out a few quid on insurance probably isn’t going to ruin you.

All Maserati Ghiblis registered after April 1st 2017 will cost £475 per year to tax between years two and six of the car’s life, and then £150 per year thereafter. That’s due to a £150 flat rate applied to petrol and diesel cars on that date, plus a five-year £325 surcharge applied to cars that cost over £40,000 when new. Cars registered before that are taxed based on their CO2 emissions. Most versions will cost £330 per year in tax, but a couple of the diesels drop as low as £205, while some versions of the S rise as high as £565.

Three trims are available, and the basic one provides most of what you need. That includes two-zone climate control, leather upholstery, cruise control, four powered windows, powered front seats, keyless entry and automatic lights and wipers. That’s as well as the safety and infotainment gear mentioned earlier. 

Both the Maserati Ghibli GranLusso and Maserati Ghibli GranSport trims add soft-close doors, additional styling bits, a powered steering column and LED headlights with automatic high-beam assistance, but the GranLusso up the luxury with upgraded leather and heated front seats, while GranSport cars take a sporty approach, with the Skyhook suspension and paddleshifters for the automatic gearbox.