Maserati Gran Turismo
Stylish, luxurious but still a potent performance weapon, the Maserati GranTurismo is a step back from the ground occupied by serious performance sportscars. With 405bhp pulsing from its 4.2-litre Ferrari-built V8, however, its serious enough for most.
We mere mortals might find this difficult to comprehend but you can tire of life with a supercar. Everyone will have a different threshold but at some stage, all that cruising round Monte-Carlo in the moonlight and the endless blasts up the Stelvio Pass just lose their sheen. When the furious rush of acceleration no longer intoxicates like it did and you simply cant be bothered to drop a window in a tunnel, shift down a couple of cogs and let the engines banshee wail electrify your spine, you know youve gone over the edge. Its time to garage the thoroughbred exotica and spend some time enjoying something a little more reserved and less highly strung.
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Rather than simply offering top-end Italian sportscars for people who cant quite afford one, the marque is focusing more acutely on luxury, comfort and the understated elegance thats always been part of the Maserati package. Performance nuts need not despair, though. Well still get our fair share of brutal performance and finely-honed handling. Power for the GranTurismo comes from the same Ferrari-sourced 4.
2-litre V8 engine thats found in the Quattroporte saloon but here, its up-rated by 5bhp to give a 405bhp maximum output. In the interest of keeping the GTs performance accessible without requiring its driver to keep the needle bouncing off the 7,100rpm red line, 75% of the 460Nm maximum torque is available at 2,500rpm with the full whack produced at 4,750rpm. All of this makes the GranTurismo capable of a 177mph top speed with the 0-62mph sprint covered in 5.2s.
Its not in the supercar bracket but that should be plenty for the playboy on his day off. The GranTurismo has obviously been designed to entertain as well as cosset its driver. The front-engined rear-wheel drive layout helps it achieve a well balanced 49/51 weight distribution and the automatic gearbox with its wheel-mounted paddle shifters adapts to your driving style as well as to the prevailing road conditions.
"Maseratis Grand Turismo is refreshing in that its a GT car that lives up to its name."
Build quality was never a major strongpoint of the Maserati Coupe but the GranTurismo addresses this while updating the design and detailing that go into making a Maserati feel special. The car is a sizable 4,881mm in length, so its a good 500mm longer than the old Coupe but the wheelbase is 126mm shorter than the Quattroporte from which it borrows its basic underpinnings. Crucially to the more practical and luxurious direction that Maserati is being led in, the GranTurismo is a 2+2 and although claims by the manufacturer that it can sit "two adults comfortably even on longer journeys" do stretch the limits a little, theres definitely room for a pair of kids in those sculpted rear seats. The exterior lines have real drama about them, a progression as they are from the well received Birdcage concept car that was also styled by Pininfarina. The three holes behind the front wheelarch reference the Quattroporte saloon and the gaping Maserati grille with its silver trident dominates the front end below the long bonnet that plunges at the nose. Theres power in the muscular hindquarters with the curves at the rear bulging around to form the integrated boot spoiler.
Inside, the cabin is split in two by the wide transmission tunnel while the V design at the top of the dash is said to increase the sporty feel by making occupants feel like theyre sitting lower in the car. The seats all feature the trident logo on their headrests and there are subtle chrome inlays for the controls. The likes of Jaguar and Aston Martin wont be overly keen on the idea of a competitive 2+2 Maserati grand tourer and neither will Porsche, BMW and Mercedes. Maserati has a presence in 58 countries on five continents so the base is there for the brand to grow quickly from the 5,700 units sold worldwide in 2006.
With Maserati growing in a more mature direction with the GranTurismo, theres space for a focused performance car beneath and Maserati collaborated with Alfa Romeo to develop the 8C Competizione which used a 450bhp 4.7-litre V8 engine. We can reasonably expect to see that powerplant crop up in a quicker version of the GranTurismo in the future and a drop-top spyder model seems inevitable. Running costs for the Maserati GranTurismo might not be supercar in their magnitude but they will probably be as near as damn it.
The 4.2-litre V8 is going to suck in fuel and pump out CO2 at a level that no environmentalist without his own personal carbon offset programme is going to countenance. Its safe to say that anyone you see at the wheel of a GranTurismo doesnt have green issues at the top of their priority list. Just be thankful theyre travelling by car and not in their private jet.
GT is an evocative badge thats bandied about all over the motor industry but not everyone always seems completely certain about what its evocative of. You can find it gracing the tailgates of superminis and family cars or in the nomenclature of the most exclusive supercars but Maseratis Grand Turismo is refreshing in that its a GT car that lives up to its name. Fast, stylish and capable of covering transcontinental distances while keeping occupants and their designer luggage in the rarefied atmosphere to which they are accustomed. Thats the GT and thats the Maserati GranTurismo.
Emphasis has obviously gone into raising the quality of the interior for the GranTurismo while the elegant styling looks a successful development on the classic Maserati themes. Amid all the talk of four passengers, chrome inlays and Poltrona Frau leather, its important to remember that theres a 405bhp performance sportscar lurking here. The GT concept asks a lot of the cars that try to fulfil it and it looks like the Maserati GranTurismo will make a better attempt than most.
FACTS AT A GLANCE
CAR: Maserati GranTurismo
PRICE: £80,000 [est]
INSURANCE GROUP: 20 [est]
CO2 EMISSIONS: 350g/km [est]
PERFORMANCE: 0-62mph 5.2s / max speed 177mph
FUEL CONSUMPTION: (combined) 20mpg [est]
STANDARD SAFETY FEATURES: Twin front, rear and side airbags, ABS, ESP
WILL IT FIT IN YOUR GARAGE?: length/width/height 4881/1870/1350mm [est]
