The Exotic Car Experience: A Closer Look at the Maserati GranTurismo

As I sat in the driver's seat, I couldn't help but feel that familiar rumble, reminiscent of Ferrari. The sound was music to my ears, and I knew immediately that this was an exotic car worth getting to know. One of the standout features of the Maserati GranTurismo is its noise level. As soon as you get in, it's like the engine comes alive, creating a sense of excitement and energy that's hard to match.

The ride quality of the GranTurismo is another notable aspect. I opted for the Skyhook suspension system, which provides a slightly softer ride than the standard setup. However, I found that it was almost too soft, lacking the stiffness needed when driving aggressively. Conversely, when pressed into sport mode, the car can feel stiff and unnatural, which I didn't find ideal. The trade-off is a bit of compromise, but one that many owners may be willing to make for the sake of the overall driving experience.

One aspect of the GranTurismo that's worth mentioning is its fuel efficiency. As you'd expect from an exotic car, it's not the most economical on the market. However, I've managed to squeeze around 19mpg in my own driving, which isn't terrible considering the circumstances. The automatic gearbox does seem to do better in this regard, but I'm still curious to try out a manual setup to see if it can improve fuel consumption.

Despite its performance capabilities, the GranTurismo is also worth noting for its quirks and idiosyncrasies. For instance, the sat-nav system is somewhat lacking, with issues that make it difficult to navigate certain routes. Additionally, servicing and maintenance costs can be steep, which may be a concern for some owners.

One of the things I love most about the GranTurismo is its character. The small button on the center console adds a touch of personality to the driving experience, making each drive feel like a unique adventure. Furthermore, the manual transmission shifts smoothly and quickly, allowing you to tap into the engine's power when needed. With an 0-60mph time of around 4.5 seconds, this is certainly not a car for the faint of heart.

In terms of its position in the market, the GranTurismo sits alongside other exotic cars like the Mercedes CLS and Aston Martin DB9. However, I'd argue that it holds its own against these competitors, thanks to its rear seats and more affordable price point. At around £68,000, the GranTurismo offers a compelling alternative to the likes of the Aston Martin and BMW M5.

For those considering purchasing a used GranTurismo, there are some things to keep in mind. The 4.2-liter V8 engine is still widely available, but prices for newer models can be steep – around £90,000 for a brand-new example. On the other hand, second-hand models with lower mileage (like my own 14,000 miles) can offer significant savings. However, I've also noticed that there's a shortage of high-mileage examples on the market, which may limit your options.

