Maserati
Maserati
Maserati
Maserati
Maserati
Maserati
Maserati
Showing posts with label Maserati. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Maserati. Show all posts
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Maserati
Maserati is an Italian luxury car manufacturer established on December 1, 1914, in Bologna.The company's headquarters is now in Modena, and its emblem is a trident. It has been owned by the Italian car giant Fiat S.p.A. since 1993. Inside the Fiat Group, Maserati was initially associated with Ferrari S.p.A., but more recently it has become part of the sports car group including Alfa Romeo.
Friday, June 10, 2011
Maserati Nice Car
Maserati Top Cars Model
Norbert Kiss added Race 2 to his haul from Budapest. The Hungarian topped each session from free practice on at the Hungaroring for the third round of the Trofeo Maserati GranTurismo MC. Kiss is competing in the Team classification and has been head and shoulders above the others this weekend. In Race 1, he beat off Cedric Sbirrazzuoli from AF Corse and Janos Vida, his fellow Hungarian from Auto 2 magazine, racing as a guest. The Team podium was rounded off by Emanuele Smurra, Swiss Team (11th overall). In the second race, Kiss cruised away after a series of quick laps. Behind him, Phil Bastiaans (competing in the Team series) made up for the morning race when he had to pull out with a puncture. Third across the line was Romagna-based driver Piancastelli, who collected another category victory and moves into second spot overall. In doing so he made up precious points on leader David Baldi, fifth across the line behind Venezuelan Ardagna
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
2011 Maserati GranTurismo MC Stradale
The GranTurismo MC Stradale is powered by an enhanced version of the Italian marque’s 4.7-litre V8. The bulk of the savings are due to the Stradale’s carbon fibre seats (26kg reduction), reduced sound insulation (25kg), carbon ceramic Brembo brakes (18kg) and lack of a rear seat (16kg).
The removal of the rear seat makes the Stradale the first two-seater Maserati since the MC12 supercar.
The first examples of the 2011 Maserati GranTurismo MC Stradale will arrive in Australia in June.
Maserati has taken 110kg out of the Maserati Granturismo S to create the racing-inspired MC Stradale. Read on for CAR's first drive review of the new Maserati MC Stradale to see if the claims are true.
The new Maserati Granturismo MC Stradale certainly looks like it means business...
It also earns top score for cabin ambience, thanks to lightweight body-shaping bucket seats, a four -oint shoulder harness, a partial roll cage dislodging the rear seats, wall-to-wall Alcantara and carbonfibre trim.
Driving the Granturismo MC Stradale
Through Barcelona, the big coupe catered primarily for eyes and ears. Further enhancing the ground-effect talents are a lower ride height (by 10mm and 12mm front and rear respectively), stiffer springs and tauter fixed-rate dampers, thicker anti-roll bars as well as minor camber and castor changes.
Switch to Race mode, and the MC behaves like a boxer flexing his muscles. Thank the serious diet: lightweight seats (-26kg), minimised sound deadening (-25kg), the now standard carbon brakes (-18kg), and the absent rear seats (-16kg).
Verdict
At £109,995, the MC Stradale is significantly more expensive than the entry-level Granturismo model.
Alas, we now have evidence of Maserati’s wild side. Inspired by the Trofeo GranTurismo MC and the race-winning GT4 motorsport models, the Maserati GranTurismo MC Stradale special edition has been tweaked and modified as a direct result of the lessons learned from Maserati’s three racing programs. More details about the car will be released closer to its official unveiling.
Updated 03/24/2011: Maserati has unveiled today a new video showing the MC Stradale in action on a race track.
The MC Stradale is inspired by the Trofeo GranTurismo MC, but it needed to be modified in order to become road legal. For that Maserati needed a car with great aerodynamic down force at high speed without creating more drag, even while it is diverting airflow into effectively cooling its brakes.
Undeer the hood of the new GranTurismo MC Stradale Maserati has placed a 4.2 liter V8 engine that delivers 450 HP and 376 lbs-ft of torque at 4750rpm. The MC Stradale will sprint from 0 to 60 mph in 4,6 seconds and will hit a top speed of 186 mph.
Yes, the Porsche model is faster than the MC Stradale, but the Maserati model has the advantages of delivering a better aerodynamic, and it is also better looking than the GT3 model.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
2011 Maserati Gran Turismo Review
2011 Maserati Gran Turismo is equipped with an automatic gearbox and adaptive control system, which adjusts the driving condition and it even shifts the gear mode according to the driving style.
The electronically controlled front seats are covered in Poltrona Frau Leather upholstery.
Changes are light for the 2011 Maserati GranTurismo, with a new wood steering wheel, aerodynamic bodywork trim for S models, dark surrounds for the headlights, minor interior trim revisions and matte paint options.
The font-engine, rear-wheel-drive GranTurismo is one of those rare cars that once seen is hard to forget. As the name suggests, the GranTurismo is a touring car, not an out-and-out exotic sports car.
Body Styles, Trim Levels, and Options
The 2011 Maserati GranTurismo is a four-passenger coupe that is offered in two trim levels: base and S Automatic. The base GranTurismo features 19-inch alloy wheels, adaptive xenon headlights with washers, foglights, power-folding and heated sideview mirrors, automatic wipers, Brembo brakes, an electronically adjustable suspension, rear parking sensors, auto-dimming mirrors, dual-zone automatic climate control, leather upholstery, heated front seats, driver seat memory, wood interior trim, voice-activated navigation, Bluetooth, and an 11-speaker Bose surround-sound system with a CD player, satellite radio, digital music storage, iPod integration and auxiliary/USB input jacks.
