Maserati Ghibli

First: It's pronounced “GEE-blee” with a hard "g," and according to several sources comes from an Arabic word for a hot, sand-bearing wind of the Sahara. Between 1967 and 1973, Maserati built a gorgeous Ghibli in both coupe and spider layouts, designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro and powered by naturally aspirated V-8s. Maserati's second stab at a Ghibli, a small bi-turbo V-6 coupe designed by Marcello Gandini and based on the Maserati Biturbo, rolled forth from 1992 through 1996, and rarely shares a sentence with "gorgeous."

Seventeen years later in Florence, Italy, under a humid Tuscan sun, I drove the 21st century Ghibli from Maserati. For the third generation, Maserati used the name on a sport sedan, one intended to sell in far higher volumes than any previous car from the hallowed Modena company.

Maserati outfits its sexy sedan with one of four engine choices: a top-trim 404-hp, 3.0-liter bi-turbo V-6 in the Ghibli S rear-driver and all-wheel S Q4, a 326-hp tune of the same engine for the rear-drive-only base Ghibli. Europe gets a V-6 turbo diesel in one of two flavors; no V-8 engine will ever see duty in the Ghibli from the factory.

Speaking of factories: That V-6 drew from Chrysler's design for the Pentastar V-6, but has been massaged by Maserati and comes together in the clean engine room of Ferrari's famed Maranello shop. The mill pushes the Ghibli to a top speed of 176 mph, with 60 mph arriving in 4.6 seconds; fuel economy stands at 15 mpg city/25 mpg highway, top-shelf gas only.

For the United States and Canada, the 404-hp S Q4 will arrive in customer driveways at an estimated $75,000 base price, with a rear-drive Ghibli pumped up to 345 hp just for our market at a tick under $66,000. The Ghibli rides on a version of the Quattroporte chassis that's been shortened by 11.5 inches to 195.7 inches long — landing squarely between the BMW 5 Series and 6 Series Gran Coupe, and a few whispers within an Audi A7 Sportback.