2013 Maserati Granturismo Sport: The Seduction of Italian Luxury - Ignition Episode 39

MotorTrend

2 years ago

On this episode of Ignition

Transcript

00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]

00:03 Few automakers have managed to encapsulate the passion

00:11 of a car in its design, like Maserati.

00:14 A mere glance at its most popular offering,

00:16 the Gran Turismo, relays a certain opulence,

00:19 a sense of power and thrill.

00:21 It is, with ease, one of the most striking cars

00:24 on the road today.

00:27 For 2013, its updates include, amongst other things,

00:30 a new facia, revised interior, and more power.

00:34 They're welcome updates in their own right,

00:36 but they also mean we have the chance to drive it.

00:39 First, let's see how fast it is.

00:41 So the Maserati is working with a decent amount of power,

00:49 but it's also carrying around quite a bit of weight.

00:52 Fortunately, launching it's very easy.

00:54 You put it in sport mode, turn off stability control,

00:56 you can leave it in automatic.

00:58 It's not any faster in manual mode.

00:59 And then you just slam the throttle.

01:02 Little bit of wheel spin, shifts happen at about 7,000 RPM

01:05 on the tach, 0 to 60, 4.6 seconds,

01:11 and you have a wonderful symphony behind you.

01:14 Quarter mile, 13.1 at 109 miles an hour.

01:18 And the Maserati stopped impressively

01:25 in our 60 to 0 braking test.

01:29 The best stop took just 102 feet.

01:32 All right, now the figure eight test in the Gran Turismo.

01:37 And initial impressions are very good.

01:41 This is a very heavy car, and yet mid-corner,

01:45 it doesn't feel like it.

01:47 Actually, throughout the entire figure eight course,

01:49 it feels very confident and very fast.

01:53 You can throw this thing around quite a bit.

01:55 Now, it's great, because this is a Grand Touring car.

01:58 But it's nice to know that if the situation calls on it,

02:01 you can drive it fast and have a good time.

02:05 Now, on entry, you have a little bit of understeer

02:08 if you throw the car in the corner fast enough.

02:11 But you can easily turn that into oversteer

02:12 with just a dose of throttle.

02:15 You can come out of a corner cleanly.

02:17 You can come out of a corner with oversteer.

02:19 Well, it depends on what you want to do with your right foot.

02:21 Steering offers a lot of precision,

02:24 not a lot of feel coming back.

02:26 But it's decently weighted and controls the car very nicely.

02:30 I'm genuinely impressed.

02:32 [ENGINE REVVING]

02:35 Now, a limited slip locks up a bit on exit.

02:38 So it's a little easy to get heavy oversteer

02:41 on corner exit.

02:43 But this thing has a lot of grip and very admirable handling

02:49 dynamics.

02:51 This Maserati masks its weight well.

02:54 I mean, the only time you really tell it's heavy

02:56 is after a few laps when the brakes start going away.

03:00 They do stop impressively.

03:01 But you can tell they're getting worked pretty hard by all

03:06 the weight this car's carrying around.

03:10 All in all, nice work, Maserati.

03:11 [MUSIC PLAYING]

03:14 [ENGINE REVVING]

03:18 So let's get some of the criticisms of the Gran Turismo

03:20 out of the way first thing.

03:22 Well, there aren't many.

03:24 But the infotainment system feels a couple of years behind,

03:29 maybe a decade behind the curve.

03:31 The resolution is rather low.

03:33 The functionality of it is kind of clumsy.

03:36 On top of that, you don't have a proximity key.

03:38 So you can't really use the car's key.

03:40 You can't really use the car's key.

03:41 So it's a little clumsy.

03:43 On top of that, you don't have a proximity key.

03:45 You can't just walk up to the door and grab it and unlock it.

03:48 And you also have a key to turn here.

03:50 It's petty gripe.

03:51 But remember, we're working above $100,000

03:53 for an asking price.

03:56 You would think those would be standard equipment.

03:58 Now, the reason why I bring up the criticisms first

04:02 is because this car does an odd thing when you drive it.

04:05 You start making weird justifications.

04:09 Well, who needs a push-button start?

04:11 It's kind of rewarding to turn the key

04:12 and hear that engine fire up.

04:14 Maybe, maybe not.

04:16 But then you kind of get used to the infotainment system.

04:19 And you think, yeah, I could live with this.

04:21 And the reason why is because this car just sort of seduces

04:24 you into loving it.