The GranTurismo S Automatic includes all of the above, plus a more powerful engine, an automated manual transmission, larger brakes, a sport exhaust, 20-inch wheels, and unique front and rear spoilers. Options for either of the GranTurismo trims include front parking sensors, two-tone interior colors, a faux suede headliner, a wood steering wheel and perforated leather seats.
Powertrains and Performance
The base 2011 Maserati GranTurismo is powered by a 4.2-liter V8 that produces 405 horsepower and 339 pound-feet or torque. Standard safety features for the GranTurismo lineup include antilock brakes with brake assist, automatic hill hold, stability control, traction control, front-seat side airbags and side curtain airbags.
Interior Design and Special Features
Front seat comfort is excellent, with well-bolstered seats and ample cushioning for long-distance comfort. Unlike other cars in this class, the GranTurismo also boasts comfortable rear seats for medium-sized adults.
Driving Impressions
The 2011 Maserati GranTurismo artfully balances a luxurious ride with sporting athleticism. For drivers desiring even more sports car dynamics, the Sport mode revises gearshift points, sharpens throttle response and stiffens up the suspension.
The beautiful Maserati GranTurismo returns for the 2011 model year with its companion Convertible--and with few changes.
Both sport a six-speed automatic transmission that cured Maserati's terrible automated-manual transmission, which was offered through 2008. Top speeds are 177 mph and 183 mph, respectively.
Big Brembo brakes give excellent stopping power, with the brake pedal feel of an exotic car.
Narrow seats and footwells are the hallmark of the GranTurismo interior.
The GranTurismo has not been crash-tested, but its safety gear is impressive. Anti-lock brakes and stability control are standard.
Maserati allows owners to custom-order their cars, and offers a wide array of upholstery, wood and color combinations.
For more on the Italian sports car, see our most recent full review of the Maserati GranTurismo.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
2011 Maserati Quattroporte
Designed by Italy's Pininfarina design firm, the rear-wheel-drive Maserati Quattroporte is available as a standard luxury model or as a sport model.
The 4.2-liter continues in the base Quattroporte, while the Quattroporte S and Sport GT S get a 4.7-liter V-8 with varying outputs. Mechanical features includeCall it the 2011 Maserati Quattroporte, however, and suddenly it doesn't sound so plain.
The 2011 Maserati Quattroporte delivers a smooth and quiet ride that rivals that of cars from any other luxury brand, along with that certain little Italian ingredient -- passion. This car's handling is also noteworthy, even in its base-model configuration.
The 2011 Maserati Quattroporte is a performance luxury sedan offered in base, S and Sport GT S trims.
Standard equipment on the base Quattroporte includes 18-inch wheels, adaptive bi-xenon headlamps, foglamps, power-folding and heated outside mirrors, a power-actuated trunk lid, power-assisted doors, rear parking sensors, a sunroof, a power tilt-and-telescoping steering column, auto-dimming mirrors, leather upholstery, wood interior trim, 14-way power-adjustable front seats with driver memory, a refrigerated storage compartment in the front armrest, dual-zone automatic climate control and a power rear sunshade. The S model adds the 4.7-liter V8, 19-inch wheels, larger brakes, adjustable "Skyhook" suspension dampers and polished Wenge wood interior trim. Also offered is the Plus Pack, which includes all of the Base Pack's features plus front parking sensors, ventilated front seats with massage functions, heated rear seats and a wood and leather steering wheel. Additionally, buyers can add tinted glass, four-way power-adjustable and heated rear outboard seats, window blinds, rear-seat climate controls, fold-down trays in the front seatbacks and a rear-seat entertainment system.
The base 2011 Maserati Quattroporte is powered by a 4.2-liter V8 that produces 400 horsepower and 339 pound-feet of torque. Maserati estimates 0-60-mph acceleration at 5.6 seconds for the base model and 5.4 seconds for the S. Standard safety features for all 2011 Quattroportes include antilock brakes, stability control, traction control, front-seat side airbags and full-length side curtain airbags.
The base model Quattroporte delivers a luxurious and tranquil highway ride.
The smoothly sculpted roofline tapers into an elegant tail, marking a high point in the perpetual compromise between a sporty stance and elegant sedan bodywork. Unlike the bigger German sedan rivals, the Quattroporte is more like a four-door sports car. A 425-hp Quattroporte Sport GT S model can hit the same mark in about 5.0 seconds. The Quattroporte's cozy interior suffers from limited head room in back, but the front seats have ample room surrounding them. There aren’t any independent crash-test results for the Quattroporte, but with seat-mounted side airbags up front and head-protecting curtain bags covering the front and rear, the car at least covers the bases. Anti-lock brakes and stability control are standard, as are great bi-xenon HID headlamps.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Maserati Italian luxury car
Maserati photosMaserati
MaseratiMaserati is an Italian luxury car manufacturer established on December 1, 1914, in Bologna. The company's headquarters is now in Modena, and its emblem is a trident. It has been owned by the Italian car giant Fiat S.p.A. since 1993. Inside the Fiat Group, Maserati was initially associated with Ferrari S.p.A., but more recently it has become part of the sports car group including Alfa Romeo.
