Customer studies from the early days of the current Maserati GranTurismo coupe bear out one of our persistent complaints with the car: it’s too quiet and a little too anodyne for a vehicle wearing the chrome trident. The fix is to open ’er up, at least for those buyers who want a little extra Italian wattage. A new higher-heart-rate model, the GranTurismo MC, starts at $143,400 and promises to crank up the aural vibrato as well as the throttle response and curve-eating ability of the big coupe. On our drive, we found out that it does move the excitement needle for Maserati—a bit. (The company also is introducing the Sport version of the GranTurismo convertible at the same time; click here for our first drive.)
Aural Fixation
What is it about an Italian machine that gets people to open their wallets wide for one? For sure, it’s not a tradition of peerless reliability. The dead-sexy styling that seems only to bubble up from an Italian brain is one thing. Exclusivity? Naturally. History? Definitely. But there is one thing more, and to many, the most important quality: the uncanny sound.
For Italian cars, we magazine writers have deployed all the acoustic metaphors, purple and otherwise in our arsenal: wail, rip, shriek, snarl, buzzsaw, warble, the “blood-chilling howl of a feral she-beast,” and so on. We’ve tried onomatopoeia: whooo-bwaaaaaaaaaahh!, etc. With the magic of the internet, we can even post their siren songs here so you can hear the who-bwaaaaah!-ing for yourself.
However, generating “The Sound” is one place where Maserati has lately lagged its fellow Latin automakers. Unless you’re standing on it with the Sport mode turned on, the GranTurismo speaks softly in a hissy and unconvincing dialect of the language of Lexus. Ferrari makes this engine, so count this as a crime against aesthetics.
Included in the MC’s touch-ups is a sport exhaust system which, besides being 12 pounds lighter than the base tubing, transmits more of the 4.7-liter V-8’s warbling, wailing, feral howl to the cabin. A little more, anyway. Activate Sport mode and the exhaust bypasses lock open for even more auditory pleasure.
It’s nowhere near as shriek-a-licious as a Ferrari 458, say, but luxury-oriented Maserati, with its smoother and more docile four-plane-crank/wet-sump version of the shared V-8, doesn’t care to be Ferrari. Still, we’d like to hear even more. It’s like being forced to listen to Pavarotti with the volume too low.
More Power, Quicker Shifts, New Vents!
Opt for the MC and you get 444 hp and 376 lb-ft of torque, 11 hp and 15 lb-ft more than the regular 4.7 GranTurismo. Friction reduction accounts for the increase, says Maserati, thanks to the strategic use of “diamond-like coating,” an anti-friction technology derived from Formula 1, on wear parts such as the cams and followers.
In Auto-Sport mode, a revised “MC Auto Shift” transmission program knocks up to 50 percent off the upshift times in the ZF six-speed automatic, claims Maserati. There are five control modes: Auto-Normal, Manual-Normal, Auto-Sport, Manual-Sport, and Ice. In Manual-Sport, the MC gives you full control with the banana-shaped paddles, so bounce it off the rev limiter if you like. On downshifts you get pleasing little throttle blips.
The power seems only adequate for quick getaways while you’re out tooling around, but on a twisty road, the MC’s 4.7 comes alive, its organically progressive throttle a joy to jockey. The throttle responds to minute changes in pedal angle, the revs coming on like a wave breaking on the sand. It’s clear why the houses of Ferrari—and, by extension, Maserati—have eschewed turbos: Nothing beats a free-breathing, purosangue Italian revver for establishing unity between engine and driver.
Besides the exhaust and extra horsepower, the MC also gets special ducted front fenders and a vented hood, rocker extensions, new front and rear bumpers with aero enhancements that improve downforce, and unique 20-inch wheels that shave ten pounds total from the unsprung weight. Inside, there’s carbon-fiber interior trim that includes longer shift paddles. The firm but comfortable seats remain the same as the base coupe’s, partly because Maserati doesn’t see itself as a carbon-fiber-race-bucket-type of automaker, and partly because of the high cost of re-crashing the car for federal certification, a requirement when you swap out the seats.
The MC comes standard with a basic coil-over suspension. Skyhook, with its cockpit-adjustable electronic shocks, is an option, but the car doesn’t really need it. The basic setup allows some modest roll and pitch, which leaves the MC still feeling like the large and weighty grand tourer that it is. Clearly, Maserati isn’t ready to go off the deep end in performance yet. We also wish for a little more bite from the brakes, which operate via a firm pedal but don’t throw the bodies against the belts like you’d expect.
At least the suspension provides a daily livable ride. We’ve found in other Maseratis that the Skyhook’s “Sport” setting just makes the bumps harsher while doing little for handling. If you want a car that reads every bump like a Braille whiz, may we show you to a Porsche 911 Turbo?
Can We Skip the Trim and Get the Good Bits?
Base price to base price, the MC is $17,000 more than the base GranTurismo S Automatic coupe, but when you factor in all that is standard on the MC and available as an option on the base GT (mostly appearance items such as carbon-fiber interior trim for $2550, Alcantara headliner for $1750, etc.), the price difference is actually around $3515. For that sum, you get the MC’s extra horsepower, the zippy exhaust, the special hand-modified fenders and hood, and the unique wheels. It would be a roaring bargain if only you could add just the $3515 and the power, bodywork, and so on to the base car and call it a day.
Competitors to the MC include the $104,375, 510-hp Jaguar XKR and the Porsche 911 flavor of your choice, to name but a couple. The aforementioned 911 Turbo starts at $138,450. The MC asks for more money, but offers Italian heritage, machismo, and rarity in return—and with that chrome trident on the grille, let’s face it, it’s somewhat more special than the others.
Specifications
VEHICLE TYPE: front-engine, rear-wheel-drive, 4-passenger, 2-door coupe
BASE PRICE: $143,850
ENGINE TYPE: DOHC 32-valve V-8, aluminum block and heads, port fuel injection
Displacement: 286 cu in, 4691 cc
Power(SAE net): 444 bhp @ 7000 rpm
Torque(SAE net): 376 lb-ft @ 4750 rpm
TRANSMISSION: 6-speed automatic with manumatic shifting
DIMENSIONS:
Wheelbase: 115.8 in Length: 192.2–194.2
Width: 75.4 in Height: 52.9–53.3 in
Curb weight (C/D est): 4150 lb
PERFORMANCE (C/D EST):
Zero to 60 mph: 4.5 sec
Standing ¼-mile: 13.2 sec @ 112 mph
Top speed (drag limited): 185 mph
FUEL ECONOMY (MFR’S EST):
EPA city/highway driving: 12/20 mpg