 Looking back to the evolution of
Maserati's GT car, I am grateful to see it gets into better and better
shape. A dozen years ago the loss-making Italian company was still
making Shamal, a strange-looking and poorly built coupe from the De
Tomaso era. As Fiat bought the firm and put it under the management of
Ferrari, a new car called 3200GT was launched in 1998. It still
employed the Shamal's twin-turbo V8, but a much better looking Giugiaro
design and modern chassis started changing the fate of Maserati.
Through the years build quality and reliability gradually improved to
more acceptable level. A new Ferrari-developed V8 entered the scene in
2001 and changed its name to 4200GT. Then came its derivative Spyder
and GranSport. By the second quarter of 2007, Maserati finally earned
its first ever profit since it went under the wing of Fiat. Improved
products, servicing and sales network bring more and more satisfying
customers to the once notorious Italian brand. The Quattroporte is
doing well on the sales chart, especially since it added an automatic
transmission. Now to sustain the growth, Maserati is going to count
very much on the new GranTurismo.Apparently, GranTursimo is the successor to 4200GT and GranSport, as it becomes the new entry-level Maserati. However, the company officials said it is a very different car. Now under the management of Alfa Romeo, Maserati is turning away from the role as "junior Ferrari". Instead, it will become more luxurious oriented, offering more comfort and refinement, higher quality and less fuss to drive. In other words, it will compete head-on with Jaguar XKR and Mercedes CL500 (all on sale at £70,000-80,000). This sounds a little sad, but I do believe it will help getting more business to the Modena factory. Going mainstream does not mean losing its own character. The GT can still distinguish from other rivals by its Italian design. Styled by Pininfarina - possibly with the help of Frank Stephenson, it has some beautiful curves, flowing lines and perfect proportion to deliver an extremely sexy and emotional appeal. Let's call it the Marilyn Monroe of cars, albeit a Marilyn Monroe with a big mouth – the big convex grille is a classic feature copied from the 1953 Maserati A6GCS. It cleverly links the new Maserati to the past legend and contributes to higher perceived value. The GranTursimo is one of the best looking GTs in the world, unquestionably. Only Aston Martin DB9 and Bentley Continental GT can rival its beauty, yet all three have different personalities.    As expected for an Italian luxury car, the interior of GranTurismo is richly trimmed with leather. What really surprised is the build quality and the amount of space available. High quality plastic and assembly finally landed on the Italian car, as is a good satellite navigation and audio system which came from PSA. The dashboard may be a little short on style (admittedly, we have higher expectation for an Italian car in this respect), but the sense of quality and solidity matches German machines and leaves nothing to be desired. Moreover, the pronounced flanks viewed from the driver seat remind you this is something more exotic than the German cars. Rear seat accommodation is generous, enough for most adults traveling for long distance with reasonable comfort. Among its rivals, only Mercedes CL can do the same.  How
can it be so accommodative ? Easy, because it is derived from the large
Quattroporte saloon. Despite of the deletion of rear doors, shortening
the wheelbase and overhangs, the GT still measures some 4881 mm long
and 2942 mm between the axles. It is much larger than the old coupe and
much closer to the saloon, no wonder it tips the scale at 1880
kilograms without driver and luggage - exactly 200 kg more than the old
car or only 110 kg lighter than the automatic Quattroporte. On the plus
side, the chassis is 30 percent stiffer than the saloon, let alone its
not-so-stiff predecessor. The long wheelbase contributes to the
aforementioned roomy interior as well as allowing the V8 engine to be
positioned entirely behind the front axle. This resulted in a perfect
weight distribution of 49:51 front to rear, the same as the automatic
Quattroporte.In fact, the weight distribution could have been made even more rear-biased should it adopt Maserati's Cambiocorsa transaxle, but the recent experience of Quattroporte tell us that the majority of customers prefer the smooth-shifting ZF automatic transmission than the jerky Cambiocorsa, so the GT adopted the front-mounted automatic transmission from the saloon and offers no manual transmission for choose. Keen drivers must be unhappy.  What
remains unchanged from the old car is the 4244cc Ferrari V8 with intake
variable valve timing. Output figures raised slightly to 405 hp / 7100
rpm and 339 lbft / 4750 rpm, but its rev-hungry character keeps intact.
It used to be a magnificent engine in the old car, but in the heavier
GranTurismo and mates with power-consuming torque converter, its lack
of mid-range torque is even more obvious. Maserati claims it goes from
0-60 mph in 5.0 seconds, but my experience tell me never to have too
much faith in Maserati's figures. On the road, the GT feels much slower
than the supercharged Jaguar XKR. Even Mercedes CL500 has more
accessible performance. In fact, it feels more like in the league of
the naturally aspirated Jaguar XK, which has only 300hp on tap.The GT performs best as a long distance tourer. Unlike GranSport, its suspensions are tuned to be relatively soft. This results in more body roll but the ride is comfortable even without ticking the optional Skyhook adaptive dampers. The strong chassis and noise insulation provides good refinement – when did you last time hear the word "refinement" associated with Maserati's coupe ? Wind noise, tire noise and suspensions noise are limited, leaving only the melodic roar from the high-revving V8 entering the cabin. The shift program of the ZF transmission is not as perfect as in Jaguar XK (for example, not as responsive and no throttle blip during downshifts), but it still shifts smoothly most of the time. The GranTurismo may surprise many people by its high level of polishing.  Enter
a corner, you can feel the well balanced chassis steers keenly into the
bend. The perfectly weighted steering wheel transmits abundance of
information to your hands. The tires generate bags of grip. The Brembo
brakes seems to lack initial bite, but press the pedal harder and it
becomes instantly powerful. So far so good.Push it above 80 percent effort, however, its obedient handling gives way to understeer and body roll. It feels softer than Jaguar XKR and even the larger Quattroporte Sport GT reported last year felt more agile under pressure. As the GranTurismo is derived from the shortened Quattroporte platform, its handling could only be better. Undoubtedly, its civilized manner is down to softer suspension tuning. That doesn't matter. Sooner or later Maserati will introduce a sport version of the GT, just like Quattroporte Sport GT and the outgoing GranSport. With a fundamental so good, a firmer suspension will undoubtedly convert the GranTurismo into a great driver's car. I am really optimistic about that. The lack of performance can also be rectified in the near future. A 450-horsepower, 4.7-liter version of the V8 is already in the engine bay of Alfa Romeo 8C Competizione, so there is no reason why it can't be used in the Maserati. Before that happens, the Maserati is still hugely desirable for looks, cabin space, ride quality, refinement and sense of occasion. However, in pure driving terms, Jaguar XKR is the better car. |
| The above report was last updated on 2 Aug 2007. All Rights Reserved. |
