Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Fifth Gear Drives the Maserati Granturismo

“This is the sexiest, most desirable, most fabulous-looking car you can buy today”. This is how Fifth gear start by describing the Maserati Granturismo and for the most part we agree. The whole focus of the Maserati GT is on comfort, with ample passenger space and an extremely quiet engine on the inside. However, in a world where the BMW M3 offers much more engine power with a much lighter body resulting in greater performance for a lower price, the Maserati seems to be outdone. I know we are talking about a GT but the balance between driving pleasure and driving comfort is perhaps weighted a little too much towards the latter. At the end of the day the Trident shows itself off proudly on the Maserati’s body leading us to expect a bit more pep in what instead feels more like a lumbering cruiser – powerful, yet unable to perform when needed and rather emotionally unsatisfying. To be precise, it has the feel of a 4-door car that is missing two doors.

Maserati GranturismoMaserati Granturismo-2However, if it is more pep you are after, perhaps there is a solution after all. In contrast to many other cars where the sport-mode button is there almost for decorative purposes, in the Maserati GT it really finds its raison d’être. When the sport-mode is activated, the steering, suspension and acceleration all sharpen up drastically, making it altogether more satisfying when pushing it to the limit. Unfortunately two problems remain: the Maserati’s excessive weight and the lack of power from its 4.2 V8 which stops it from being top of its category when you compare it to the engines of its competitors. We do however anticipate news of the implementation of a new engine perhaps the 4.7 of the Alfa Romeo 8C Competition that at this moment is being tested in a few prototypes, if our suspicions are correct.

© Source: eurocarblog
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