Monday, March 7, 2011
2012 GranTurismo Convertible Sport
GENEVA — Maserati will introduce its latest performance model, the GranCabrio Sport, next week at the 2011 Geneva Auto Show. The car will arrive this August at U.S. dealers, rebadged as the Maserati GranTurismo Convertible Sport.
For the U.S. market, the 2012 Maserati GranTurismo Convertible Sport gets a more powerful engine and tauter suspension tuning.
The 2012 GranTurismo Convertible Sport features a black grille with red accents, as well as body-color side skirts and front corner splitters.
Maserati has official shown their latest addition to the line-up of sports cars, the Maserati GranCabrio Sport at the 81st International Auto Salon in Geneva.
The upgraded four-seater luxury convertible comes with a refreshed black grill with integrated Maserati logo.
Conceived to give the GranCabrio a harder edge, the GranCabrio Sport takes up its rightful spot alongside the GranTurismo S and the Quattroporte Sport GT S. Visually, it’s distinguished from the “regular” GranCabrio by black grille with a red-accented trident and a new colour – Rosso Trionfale, inspired by the red national colours of 1950s’ racing Maseratis (most notably, the 1957 Maserati 250F of F1 world champion Juan Manuel Fangio).
Handling is improved through tuning revisions to the Skyhook active suspension system. The GranCabrio Sport is expected on sale in all markets in summer 2011.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Maserati GranCabrio, 2011
Maserati GranCabrio, 2011
The Maserati GranCabrio - four proper seats, comfortable, inviting and all-enveloping. Never before had an open-top Maserati offered so much. Never before had a car with the Trident badge allowed an entire family or four friends to enjoy a journey in the open air. The Maserati GranCabrio's magical chemistry starts when you look at it: it is shockingly beautiful, with the soft top up or down. Indeed it features a sophisticated canvas top, for very precise reasons, which can be summed up in three words: «centre of gravity». Fabric, ultra-high tech fabric, weighs very little, infinitely less than metal and helps the car's road-holding: the overall system weight is just 65 kg. And then fabric is pliant, it complements the palette of the car's exterior colours six times over, the number of shades in which it is available, from a solid black to a high-tech titanium grey, to a warm chocolate colour.
28 seconds, that's the time it takes for the Maserati GranCabrio to go back to being a secure cocoon. A flying one too, thanks to a Cx of 0.35 with the roof up, which increases by a mere trifle, to 0.39, with the top down.
Design is at the service of comfort. The times when anyone travelling in the back of a sports car were resigned to suffering physical discomfort are well and truly over: rear passengers in the Maserati GranCabrio are not supporting actors, but co-stars of the journey. The legs, even for those who are more than six feet tall, are no longer crammed in, the spine is no longer forced into an unnatural erect position, but comfortably and physiologically supported on backrests designed so that sportiness does not need to compromise on comfort.
Maserati GranCabrio
The Maserati GranCabrio's Design
Dynamism, sensuality and passion have always been the features that transform Pininfarina's creative genius into masterpieces to be admired on roads the world over. The latest work of art to leave the Maserati factory, the Maserati GranCabrio, has the design of a dream car, but it is a real masterpiece that's just asking to be driven by lovers of beautiful cars who want to travel cocooned in a refined and comfortable ambience.
The challenge for Pininfarina was an intriguing one: never before had a proper four-seater convertible, capable of accommodating four adults comfortably without stealing even the tiniest bit of the incomparable pleasure of travel, been produced by Maserati. Now that the craftsmen have completed their work, it all seems obvious: the Maserati GranCabrio could only ever have been like this. An expert eye, however, understands how much power lies behind the front, imposing and dynamic at the same time, the sinuous and feline flanks and a rear that speaks a high-tech language with a wide aerodynamic diffuser tested in a wind tunnel, crowned by large, twin oval-section chrome tailpipes.
A sculpture that speaks to connoisseurs the ancient language of the great Italian coachbuilders, a beautiful car to admire when it is open, but also when it is moving with its roof up, something that isn't always the case for cars of this type. The canvas soft top was chosen over a rigid folding roof as, with its complicated closing system, would have imposed on engineers and designers unacceptable constraints for anyone seeking beauty in its purest form. And so the "all-clear" was given to supremequality materials and state of the art engineering, to a structure with a backbone consisting of five steel and aluminium spokes and covered with a triple-layer canvas available in six colours, meeting every single customer's requirement. The whole system weighs only 65 kg but, at the same time, guarantees maximum aero-acoustic efficiency and allows the Maserati GranCabrio to be enjoyed in all seasons, thanks to the most stringent tests conducted at 30 degrees below zero and at 40 degrees in the shade.
When the soft top is up the drag coefficient is 0.35, while with the soft top down 0.39. Extraordinary figures, the mark of a perfect chemistry between aesthetics and functionality. Without forgetting another absolute imperative, the comfort of those travelling in this open-top granturismo. The optional wind stop was designed precisely to fulfil this purpose, to provide passengers with excellent protection, even at high speed. So, with the wind stop on, the volume of air from outside falls by 70%, whilst the air speed inside the cabin is down 50%.
The Maserati GranCabrio's Voice
The voice of the Maserati GranCabrio, the musical notes of its V8 are powerful but subdued when travelling at a modest pace, but they can reach the strength of a tenor's high tones when the driver demands the maximum. The secret of such flexibility lies with the pneumatic control valves that manage the exhaust: normally they remain closed, to ensure that the car travels within the bounds of discretion, but if the Sport mode is selected, they open above 3000 rpm and the sound becomes a powerful roar, especially with the roof down.
