What a delicious sound — Maserati Quattroporte. The name itself is pure velvet, matched only by the sheer aural delight of the car’s 4.2- litre V8, a burbling rumbling that rises to a glorious racket when pushed.

The big, four-door saloon from Maserati is exquisite to look at and wonderful to be in. The deep, lustrous jet-black car I drove spoke of quality. The paintwork is a delight, with wonderful touches, such as the chrome-edged triple vents alongside the engine. The car’s Pininfarina styling gives the Maserati flagship an understated elegance.

Inside, black again, this time luxurious leather and more fine chrome detailing, and that trademark oval-shape Maserati clock embedded in the centre of the dashboard.

For what is without doubt a big car — it is a shade more than five metres long and tips the scales at about 2,000kg — the Quattroporte can really perform, is excellent at pace through corners and shows superb road holding and handling, with ventilated discs all round and electronic brake distribution bringing things confidently under control.

The seats are wonderfully comfortable and at autobahn rather than UK motorway speeds, the car is hush-like quiet. Which means that you need to drive with a window down to make the most of the car’s outstanding feature — the naturally aspirated V8 engine. For it is a masterpiece of sound, a noise that only an Italian car manufacturer — and Maserati is part of the same Fiat stable that is home to Ferrari — could produce.

For all its strengths, the car is not perfect. The steering feels too light, which is great in town but does not inspire total confidence; and the DuoSelect automatic gear shift seems to have trouble making up its mind, hunting the right gear when in fully automatic, and when driving hard there is a delay and a lurch as the car decides to shift.

If you switch to manual and sport mode and use the paddle shift on the steering wheel, the car becomes far more enjoyable to drive.

Anyone being asked to pay £80,000 for a car may expect perfection. The Maserati Quattroporte is about more than money, though. It needs to be, too, because even in this rarefied price bracket there are a generous handful of cars where stupendous performance and exquisite detailing are taken for granted. There are many cars, too, that offer those qualities for less than a Quattroporte. For example, £62,000 buys you Jaguar’ s 4.2-litre V8 XJR, or there is BMW’s £63,500 5.0-litre M5 and Audi’s £60,000 A8.

So why buy a Maserati? After all, the world is full of good cars. Yet the Quattroporte, in particular, and the Maserati marque, in general, is evocative, and while it may not be as efficient or as powerful as some, it has a charm few cars can match and a bonnet badge you see far less often.