The Quattroporte is Maserati’s largest sedan. Simply put, the nameplate translates to “four doors,” which—while true—is a wholly insufficient description of the car. It sits in the full-size luxury arena, but it has more ceremony and flair in its design than competitors and a svelte design with plenty of curves and hard edges that can only be Italian.

All three of the Quattroporte’s powertrain packages return for 2018: S, S Q4, and GTS. The S kicks things off with a twin-turbo 3.0-liter V6 that’s been improved for 2018; it now makes 424 horsepower and 428 pound-feet of torque, improvements of 20 and 22, respectively. The power gets sent to just the rear wheels via a slick-shifting 8-speed automatic transmission. This variant takes an even 5 seconds to hit 62 mph and runs all the way to 179 mph. The S Q4 uses the same engine, but it adds a rear-biased all-wheel-drive system (AWD) that only engages the front wheels when immediate traction is needed. Nevertheless, the sprint to 62 mph drops to 4.8 seconds.

At the top of the line, the GTS employs a twin-turbo 3.8-liter V8 with 523 hp and 524 lb-ft along with the same 8-speed transmission. It gets up to 62 mph in 4.7 seconds. That figure might be higher if GTS were available with AWD, but it’s solely a RWD package. Both the V6 and V8 engines were co-designed and are assembled by Ferrari.

From there, Maserati offers three basic trims: Base, GranLusso, and GranSport. Base, available with the S and S Q4 powertrains gets 19-inch wheels, LED headlights and taillights, leather upholstery, an 8.4-inch infotainment system with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay connectivity, heated front seats, and dual-zone climate control.

GranLusso and GranSport, available for all powertrains, are identically-priced upgrades. GranLusso focuses on luxury with chrome inserts on the front bumpers, body-colored cladding, 20-inch wheels, premium wood veneers, a powered rear sunblind, and power-adjustable pedals. Meanwhile, GranSport focuses on sportiness with blue inserts on the exterior badging and 20-inch wheels, body-colored cladding, sport seats, piano black trim, a sport steering wheel, and paddle shifters.

Like many European luxury cars, the Quattroporte lets drivers choose from a wide selection of options packages. There’s an optional Bowers & Wilkins sound system with 15 speakers and 1,280 watts, folding rear tables, quad-zone climate control, an Alcantara headliner, several choices of leather, heated rear seats for all three rear passengers, a rear-seat entertainment package, and a soft-door close feature.

Safety features are numerous. A reversing camera, blind-spot monitoring, and rear cross-traffic alert are standard. The Advanced Driver Assistance package bundles adaptive cruise control, lane departure warning, forward collision warning, automatic emergency braking, and a 360-degree surround-view camera system.

The Quattroporte finds itself in an interesting place. It isn’t as polished as its mostly-German competition, but it has a lot more character, style, and Maserati’s swoon-inducing exhaust notes. That, plus its engineering ties to more-exotic hardware, is a tradeoff that plenty of car buyers would be thrilled to make.