The eight-cylinder orchestra is a chorus that sings about the pleasure of driving, harmoniously conducted by the 6-speed automatic gearbox. This transmission is the result of a close working relationship between Maserati and ZF, which has successfully interpreted the exciting combination between the 323 kW (440 HP) of the V8 engine and the fluidity of the automatic gearbox. And if the driver wants to feel even more like an orchestra conductor, all he has to do is select the Manual mode, and modulate the sound of the engine to the rhythm of the manual shifts, better still when using the steering wheel paddles.
The Maserati GranCabrio demands to be heard, also through the voice of its hi-fi system, developed by Maserati and Bose. Keeping even the most demanding audiophiles satisfied was not an easy task: without the roof to act as a resonating chamber the layout of the speakers had to be completely redesigned. In the end 12 were fitted: one speaker in the middle of the dashboard, two tweeters and two woofers set into each door, one front bass box under the front passenger seat, two tweeters and two woofers on both rear panels and a rear-mounted bass box containing two woofers. It is the woofers, speakers which reproduce the lowest tones and give the right depth to an orchestral crescendo or the rhythmic base of a jazz trio, the keystones behind the perfection of the "GranCabrio concert hall". The rear bass box, for example, has an unusual shape, extending behind the backrest and under the rear armrest so that it can perform at its best.
The Maserati GranCabrio's Dynamics A must-have feature for a car that is as much fun to drive as the GranCabrio is a great sense of balance, achieved with a well thought out weight distribution. The latest Trident creation is unrivalled on this level as well: with the soft top up 49% of the weight is over the front axle and 51% over the rear, whilst the rates with the soft top down become 48 and 52% respectively.
The Skyhook suspension system features continuously adjustable gas dampers which adapt to the ever changing road conditions. In practical terms, this means that every irregularity is "concealed" to the driver, who can then enjoy an incredibly smooth driving experience in true comfort.
On board the Maserati GranCabrio
Sleek and sporty from the outside, comfortable and cosy from the inside. This formula was refined with the expertise of the designers who were put to the test with the Maserati GranCabrio concept. A concept which envisaged, first of all, two adults being able to use the rear seats even on long journeys, without suffering from cramps or fatigue.
Integrated systems
Twenty five degrees centigrade and dehumidified air: this is what the experts reckon is the ideal situation for the wellbeing of people at home, in the office or when travelling by car. A rule that is certainly not set in stone, given that each of us has our own ideal temperature and, during car journeys, uses the on-board climate control system to find it.
On the Maserati GranCabrio the driver is just required to set the desired temperature in a range falling between 16 and 32 degrees and the electronics will start to mix the air and meter with micrometric precision the intensity of the flows until the target is quickly reached. The climate control system has been finetuned to offer maximum comfort both with the soft top up and down, adjusting itself accordingly. It knows that it has to perform quite differently on an early summer's evening or on a blisteringly hot day and it is also very well aware that it mustn't be too invasive in acoustic terms so that the engine can be left to sing to its heart's content.
The Maserati GranCabrio's Interior
The Maserati GranCabrio embodies the essence of Italian craftsmanship, which has its roots in historic workshops from the Renaissance era and has gradually evolved, without losing sight of its own noble origins. The seats are the first thing one appreciates when getting behind the wheel: upholstered in Poltrona Frau leather, they feel plush, naturally soft and cosy in Winter, fresh and airy in Summer. Leather bound to improve with the passing of time, just like a great vintage wine.
The palette of colours includes no less than 10 shades, which can be blended together for seats, dashboard, tonneau cover, steering wheel and gear knob in an infinite number of combinations to create a tailor-made ambience to suit one's own taste. Each button on the steering wheel and dashboard is embellished with a fine chrome surround, an elegant stamp of an unquestionable superiority of style. The Trident logo is embossed by hand on the headrests and the exposed stitching on the armrest is hand-sewn.
More hands have crafted the precious woods that take pride of place in the Maserati GranCabrio's cabin. These hands have smoothed these woods with infinite patience, removed even the slightest impurities and polished them again to obtain an eye-catching end-result. The Carbalho wood comes from Brazil. Maserati sought it out in its distant lands of origin because it has inimitable credentials: each part of it has a different weave, a sort of fingerprint that guarantees that each car is unique.
Maserati open-top Heritage
The Maserati GranCabrio is the first open-top four-seater Maserati but this doesn't mean that it is without noble ancestors. On the contrary, entire chapters of the history of the motor car have been written by open top Trident cars, although they were strictly two seaters.
The first is the legendary A6G Frua Spyder, produced in a very limited series in the 1950s: it is in the details that the individual cars are distinguished from one another, details, which in the unique Frua, soar to the level of a masterpiece. To have a better understanding, one has to look no further than the front end with the chrome surround and the sunken fog lights, which a few months later, in the A6G 2000, would be transformed into the oval-shaped radiator grille, typical of the Maserati, with the large trident in the middle.
