You may recall early last month when we told you about Maserati’s new GranTurisimo Folgore, the company’s first electric GT car. Our own Thomas Hundal wondered about the fundamental sense of an electric GT car, a car designed specifically for fast, long highway travel — something that, currently, EVs just aren’t really cut out for. It’s omething that’s not so much the fault of the car as it is our still larval EV charging infrastructure. Whatever the reason, like all good problems, this one can be happily ignored thanks to the other versions of the lovely GranTurismo, which use combustion, internally, on six pistons arranged in a V shape. The two versions of the twin-turbo V6 GranTurismos are the Modena and the higher-performance Trofeo.
The cars look virtually identical to the EV Folgore version, which is a good thing, as the classic long-hood-short-rear-deck GT car shape never stopped being wonderful, and the detailing, especially in the lighting design, borrowed from Maserati’s MC20 halo supercar actually works very well.
It’s an undeniably pretty car, a clear evolution of the sorts of GT cars Maserati has been building for decades, starting with the Maserati A6 1500 from the late 1940s.
Maserati’s current GT design language can be traced back to the 1998 3200 GT, and over the years it’s grown more athletic and aggressive, though this most recent version has calmed it down a bit, without losing the car’s presence. I like what they’ve done, especially with those dramatic fender curves and the unexpected crispness of those hood air extractors.
Even if it looks like a straightforward evolution of the last generation, there’s a lot different in its greasy parts, not the least of which is that these are now all-wheel-drive cars instead of the more traditional rear-drivers. Power to all those wheels no longer comes from a naturally-aspirated V8, but instead from Maserati’s own Nettuno 3-liter V6 with twin turbos, making 490 horsepower/443 pound-feet of torque on the Modena version and 550 hp/479 lb-ft on the Trofeo. Both use an eight-speed automatic from ZF, and the Modena can get to 62 mh/100 kph in just under four seconds, while he Trofeo can save you plenty of time by getting there in 3.5.
Top speed of the Trofeo is said to be 199 mph, and the Modena’s only about 10 mph less, but I’m going to guess that for most buyers either will be, you know, adequate.
The interior hasn’t been seen yet, but a couple of inches of rear legroom have been added, so that’s good news if you’re hitchhiking and get picked up by a beautiful, wealthy couple driving one of these.
Maserati devoted a whole paragraph to the sound system, so it must be important:
“The GranTurismo also offers an “all-round sound experience”, guaranteed by the iconic signature sound of the Maserati engine, even in the electric version thanks to innovative work by engineers at the Maserati Innovation Lab. The sound experience is completed by the immersive Sonus faber 3D sound system. Designed and made by Italian craftsmen in sound, the audio system offers two levels of customisation, giving it up to 19 speakers and 3D sound with an output of up to 1,195 W, for depth of field and truly unique roundness of sound.*”
Yes, yes, “unique roundness,” the quality I look for in both my sound systems and my tires. Good, glad that’s there, that’s a load off my mind.
Overall, this looks to be a lovely, old-school-yet-full-of-new-tech GT car. I’m glad these still exist. Pricing has yet to be announced, too, but I’m certain you can afford it.
Love the car, and I’m a huge EV enthusiast, but for a sports car (even a GT) why isn’t there a manual option? The EV will be faster than the ICE by most usable metrics, but I would prefer the ICE if it offered the type of engagement that makes me love driving an athletic car.
The pure thrust of EV’s gets old relatively fast absent other driving engagement. Case in point, I put about 40 miles on Lucid air yesterday- more or less the creme de la creme of EV’s. Loved the thrust, loved the comfort etc etc etc, but got bored REALLY quickly. Getting back into my old and tired mazda RX8 it couldn’t be more clear why. The lucid kept me in my lane, made little to no noise, no smells, and literally one pedal to drive (even to come to a full stop). I didn’t even have to turn my head to reverse given how many cameras the thing has. Compare that to a manual ICE– left hand gripping the wheel, right foot pounding two pedals, left foot mashing a clutch, right hand flicking through gears, all while I’m hearing the motor communicate things to me, while (if I’m honest) smelling my tired rotary burning oil. The mazda needs me, the EV does not.
Well, it may be an offensively-expensive status symbol for wealth-hoarding oligarchs, but at least it’s gorgeous. If we must allow people to spend the kind of money on a car that might otherwise have gone to provide such things as housing or a college education (or food, clean water, and/or medical care for hundreds of people who desperately need it) at least this one is nice to look at. That’s not true as often as one might expect.
I’m just happy they didn’t make a second SUV.
The Pentastar lives on 😀
This would’ve been a good place to debut the new Chrysler I6
A Hemi Maserati would be cool tho. I like the idea of a Hemi Maserati and a Hellephant Ferrari more than I should
The Nettuno engine is not based on the Pentastar. It is basically the V6 from Alfa’s Quadrifoglio models, but with updated cylinder heads.
Perhaps I have become jaded, wiser, socially conscious, or just plain old.
While once I would be impressed, I now struggle to be excited about another 200mph 500hp status bauble.
Is this the automotive equivalent of porn fatigue?
I’ll care about it in 10 or 15 years once it’s depreciated to the point I can afford it – 200mph is irrelevant, but any big front-engined GT is still pretty appealing.
No matter if you buy the Modena or Trofeo, they both go >185, which is good if you have a license, but, if you lost it and don’t drive, life’s probably still been good to you so far.
Hey, I’m mostly concerned with rolling up the windows in case I’m attacked.
Just put the song on and I feel like an idiot. Turns out I should have been concerned with locking the doors in case I’m attacked. Whoops. Guess I should listen to the song more often.
Joe is that you?
Don’t worry your accountants will pay for it all.
19 speakers. Count them. One, two, three, ha ha ha*
*Must be spoken like The Count from Sesame Street for the intended effect.
A very nice looking car. If given one, I would drive it and put aside a typical car payment each month for the eventual Maserati mechanic tax.