2022 Maserati MC20 Cielo new car review

The latest high class machine from one of the world’s premier car makers is one of the best looking cars on the road and is packed with smart features.

Roof up or roof down, you can always see the sky above from inside the new Maserati MC20 Cielo. Which makes its name very apt. Cielo is Italian for “sky”. Or “heaven”.

This convertible’s roof is more than half a square metre of glass. What makes it special is that it can also provide shade. Just a tap on the car’s central touchscreen is all it takes to make the roof opaque.

2022 Maserati MC20 Cielo is a mid-engined rival to Ferrari.

It’s a feature Maserati claims makes the MC20 Cielo – which is due in Australia in the second quarter of next year – unique in its very small class of convertible super sports cars. Polymer-dispersed liquid crystal technology is the secret; a light-blocking film in the laminated glass roof becomes see-through when an electric current is passed through it.

The electrically powered roof itself is less magical, but equally impressive. It’s swift and silent, going up or down in only 12 seconds. The roof stows away above the Maserati’s mid-mounted engine and beneath a large flip-up cover.

The glass roof recedes into the rear.

This means the Cielo’s engine is always concealed. In contrast, the MC20 coupe has a transparent polycarbonate engine cover with cooling cut-outs in the shape of Maserati’s trident logo.

Inevitably, the tail of the Cielo is bulkier. But Maserati’s designers strove to make the exterior of the convertible as attractive as the coupe. And they preserved the 100-litre rear luggage compartment capacity of the coupe, too.

It’ll get you noticed on the road.

The convertible’s rear fenders were reshaped to blend gracefully with the roof cover. The curve of the upper windscreen frame and forward-leaning angle of the roof pillar behind the seats make the car look equally good roof down. While the Cielo definitely has heftier haunches than the MC20, it’s an elegant car.

And the foldaway roof increases the weight of the mainly carbon-fibre convertible by only 65kg, says Maserati. There’s little impact on performance. It’s claimed the Cielo, like the coupe, rockets from standstill to 100km/h in less than three seconds, putting it among the performance elite.

It’s a driver focused super sports car.

Thrust is provided by the Maserati-designed Nettuno engine. This remarkably potent twin-turbo 3.0-litre V6 features Formula 1-style combustion tech developed in the brand’s hometown of Modena. The engine is also made there, close by the MC20 assembly line.

The Nettuno drives the rear wheels of the MC20 Cielo via an eight-speed double-clutch transmission made by Tremec. Left in D it works well as an automatic, but it’s impossible to resist using the Maserati’s lovely dark aluminium or (optional) carbon-fibre steering column-mounted shift paddles. There’s no need to choose M-for-manual mode; tapping up or down also works in D.

It features plenty of sharp looking aerodynamic features.

The interior of the Cielo introduces a number of improvements that will appear in the 2023 MC20 coupe, including auto emergency-braking and a 360-degree surround-view system.

Most noticeable, though, is a new rotary drive mode dial on the centre tunnel. This contains a hue-shifting touchscreen for switching between the two damper settings available in default GT, Wet, Sport and Corsa (Race) modes.

It can sprint from 0-100km/h in less than three seconds.

Also new are the Alcantara-wrapped steering wheel and most of the steering-column and instrument-panel wands and switches. The instrument display is unchanged. This, like the centre display, is a 10-inch screen.

Though furnished with quality materials and expertly crafted, there’s a minimalistic feel to the cabin. It’s more business-like than opulent.

Driving the MC20 Cielo on the often awful roads of Sicily, venue for its presentation to international media, was a reminder of how good this Maserati’s carbon-fibre chassis is.

It’s an epic corner carver.

The MC20 coupe, launched last year, was unexpectedly brilliant. Few had expected Maserati, which hadn’t produced a mid-engine super sports car for almost 20 years, to deliver a genuine rival to its near neighbours in Italy, Ferrari and Lamborghini.

But they did it, creating something with a distinctly different driving flavour. In GT mode it’s a remarkably smooth-riding and uniquely relaxed super sports car. Dial up the more aggressive driving modes and it becomes a sharp-steering, hard-braking corner-carver with great grip and superb stability.

The MC20 Cielo delivers more of the same. But this time the vroom comes with a view …

MASERATI MC20 CIELO DETAILS

PRICE $528,000 plus on-roads

SAFETY Not rated

ENGINE 3.0-litre V6 twin turbo; 463kW/730Nm

TRANSMISSION 8-speed twin-clutch, RWD

0-100KM/H 2.9 secs

Originally published as 2022 Maserati MC20 Cielo new car review