The same blood flowed through the mechanical veins of the A6G Frua Spyder that would then ennoble cars such as the 3500 Gt Spyder by Vignale, a matchless source of inspiration for the great Italian coachbuilders of the 1960s, who made a competition out of dressing them with elegant suits hand-forged by master panel beaters. The 3500 Gt Spyder was so beautiful that it even turned heads in Hollywood: it was used countless times in major studio films, it «acted», for example, with Lee Marvin and John Cassavetes in The Killers and together with Kirk Douglas in Two Weeks in Another Town, in both cases wearing "stage outfits" signed by Vignale.
As we run through Maserati's general ledger we also meet one of the cars that could be considered to be a direct descendant of the Maserati GranCabrio: the 2001 Spyder, the car that gave rise to the carmaker's renaissance that can be seamlessly linked back to legendary names and denominations such as the A6G 2000 GT, 3500 GT, Mistral and Ghibli. Understatement, passion and elegance. These are the distinctive traits of the new Spyder, which is more than a simple dream car with a great temperament, endowed with a technology adding greater prestige to Maserati. The transmission, for example, is located in the rear axle in unit with the limited-slip differential. The effect is balanced on-road performance, enhanced by an automatic suspension system that adapts to the road with a speed ten times higher than the systems employed to date.
28 seconds, that's the time it takes for the Maserati GranCabrio to go back to being a secure cocoon. A flying one too, thanks to a Cx of 0.35 with the roof up, which increases by a mere trifle, to 0.39, with the top down.
Design is at the service of comfort. The times when anyone travelling in the back of a sports car were resigned to suffering physical discomfort are well and truly over: rear passengers in the Maserati GranCabrio are not supporting actors, but co-stars of the journey. The legs, even for those who are more than six feet tall, are no longer crammed in, the spine is no longer forced into an unnatural erect position, but comfortably and physiologically supported on backrests designed so that sportiness does not need to compromise on comfort.
Maserati GranCabrio
The Maserati GranCabrio's Design
Dynamism, sensuality and passion have always been the features that transform Pininfarina's creative genius into masterpieces to be admired on roads the world over. The latest work of art to leave the Maserati factory, the Maserati GranCabrio, has the design of a dream car, but it is a real masterpiece that's just asking to be driven by lovers of beautiful cars who want to travel cocooned in a refined and comfortable ambience.
The challenge for Pininfarina was an intriguing one: never before had a proper four-seater convertible, capable of accommodating four adults comfortably without stealing even the tiniest bit of the incomparable pleasure of travel, been produced by Maserati. Now that the craftsmen have completed their work, it all seems obvious: the Maserati GranCabrio could only ever have been like this. An expert eye, however, understands how much power lies behind the front, imposing and dynamic at the same time, the sinuous and feline flanks and a rear that speaks a high-tech language with a wide aerodynamic diffuser tested in a wind tunnel, crowned by large, twin oval-section chrome tailpipes.
A sculpture that speaks to connoisseurs the ancient language of the great Italian coachbuilders, a beautiful car to admire when it is open, but also when it is moving with its roof up, something that isn't always the case for cars of this type. The canvas soft top was chosen over a rigid folding roof as, with its complicated closing system, would have imposed on engineers and designers unacceptable constraints for anyone seeking beauty in its purest form. And so the "all-clear" was given to supremequality materials and state of the art engineering, to a structure with a backbone consisting of five steel and aluminium spokes and covered with a triple-layer canvas available in six colours, meeting every single customer's requirement. The whole system weighs only 65 kg but, at the same time, guarantees maximum aero-acoustic efficiency and allows the Maserati GranCabrio to be enjoyed in all seasons, thanks to the most stringent tests conducted at 30 degrees below zero and at 40 degrees in the shade.
When the soft top is up the drag coefficient is 0.35, while with the soft top down 0.39. Extraordinary figures, the mark of a perfect chemistry between aesthetics and functionality. Without forgetting another absolute imperative, the comfort of those travelling in this open-top granturismo. The optional wind stop was designed precisely to fulfil this purpose, to provide passengers with excellent protection, even at high speed. So, with the wind stop on, the volume of air from outside falls by 70%, whilst the air speed inside the cabin is down 50%.
The Maserati GranCabrio's Voice
The voice of the Maserati GranCabrio, the musical notes of its V8 are powerful but subdued when travelling at a modest pace, but they can reach the strength of a tenor's high tones when the driver demands the maximum. The secret of such flexibility lies with the pneumatic control valves that manage the exhaust: normally they remain closed, to ensure that the car travels within the bounds of discretion, but if the Sport mode is selected, they open above 3000 rpm and the sound becomes a powerful roar, especially with the roof down.
The eight-cylinder orchestra is a chorus that sings about the pleasure of driving, harmoniously conducted by the 6-speed automatic gearbox. This transmission is the result of a close working relationship between Maserati and ZF, which has successfully interpreted the exciting combination between the 323 kW (440 HP) of the V8 engine and the fluidity of the automatic gearbox. And if the driver wants to feel even more like an orchestra conductor, all he has to do is select the Manual mode, and modulate the sound of the engine to the rhythm of the manual shifts, better still when using the steering wheel paddles.
The Maserati GranCabrio demands to be heard, also through the voice of its hi-fi system, developed by Maserati and Bose. Keeping even the most demanding audiophiles satisfied was not an easy task: without the roof to act as a resonating chamber the layout of the speakers had to be completely redesigned. In the end 12 were fitted: one speaker in the middle of the dashboard, two tweeters and two woofers set into each door, one front bass box under the front passenger seat, two tweeters and two woofers on both rear panels and a rear-mounted bass box containing two woofers. It is the woofers, speakers which reproduce the lowest tones and give the right depth to an orchestral crescendo or the rhythmic base of a jazz trio, the keystones behind the perfection of the "GranCabrio concert hall". The rear bass box, for example, has an unusual shape, extending behind the backrest and under the rear armrest so that it can perform at its best.
