The big reveal

摘要

If you hate the way this Ghibli looks, blame me. Well, not the actual design - that was overseen by the great Lorenzo Ramaciotti, nothing to do with me - more the colour, wheels and trim. Getting to spec a new car is a rare thrill, never mind speccing a Maserati in a showroom in London's South Kensington, opposite the very nightclub oligarchs and royalty misbehave in. They have espresso coming out of the taps here. A friend of mine had his Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione finished in marrone, a shade of brown the factory refused to acknowledge and had to source from Porsche in the end. I was tempted to go this route with the TG Ghibli, but H.R Owen sales manager Mark steered me towards blu emozione (probably because he has the word "residuals' tattooed on his arm). The Sport Package 20in adds Urano diamond alloys, flappy paddles, Inox pedals, colour-coded brake calipers and an adjustable steering column (£3,315). We also went for Skyhook electronic damping control (£2,045), and even at a chunky £3,360 couldn't resist the Bowers & Wilkins premium audio system - 15 speakers, 1280W, and Quantum Logic surround sound. All up, we turned a £63,805 Ghibli S into £75,685. And that was restrained.