Teamspeed First Drive: 2013 Maserati GranTurismo Sport
More poise, more control – same wild Italian soul
By CJ Hubbard - Teamspeed contributing editor

What is it? New Sport version of the gorgeous Maserati GranTurismo

Why should I care? It’s got more power, upgraded suspension, a faster gearbox, a more comfortable interior and even sexier looks.

How fast? 454bhp @ 7,000rpm, 384lb-ft @ 4,750rpm, 0-60mph 4.7, vmax 186mph

How Much? MRSP: $126,000 ($129,500 with gas guzzler tax, freight and PDI)

This road is not big enough for this car. And as if the distance between the roadside furniture – which ranges from trees to concrete barriers to the occasional actual front door – wasn’t already going to hold my attention, it’s also blessed with blind crests and unsighted bends. Not to mention cyclists. Lots and lots of cyclists – lycra-clad, cleated to carbon, and traveling in swarming, unpredictable trains. Angry looking fellas, too.

The guy who planned this route was clearly in a smaller vehicle at the time. Probably one that didn’t cost quite this much. Either that, or he’s a mildly insane – which come to think of it, given he’s not only Italian but also a former Group N World Rally Champion, is at least as likely.

But hey, not to worry – I’ve got an awesome safety feature. It’s a button on the dashboard marked Sport, and it does something truly horrific to the exhaust silencers. As in, guts them completely, with bypass valve artifice. A conservative estimate suggests you can hear this thing coming from about three miles away.

Maseratis. Don’t you just love them…

Barry White in heat

The thing in question is the new GranTurismo Sport. At full chat with the pipes ripped open it sounds like a lion doing an impression of Barry White in heat. Combined with the car’s sultry silhouette – even after five years it’s tough to think of a more evocative shape on the current market – it’s the kind of noise that makes Viagra seem technically inept.

Such raw sexuality is nothing new in Maserati terms; the GT has always been more of an outrageous indulgence than an outright performance car. Slotting in above the S – which it effectively replaces – and below the race-inspired MC, the idea with this new Sport model is to redress that balance, to bring a touch more capability and control without totally overwhelming the car’s fundamental grand touring character.

To this end, the Skyhook adaptive damping system has been upgraded, the steering sharpened, the throttle mapping revised. There’s also a little more latitude in the stability control system once the silencers are disengaged. The only gearbox option in the US is an evolution of the existing six-speed automatic, tweaked to be both smoother and swifter – it’ll now swap cogs in just 200 milliseconds under paddleshift control, hold gears in manual mode and blip the engine on downshifts. Predictably, this flare of revs is akin to a Roman god clearing his throat in a meaningful fashion. I’ve got goosebumps just thinking about it.

That engine is largely the same Ferrari-derived 4.7-litre V8 as before, but with new pistons and changes to the fueling it now produces 454bhp at a literally spine-tingling 7,000rpm. Peak torque is 384lb-ft, relatively modest by comparison, and you’ll need 4,750rpm on the dial to feel it. Officially, 0-60mph is over in 4.7 seconds, and top speed is an entirely believable 186mph. Brembo brakes are suitably tasked with stopping it all.

Visually there’s a minor nip and tuck. The front is more aggressive, there are new headlights, new daytime running lights and improved aerodynamics. Beyond this you can spec an MC Sport Line package that adds all manner of carbon fiber tinsel both outside and in – hardening the appearance in a way that transforms the GranTurismo from edgy burlesque dancer to warrior princess.

So even if by some miracle they didn’t hear you coming, when you hove into view with the LEDs a-twinkle and that low, low nose skittering just millimeters from the tarmac, slower traffic tends to move out of the way.

Maserati coming through

Or at least it does in Italy, where I’m cleaving a path across the countryside from Modena – Maserati’s hometown – to a restaurant next door to one of Pavarotti’s old pads. Your own mileage may vary…

Cleaving is about right, though. On these skinny ribbons of road the GranTurismo feels roughly as wide as a tour bus, and at 4,147 lbs could probably challenge one to a pizza-eating contest. But there’s something new here in the Sport, something sharper, more controlled – with less of the lurching weight transfer you get when earlier Skyhook iterations are really pushed, and less of the brittleness over bumps. It now works with the road, rather than against it. This means you quickly become increasingly incisive, knowing that should you meet the unexpected half way round the next corner your buttocks won’t clench quite so much.

The brakes help, of course. But the revised gearbox also plays its part here. Even left in automatic, the Sport mode is on your side, banging in the downshifts with satisfying conviction and plenty of thunder on the overrun. Switch to the newly enlarged paddles – which, like Ferrari, Maserati affixes to the steering column instead of the wheel – and the responses are palpably faster than before. Snappy, even. Though it’s not quite as quick as the optional MC Shift robotized manual offered at extra charge in Europe, it is far, far smoother.

Inside the GranTurismo's sumptuously stitched leather cabin, the only major changes are to those paddles, the now chunkier steering wheel, and the seats: the front pair are significantly more comfortable, and there’s a minor amount of extra room in the rear. Regardless, the interior retains the ambiance of an expensive boudoir – as with the rest of the car, it doesn’t just seem out of the ordinary but somehow slyly yet unrepentantly naughty.

Which brings me – inevitably – back to the noise. Keep your finger off the Sport button and while it’s definitely fruity the GT retains a veil of civilization. The very same control toggles the firmness of the suspension, and as a capable long distance schmoozer this serves it fine. The torque to volume ratio is spot on in terms of in-gear surge at highway speeds like this, too. It makes the car seem positively voluptuous.

All the while though, that small round riot button sits there, staring at you, willing you to plunge a finger. If the result sounds like the eruption of Vesuvius, it doesn’t quite feel like it – even with the enhanced engine, the Maserati’s bulk demands you gun it hard if you really want to feel the earth move, max power being just 200rpm shy of the limiter. But if you were after raw speed you wouldn’t be reading this, you’d have already bought a Nissan GT-R. And no GT-R makes a noise like one of these on approach to the redline.

Happy happy, joy joy

The GranTurismo has always been an enveloping, emotional experience – much more so than any of its rivals, really. Whatever its faults, they’ve always been overwhelmed by tremendous character, and aching beauty. There’s passion in every sensuous curve of the bodywork, every molecule of detonated fuel.

Yet with the Sport it seems as if we’re finally dealing with a car on approach to its ultimate potential. The steering may remain a little light on detail, and there may still be occasional traction issues at the rear – something the MC Shift version deftly counters by virtue of the altered weight bias of its transaxle gearbox design. But with greater poise than ever before, this Maserati is now a thoroughly joyful car to drive, as well as a soulful and dramatic one.

 

Gorgeous car

 

More pics from the test:

 

Man this would make an awesome DD.

 

Love this shot:

 

is it just me or does the engineering team need a quick refresher in the use of correct offsets in rear wheels or spacers ....

 

Agreed - a more aggressive set up is 100% needed.