Among the criticisms diehard “gearheads” throw at electric vehicles is that they lack passion. Complaints revolve around the absence of noise, no gear changing, and the reduced driver involvement from both. Having tested a lot of very fast EVs in my time as an electric car journalist, I thought it was high time I investigated how it feels going back to a great combustion engine car again. The vehicle in question was the Maserati MC20, one of the best supercars currently on the market.
As I drove the MC20 Cielo exclusively on public roads, it wasn’t possible to go anywhere near its limits. But it’s brilliant on undulating British A roads, albeit very difficult to remain inside legal limits. A rotating knob in the central console provides access to five drive modes. There’s WET for slippery conditions, while the default mode is GT. Then there’s SPORT mode, which speeds up the automatic shifting, stiffens the suspension and tweaks the traction control.