Maserati MC20 Cielo: super sports car as a convertible - first exit in the sky striker
Created: 11/05/2022, 3:00 p.m
By: Rudolf Boegel
The most beautiful convertible of the summer.
If you want the Maserati MC20 Cielo, you have to shell out more than a quarter of a million euros.
Lucky who has so much money.
A hint of light blue stretches across the sky in late summer, in the distance the sea sparkles deep blue.
This is how we like Italy best: Azzurro.
All shades of blue.
And "Azzurro" the music explodes deep down in the stomach: "Azzurro, il pomeriggio è troppo azzurro, e lungo per me", sings Adriano Celentano.
Above us the sky, directly behind us an amazing engine: We're going blue, of course in an aquamarine Maserati MC20 Cielo.
master of dynamics.
Driving the MC20 Cielo is heavenly, not only because of the open roof, which can be lowered in 12 seconds.
© Lorenzo Marcinno/Maserati
Maserati MC20 Cielo: super sports car as a convertible - first exit in the sky striker
Our "treno dei desideri" is 4.70 meters long and 1.22 meters high.
The train of longing comes from Modena, bears the trident of Neptune in its logo and has the god of the sea under the bonnet.
Nettuno is the name of the self-developed six-cylinder V-6 engine that redeems Maserati's long disgrace.
Ten cars with internal combustion engines that we will miss
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For years, for what feels like decades, when it comes to the drive, you're just boarders to Ferrari's in-house competition.
Maranello supplies the engines, the rest comes from Modena.
And then the turnaround.
Fiat and the Stellantis group want to make the brand with the trident big again.
With a super sports car.
The birth of the MC20.
First as a Coupé and now as a Cielo.
As a convertible.
This Venus is not from Milo but from Modena.
Maserati MC 20 Cielo: convertible top – from “open” to “closed” in 12 seconds
The difference between the two bodies is not particularly large.
The Spyder's flexible roof is three centimeters high in order to hide it under the bodywork.
Which gives the rear additional visual impact.
And of course the additional technology also brings with it more weight: at least 65 kilograms.
Speaking of the numbers, the roof will drop in 12 seconds up to a speed of 50 if the sky unexpectedly darkens.
From "open" to "closed" in 12 seconds - that's neat.
Open to any driving pleasure.
As the name suggests, the MC20 Cielo only has the sky above it.
©Maserati
A bit of a game of numbers: in the same amount of time, the MC 20 sprints four times from 0 to 100 km/h and even from 0 to 200 km/h in 9.2 seconds.
These are the same values as for the coupe.
Logically, the engine with the two-chamber combustion system (real racing technology) is identical and is waiting for action directly behind the driver's cabin.
However, as with the coupe, you cannot admire it through a pane of glass.
Instead, two large scoops are enthroned on the stern.
In between, the cover for the roof, self-confidently staged as a surface with the large trident on the paint.
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Maserati MC 20 Cielo: symphony from the combustion engine directory
If diamonds are "a girls best friend", as screen legend Marylin Monroe once breathed lasciviously into the microphone, then the following applies to real boys: "Sportscars are a boys best friend". The MC20 is not just any sports car - the flat flounder is over the Emilia Romagna is probably the most elegant way to put 630 hp on the road at the moment.
With the Cabriolet it is also the most direct way.
You can't get any closer to the sound of this engine.
You can literally feel the explosions in the six cylinders of the V-6 engine.
You can hear the two turbochargers hissing and whistling and what the two tailpipes make of profane exhaust gases sounds like one of the last symphonies from the combustion engine catalogue, in minor and major.
Unplugged, without any acoustic tricks.
Maserati MC 20 Cielo: Cabio considered during construction
More weight, even if it only turns 65 kilograms, usually plays a role in sports cars.
In the MC20, however, only to the extent that the mass distribution no longer corresponds to the ideal of 50:50, but is 40:60, i.e. with a slight emphasis on the rear.
Flowing body lines, no spoilers - the MC20 from Maserati is a supercar, but there are no obtrusive aerodynamic elements.
© AFPH/Maserati
This did not come as a surprise to the technicians, because the convertible was considered from the outset when the sports car was being designed.
Just like the purely electric variant of the MC20, the Folgore (Italian for lightning) should follow in 2025.
Anyone who wants to see a big difference in the driving behavior of the convertible compared to the coupe is either a boaster or must be an experienced racing driver or test pilot.
Maserati MC 20 Cielo: Convertible can also cover long distances
As a Munich driver, we also feel like we are in heaven with the Cielo when the Italian hisses around the corners with grandeur.
Preferably on the Sport position, one of five different modes that can be set.
It doesn't always have to be the poisonous Corsa, i.e. the sharpest variant - and to be honest, Comfort was a little too vague for us.
Don't miss anything: You can find everything to do with cars in the regular car newsletter from our partner tz.de.
But of course, the Cielo wants to be a GT and also be comfortable on longer journeys.
Succeded!
After 200 test kilometers over the winding Strade Statale or Strade Provincale, neither the spine, rump or intervertebral discs complain.
What we don't believe: That MC-20 owners regularly commute between Milan and Rome or Munich and Berlin for professional reasons and do so with such a thoroughbred sports car.
Maserati MC 20 Cielo: : Simple design in the cockpit - a real excuse
A little greeting from the complaining corner: The brakes on the MC20 seem indifferent, and it's quite a tour de force that requires a good amount of calf power.
Explanation Maserati: It gets better when the ceramic discs are at operating temperature.
That may be because the braking distance from 100 to 0 in less than 33 meters is quite a normal value.
Tidy, reduced, simple.
The interior of the MC20 Cielo does not distract the driver's attention.
Which is good, the 630 hp want to be considered.
© Aldo Ferrero/Maserati
But there is one thing we literally cannot ignore: the graphic layout of the digital instrument cluster behind the steering wheel, formerly known as the speedometer, does not meet the requirements of a 260,000 euro car.
A lack of wit cannot always be explained by the trendy desire for purity in design.
Not even with the Cielo - hopefully no one will fall on their heads with this excuse.
Maserati MC 20 Cielo: Same sky, different horizon
"We all live under the same sky, but we don't all have the same horizon." What state leader Konrad Adenauer said also applies to the Maserati MC20 Cielo.
There would be enough fans and buyers under our skies if only the financial horizons were the same.
But a purchase price of 260,000 euros - that is perceived by one or the other as a blatant injustice.
The words of the Bible may suffice as consolation: it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to go to heaven!
Unless the said person drives up in the Maserati Cielo.
Then it could well be that Peter turns a blind eye.
horizon or not.
(Rudolf Boegel)
Maserati MC20 Cielo
Engine/Drivetrain V6 petrol twin-turbo / rear wheel / 8-speed DCT gearbox
Power / torque 463 kW (630 hp) / 750 Nm
Vmax/ 0 -100km/h (0-200) 323km/h / 2.9s (9.2)
Length/width/height 4.70/1.97/1.22 m
Curb weight / power-to-weight ratio 1540 kg / 2.44 kg per hp
Luggage compartment volume 100 l
Consumption 12.4 l
Price from 260,000 euros