One thing that's certain is that owning a Maserati GranTurismo comes with its fair share of perks. From the attention it commands on the road to the sense of pride and ownership that comes with driving such an exotic car, there's no denying the allure of this Italian stallion. As I put the car away after our test drive, I couldn't help but feel a little sad – not because I didn't enjoy the experience, but because I know it won't be around for much longer.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: ennow eight months into owning a gran turismo s and run it on Evo bouts I gave you a tour around it if you read Evo regular you'll know that it's the second one I had gran turismo the standard four point two while the Gran Turismo s this one is the four point seven and then there's two versions of that there's an automatic version and then as one chord MC which comes with a paddle shift gearbox automated manual very very different cars the automatic and the MC shift which we'll go into later number one thing to say about this car he's a great looking car for me it's one of the best-looking coupe a's on the market came out in 2007 and really hasn't dated but you have to remember it it's actually a very big car and it's over four point nine metres long and probably doesn't mean much but if I pour a Range Rover beside it it's actually the same size as a Range Rover now you say well for a sports car a bit too big it's about 250 mil bigger than the Aston Martin db9 but with two 16 year old kids I really like it's much more useful than db9 just got proper rear seats some of the really distinctive bits on it so that the grille obviously with the Trident and the two red stripes saying this is the most sporty example and then the Trident wheel design I think is really fantastic is actually the standard wheel on this model the red calipers and then there's this beautiful line over it here and then the way that rise in line over that rear wheel looks really good two ways of differentiating the 4.7 s by these exhausts if you've got these sort of oval exhausts then that's actually the MC shift with a super aggressive gear change so that's my driving position there I just tip this forward and do this one of the pains actually is how slow that is but I get in the back there we go I'm um I'm 6 foot 2 so yeah I can sit behind me but nor five foot eight 5 or 10 it's no problem at all I mean our space as it is but apart for the rear seats the other reason why this car is so big is look where they put the engine it's so tucked up in the bulkhead it's unreal you look there that bar there is actually in line with the struts on the on the wheels so the whole engine is one of these front mid-engine cars way behind the front wheels all in the aid of handling but it does nothing for packaging and you've got this great big area at the front just like the Ferrari 599 and the Mercedes SLS it's just full of radiators and air conditioning and plastic bits what are the great things about this cars I've said before is the noise and as soon as you get in it just has that sort of Rumble that sort of exotic sort of sounds like Ferrari but great se press the sport and it all goes very quiet very relaxed move off this is this is in automatic mode so remember it's an automated manual so it's a little bit of a pause grenades pretty usable it all falls down when it's cold I've seen coming out the garage in the morning or something either I really want the automatic gearbox and not this panel soon we faced a reasonable fist of it if I did a lot of city driving then I'd choose the automatic this cars got skyhook and if I was ordering new it's not an option I'd pick it gives a slightly softer ride when you're just driving like this but there's sort of a looseness to the damping the it doesn't feel quite right it's it's almost too loose and it tightens up one thing you have to try in a bit more aggressively and it comes okay but cruising a degree don't like it and the other trouble women's when you press sport it goes too stiff and sometimes I just want the noise and not the really stiff ride we can't do that so the standard setup would just normal herbs some Springs of dampers is the one odd if one I pick in it safety about 50 in price talk about price this car newer is around 90,000 pounds one of the hardest things to do with the gran turismo is to sort pigeon are where it sits because it's it's a lot hotter than a something like a six series BMW but it's about thirty forty thousand pounds cheaper than an Aston Martin db9 and it's got the rear seats so you think it's quite hard to pitch where it is is it Mercedes CL rival well they're even bigger and they're about 115,000 well I'd much rather buy a Maserati at ninety thousand a Mercedes at 115 I bought this car secondhand with about 14,000 miles it cost me 68 there around 60,000 at the moment and are quite rare the MC ship so I can see that there there always be worth for premiums or 50,000 quite a few 4.2 s for sale because I think a lot of owners they're at now ball four point seven and are getting out of the four point two after mone about eight nine off some of the things I really like about it some things I don't I still don't like the seats they don't support me they're sort of they're okay I don't get uncomfortable but it's such a sporting car this ice would expect something better there's a MC star Liam a more expensive version that about 150,000 I guess proper race semi races they they replied think around the Enzo but the trouble that car either get in the back seats just get a roll cage that's absolutely useless too far as I'm concerned car that's really a GT so that like the seat I don't like the fuel consumption yeah it's never going to be the most economical car in the world but the well 4.2 would do 25:27 if i really drove like a saint but this car I'm in the teens I'm 1819 it self-inflicting because I do use a small butter and drive it very aggressively but even if I just driver since me as I care I've struggled into the 20s you get the beat the automatic version surprised them if they're much better on fuel but this empty ship lower geared just like your drink what if I like sat-nav pretty useless it's one of those you can't put the full postcode in it's never really good at route since I'm always end up the TomTom yes it's an exotic car but the cost with servicing that sort of thing if you go Trevon in they will see to take advanced air come trade in time and selling for on board with us as part of Ferrari Maserati dealerships that you seem to want a bigger part than anyone else so it's a good job it's got a lot of upsides FZ beautiful look a huge pride when you tell people you own a matter arty the name it's spinning magic rig is family sits up there with a stone art in my book I love most of all is the small button there's other character super quick gear change once you're over 4,000 rpm sims's really does bang it in it's