Solicitor Keith List lays down the law as he gets behind the wheel of the new Maserati Quattroporte Automatic and takes to the county's roads
Solicitor Keith List lays down the law as he gets behind the wheel of the new Maserati Quattroporte Automatic and takes to the county's roads.
Tell us about yourself and what you do I work as a solicitor in Colchester and my firm is called Marshall Legal LLP. We cover general practice and have seven partners, or members as we call ourselves now. The business traces its roots back to the early 19th century and I've been with the practice throughout my working career. I specialise mainly in residential property work, so if you're thinking about moving house, I'm your man. How much do you enjoy motoring? My daily motoring is to and from my home in Sudbury, which is a nice, relaxing drive through villages and country roads. I enjoy driving which at present mainly consists of family trips and holidays and more recently taking my youngest son, an Ipswich Town supporter, to football matches home and away, so we've done quite a few trips up to London. I've always been interested in cars and read Autocar every week. I particularly like sporty cars and one of my first cars was an Alfasud Sprint, which I enjoyed immensely. So, you're quite a car enthusiast In another life I would be a motoring correspondent and I'm into motorsport too. I admire rally drivers for their car control on changeable surfaces, whereas I find Formula 1 a bit predictable with the cars just going round and round and not much happening. I was a big fan of the golden age of rallying in the 1980s when those powerful Audi Quattros, Lancia Deltas and Metro 6R4s battled it out in the forests. I've never considered being a racing driver, although I did have half a day's tuition at the Jim Russell racing school at Snetterton Circuit in a Formula Ford single seater as a 40th birthday present, which I enjoyed immensely. What do you drive and what would your dream car be? My father loved Morris Minors and I learned to drive in one. Cars were great fun in those days and you could do the tuning and maintenance yourself. My first car was a slightly sporty Renault 5TS, although my love-hate relationship was reserved for the Alfasud which had some interesting characteristics, especially in the wet. Fortunately, Italian cars have improved immensely, as this Maserati shows. I own a Porsche 944, which I've had for 20 years, and my wife drives a Saab 9-3 convertible. If I won the lottery I'd definitely go for a supercar. How would a Maserati suit your lifestyle? I'd have no problem with driving a Maserati every day. The quality of the leather trim is superb; I love the race-bred engine and those Maserati touches like the silver trident inlay in the wooden gear selector and the traditional oval clock in the middle of the dashboard. So, how do you rate the Maserati Quattroporte? The Quattroporte is a stylish car that stands out as something really special. Maserati has real style and glamour and you feel very special driving it. I love the engine and it must sound fabulous from outside. It doesn't feel like a big car, thanks to the superb suspension, and this new automatic gearbox is lovely and smooth.
