The Alfa Romeo GTAm: A Special Car with Exceptional Handling and Ride

I recently had the opportunity to get behind the wheel of the new Maserati GTAm, and I must say, it's a truly special car. As I started driving it, I couldn't help but notice that it shares some similarities with its cousin, the Alfa Romeo GTA. In fact, the team at Maserati has mentioned that the engine in the GTAm is similar to the one found in the Alpha GTA, although it's not identical.

One of the things that really stood out about the GTAm is its engine. It's a new generation engine called the Neptune engine, and while it's not as well-known as some of Maserati's other engines, it's certainly capable. I was impressed by how smoothly it revved, and how quiet it sounded compared to some of the more powerful V8s out there. The transmission is also very smooth, with long gearing that makes this car feel like a cruiser rather than a sports car.

The GTAm's steering and ride are perhaps its most standout features, however. The car has three drive modes - soft, sport, and corsa - which allows drivers to tailor the handling and damping of the car to their preferences. On the road in the UK, I found that the softest damper setting was more than sufficient for body control, but it still managed to ride beautifully over bumps and potholes. The steering is also very lovely, with a nice weight and progressiveness to it.

One of the things that really surprised me about the GTAm was how light it felt on the road. It's a mid-engined car, but it doesn't feel heavy or cumbersome like some other cars in its class do. Instead, it feels almost...euphoric. The brake pedal is also very good, with a nice progressive feel that makes it easy to modulate the amount of braking you need.

Of course, one of the biggest questions surrounding the GTAm is how it compares to its rivals - particularly the McLaren and Ferrari cars in its class. While I didn't get to test the car on the track just yet, Maserati has promised us that we will soon have the opportunity to do so. In the meantime, I'm excited to see how the GTAm stacks up against some of the other top performers in its class.

It's worth noting that the GTAm is not an inexpensive car, with a price tag approaching $200,000. However, based on what I've seen so far, I think it's well worth considering for anyone looking for a truly special driving experience. The combination of handling and ride quality that Maserati has managed to achieve in this car is nothing short of remarkable, and I have no doubt that it will be a favorite among enthusiasts.

Overall, I'm very excited about the prospect of spending more time with the GTAm in the coming months. With its unique blend of handling, ride, and performance, I think it's shaping up to be one of the standout cars of 2022 - if not the standout car of the year. If you're interested in learning more about this incredible machine, be sure to check out our coverage on auto.co.uk or follow us on social media for all the latest updates.

As I concluded my time behind the wheel of the Maserati GTAm, I couldn't help but feel a sense of excitement and anticipation. With its unique blend of handling, ride, and performance, this car is shaping up to be one of the most special cars of 2022. And with more testing and evaluation in store, I have no doubt that we'll soon see just how impressive it truly is.