04:27 Perhaps it's something to do with the design.

04:29 Maybe it's that wonderful exhaust note.

04:33 Maybe it's the way it drives.

04:35 It's the combination of all these things

04:38 that make you just enjoy it so much

04:40 and make you accept any flaws you could find.

04:44 I mean, you come up with ridiculous justifications,

04:46 stupid justifications for why you should have this thing.

04:50 And when you're driving it, they all make sense.

04:52 As far as powertrain is concerned,

04:58 it's pretty respectable.

04:59 We have a 4.7 liter V8 that comes from the same machine

05:02 shop as a Ferrari engine.

05:04 It's made into a six-speed automatic, a true automatic,

05:07 from ZF.

05:09 And yeah, the shifts take their time,

05:11 especially when you're pushing the car hard.

05:13 But that's OK.

05:15 I'm not sure if a fast-shifting twin clutch would

05:17 match the personality of this car,

05:19 or I'm not sure if that's just another lame justification.

05:22 I can tell you, I like this the way it is.

05:24 Now, we have to talk about the sound this thing makes.

05:32 It is absolutely wonderful.

05:34 In fact, it's one of my favorite parts about this car.

05:36 It has this sort of typical V8 burble,

05:39 but it really cleans up.

05:41 It smooths out as you rev it higher.

05:43 It's a really rewarding thing to rev out.

05:47 So we have this Sport button here.

05:49 And what that does is it makes the transmission

05:51 hold onto gears longer.

05:52 It also prevents it from going into sixth.

05:55 You slide it in manual mode, and the exhaust opens up.

05:59 And you just get a deeper, rich tone.

06:03 There are two miniature orchestras, one

06:07 in each exhaust pipe.

06:08 You know, as far as the interior is concerned,

06:18 aside from this old-feeling infotainment system,

06:21 everything else is really nice.

06:22 It smells like leather.

06:24 The seats are a little stiff, but they're totally

06:26 comfortable at the same time.

06:29 You can just sort of fall into a really relaxed attitude

06:32 or really relaxed mindset when you're

06:34 driving this on a freeway.

06:36 In fact, when you approach traffic, you just sort of,

06:39 OK, I can live with this.

06:41 I'll just sort of lean back, rest my head

06:43 against the headrest, and put it in Sport mode

06:45 so I can hear that exhaust and just enjoy it.

06:48 These shift paddles, too, might be the biggest in the business.

06:56 They work, though.

06:56 If you ever have any steering angle in,

06:58 you can always grab the paddle just by the tip, which

07:00 is really nice when you're cruising on a mountain road

07:03 and you're using the manual mode.

07:06 There's just something about the overall character

07:09 of the Gran Turismo that I just adore.

07:12 It's big.

07:13 It's loud.

07:14 It's beautiful.

07:15 It's comfortable.

07:16 When you drive it at slow speeds,

07:18 you just sort of fall into this zen-like trance

07:21 where all is right with the world,

07:23 so long as you can keep driving for miles and miles

07:26 along the road.

07:27 I actually get mad when I get home

07:28 and realize my drive is done for the day.

07:30 I just want to go out and cruise in this, enjoy it, and savor it.

07:34 And it doesn't have luxury in the traditional sense.

07:39 The ride is rather firm.

07:41 It's kind of like a 911.

07:42 Engine is not quiet.

07:46 Nothing is actually quiet in this car,

07:50 but still, it soothes you in a way

07:52 that most quiet and comfortable luxury sedans don't.

07:57 Maybe it's sort of a deep tissue massage for the enthusiast.

07:59 I don't know.

08:01 All I know is I like it a lot.

08:03 [MUSIC PLAYING]

08:06 It's impossible to stay impartial in this car.

08:14 Only the harshest, most stone-hearted of critics

08:17 would get out of this thing without enjoying

08:20 some part of it.

08:27 Other Grand Touring cars may offer similar style and comfort

08:31 driver enjoyment, and they might make beautiful noises too,

08:35 but they do so individually.

08:37 Few, if any, blend these aspects together as seamlessly

08:40 as the Gran Turismo.

08:42 The result is a voluptuous car, one

08:44 that's as provocative to look at as it is to hear

08:47 and as it is to drive.

08:49 Few others encapsulate this passion like Maserati.

08:52 [MUSIC PLAYING]

08:55,

2013 Maserati Granturismo Sport: The Seduction of Italian Luxury - Ignition Episode 39

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