Maserati QP-great car, but I'm disappointed!

Well I test drove a QP yesterday at FoA. I was hoping to replace my 80k+ M5 with one sometime next year. I loved the car and would love to own one. However, the back seat is just too small for my family of 5. While it has three seatbelts in the rear, you would have to be a petit midget to fit there. My 6, 8 and 10 year old daughters would not be comfortable there for even a cross town trip. Even two people in the rear would have to give up some leg room as compared to a BMW 5 series! The backseat in my M5 has much more room. It looks to me that the new QP should be compared to the MB C class, BMW 3 series and Audi A4 rather the the S class, 7 series and A8 they claim they want to compete with. Unless they build a QP-L in the future with a larger back seat, I guess I'll have to get a new M5 instead,

 

The fact is you have more room in the back of a 4 door 3 series than you do in the back of a QP. The middle rear seat of the QP is raised such that I couldn't sit there at all because my head hit the top even though I'm only 5 11. Three 6 foot tall adults can sit in the back of my M5. Plus, the center console intrudes into the center rear seat such that you have very little leg room. All and all a small back seat for such an otherwise big looking car. If you need rear seat room, be sure you bring your kids with you for a test drive before you get your heart set on a QP!

 

I don't know what QPs, 3 series and 5 series you guys have been in the center back seat of? I currently own a 2000 M5 and have three kids that often ride in the back. I compared the QP at FoA on Saturday with my wife and three kids present. The QP rear seat in WAY smaller than the rear seat in my e39 M5. While the two side seats in the QP are acceptable, it is the center seat that presents the size problem. While the center seat in my M5 is not the best seat in the car, it is still acceptable for adults on moderately long road trips. The center rear seat in the QP would not be acceptable to my 6 year old for an across town ride to dinner. I have also owned a 2 door M3 which my three kids would fit in the back, albeit less comfortably . A 4 door M3 has more rear seat room than the 2 door version.In my opinion the 4 door M3 rear seat is very similar in size to the rear seat of the QP. Don't get me wrong, I still think the QP is a great looking and sounding car and would be a fine choice for someone who needs a 4 passenger sedan, but NOT for someone who needs a 5 passenger sedan. If you don't believe me, go sit in the center rear seat of a QP and a BMW 5 series on the same day yourself and then post your opinion... I did and there is no comparison, the 5 series is MUCH larger and more comfortable!

 

Then Maserati shouldn't put three seatbelts in the back and advertise it as a 5 seater then! And they certainly shouldn't taunt it as competition for the BMW 7series and MB S class which seat 5 in a comfortable fashion! It ain't. As far as passenger room is concerned, it is competition for the BMW 3 series and MB C class instead. And Tenney, if you need a 5 passenger sedan, the middle rear seat is as important as the other two! And Doody, I rarely have my wife and three children all in the car at the same time. However, it does occur at times and when it does I want them all to be comfortable. I do regularly carry some or all of my kids and one or more of their friends somewhere where I need 5 seats...sometimes more where I then use my wife's H2...but, only if she doesn't need it. Since I don't want an SUV for myself, a 5 passenger sedan it what I need. After all I have a Ferrari to drive when it is only my wife and I going some where.

 

It is not my "opinion" that the middle rear seat of the QP is too small for a human to ride there, it is a fact.

 

Doody, FYI, it is Maserati that has claimed that the QP is competition for the 7 series and S class, not me. A 4 seater is not much competition in a class of cars which has been 5 seaters for as long as I can remember. Especially in their largest intended USA market filled with luxury 6, 7 and 8 passenger SUVs. If such a great percentage of Americans don't care about the 5th seat, then why does the SUV market reign supreme here? I think you're right in coupes and people are OK with a four seat or even 2+2 coupe; but not so in a four door sedan. I suspect that's why Maserati claims in its own literature that the QP has room for five. But, neither a circus midget nor an amputee would be comfortable in the center rear seat of the QP unless they had both a short upper body AND narrow hips. I wanted to buy a QP and was ready, willing and able to put down a deposit on Saturday...that's why I had my wife and three kids there to be sure it would serve my purpose. I still think its a beautiful car though.

 

dave, FYI, 3 anorexic midgets wouldn't be comfortable in the back of the QP, although two fat businessmen would fit in the front.

 

I beg to differ on the 5 series vs. the E class vs. XJ8 back seat room. In fact, I just looked at my law partner's MB E500 and it only has two seat belts in the back anyway, so three people can't sit there even if there were room. And, from my personal experience as well as several magazine test I have read comparing the M5 vs. E500 vs. XJ8, the M5 always wins in rear passenger room as well as most other areas. It's nice that you guys love the Maserati QP and all that, I do too. But, its not a 5 passenger sedan as taunted by Maserati and will lose out to the S class and 7 series for people who need a 5 passenger luxury sedan. Just another example of how the Italians don't understand the American auto consumer on any level other than exotic cars. And, it's such a big car otherwise, it would be embarassing for Maserati to now advertise it as a four passenger sedan with 5 seatbelts.