For now, I'm left with a few burning questions - what's it like on the track? How does it compare to some of the other top performers in its class? And most importantly, will it be able to hold its own against the likes of McLaren and Ferrari? One thing is for sure, though: I'm eager to find out.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enthis rather shapely blue thing you see behind me is the maserati mc20 now the skies are very gray the weather is horrible it's like two degrees and really miserable outside but i'm not going to miss the chance to drive this brand new all singing all dancing mid-engined 600 horsepower plus two-seat supercar now maserati seems to have sort of relaunched itself as a company more times than some companies launched cars they had the ghibli which they decided would be good because surely everybody would want an italian version of the bmw 5 series not sure they do levante the suv they launched thinking sort of you know surely everybody wants an suv not sure it's quite done for them what they want so this time they are back with the big firepower with a bang to say maserati is back and this time it has a supercar to prove it so this right here is a carbon fiber passenger cell two seats one beside the other in front of that is an aluminium space frame housing the suspension plus a tiny amount of luggage space and then at the back excuse me one moment there's another aluminium space frame mounting the suspension allowing a tiny bit of luggage space here then also what maserati says is a new generation of twin turbocharged v6 engine that drives the back wheels only through an 8-speed twin-clutch gearbox the same one i think is that is fitted to the latest generation mid-engined corvette let me give you some more technical details first then we'll have a look inside then we'll go for a drive and see if this time maserati's relaunch is as special as this car suggests now some commentators have pointed out similarities between the block of this v6 and alfa romeo's v6 and even ferrari's v8 but there are very trick unique bespoke cylinder heads here with pre-combustion chambers there's more on that tech autocad current uk i'll put a link in the description it's quite interesting power is 621 horsepower and torque is 538 pounds foot the claimed weight is just 1500 kilos and if this car turns out to weigh that little when we put it on our scales that will be very very impressive finally from a handling perspective there is a mechanical limited slip differential as standard and an electronically controlled one as a two grand option which is fitted here right welcome to the inside then of the mc20 the first thing i would notice about it is that i think it's less dramatically designed than the inside of say a ferrari or a mclaren or particularly a lamborghini hurricane don't know whether that matters to you or not doesn't matter too much to me it feels really nicely finished with good materials and decent fit and finish so i quite like that it's not all plain sailing i got in pulled the pulled the door down the first thing i noticed is my legs were very offset to the left so there's a the wheel arch ingress is down there this may not be such an issue on left-hand drive cars if you're in a left-hand drive market you probably want the pedals bit further over that way anyway but here my left peg goes pretty much onto the onto the brake so if your left foot breaking no biggie if you insist on right foot braking it's it feels a bit awkward over there good things this steering wheel which reminds me a bit of an alfa romeo julia gta's which i'll come back to in a moment is pretty much round as wheels ought to be the huge gearshift paddles which got a really lovely action are stuck to the column as well so they don't turn i like that too because no matter how much turn you've got on the wheel the gauge shift paddles are always where you left them so this is a functional cockpit from a driver's point of view that extends to having gear selectors down here and this big drive select mode on the transmission tunnel so it's got gt sport coarser stability control off or wet which would give it extra traction control you can change the damper stiffness in any of those modes gt is the interesting one if you think this is a gt car if you want to treat it like a gt car i don't know is it is it roomy enough is it spacious enough there's only sort of one cup holder back here which for a long-legged gt would be a curious thing for a supercar matters less so it depends whether you think this is a gt car or whether it's just a sports car there is slightly unusually for a supercar there is a glovebox it's not massive there are no door pockets but apart from this little cubby here there's there's not that much storage otherwise but it is a functional nice feeling well finished well fitted interior i like it a lot it's pretty clean there's a lot on a touchscreen it's actually pretty simple to navigate and it'll also pair with your phone which is probably what most people will do i like it let's see how it translates to being a supercar or a gt car on the road okay so the mc20 on the road then you hear behind me that v6 engine now do you remember a second ago i talked about this steering wheel reminding me of the alfa romeo julia quadrifoglio gta gta m well there's a reason for that and why i've forgotten about it actually until i was reading about this car this morning is that there was a time when i think this car was going to be an alfa romeo or the the group hadn't quite decided whether it was going to be an alpha or a maserati and eventually it's become a maserati maserati says that engine is a new generation engine called the neptune engine but don't forget the alpha gta does run a twin turbocharged v6 i've got to do some investigations to see exactly how much commonality there is between them but there really are elements to the alpha gta in this car but let's start with the engine because you know it's got a motor i'm doing 25 miles an hour second gear it pulls traction limited really strongly it revs around to eight it sounds not unlike a sort of flat plane crank v8 in a way but just a little bit more muted it's quite it's quite quiet up shifts on this transmission are really smooth downshifts are not always perfect there's sometimes a little bit of hesitation but it's but it's very good and it's very long geared i'm in sixth gear at 50 at 1500 revs