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Maserati GranTurismo Sport | Test Drive
The sound of the engine becomes deeper and does not hide that devilish incitement to keep the gas down, discovering that despite the almost 1,800 kg of weight, the GT is also very agile between bends.
Words by Alessandro Marrone / Photos by S. Lomax
Do not trust those who tell you that things always go according to plan. It is mathematically impossible. After years of experience in planning road trips of any kind I thought I had put this unequivocal rule in my head and instead I am stuck by more than a quarter of an hour, with the V8 muttering almost as if it’s warning me for having promised it the exact opposite of what we are experiencing along the narrow climb towards the peak of the Col d’Allos. Our first stage – or rather the second because the first was necessarily that of a 100 octane pump – should have been the top of a mountain pass among those considered secondary, a narrower road than the others and for this reason less traveled, despite climbing at the end of the season allows you not to deal with too many cyclists and minivans who instead storm these places during the summer season. A fiery sun shines in the sky, like those you would not dare to imagine even in the most optimistic predictions, not even a cloud on the horizon with the eyes bouncing between the men at work in front of me and the rear-view mirror, with the utmost attention in avoiding my colleagues’ lip ferment on the support car.
Finally, after having unintentionally forced these people to move a massive gravel truck and two never-seen before machines, thus panicking the reconstruction work site on the narrow road that should have led us to Col d’Allos, I put the huge nose of the GranTurismo between the cones that divide the cliff to the rusty structure of a crawler that would be able to reduce us to pieces before breakfast. As if that was not enough, everyone’s eyes were staring at me in a mixture of impatience to resume their own serious business, while I am probably seen as some sort of clown who does not know how to spend his morning. With the utmost caution, I leave behind the construction site and drive a few kilometers useful to chase away that pinch of stress that it is impossible not to accumulate when it seems everything is miserably failing before the start. Not even a single car from the opposite direction seems like the perfect day for the ultimate shooting, but as I said, it is not as it seems. A man comes out of nowhere, stops over and kindly explains to me that it is not safe to continue further – beyond the fact that actually the road was closed – better to turn around here. So I take advantage of the deserted situation for a J-turn and abandon all hope of continuing towards the Col d’Allos and the beautiful Colmars, peeking in front of the astonished looks of the workers who barely had time to get back to their job.
Of course they weren’t happy to see me again, but this time the prolonged wait forced me to turn off the V8 of the GranTurismo Sport. The walkie-talkie seems to have gone mad and, blaming to me the responsibility for choosing today’s locations, I suffered a good half hour of radio abuse. As before, first a truck, then the two strange machines and finally the crawler that with each movement seems to give life to the New Year’s fires. I roll down the window and apologize and although I expected some extra insult someone asked me to push the throttle instead. I move the gear lever to N and sink my right foot on the gas. Just a moment to slowly rev the engine and everything has been forgiven to me, despite breaking off their job twice in just a bunch of minutes. I promise I won’t come back again, at least for today. Time to set the sat-navigator and head straight for Europe’s rooftop, where eagles dare.
The road that divides us from here to Jausiers is not much, still enough to rearrange the ideas, allow the photographer to write down a couple of things on the updated roadmap and use the Maserati for what it was really conceived in first place. The GT has now reached the end of its life cycle, an incredible journey that began in 2007 and has seen it undergo small updates that culminated in this final evolution, sharper and more squared in design, but still the best in terms of that healthy appetite for asphalt. The ideal car to identify its very name, elegant, generous in size, noisy and damn engaging, the GranTurismo has always been able to attract the eyes with discretion, winking and awakening in us that primordial need to create something special, to leave and reach the desired destination also celebrating what lies in the middle, a journey that sings the melody of a naturally aspirated V8 among the last of its kind, finally mated to an automatic gearbox now more responsive than before and that takes your hand with kindness and then hold you in the embrace of a frantic and rough race up to the threshold of 7,000 rpm.
This is the GranTurismo Sport, as well as the swan song of a model that after almost fifteen years from its birth, has not seen its charm decrease, even in front of a ruthless competition pushed by turbochargers and electronic wizardry of all kinds. You perceive it from the small details, as well as from those lines that all seem to flow towards the huge mouth, which in the midst of its black vertical profiles enclose the soul of each Maserati: the Trident. With the class of a car coming from the past but accompanied by the constant roar of an engine that releases malice from the most imperceptible pressure on the right pedal, the GranTurismo puts its 460 horsepower and 520 Nm of torque on the ground, relying on a traditional layout and therefore able to communicate with the driver as we are no longer used to. I just need to devour every single decibel produced by that 4.7 up front and then I press the Sport button, noting how driving feedbacks really become more devoted to a more aggressive-prone drive. The sound of the engine becomes deeper and does not hide that devilish incitement to keep the gas down, discovering that despite the almost 1,800 kg of weight, the GT is also very agile between bends.
“See you later on” – I quickly say to the support team before throwing the walkie-talkie on Steve (Lomax, the photographer and my passenger, ed). The following moment I am entering the winding road that leads to the Col du Restefonde, one of the most panoramic alpine stretches that you can tackle with any type of vehicle, motorized or otherwise. The climb from this side offers a diametrically opposite scenario compared to the one hailing from South. The vegetation around takes its time before starting to change and leave room to majestic plains now yellowed by the autumn, which strips the rocky conformation of a gigantic basin in which our red bullet swallows curves and bends like a crazy little metal ball. The frantic run in the heart of the solitary mountain pass is heightened by an Oscar soundtrack, a moving roar that establishes the Maserati V8 as one of the most beautiful sounds that human hearing can ever witness, a universal heritage that should be preserved and handed down to posterity, especially to those who want to understand what it really means to have goosebumps.
