Maserati GranTurismo

FIRST DRIVE Stunning Italian coupé updates the traditional grand-tourer recipe

- David Vivian

THE all-electric Maserati Gran Turismo Folgore has already given us a taste of the Italian brand's all-new, all-wheel-drive Gran Turismo. Now the petrol-powered models, which share their basic engine architecture with the MC20 supercar, are here to complete the story.

There are two versions to choose from, and the marginally tamer of the pair (named after Maserati's hometown) is the Modena, boasting 483bhp, a 0-62mph time of 3.9 seconds, and a top speed of 187mph. But we've come to Italy to drive this faster, 542bhp Trofeo edition, which drops the 0-62mph time to a supercar-central 3.5 seconds and maxes out at nearly 200mph. Impressive numbers indeed.

Maserati reckons it made the very first grand tourer some 75 years ago (the 1947 A61500) and the blueprint has hardly changed since then, though of course the methods and materials have.

In terms of its architecture, the new Gran Turismo's advanced, lightweight hybrid aluminium-and-steel construction leaves even the superseded, previous-generation Gran Turismo that went off sale in 2019 looking distinctly old and overweight.