Quick review: GranTurismo Convertible test drive

Here are the Highlights:
(BTW, my last Maserati test drive was in the then-new 2008 GranTurismo and I own a '05 Maserati Spyder since new)

Engine:
First time I drove the 4.7 liter. I am glad Maserati didn’t muck around with the 4.2 in this car due to the increased weight (manuf claimed curb weight: 4,365 lbs.) Plenty of “pushes you back into the seat” punch.

Exhaust:
The Maserati current and IMHO World Standard. Better than anyone, with possible exception of Aston Martin. With the valves open and top down, there is awesome and soulful sound that envelope you. But I am glad the sound can be muted by switching out of “Sport” mode for top up freeway cruising.

Interior:
The passenger dash and both door panels do not have the airbag cut-outs like the 2008 GT. Everything smoothly flows. Top up: there is a ton of headroom up front, but the back seat suffers tremendously due to the slope of the top as it transverses back to the rear deck. I’m tall, so the rear seats are now as useless to me as the rear seats in a MB CLS550. The front seats, while comfortable, need larger side bolsters to keep from sliding in turns.

Trunk:
I am on my third convertible; two ragtops and a folding hardtop. Not to mention over 30 years on having to pack light on trips with motorcycles; some with tank bags, tail bags, and side bags. I was shocked on how little trunk space.

Automatic Transmission:
For this short trip, the impression was one of excellent programming. Automatic mode was smooth during shifts, and man-u-matic mode was very responsive. As always, the paddle position is intuitive. Every other manufacturer need to get over their “not-invented-here” cultures and just copy the Ferrari/Maserati setup.

Cowl shake:
Greatly reduced and very acceptable. Maybe not as shimmy free as my BMW E93 convertible, but then my bimmer doesn’t ride on 20” inch rubber bands either. I asked the salesperson that I wanted to find rough pavement – the normal route they take you on is on smooth as glass pavement. We did find an industrial area with tar strips and slightly uneven broken concrete, and I was intentionally running over manhole covers. There were no railroad track crossings in the area though.

Price:
I drove the bare bones Convertible; non-metallic black on black. MSRP was $138K. Another GT Vert in the showroom was nicely optioned with a $146K price tag. The option list included the windstop and a wood trim steering wheel ($1,396!!!)

Overall:
I enjoyed my brief stint in this car more than the Ferrari California I drove a few months back. Notwithstanding the “cheaper” price, the signed check would go to the GranTurismo Convertible.
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Good question. Natch, I should desire the Ferrari more... But there is something about the California that didn't click with me. Partially, it is the looks, and partially it is the way it drove. To me the power steering seemed way overboosted and the overwhelming feature that kept coming to mind while driving was "what a slick transmission". Somehow the DCT is the main focus of the California (and its performance) and when I finished the drive, I was thinking about that transmission, not how great the Ferrari experience. I had the funny impression that if it weren't for the DCT, this car would be donkey ass slow (for a Ferrari). And I kept wondering, if the SL63 AMG wouldn't be the better car. Or save the money, and get the current M3 Convertible with it's 8200 rpm V8 and similar DCT and have the daily "racing" experience in a DD.

Quite different from the test drive in a F599 a few weeks earlier which had me wondering how the wife was going to accept my new lifestyle plan of selling everything, living under a bridge, and eating rice and beans for the rest of our lives, just to lay title to a "stupid" car.

The Maserati, OTOH, felt exactly like it was conceived, a large GT convertible. No pretenses to be anything else. At least, for the around town bit, the steering felt correctly weighted and everything worked in harmony. Nothing - except playing with exhaust sound - drew attention to itself at the expense of the overall driving experience. Within a block, the car felt as comfortable as one's favorite broken-in pair of shoes. And when the ride was over, and doing the obligatory glance back, it hits one again that the GranTurismo is one damn good looking automobile. And it reinforces why Ferrari won't allow Maser to stick a V-12 in it.