2013 Maserati Granturismo Sport: The Seduction of Italian Luxury - Ignition Episode 39
On this episode of Ignition
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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,