The braking system is powerful as well, steering is precise, but what keeps to amaze me is the constant hassle that I can impress on our pace, approaching the hairpin bends and stepping on the brake just enough, before putting all my weight on the throttle thus being grabbed by the beautiful sports seats, ready to repeat the same actions again and again. However, it is in the fastest corners that the GranTurismo gives its best, almost flattening itself on the ground and not letting you perceive the real speed with which you are here in search of the apex. The exhaust screams, the paddles behind the steering wheel trigger the right gear as you pinch the red line and realize how beautiful is to look at the world in command of the immense engine hood that engulfs kilometers of road up to the Cime de la Bonette. Once next to the monolith for a few Instagram-friendly shots, I am so excited that I’m ready to climb – this time by foot – up to the wind rose located about ten minutes up a narrow path. I may have the stamina of a ninety year old, but the view up there is nothing but priceless. The mountains surround us and the eyes can barely distinguish where one ends and where another begins. Scattered here and there, thin strips of tarmac, the only and shy sign that man has managed to get to such remote areas, fortunately keeping the discretion appropriate in front of the incredible and unparalleled show created by nature and time.
The Cime de la Bonette is nothing more than an ingenious way to reach 2,802 meters above sea level, thus obtaining the recognition of being the highest asphalt road in Europe. The total solitude of the place is one of the ingredients that help making today’s atmosphere even more magical and so after having loaded all the equipment in the car it is time to leave on this sacred ground to any self-respecting enthusiast, a small autograph with a few millimeters of rubber. Although traction control is never excessively invasive, pulling the GranTurismo by the neck relying only on your skills on such a road is not easy at all, that’s why everyone left me alone this time. The rear hints before widening, but the weight of the front part has to be managed with a perfect harmony between the movements, otherwise ending up pointing the opposite direction to the desired one is a pretty certain scenario – and let’s not talk about the other ending theme possibility. Time for a break, a quick packed lunch, in spite of all those who think that doing this job is only 5-star hotels and restaurants.
Every time I step out it’s always the same story, I can’t take my eyes off it. With its red dress it is then able to blend perfectly in the midst of that myriad of yellow and orange shades of what is around us. In the meantime, a fresh breeze has risen convincing some of the colleagues to prefer the cabin of the support car, while I take the opportunity to enjoy the spectacle created by centuries of erosion and weathering, with mountains that seem dug by superior beings and that through the decades they first hosted and then corroded structures in wartime destined as forts and barracks. There is now an extraordinary silence, extraordinary in the sense that I can hardly realize how it is not possible to hear any kind of sound, except that of the wind. The closer I get to the car, the more I distinguish the ticking of the exhaust, while the heat that comes out of the nostrils located at the base of the engine compartment, is like the breath of a faithful steed enjoying a well-deserved moment of rest, just before being thrown into the battle once again. I take this opportunity to check things that for simple human beings like us who properly love driving come as superfluous. For example, the two seats behind are quite usable, even if you are over 8 years old, the trunk is deep and ready to accommodate enough luggage for the holidays, while the interior, although updated, remains faithful to a more traditional taste, triumph of Alcantara and contrast stitching.
In order to start it you need a good old fashioned key, but there is an 8.4-inch touch display that works better than before and that boasts an excellent satellite navigator, although some features are superfluous or in some cases a little twisted to reach. Climate controls are obsolete, while the 6-speed automatic transmission can act on the gears on its own, or allow the driver to manage them using the lever itself or by the huge paddles hang to the steering wheel column. The problem with this car is the come-back journey, but it’s not its fault. It’s because you realize that everything is coming to an end, so you have to put aside the preventive melancholy and enjoy the kilometers that remain before entering the garage, at home. Like an ancestral ritual, press the Sport button, move the lever in manual mode and forget good manners, meanwhile the V8 is always there. With a power delivery light years away from its first 2007 incarnation, it is also thanks to the 520 Nm of torque that the GranTurismo Sport offers thrilling performance. In fact, it takes 4.8 seconds to go up to 100 per hour and reaches 299 kph without any effort at all. In the midst of these extraordinary numbers, the ability to cross continents in total relax, or to slap hairpin bends with a gearbox finally suited to the old school sci-fi splendor of this GT.
Like all big cars, it does not immediately show its best qualities. You get in tune with it little by little, with due discretion and as you spend time with it, you begin to wonder if in the future you will ever be lucky enough to meet another similar car (spoiler alert, the answer is no). In a world where everything is now devoted to simplification, the GranTurismo Sport catapults you into a driving experience where you must first of all demonstrate that you are able to use your guts up to 7,000 laps – otherwise you miss the point. Getting intimate with it requires the same delicacy that is suitable for a mature woman, but if you deserve it, you will be repaid with fireworks. The Maserati GranTurismo is a car from another era, a pleasure tool destined to remain eternal and take on greater importance as the years go by. It is the keeper of a legacy in which for having fun at the wheel you would have need some compromise and take some risk, but without even having to change clothes, you could have reached the most luxurious place in town focusing the attention on your family badge. It will almost certainly be the swan song of this glorious naturally aspirated 8-cylinder, the most beautiful and melancholic melody that sensorially describes the true essence of its name, GranTurismo. Cars like these only know one direction and travel it across an eternal journey.
MASERATI GRANTURISMO SPORT
Layout – front-engined, rear wheel drive
Engine – V8 cylinder 4.691cc
Transmission – 6-speed automatic gearbox
Power – 460 hp @ 7.000 rpm
520 Nm @ 4.750 rpm
Weight – 1.780 kg
Acceleration – 4,8 sec.
Top Speed – 299 kph
Price – from € 130.892
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