There's a lot to love about Maserati's Quattroporte, the snarly V8, the sumo-lizard body shape, the King Henry the XXX interior. But its DuoSelect robotic gearbox, the only one offered up to now, is neither sporty enough nor supple enough to satisfy either end of its range of upper-crust buyers. But, as the company announced this week at the Bologna show, it will soon come with a ZF automatic option. In addition to providing smoother, faster shifts — according to a press release — the new box nearly evens up the sedan's weight distribution (49 percent front / 51 percent rear vs, 47 percent front / 53 percent rear for the DuoSelect). We'll know more at the Detroit show, where the autobox will make its debut. – Mike Spinelli

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Jalopnik Reviews: 2005 Maserati Quattroporte, Part 1 [internal]

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