The Maserati GranCabrio's Dynamics A must-have feature for a car that is as much fun to drive as the GranCabrio is a great sense of balance, achieved with a well thought out weight distribution. The latest Trident creation is unrivalled on this level as well: with the soft top up 49% of the weight is over the front axle and 51% over the rear, whilst the rates with the soft top down become 48 and 52% respectively.
The Skyhook suspension system features continuously adjustable gas dampers which adapt to the ever changing road conditions. In practical terms, this means that every irregularity is "concealed" to the driver, who can then enjoy an incredibly smooth driving experience in true comfort.
On board the Maserati GranCabrio
Sleek and sporty from the outside, comfortable and cosy from the inside. This formula was refined with the expertise of the designers who were put to the test with the Maserati GranCabrio concept. A concept which envisaged, first of all, two adults being able to use the rear seats even on long journeys, without suffering from cramps or fatigue.
Integrated systems
Twenty five degrees centigrade and dehumidified air: this is what the experts reckon is the ideal situation for the wellbeing of people at home, in the office or when travelling by car. A rule that is certainly not set in stone, given that each of us has our own ideal temperature and, during car journeys, uses the on-board climate control system to find it.
On the Maserati GranCabrio the driver is just required to set the desired temperature in a range falling between 16 and 32 degrees and the electronics will start to mix the air and meter with micrometric precision the intensity of the flows until the target is quickly reached. The climate control system has been finetuned to offer maximum comfort both with the soft top up and down, adjusting itself accordingly. It knows that it has to perform quite differently on an early summer's evening or on a blisteringly hot day and it is also very well aware that it mustn't be too invasive in acoustic terms so that the engine can be left to sing to its heart's content.
The Maserati GranCabrio's Interior
The Maserati GranCabrio embodies the essence of Italian craftsmanship, which has its roots in historic workshops from the Renaissance era and has gradually evolved, without losing sight of its own noble origins. The seats are the first thing one appreciates when getting behind the wheel: upholstered in Poltrona Frau leather, they feel plush, naturally soft and cosy in Winter, fresh and airy in Summer. Leather bound to improve with the passing of time, just like a great vintage wine.
The palette of colours includes no less than 10 shades, which can be blended together for seats, dashboard, tonneau cover, steering wheel and gear knob in an infinite number of combinations to create a tailor-made ambience to suit one's own taste. Each button on the steering wheel and dashboard is embellished with a fine chrome surround, an elegant stamp of an unquestionable superiority of style. The Trident logo is embossed by hand on the headrests and the exposed stitching on the armrest is hand-sewn.
More hands have crafted the precious woods that take pride of place in the Maserati GranCabrio's cabin. These hands have smoothed these woods with infinite patience, removed even the slightest impurities and polished them again to obtain an eye-catching end-result. The Carbalho wood comes from Brazil. Maserati sought it out in its distant lands of origin because it has inimitable credentials: each part of it has a different weave, a sort of fingerprint that guarantees that each car is unique.
Maserati open-top Heritage
The Maserati GranCabrio is the first open-top four-seater Maserati but this doesn't mean that it is without noble ancestors. On the contrary, entire chapters of the history of the motor car have been written by open top Trident cars, although they were strictly two seaters.
The first is the legendary A6G Frua Spyder, produced in a very limited series in the 1950s: it is in the details that the individual cars are distinguished from one another, details, which in the unique Frua, soar to the level of a masterpiece. To have a better understanding, one has to look no further than the front end with the chrome surround and the sunken fog lights, which a few months later, in the A6G 2000, would be transformed into the oval-shaped radiator grille, typical of the Maserati, with the large trident in the middle.
The same blood flowed through the mechanical veins of the A6G Frua Spyder that would then ennoble cars such as the 3500 Gt Spyder by Vignale, a matchless source of inspiration for the great Italian coachbuilders of the 1960s, who made a competition out of dressing them with elegant suits hand-forged by master panel beaters. The 3500 Gt Spyder was so beautiful that it even turned heads in Hollywood: it was used countless times in major studio films, it «acted», for example, with Lee Marvin and John Cassavetes in The Killers and together with Kirk Douglas in Two Weeks in Another Town, in both cases wearing "stage outfits" signed by Vignale.
As we run through Maserati's general ledger we also meet one of the cars that could be considered to be a direct descendant of the Maserati GranCabrio: the 2001 Spyder, the car that gave rise to the carmaker's renaissance that can be seamlessly linked back to legendary names and denominations such as the A6G 2000 GT, 3500 GT, Mistral and Ghibli. Understatement, passion and elegance. These are the distinctive traits of the new Spyder, which is more than a simple dream car with a great temperament, endowed with a technology adding greater prestige to Maserati. The transmission, for example, is located in the rear axle in unit with the limited-slip differential. The effect is balanced on-road performance, enhanced by an automatic suspension system that adapts to the road with a speed ten times higher than the systems employed to date.
