Maserati MC20 3.0 V6 (A) Review

Traditional wisdom would have it that if you were in the market for a two door mid-engine 600bhp super car, you'd have to pay upside of a million bucks for one.

Until now. Because the brand new Maserati MC20? Just $788,000 before COE. A deal, then?

Sports core

This is a first of its kind for the Italian brand - a mid-engine, high performance sports car that takes square aim at exotic stalwarts like Ferrari, Lamborghini and McLaren. It's a huge undertaking. Beyond just the development and production costs, Maserati is looking to encroach into a segment that's, shall we say, really hard to make inroads into.

The MC20 certainly has the looks to do it. Visually, it is what you expect an exotic sports car to look like - low to the ground, aggressive looks and butterfly doors to boot. This car has all the visual flair and drama to justify its super car positioning.

Of course, that also comes with typical super car compromises. The low ride height means the lifter will be required when negotiating higher humps. The butterfly doors do facilitate ingress and egress for the cabin, but really limits where you can actually park the car. Because it requires plenty of space to fully open, you won't be able to park in lots with cars on either side of you.

Maserati purports that the MC20 is a sports car that carries the brand's grand touring DNA, and this is evident in the cabin. It's more spacious relative to most other two-seat sports cars, and the infotainment system is actually very functional and feature-filled. You even get wireless Apple CarPlay. The location of the 10.25-inch central display is not ergonomically ideal (it's positioned fairly low), but again, for a two-seater, much better than you'd typically get.

Because of the compact size of the engine, Maserati has actually carved out a fairly usable 101-litre boot at the back. However, there's probably a good reason why most mid-engine sports cars don't adopt this solution, because it gets really toasty. The only upside is that your daobao-ed food will reach home hotter than you first bought it.

Gusto and drive

At the heart of the MC20 is a newly developed V6 engine that uses F1 technology. While other manufacturers have gone the hybrid/electric route (the MC20 will have an all electric model coming), Maserati has stuck with traditional internal combustion.

It is very, very fast. There's a not-world-beating 621bhp and 730Nm of torque, but because the car weighs under 1.5 tonnes, 0-100km/h takes a blistering 2.9 seconds. The carbon fibre chassis really makes the car feel immediately accelerative, capable of rapidly gathering speed no matter what speed and gear you are in.

Obviously, a track drive would be necessary to fully evaluate the MC20's true dynamic capabilities. However, on the road, it is actually a relatively comfortable sports car. The ride is quite forgiving in the softer modes, visibility is excellent (the digital rear view mirror needs to be on more super cars), and overall the car feels a little more relaxed than some of the other highly strung super cars.

And yet, even on public roads, you can feel the car's motorsport DNA. Throttle response is sharp, steering accurate, and the Brembo brakes feel properly sporty (you have to get hard on them). One downside is that the track-oriented transmission gets grumpy at low speeds, so parking can be a jerky affair. 

One thing I do like is the accessibility of performance with the MC20. The engine has been tuned for low-rev performance (on top of high-rev performance), and as a result the sensation of performance is always present. Unlike some other cars, you don't have to keep pushing the car to appreciate the engine's performance.

The biggest difference between the MC20 and other super cars is the sonic experience. This being a V6, it doesn't scream the same way a V8, V10 or V12 would. And in fact, it's actually not even that loud. The bulk of the soundtrack comes from the spooling turbochargers, wooshing and sploshing as it viciously sucks air in. It's really entertaining in an old school way, reminiscent of the big turbo sports cars of the 90s.

Different breed

The MC20 is a complex car. It has the visual expressiveness of a sports car, but without the shouty aural dramatics that people expect. It's got blistering pace, but is perhaps best enjoyed driven not on the limit. Because the engine is quite malleable, it doesn't goad you into chasing the red line.

That's tricky. There's a traditional expectation that a two-seater sports car be obnoxiously loud, exuberantly impractical, and immensely showy. The MC20 doesn't fit that traditional mould, and as an onlooker or bystander, it's perhaps hard to grasp its appeal. It's not quite the exotic showcase people may expect from a two-door Italian sports car, and as a result I'm not sure it holds the same kind of appeal to your typical Ferrari/Lambo/McLaren owner. 

But the appeal is surely there. Beyond the obvious speed, the boosty engine is a very entertaining unit that delivers an experience that's quite old school, and certainly not one you'd typically find nowadays. The lightness makes for a sense of instant snappiness and agility. The considerations for long-distance comfort also make the MC20 relatively usable. And more than anything else, the MC20 delivers an experience that's quite different from many of your other supercars today, and that's its own unique proposition.

Want to hear more from this unique supercar's V6? We have just the thing right here!