If you tried and failed to reinvent yourself over the past two years, don’t beat yourself up. Spanish fluency and nailing the flambé can prove elusive. Success stories do exist, however. Just look to Maserati, in Modena, Italy, which, by perfecting a new supercar while you’ve been binging Netflix, has made Maserati Maserati again. The brand was once thought of as a contender in sports car tech and racing. Of late, it’s better known for an SUV and sedans built to sit in South Beach traffic. That’s about to change if our recent test drive of the MC20 is any indication.
A $216,000 sports car that’s wildly fast and full of character, it’s got handsome lines and bling-y design touches.
Interior of the Maserati MC20.Courtesy Image
But the MC20’s big story is its engine, a unique, three-liter, twin-turbocharged V6 designed and built in-house. For more immediate power, it uses pre-chamber combustion tech derived from F1 racing, utilizing two spark plugs per cylinder. The result is a fat power band (3,000 to 7,500 rpm) and an output of 630 horsepower. On public roads the MC20 is laughably quick—triple digits emerge in a blink, along with a symphony of whirs, whistles and blow-off valves, all inches from your ears (the engine is mid-mounted).
On the race course, its composition comes into focus: the MC20 bounds through straightaways like a tiger beetle, then keeps composed in the turns, thanks to its rigid carbon fiber tub (more F1 technology) and an adaptive suspension that sorts out each surface imperfection. Back on pit row, you leave the cockpit, but the MC20’s mystique stays with you. We’ll report back as soon as it starts to fade.