Maserati GranCabrio, 2011
Maserati GranCabrio, 2011
The Maserati GranCabrio - four proper seats, comfortable, inviting and all-enveloping. Never before had an open-top Maserati offered so much. Never before had a car with the Trident badge allowed an entire family or four friends to enjoy a journey in the open air. The Maserati GranCabrio's magical chemistry starts when you look at it: it is shockingly beautiful, with the soft top up or down. Indeed it features a sophisticated canvas top, for very precise reasons, which can be summed up in three words: «centre of gravity». Fabric, ultra-high tech fabric, weighs very little, infinitely less than metal and helps the car's road-holding: the overall system weight is just 65 kg. And then fabric is pliant, it complements the palette of the car's exterior colours six times over, the number of shades in which it is available, from a solid black to a high-tech titanium grey, to a warm chocolate colour.
28 seconds, that's the time it takes for the Maserati GranCabrio to go back to being a secure cocoon. A flying one too, thanks to a Cx of 0.35 with the roof up, which increases by a mere trifle, to 0.39, with the top down.
Design is at the service of comfort. The times when anyone travelling in the back of a sports car were resigned to suffering physical discomfort are well and truly over: rear passengers in the Maserati GranCabrio are not supporting actors, but co-stars of the journey. The legs, even for those who are more than six feet tall, are no longer crammed in, the spine is no longer forced into an unnatural erect position, but comfortably and physiologically supported on backrests designed so that sportiness does not need to compromise on comfort.
Maserati GranCabrio
The Maserati GranCabrio's Design
Dynamism, sensuality and passion have always been the features that transform Pininfarina's creative genius into masterpieces to be admired on roads the world over. The latest work of art to leave the Maserati factory, the Maserati GranCabrio, has the design of a dream car, but it is a real masterpiece that's just asking to be driven by lovers of beautiful cars who want to travel cocooned in a refined and comfortable ambience.
The challenge for Pininfarina was an intriguing one: never before had a proper four-seater convertible, capable of accommodating four adults comfortably without stealing even the tiniest bit of the incomparable pleasure of travel, been produced by Maserati. Now that the craftsmen have completed their work, it all seems obvious: the Maserati GranCabrio could only ever have been like this. An expert eye, however, understands how much power lies behind the front, imposing and dynamic at the same time, the sinuous and feline flanks and a rear that speaks a high-tech language with a wide aerodynamic diffuser tested in a wind tunnel, crowned by large, twin oval-section chrome tailpipes.
A sculpture that speaks to connoisseurs the ancient language of the great Italian coachbuilders, a beautiful car to admire when it is open, but also when it is moving with its roof up, something that isn't always the case for cars of this type. The canvas soft top was chosen over a rigid folding roof as, with its complicated closing system, would have imposed on engineers and designers unacceptable constraints for anyone seeking beauty in its purest form. And so the "all-clear" was given to supremequality materials and state of the art engineering, to a structure with a backbone consisting of five steel and aluminium spokes and covered with a triple-layer canvas available in six colours, meeting every single customer's requirement. The whole system weighs only 65 kg but, at the same time, guarantees maximum aero-acoustic efficiency and allows the Maserati GranCabrio to be enjoyed in all seasons, thanks to the most stringent tests conducted at 30 degrees below zero and at 40 degrees in the shade.
When the soft top is up the drag coefficient is 0.35, while with the soft top down 0.39. Extraordinary figures, the mark of a perfect chemistry between aesthetics and functionality. Without forgetting another absolute imperative, the comfort of those travelling in this open-top granturismo. The optional wind stop was designed precisely to fulfil this purpose, to provide passengers with excellent protection, even at high speed. So, with the wind stop on, the volume of air from outside falls by 70%, whilst the air speed inside the cabin is down 50%.
The Maserati GranCabrio's Voice
The voice of the Maserati GranCabrio, the musical notes of its V8 are powerful but subdued when travelling at a modest pace, but they can reach the strength of a tenor's high tones when the driver demands the maximum. The secret of such flexibility lies with the pneumatic control valves that manage the exhaust: normally they remain closed, to ensure that the car travels within the bounds of discretion, but if the Sport mode is selected, they open above 3000 rpm and the sound becomes a powerful roar, especially with the roof down.
The eight-cylinder orchestra is a chorus that sings about the pleasure of driving, harmoniously conducted by the 6-speed automatic gearbox. This transmission is the result of a close working relationship between Maserati and ZF, which has successfully interpreted the exciting combination between the 323 kW (440 HP) of the V8 engine and the fluidity of the automatic gearbox. And if the driver wants to feel even more like an orchestra conductor, all he has to do is select the Manual mode, and modulate the sound of the engine to the rhythm of the manual shifts, better still when using the steering wheel paddles.
The Maserati GranCabrio demands to be heard, also through the voice of its hi-fi system, developed by Maserati and Bose. Keeping even the most demanding audiophiles satisfied was not an easy task: without the roof to act as a resonating chamber the layout of the speakers had to be completely redesigned. In the end 12 were fitted: one speaker in the middle of the dashboard, two tweeters and two woofers set into each door, one front bass box under the front passenger seat, two tweeters and two woofers on both rear panels and a rear-mounted bass box containing two woofers. It is the woofers, speakers which reproduce the lowest tones and give the right depth to an orchestral crescendo or the rhythmic base of a jazz trio, the keystones behind the perfection of the "GranCabrio concert hall". The rear bass box, for example, has an unusual shape, extending behind the backrest and under the rear armrest so that it can perform at its best.
