What a difference four years make. In 2005, when credit and oil seemed to reach another level, so did the sports car market. Aston Martin was on the road to recovery with its beautiful DB9, Ford had just remade its retro-themed and ultra-desirable GT, and Ferrari released its new F430. Maserati, though, was having yet another turbulent year: it lost $ 88m in a year that was reminiscent of 1968 when Citroen bought the company. Oh how things have turned around.

If you want a sign of just how well Maserati is doing, you only have to spend a few minutes with its heads of department. They’re all so damn satisfied it seems like you couldn’t make them feel any worse if you hit them over the face with a shovel. You sense their faces display an inner gloating even if they aren’t really smiling. It’s all the work of record profit figures.

And, to be honest, so they should be. The 433bhp, 361lb ft, 285kph, Quattroporte Sport GTS that they’ve just launched to the world is (and I’d be more than willing to argue this) a piece of automotive mastery more worthy of the Maserati badge than any of the famous trident’s current stock.

What you get for your money is a five metre-long car with a face-lift and a 4.7-litre V8 from the GranTurismo S sat behind the front axle. It’s still the best-looking luxury saloon, except now it looks a little more aggressive and purposeful with darkened headlights, 20” multi trident wheels, oval exhaust pipes and a grill that has concave vertical fins. Not much, but it’s still Italian automotive art at its best.

Feel your way inside and you’ll find a heavy dose of suede and leather. The aluminium pedals look great, the suede steering wheel feels grippy and just the right thickness, and the dashboard can be specified with Titanex, which looks like carbon fibre but isn’t. You still get the slightly cheap-looking centre console and some of the fittings could be better screwed together, considering the Sport GTS is aimed at the Audi S8 and Mercedes CLS63 where there can be no slacking.

Other obvious touches are the longer paddle shifters that are mated to the ZF-built automatic transmission. It’s the same one that Aston Martin and Jaguar use, but it’s been tuned for Maserati. And it suits the car brilliantly. In automatic Drive it’s perfectly smooth. Slot the gear lever into manual and you get full manual control: it won’t kick down or change up when you’re on the rev limit. Of course, a DSG ‘box is faster but it’s not something you think about when you drive this Sport GTS. This auto does the job more than well enough.

To hide its 1990kg bulk, spring rates are stiffer by 30 per cent at the front and 10 per cent at the rear and the electronic Skyhook damping is now a more straightforward passive system. It’s firm but does pay off. Coupled with its perfect weight distribution – 49 per cent front and 51 per cent rear – this goliath does hide its size well. The front has a positive response to any action and in the range of indirect and ultra-sensitive steering, it comes somewhere in the middle. The grip is there and you can tuck its nose into the apex with confidence and just a touch of understeer; but at the same time, there’s not as much information when you stir up all that horsepower and really begin to lean on it. You’re not totally aware of what the wheels are up to. Given that the Sport GTS has a setup that is aimed at those who prefer handling ability to comfort, you feel you should be getting more feedback. The same goes with the brake pedal: its travel is limited and it can be difficult to modulate.

The Sport button will soon make you forget that, though. Push it at any speed and in any gear, and not only does the throttle and steering sharpen up, but thanks to a valve in the exhaust system gases now run directly into the air instead of through a muffler. The result is something quite delicious. The best way to describe it is like a deep and throaty lion’s roar, mixed with a bit of Lamborghini V12. Not only is it extremely addictive, it’s so loud and raw that it almost sounds like it should be illegal. Around town on the overrun and when the gearbox changes down and blips the throttle, you get the kind of crackles and pops you usually only hear on supercars, and at speed the sound is sheer anger. It’s one of the great automotive noises and it’s up there with the Ferrari 360 Challenge Stradale for pure opera. It’s still reverberating in my ears a few days on…

What makes the Sport GTS such a desirable proposition is the fact that it hits all the right buttons. Maserati doesn’t hide the fact that it built this latest incarnation of the Quattroporte to stir your emotions as much as possible, and it shows even after the first few kilometres behind the wheel.

The BMW M5 is so well engineered it becomes almost boring, an AMG Merc’ lacks a sense of passion and the Audi RS6 doesn’t have the presence it should. The Sport GTS, however, is highly desirable: it feels alive and it’s highly entertaining to drive. Yes, if push comes to shove, the Maser isn’t as well built, doesn’t handle quite as well as its German rivals and isn’t as fast point-to-point. But its Italian charm more than makes up for it. And that’s why it gets four stars. Although I doubt the lack of one star is going to put many people off – especially when they hear that God-like noise.