pretty quick you know is four point something to 60 and 80 so a barn hour that's carried so whenever we're out etc London supply that this is real gentle character perhaps end of that : this is why it's going to stick around a little longer it was somethingnow eight months into owning a gran turismo s and run it on Evo bouts I gave you a tour around it if you read Evo regular you'll know that it's the second one I had gran turismo the standard four point two while the Gran Turismo s this one is the four point seven and then there's two versions of that there's an automatic version and then as one chord MC which comes with a paddle shift gearbox automated manual very very different cars the automatic and the MC shift which we'll go into later number one thing to say about this car he's a great looking car for me it's one of the best-looking coupe a's on the market came out in 2007 and really hasn't dated but you have to remember it it's actually a very big car and it's over four point nine metres long and probably doesn't mean much but if I pour a Range Rover beside it it's actually the same size as a Range Rover now you say well for a sports car a bit too big it's about 250 mil bigger than the Aston Martin db9 but with two 16 year old kids I really like it's much more useful than db9 just got proper rear seats some of the really distinctive bits on it so that the grille obviously with the Trident and the two red stripes saying this is the most sporty example and then the Trident wheel design I think is really fantastic is actually the standard wheel on this model the red calipers and then there's this beautiful line over it here and then the way that rise in line over that rear wheel looks really good two ways of differentiating the 4.7 s by these exhausts if you've got these sort of oval exhausts then that's actually the MC shift with a super aggressive gear change so that's my driving position there I just tip this forward and do this one of the pains actually is how slow that is but I get in the back there we go I'm um I'm 6 foot 2 so yeah I can sit behind me but nor five foot eight 5 or 10 it's no problem at all I mean our space as it is but apart for the rear seats the other reason why this car is so big is look where they put the engine it's so tucked up in the bulkhead it's unreal you look there that bar there is actually in line with the struts on the on the wheels so the whole engine is one of these front mid-engine cars way behind the front wheels all in the aid of handling but it does nothing for packaging and you've got this great big area at the front just like the Ferrari 599 and the Mercedes SLS it's just full of radiators and air conditioning and plastic bits what are the great things about this cars I've said before is the noise and as soon as you get in it just has that sort of Rumble that sort of exotic sort of sounds like Ferrari but great se press the sport and it all goes very quiet very relaxed move off this is this is in automatic mode so remember it's an automated manual so it's a little bit of a pause grenades pretty usable it all falls down when it's cold I've seen coming out the garage in the morning or something either I really want the automatic gearbox and not this panel soon we faced a reasonable fist of it if I did a lot of city driving then I'd choose the automatic this cars got skyhook and if I was ordering new it's not an option I'd pick it gives a slightly softer ride when you're just driving like this but there's sort of a looseness to the damping the it doesn't feel quite right it's it's almost too loose and it tightens up one thing you have to try in a bit more aggressively and it comes okay but cruising a degree don't like it and the other trouble women's when you press sport it goes too stiff and sometimes I just want the noise and not the really stiff ride we can't do that so the standard setup would just normal herbs some Springs of dampers is the one odd if one I pick in it safety about 50 in price talk about price this car newer is around 90,000 pounds one of the hardest things to do with the gran turismo is to sort pigeon are where it sits because it's it's a lot hotter than a something like a six series BMW but it's about thirty forty thousand pounds cheaper than an Aston Martin db9 and it's got the rear seats so you think it's quite hard to pitch where it is is it Mercedes CL rival well they're even bigger and they're about 115,000 well I'd much rather buy a Maserati at ninety thousand a Mercedes at 115 I bought this car secondhand with about 14,000 miles it cost me 68 there around 60,000 at the moment and are quite rare the MC ship so I can see that there there always be worth for premiums or 50,000 quite a few 4.2 s for sale because I think a lot of owners they're at now ball four point seven and are getting out of the four point two after mone about eight nine off some of the things I really like about it some things I don't I still don't like the seats they don't support me they're sort of they're okay I don't get uncomfortable but it's such a sporting car this ice would expect something better there's a MC star Liam a more expensive version that about 150,000 I guess proper race semi races they they replied think around the Enzo but the trouble that car either get in the back seats just get a roll cage that's absolutely useless too far as I'm concerned car that's really a GT so that like the seat I don't like the fuel consumption yeah it's never going to be the most economical car in the world but the well 4.2 would do 25:27 if i really drove like a saint but this car I'm in the teens I'm 1819 it self-inflicting because I do use a small butter and drive it very aggressively but even if I just driver since me as I care I've struggled into the 20s you get the beat the automatic version surprised them if they're much better on fuel but this empty ship lower geared just like your drink what if I like sat-nav pretty useless it's one of those you can't put the full postcode in it's never really good at route since I'm always end up the TomTom yes it's an exotic car but the cost with servicing that sort of thing if you go Trevon in they will see to take advanced air come trade in time and selling for on board with us as part of Ferrari Maserati dealerships that you seem to want a bigger part than anyone else so it's a good job it's got a lot of upsides FZ beautiful look a huge pride when you tell people you own a matter arty the name it's spinning magic rig is family sits up there with a stone art in my book I love most of all is the small button there's other character super quick gear change once you're over 4,000 rpm sims's really does bang it in it's pretty quick you know is four point something to 60 and 80 so a barn hour that's carried so whenever we're out etc London supply that this is real gentle character perhaps end of that : this is why it's going to stick around a little longer it was something\n"