Category: Exotic Sports 
Price Range: £79,900 to £79,900
Savagely elegant; agile, best detail finish of any Maserati; credible four-seat GT.
Too heavy, front seats too hard, weak air con, gearbox can be jerky.
The Jaguar XKR trounces it for value and accessible pace.
Price £78,500. On sale in UK late October
People go weak at the knees when they see the Maserati GranTurismo. If there are reservations about its looks, they're to do with its sheer size. It's 4.881 metres long, which is a lot for a coupe with a relatively compact interior. But combining four seats with a classical GT shape inevitably results in a hefty car: look at the Ferrari 612 Scaglietti or the Maserati's closest conceptual rival, the Mercedes-Benz CL.
For those are the buyers the GranTurismo is chasing: people (mainly Americans) who want a large, luxurious, racy-looking GT. The GranTurismo is not a direct replacement for the existing Coupe, although that car ends production soon. The future Maserati range will instead have coupes above and below the outgoing Coupe, and the GranTurismo is the first sign of these new ranges.
Under its shapely skin, the GranTurismo is effectively a Quattroporte Automatic with 123mm taken out of the wheelbase. That means a Ferrari-built V8 engine mounted behind the front axle line and driving through a six-speed ZF automatic gearbox. There might be a harder-edged, sportier GranTurismo in the future.
The new car gets the most muscular incarnation yet of Maserati's 4,244cc, four-cam, V8 engine family. Power is now 405bhp (up from the 400 of other Maseratis), torque is now 353lb-ft compared with 340lb-ft for the QPA. That peak torque figure doesn't arrive until a high 4,750rpm, but this is a very revvy engine (peak power comes at 7,100rpm) so it's all part of the character. Inside, there are lashings of leather, and you can add various wood trims or choose from several painted finishes in place of the wood. The emphasis is on luxury and cruising ability, although there is a Sport mode to sharpen the sinews.
