2009 Maserati Quattroporte S

After Mr. DeMatio had his fill of back roads, he met me at the airport - where I was arriving and he was departing - so that I could drive the Maserati back to its dealer in Troy, Mich. Lugging the weekend's worth of luggage my girlfriend I and had taken to New York, I popped open the trunk and was surprised to find a rather shallow space. It would have been decent for a coupe, but isn't so hot in a full-size sedan. After dropping DeMatio off at his terminal in plenty of time for his flight to Korea, we spent no less than fifteen minutes figuring out a navigation system that can only be called eccentric. That aside, what's relevant here is that even after five years, the Quattroporte is still the best-looking sedan on the planet, and likely will remain such until the Fisker Karma comes out - and its range-extending hybrid powertrain won't sound nearly as terrific. Not many cars get stares and wondering comments when you're just pulling into Panera Bread to get some coffee. And of course, it's a performer. I had a brief chance to push the car on some back roads a week earlier and was amazed at the way the 4389-pound sedan shrank around the steering wheel. What a contrast with our long-wheelbase BMW 7-series, which never lets you forget how far its caboose sits from the driver. David Zenlea, Assistant Editor