Auto Car | First Test: 2009 Maserati GranTurismo S | Sure the race and test tracks can divulge much about a car -- where else can you safely push the limits in a controlled environment? -- but the daily drive home can often reveal just as much valuable information. Take the 39-mile commute from Motor Trend's L.A. office to my home near the southern tip of Ventura. It consists of three miles of stop-and-go motoring on urban surface streets, seven of 70-mph cruising along Interstate 10, another nine clicks of 50-mph sailing on the scenic and gently sweeping Pacific Coast Highway, and finally 20 miles of grip-defying, brake-scorching hustling over two-lane that tightly twists and undulates through the mountains in Malibu.
In the past month, I've hit the car lotto, piloting home such stout performance machines as the BMW M3 DCT, Mitsubishi Evo MR, Nissan GT-R, and, most recently, Maserati's new 433-horsepower blink-of-an-eye-shifting GranTurismo S. Along the illuminating route to my humble abode, the M3 elicited the most thrills, the Evo the most giggles, and the GT-R the most awestruck sighs. The Maser GTS? The most satisfaction -- it's not even close.
How is that possible, you ask. After all, the 12.7-second M3 handily beat the Mercedes C63 and Lexus IS F in a rigorous comparison test; the 0.99g Evo, with its active yaw control, corners like a go-kart; and the GT-R, well, it pulls over 1.00 g and catapults to 60 in just 3.2 seconds.
Plainly put, the GranTurismo S possesses intangibles the others can't begin to grasp. Like a Ferrari-built wet-sump 4.7-liter V-8 whose wail under wide-open throttle fills the Alcantara-trimmed cabin as if Pavarotti were in the back seat belting "Turandot" and swigging grappa. Or how a four-seat coupe the relative size of a BMW M6 claws a curve and bites a hairpin with the grip and grace of the smaller, more svelte M3. And whether it's drool or disgust over Pininfarina's penmanship, there's no dismissing the fact that the Maserati's curvaceous and chiseled body draped over S-specific 20-inch alloys draws stares the others simply can't mirror. Satisfaction? The GranTurismo S practically guarantees it.
Specification
Make: Maserati
Model: Granturismo S 4.7 Sportshift
Year: 2009
Country of Origin: Italy
Type: Grand Tourer
Class: B
Engine: V-8, Naturally Aspirated, 4,691 CC, Gasoline
Horsepower: 434 BHP @ 7,000 RPM
Tourque: 360 LB FT @ 4,720 RPM
Redline: 7,500 RPM
Brakes: Cross Drilled Ventilated Steel Discs all round with ABS
Wheels: 19 inch Aluminium Alloy
Handedness: Left
Dials: All Analouque
Readout: KM/H
Transmission: 6 Speed Paddleshifters
Driveline: F/R Front Engined, Rear Wheel Drive
0-60: 4.7 Seconds
Top Speed: 183 MPH
( www.motortrend.com )
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