everyday; Is the Maserati Coupe the Toyota of Italian exotics?(Ferrari's new Maserati coupe has a 4.2-liter V8 engine)(International Pages)(Product Announcement)

``Usable everyday'' is one of the ways Antonio Ghini, communications director of Ferrari in Italy, describes the Maserati Coupe. Huh? Yes, there are people who treat Porsches like Toyotas, but you'd have to be nuts to use an Italian car as a daily driver, right? Maybe an orphaned Alfa 164, but this new Maserati is built by Ferrari. Wouldn't choosing it for commuting be a sacrifice of extreme (though potentially fun) proportions? We recently spent an afternoon behind the wheel of one and came away impressed in a number of ways.

Sure, we knew going in that the Coupe would be a performer. According to Maserati, it can do 0 to 60 in 4.8 seconds. Its 4.2-liter V8 is tuned for torque and though it easily revs beyond 7500 rpm, it's far from high-strung. While the Coupe is extremely fast, the driving experience is not intimidating-this car is nothing if not easy to drive. It's heavy at 3700 pounds, but that weight is near perfectly balanced between the axles (52/48, front/rear). Steering feels vague but it's responsive. In total, driving this Maserati feels something like piloting a Corvette engineered by BMW.

Still, these are Ferrari guys running the show at Maserati now, and their reputation isn't exactly one of offering maintenance-free comfort and ease-of-use. While the Coupe might be good fun for a jaunt through the Roman countryside, we had a lingering skepticism. How would this new Maserati compare to, say, that paragon of the ``everyday'' coupe, the Toyota Camry Solara?

The similarities will surprise you. Both have room for four adults to ride in comfort. Both come with available automatic transmissions. (Well, sort of. The Maserati can be had with a ``Cambiocorsa'' gearbox, an electrohydraulic six-speed manual with an automatic mode, essentially the paddle-shiftable Magneti Marelli F1 gearbox from the 360 Modena.) As expected, the Camry has a slightly larger trunk than the 11.1 cubic feet offered in the Maserati, yet the Italian marque counters with custom-designed golf bags, of which two will fit. (A custom-fit luggage set is also offered.) Then there's the warranty. Maserati offers four years and 50,000 miles; Toyota's vaunted quality is backed for three and 36,000.

Italian cars just ain't what they used to be.

Do not fear, however, this Maserati is decidedly not for the Olive Garden crowd. It is a truly exotic car, with a look and style unsurpassed by anything that doesn't wear a prancing horse or raging bull. Still, Maserati will compete in a market that's high volume compared to its Italian stallion cousin, with more accessible product. The five-year plan is to sell as many as 10,000 Maseratis per year with a model lineup of three cars: the Coupe, the Spyder (AW, Nov. 19, 2001), and the forthcoming Quattroporte sedan, a Mercedes S-Class-sized car we should see sometime in 2004.

Spyder and Coupe are related, though they have as many differences as similarities. Both steel monocoque chassis carry bodywork designed by Italdesign-Giugiaro, based on that firm's styling of the outgoing Maserati 3200 GT coupe. The new Coupe rides on a longer wheelbase than the Spyder (104.7 inches vs. 96.1), necessary to accommodate the rear seats. This makes the larger rear flanks of the Coupe look a bit bloated from some angles, forgivable considering the fixed-roof car has twice the torsional stiffness of the Spyder.