Maserati GranSport Spyder
Just try driving this car slowly. You know, the sort of driving slowly whereby you can check whos checking you out. The Maserati GranSport Spyder burps, farts and lurches if you try to noodle it along at 5mph, the engine and gearbox imploring you to point them at an empty stretch of road and let them have at it. As a poseurs tool, the GranSport Spyder scores surprisingly low.
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Its still a beautiful car. Although the basic Spyder shape has been with us since 2001, making this quite an enduring profile in modern car manufacturing terms, the Maserati still has the ability to turn heads and looks a good deal more expensive than its £69,040 price tag suggests. It certainly seems a tier or two above the Porsche 911 Targa in terms of sense of occasion yet actually costs less than not only its German rival but also cars such as the Jaguar XKR and far less than a BMW M6 Convertible. Maserati offering the value option is a new one on me, although Im not complaining.
The additional slathering of chrome about the front end of this GranSport edition certainly helps to give it an appropriately exotic air. A jutting front bumper assembly, a mesh front grille and some very attractive 19" wheels said to be inspired by those fitted to the cars competing in the Trofeo Audemars Piguet Maserati Europe Series give the GranSport a £100,000+ appearance. Maserati enthusiasts of which there are many - may well remember the Assetto Corsa version of the 3200GT Spyder and the GranSport follows a similar philosophy with more power, less weight and an all-round sharper driving experience. The unusual sill extensions worn by the GranSport arent the most elegant pieces of body addenda Ive ever seen. They help give the car an aggressive stance but also emphasise just how short the cars wheelbase is in comparison with, say, an XKR Convertible.
"This is a car that can make the hairs on the nape of your neck stand on end from half a mile away"
Youll feel this lack of inches when you get inside. Taller drivers may find getting a comfortable driving position difficult, especially if theyre long in the leg. The drivers seat and the steering wheel are multi-adjustable, so focus your feet on the pedals and then try to figure everything else out around that. Once ensconced, the fun can start.
With 396bhp on tap, its impossible not to enjoy yourself. The extra power comes courtesy of Maserati finessing the inlet manifold and cylinder head union, the introduction of more aggressive cams and a reduction in exhaust gas back pressure. The ride height has been dropped by 10mm over the old Spyder and the improved aerodynamics see lift reduced by 12 per cent. Couple this with the standard fitment of uprated Skyhook electronic dampers and that spells a car that handles a fair degree better than its predecessor.
The resculpted front seats of the GranSport offer a good deal more support and elsewhere around the cabin are a number of other refinements. As well as the now rather clichéd carbon fibre trim inserts, there are leather and alcantara finishes that are a whole lot easier on the eye than the High-Tech finish that adorns the GranSport coupe. Performance is suitably lively with the top speed figured at 177mph and the sprint to 60mph pegged at 4.9 seconds. That 4.
9 seconds will live with you for some time should you ever attempt to ape a Maserati test driver. Only one transmission is available for the GranSport and its a sequential manual six-speed paddle-shift system. With the transmission switched to Sport mode, the Maserati can swap cogs with astonishing brutality, smashing through the gears far quicker than a human hand could guide a gearstick around a gate. In standard manual mode, the software ensures that you cant engage a gear that will damage the gearbox, will auto-upshift when the car reaches the redline or downshift when the 1,200rpm stall point is reached.
Should you merely wish to waft around enjoying the ambience, the automatic mode does a passable imitation of a proper torque converter-equipped slushbox but you always suspect youre missing the point. It also makes some curious rattling noises on low-speed downshifts. Best to flip it back to manual and enjoy zipping up and down the gears just for the sake of it, relishing the engines delicious throttle blip as you knock the gearbox down a couple of cogs as you enter your favourite hairpin. Bystanders may attribute the perfect heel and toe downchange to you by the bark from the engine, although the speed of the subsequent upshifts may betray your electronic assistants presence, especially if you switch to Sport mode.
After all these technical shenanigans, the Spyders hood seems almost old school, being an electrically folding fabric item which takes quite some time (28 seconds) to raise and lower not something youd expect in a near £70,000 car - especially with Mercedes latest SL model showing how the whole roof thing is done. Still, with the hood down, the Spyder looks a beauty and even with it up, the lines look agreeably smooth. Quite enough, in other words, to persuade potential buyers of convertible versions of the Aston Martin DB9, Porsche 911 and Jaguar XKR to schedule another test drive into their Blackberries. The GranSport Spyder is far from perfect but its an easy car to forgive.
In an age of clinical excellence, heres a car that has a big personality, bags of talent and an asking price lower than many would figure. Genuine Italian exotica doesnt come any better value than this.
Facts At A Glance
CAR: Maserati GranSport Spyder
PRICE: £69,040 on the road
INSURANCE GROUP: 20
CO2 EMISSIONS: 440g/km
PERFORMANCE: Max Speed 177mph / 0-60mph 4.9s
FUEL CONSUMPTION: 15mpg (combined)
STANDARD SAFETY FEATURES: Twin front airbags, ABS, ASR
WILL IT FIT IN YOUR GARAGE?: Length/Width/Heightmm 4523/1822/1295mm
