Maserati GranTurismo S Review: The City Slicker

If you're lucky or dare I say "unlucky" enough to be around Canary Wharf at 7 in the morning, you'll catch a glimpse of one of The City of London's greatest phenomena. Rush hour. This parade of sorts has in its ranks financial analysts, traders and executives who played varying roles in highly-publicised events you may remember such as "The Financial Crisis 2008", "The Financial Crisis 2009", "The Financial Crisis 2010" and "The Continued Financial Crisis 2011". It's safe to say that these commuting individuals form the bulk of Occupy Wallstreet's Hit List. The bad kind of hit list.

OK, so I might be being a bit melodramatic. You may mistake your Economics degree'd author here to be part of that very same crew and in reality, the automotive world and the world of finance - as has been seen in the ongoing Saab saga - continue to be closely aligned.

But there's something quite bold about The City Slicker. That individual who rocks up to glass-walled offices in a well-fitting black suit complete with crisp shirt. Someone who appears refined and well-behaved at a first glimpse, but who has the potential for creating havoc and emotional damage under-the-skin. The same way, you might argue, the Maserati GranTurismo S goes about its business.

Appearances can be deceptive. There's an idiom that is as widely used as Carl Orff's "O Fortuna" (cough X Factor cough). But Maserati's GTS really does look like a rather large car and at over 4.8 metres in length and 2 metres in width, it certainly has the road presence that makes a supercar.

And keeping with the "S-word" theme, what makes this Maserati different from the bog-standard GranTurismo? Paul Fickers (chief creator of both models) said that the S appended to this particular piece of metal denotes not only sport, style, shifts and seven spoke alloy wheels, but also sex. And this car oozes more sex appeal than a Kardashian.

Walking around the outside of the GTS, it's clear to see why this car commands such respect on the road. It's not as violently in-your-face as a Lamborghini and not as understated as a high-end Mercedes. With the GTS you get the right combination of class, arrogance and importance. And that's probably why the vehicle can command a sticker price today of £88,000.

Large black grille with embossed company logo? Check. Sweeping bonnet lines? Check. Wheel arch flares? Check. Streamlined headlights? Check. A beautifully stanced shoulder haunch? Check. And dual exhausts? Cha-check. But it's not so much the individual details as it is the sum of all parts; in the flesh the Italian GTS has managed to pull in all these design cues and whisk them into a package of mouth-watering beauty.

Jump into the driver's seat and again, nothing strikes you as being outlandishly flamboyant. Two-toned leather seats help keep you in place and hug your figure, whilst the cream leather accents are repeated right the way through from providing an insert for the entertainment package to the rear seats. An analogue clock sits forefront on the dash and below this the LCD screen which leads on down to controls for the climate control. Everything is where it should be.

Straight in front of the driver houses the instrument cluster. In true Maserati fashion the revs fall to the right and the speed to the left and a figure which caught my eye - 200mph. Whilst the GTS is capable only of a top speed of 183mph, having the notorious two double-o makes you realise that you're in the presence of a performance vehicle. A suave multi-functional steering wheel complete with radio controls and Bluetooth options add to the ever-expanding list of "everyday items I would need in a supercar".

Speaking of the rear seats, your 5 foot 11 inch author was able to squeeze himself into the back with not too much difficulty, and despite the need to shove the front seats as far as they can go, seating a reasonably-sized adult or practically kids in the 2 seats of the GTS wouldn't actually be too much of a chore. Is that yet another tick in the practicality box I hear?

Having fluttered around the vehicle in the relative quiet of The Four Seasons' asphalt at the heart of Canary Wharf, and exploring nooks and crannies of the interior, I decided enough was enough. It was time to get this show on the road and start talking hardcore facts. Up first; the engine. Under the GranTurismo S' hood is a 4.7-litre Maranello-crafted V8. With an extra 500cc of displacement over the original GranTurismo, the 2009 model we tested is able to churn out an impressive 434bhp of peak power at 7,000rpm and a reasonable 361lb-ft of torque at 4,750rpm. In real world driving from the traffic lights, this unit is capable of doing the 0-62mph sprint in a spritely 4.8 seconds.

Astounding performance this is not. Astounding tech wizardry this may however be. The GTS can achieve this speed not through human interaction, but thanks to Maserati's version of an automatic gearbox dubbed MC-Shift. Hit the auto button twice and you begin to find out that this electro-actuated gearbox plays Robin to the GTS Batman. There's something about the way in which the transmission cranks out the shifts that is quite unbelievable when you're sitting behind the leather wheel. It turns out, half the story is unbelievable as there is a slight overlap on upward gear changes enabling a shift time of just 100 milliseconds. Back in 2009 when this car was purchased, you would have had a hard-time finding a car able to shift quicker than this without looking into the realms of F1 Motor Sport.

And boy, just like a Formula 1 car, this Maserati takes your breath away when you place your right foot on the accelerator. Hit the Sport button and throttle response becomes nigh-on instantaneous, and being pinned back in your seat has never sounded or felt quite this lush. The Maserati gains speed seemingly quicker than the 4.8 second figure suggests and to scrub off speed, the GTS has dual-cast Brembo brakes on the front discs with six-piston mono-bloc brake calipers. A lot of meaningless words those might be, but the figures suggest a stopping distance from 60 miles per hour of only 114 feet.

Almost as if itself a City squire, the Maserati GranTurismo S dispatches speed with maximum efficiency and without dramatisation and will eat up any tarmac standing in its way.

Things aren't all peachy however under "Sport" settings. Whilst the GTS' growl deepens and steering becomes more precise and delicate, the suspension too morphs into something of a hardnut. All the bumps and imperfections in the road that were once soaked up and dealt with now become minor irritations to the experience, and you'll soon be longing to switch back to "Normal" mode to feel the refinement in the cabin once more. Again becoming sporty by definition means that certain sacrifices must be made in getting a chassis to dart across the road but we're sure Pininfarina's engineers could have improved this aspect of the best mode available.

However, they redeemed themselves in the acoustics department. My favourite part of the road test, bar none, was the pleasure derived from my two ears. To experience paradise, simply hit the left shifter and switch down a cog..."pop bang snarl". The noise will lighten up your day and don't be surprised to find yourself purposefully hitting up 4th and 5th gears at low speeds just so you can downshift and hear the Italian caged animal whining and begging you to inject fuel once more into the hand-crafted V8.

Whilst a day in the company of Maserati's leading 2+2 sports coupe felt like a wonder-date cut short, there were a few things that I took away from the encounter.

First, that Maserati haven't designed the GTS as an all out track-esque vehicle. No. As the name suggests, being a Grand Tourer is much more than high-speed and tail-kicking cornering; refinement, comfort and class are three words that were probably on the tips of engineers' tongues throughout the whole process.

Second, that an understated look in a world of all-guns-blazing supercars can actually work better for the brand than if Maserati had decided to attach a nasty rear carbon-fibre spoiler to showcase its "S" credentials. At least looking at the faces of passers-by and watching them smile in admiration, the GTS had seemed to find a sweet spot and fanbase.

At a starting price of £88k, this moves the Maserati dangerously close to "as new" DB9 territory and a low-mileage XKR-S and these are strong contenders from reputable performance car manufacturers. The GTS offers something a little bit different in that respect and at a slightly lower price, the Italian OEM seem to have played their hand well.

Third and finally, I learnt that despite all the negativity, bad press and public hatred, The City Slicker isn't just a symbol of extravagance and class separation. No. It's about perception; that even if we don't like an idea or image at first glance, in time we may just begin to warm to it.

2009 Maserati GranTurismo S Gallery