The 2008 Maserati GranTurismo S
The 2008 Maserati GranTurismo is an attempt by the company to move into the luxury grand touring car market. Really the car is designed to complement the cars made by Ferrari by offering similar performance but with a more refined style. In fact the engine and the transmission in the GranTurismo come right out of the Ferrari. The result is a very good car that combines both luxury and style like few other cars can.
The Masesrati GranTurismo is a two door version of their popular Quattroporte. The car has been shortened in order to make it more sporty which does make the back seats a little bit cramped but compared to other cars in the same class this is still quite roomy. The GranTurismo is one of those cars that is trying to be two things and unlike most others that try it is actually quite successful. The GranTurismo is both a sports car and a luxury car, since the requirements of these two often conflict there inevitably had to be some compromise.
The best thing about the GranTurismo is the engine; it is a 4.2 liter V8 that produces four hundred horsepower. It is actually the same engine that you would find in the Ferrari F430. However in this case the engine has been tuned to make it run more smoothly. This is part of the compromise that comes into play. People who drive a Ferrari expect a sporty engine that may not be all that smooth but in a Maserati you have to have a smooth engine. Nevertheless it does perform very well and it accelerates the car very quickly.
The transmission is also derived from that used on the Ferrari. It is a six speed automatic that has as semi automatic mode for those who prefer. In reality there is no reason to take the car out of automatic because it is remarkably good at predicting when you want to change gears. Like the engine the transmission has also been altered to the specific needs of the GranTurismo, again this is done to make it smoother. Nevertheless the performance remains excellent.
The area where you are going to find the biggest difference between the GranTurismo and a high end sports car is when it comes to handling. As a luxury car the Maserati has to have a smooth ride but doing that means that you have to soften up the suspension which affects the handling. In part this offset by the ability to change the suspension settings but it will never handle the same as a sports car. This isn't necessarily a bad thing since they are going after a different type of buyer than you would find for a sports car. Nevertheless there is always the feeling that the GranTurismo could handle better if they would just change the suspension.