and it won't take seventh or eighth gear that's how long geared it is so if you want to know what it's like as a gt car it is quite a long-legged cruiser this trip computer says it's been doing 23 miles to the gallon which for a car of this kind of performance that's not bad you know is it it's got a 350 ish mile range i think that's pretty good at a cruise but what really sets this car apart and what really struck me as i started driving it we really like the alfa romeo gta gtam really special cars one of the most special cars we drove last year this car's steering and its ride and its handling are not unlike it it's got three drive modes as i mentioned so if you're in gt you get the softest dampers if you push that through into sport you go to a mid damper setting which you can then drop the dampers back to soft if you want and then there's corsa which is the most hardcore setting which brings the stiffest dampers which you can then drop back to mid but stay in course mode i'll be honest on the road in the uk you don't need anything other than the softest damper setting because body control is fantastic but the ride is still really composed and refined i've spent a lot of time in the past couple of months in electric battery electric cars from the pininfarina batista through to a bmw i4 and what's really lovely about getting into a car like this is how light this car feels it really just glides along the steering is really lovely it's not super quick like a ferrari but it does take up weight nicely just off straight ahead it's got sort of more road feel than a lamborghini huracan maybe not as much as a mclaren brake pedal feel is is good and progressive it's just it just all hangs together really nicely and if the sort of engine and transmission are just very competent the ride and handling are really really special really special it's got all of those sort of lovely elements of the of the alpha gtam but in a lighter mid-engined beautifully balanced package and that is unexpected but also really really really really wonderful so we've only got this car for a short amount of time in the uk and maserati has said look please only test it on the road which is why it's on these uh winter tires don't do any track testing don't do any performance testing don't do any comparison testing at the moment we said okay fine all right if you let us drive it in that way we're very happy to drive it in that way so there is more to come later this year we want to do comparisons we want to do some track stuff i cannot wait to see what this car is like when you really start to play with its handling because everything i've experienced so far suggests it'll be really lovely but i am intrigued to put it up against the car whose price is it is approaching this is nearly 200 grand so it is right up there in mclaren ferrari lamborghini kind of realms and i am fascinated to see how good it really is i'm really excited to see how good it really is we will have more of those later in the year so if you subscribe to the channel if you click on the bell notification you will never miss one we're also at auto dot co dot uk all the time we're in news agents every wednesday or on digital subscription we find us on all the social media channels too thank you very much for joining me in what i think is has the potential to be one of the real stars of 2022 and i'll see you next time youthis rather shapely blue thing you see behind me is the maserati mc20 now the skies are very gray the weather is horrible it's like two degrees and really miserable outside but i'm not going to miss the chance to drive this brand new all singing all dancing mid-engined 600 horsepower plus two-seat supercar now maserati seems to have sort of relaunched itself as a company more times than some companies launched cars they had the ghibli which they decided would be good because surely everybody would want an italian version of the bmw 5 series not sure they do levante the suv they launched thinking sort of you know surely everybody wants an suv not sure it's quite done for them what they want so this time they are back with the big firepower with a bang to say maserati is back and this time it has a supercar to prove it so this right here is a carbon fiber passenger cell two seats one beside the other in front of that is an aluminium space frame housing the suspension plus a tiny amount of luggage space and then at the back excuse me one moment there's another aluminium space frame mounting the suspension allowing a tiny bit of luggage space here then also what maserati says is a new generation of twin turbocharged v6 engine that drives the back wheels only through an 8-speed twin-clutch gearbox the same one i think is that is fitted to the latest generation mid-engined corvette let me give you some more technical details first then we'll have a look inside then we'll go for a drive and see if this time maserati's relaunch is as special as this car suggests now some commentators have pointed out similarities between the block of this v6 and alfa romeo's v6 and even ferrari's v8 but there are very trick unique bespoke cylinder heads here with pre-combustion chambers there's more on that tech autocad current uk i'll put a link in the description it's quite interesting power is 621 horsepower and torque is 538 pounds foot the claimed weight is just 1500 kilos and if this car turns out to weigh that little when we put it on our scales that will be very very impressive finally from a handling perspective there is a mechanical limited slip differential as standard and an electronically controlled one as a two grand option which is fitted here right welcome to the inside then of the mc20 the first thing i would notice about it is that i think it's less dramatically designed than the inside of say a ferrari or a mclaren or particularly a lamborghini hurricane don't know whether that matters to you or not doesn't matter too much to me it feels really nicely finished with good materials and decent fit and finish so i quite like that it's not all plain sailing i got in pulled the pulled the door down the first thing i noticed is my legs were very offset to the left so there's a the wheel arch ingress is down there this may not be such an issue on left-hand drive cars if you're in a left-hand drive market you probably want the pedals bit further over that way anyway but here my left peg goes pretty much onto the onto the brake