Category: Exotic Sports 
Price Range: No data available
Achingly beautiful, phenomenal sounding and surprisingly able four-seat GT.
Gearbox still a sticking point for some, steering too edgy at straight ahead position, seat height and support.
Addition of the S to the GranTurismo boosts its sporting appeal significantly.
The GranTurismo S is the fastest series production car that Maserati has ever built, able to reach 183mph and sprint to 62mph in just 4.9 seconds.
To achieve the increase in performance over the standard car Maserati has increased the V8's capacity to 4.7-litres. The output swells to 440bhp at a heady 7,000rpm, with maximum torque of 361lb-ft produced at 4,750rpm. The result is a far more muscular-feeling power delivery: the S still requires revs like the standard car's 4.2-litre unit, but it doesn't need to be wrung out quite so much to deliver.
The ZF automatic of the standard GranTurismo has been replaced by Maserati's electro-actuated paddleshift six-speed system. That might seem like a retrograde step, given that previous Maserati 'clutchless manual' set-ups haven't cut the mustard, but a little bit of help from its Ferrari neighbours has helped Maserati to significantly improve its two-pedal system. Indeed, it's actually quite impressive - so long as you're prepared to participate in the driving process. Fully automatic needs a slight lift to ease the shift through, but it's easily achieved and smooth enough when perfected. Not everyone will enjoy it though.
Six different settings exist for the transmission, but it's at its fastest and most enjoyable when in Sport mode with MC-Shift. When the lights glow in the central digital display, shifts above 5,500rpm and with 80% or more throttle position are rifled through in just 100 milliseconds. Your gear choice is easily selected via the huge, fixed-position paddles.
Pressing the Sport button also opens a pair of valves in the exhaust that bypass the silencers, turns the GranTurismo feral. There's no other production car that provides such an intoxicating soundtrack at sensible speeds, the twin pipes on the S giving a rousing blare on acceleration and cackling and popping like a competition car on over-run. It sounds a lot faster than it is.
Not that the S, with its 0-62mph sprint in 4.9 seconds, isn't quick: it's just that it's not quite as savage as the likes of BMW's M6 or the Mercedes-Benz CL 63. That's not really a complaint, as despite its revised, more focused suspension set-up, the GranTurismo S manages to remain just on the right side of comfortable. That's all thanks to new springs and dampers, thicker anti-roll bars and standard 20" wheels, with the steering also benefiting from the suspension changes. Maserati offers its Skyhook variable damping system as an option, but we'd recommend avoiding it, as the standard set-up is preferable.
Body control is good, as is traction and grip, the GranTurismo's excellent 47-53% weight distribution giving the S quite remarkable agility, despite its size and bulk. Largely neutral in the bends, understeer is only obvious if you're pushing too hard in tight corners, but it's easily countered by bringing the remarkably playful rear into the equation. The steering is quick and well weighted off-centre, but it's a little light and pointy around the straight ahead, to the detriment of high-speed cruising.