so if your left foot breaking no biggie if you insist on right foot braking it's it feels a bit awkward over there good things this steering wheel which reminds me a bit of an alfa romeo julia gta's which i'll come back to in a moment is pretty much round as wheels ought to be the huge gearshift paddles which got a really lovely action are stuck to the column as well so they don't turn i like that too because no matter how much turn you've got on the wheel the gauge shift paddles are always where you left them so this is a functional cockpit from a driver's point of view that extends to having gear selectors down here and this big drive select mode on the transmission tunnel so it's got gt sport coarser stability control off or wet which would give it extra traction control you can change the damper stiffness in any of those modes gt is the interesting one if you think this is a gt car if you want to treat it like a gt car i don't know is it is it roomy enough is it spacious enough there's only sort of one cup holder back here which for a long-legged gt would be a curious thing for a supercar matters less so it depends whether you think this is a gt car or whether it's just a sports car there is slightly unusually for a supercar there is a glovebox it's not massive there are no door pockets but apart from this little cubby here there's there's not that much storage otherwise but it is a functional nice feeling well finished well fitted interior i like it a lot it's pretty clean there's a lot on a touchscreen it's actually pretty simple to navigate and it'll also pair with your phone which is probably what most people will do i like it let's see how it translates to being a supercar or a gt car on the road okay so the mc20 on the road then you hear behind me that v6 engine now do you remember a second ago i talked about this steering wheel reminding me of the alfa romeo julia quadrifoglio gta gta m well there's a reason for that and why i've forgotten about it actually until i was reading about this car this morning is that there was a time when i think this car was going to be an alfa romeo or the the group hadn't quite decided whether it was going to be an alpha or a maserati and eventually it's become a maserati maserati says that engine is a new generation engine called the neptune engine but don't forget the alpha gta does run a twin turbocharged v6 i've got to do some investigations to see exactly how much commonality there is between them but there really are elements to the alpha gta in this car but let's start with the engine because you know it's got a motor i'm doing 25 miles an hour second gear it pulls traction limited really strongly it revs around to eight it sounds not unlike a sort of flat plane crank v8 in a way but just a little bit more muted it's quite it's quite quiet up shifts on this transmission are really smooth downshifts are not always perfect there's sometimes a little bit of hesitation but it's but it's very good and it's very long geared i'm in sixth gear at 50 at 1500 revs and it won't take seventh or eighth gear that's how long geared it is so if you want to know what it's like as a gt car it is quite a long-legged cruiser this trip computer says it's been doing 23 miles to the gallon which for a car of this kind of performance that's not bad you know is it it's got a 350 ish mile range i think that's pretty good at a cruise but what really sets this car apart and what really struck me as i started driving it we really like the alfa romeo gta gtam really special cars one of the most special cars we drove last year this car's steering and its ride and its handling are not unlike it it's got three drive modes as i mentioned so if you're in gt you get the softest dampers if you push that through into sport you go to a mid damper setting which you can then drop the dampers back to soft if you want and then there's corsa which is the most hardcore setting which brings the stiffest dampers which you can then drop back to mid but stay in course mode i'll be honest on the road in the uk you don't need anything other than the softest damper setting because body control is fantastic but the ride is still really composed and refined i've spent a lot of time in the past couple of months in electric battery electric cars from the pininfarina batista through to a bmw i4 and what's really lovely about getting into a car like this is how light this car feels it really just glides along the steering is really lovely it's not super quick like a ferrari but it does take up weight nicely just off straight ahead it's got sort of more road feel than a lamborghini huracan maybe not as much as a mclaren brake pedal feel is is good and progressive it's just it just all hangs together really nicely and if the sort of engine and transmission are just very competent the ride and handling are really really special really special it's got all of those sort of lovely elements of the of the alpha gtam but in a lighter mid-engined beautifully balanced package and that is unexpected but also really really really really wonderful so we've only got this car for a short amount of time in the uk and maserati has said look please only test it on the road which is why it's on these uh winter tires don't do any track testing don't do any performance testing don't do any comparison testing at the moment we said okay fine all right if you let us drive it in that way we're very happy to drive it in that way so there is more to come later this year we want to do comparisons we want to do some track stuff i cannot wait to see what this car is like when you really start to play with its handling because everything i've experienced so far suggests it'll be really lovely but i am intrigued to put it up against the car whose price is it is approaching this is nearly 200 grand so it is right up there in mclaren ferrari lamborghini kind of realms and i am fascinated to see how good it really is i'm really excited to see how good it really is we will have more of those later in the year so if you subscribe to the channel if you click on the bell notification you will never miss one we're also at auto dot co dot uk all the time we're in news agents every wednesday or on digital subscription we find us on all the social media channels too thank you very much for joining me in what i think is has the potential to be one of the real stars of 2022 and i'll see you next time you\n"