The Maserati GranCabrio's Dynamics A must-have feature for a car that is as much fun to drive as the GranCabrio is a great sense of balance, achieved with a well thought out weight distribution. The latest Trident creation is unrivalled on this level as well: with the soft top up 49% of the weight is over the front axle and 51% over the rear, whilst the rates with the soft top down become 48 and 52% respectively.
The Skyhook suspension system features continuously adjustable gas dampers which adapt to the ever changing road conditions. In practical terms, this means that every irregularity is "concealed" to the driver, who can then enjoy an incredibly smooth driving experience in true comfort.
On board the Maserati GranCabrio
Sleek and sporty from the outside, comfortable and cosy from the inside. This formula was refined with the expertise of the designers who were put to the test with the Maserati GranCabrio concept. A concept which envisaged, first of all, two adults being able to use the rear seats even on long journeys, without suffering from cramps or fatigue.
Integrated systems
Twenty five degrees centigrade and dehumidified air: this is what the experts reckon is the ideal situation for the wellbeing of people at home, in the office or when travelling by car. A rule that is certainly not set in stone, given that each of us has our own ideal temperature and, during car journeys, uses the on-board climate control system to find it.
On the Maserati GranCabrio the driver is just required to set the desired temperature in a range falling between 16 and 32 degrees and the electronics will start to mix the air and meter with micrometric precision the intensity of the flows until the target is quickly reached. The climate control system has been finetuned to offer maximum comfort both with the soft top up and down, adjusting itself accordingly. It knows that it has to perform quite differently on an early summer's evening or on a blisteringly hot day and it is also very well aware that it mustn't be too invasive in acoustic terms so that the engine can be left to sing to its heart's content.
The Maserati GranCabrio's Interior
The Maserati GranCabrio embodies the essence of Italian craftsmanship, which has its roots in historic workshops from the Renaissance era and has gradually evolved, without losing sight of its own noble origins. The seats are the first thing one appreciates when getting behind the wheel: upholstered in Poltrona Frau leather, they feel plush, naturally soft and cosy in Winter, fresh and airy in Summer. Leather bound to improve with the passing of time, just like a great vintage wine.
The palette of colours includes no less than 10 shades, which can be blended together for seats, dashboard, tonneau cover, steering wheel and gear knob in an infinite number of combinations to create a tailor-made ambience to suit one's own taste. Each button on the steering wheel and dashboard is embellished with a fine chrome surround, an elegant stamp of an unquestionable superiority of style. The Trident logo is embossed by hand on the headrests and the exposed stitching on the armrest is hand-sewn.
More hands have crafted the precious woods that take pride of place in the Maserati GranCabrio's cabin. These hands have smoothed these woods with infinite patience, removed even the slightest impurities and polished them again to obtain an eye-catching end-result. The Carbalho wood comes from Brazil. Maserati sought it out in its distant lands of origin because it has inimitable credentials: each part of it has a different weave, a sort of fingerprint that guarantees that each car is unique.
Maserati open-top Heritage
The Maserati GranCabrio is the first open-top four-seater Maserati but this doesn't mean that it is without noble ancestors. On the contrary, entire chapters of the history of the motor car have been written by open top Trident cars, although they were strictly two seaters.
The first is the legendary A6G Frua Spyder, produced in a very limited series in the 1950s: it is in the details that the individual cars are distinguished from one another, details, which in the unique Frua, soar to the level of a masterpiece. To have a better understanding, one has to look no further than the front end with the chrome surround and the sunken fog lights, which a few months later, in the A6G 2000, would be transformed into the oval-shaped radiator grille, typical of the Maserati, with the large trident in the middle.
The same blood flowed through the mechanical veins of the A6G Frua Spyder that would then ennoble cars such as the 3500 Gt Spyder by Vignale, a matchless source of inspiration for the great Italian coachbuilders of the 1960s, who made a competition out of dressing them with elegant suits hand-forged by master panel beaters. The 3500 Gt Spyder was so beautiful that it even turned heads in Hollywood: it was used countless times in major studio films, it «acted», for example, with Lee Marvin and John Cassavetes in The Killers and together with Kirk Douglas in Two Weeks in Another Town, in both cases wearing "stage outfits" signed by Vignale.
As we run through Maserati's general ledger we also meet one of the cars that could be considered to be a direct descendant of the Maserati GranCabrio: the 2001 Spyder, the car that gave rise to the carmaker's renaissance that can be seamlessly linked back to legendary names and denominations such as the A6G 2000 GT, 3500 GT, Mistral and Ghibli. Understatement, passion and elegance. These are the distinctive traits of the new Spyder, which is more than a simple dream car with a great temperament, endowed with a technology adding greater prestige to Maserati. The transmission, for example, is located in the rear axle in unit with the limited-slip differential. The effect is balanced on-road performance, enhanced by an automatic suspension system that adapts to the road with a speed ten times higher than the systems employed to date.
28 seconds, that's the time it takes for the Maserati GranCabrio to go back to being a secure cocoon. A flying one too, thanks to a Cx of 0.35 with the roof up, which increases by a mere trifle, to 0.39, with the top down.
Design is at the service of comfort. The times when anyone travelling in the back of a sports car were resigned to suffering physical discomfort are well and truly over: rear passengers in the Maserati GranCabrio are not supporting actors, but co-stars of the journey. The legs, even for those who are more than six feet tall, are no longer crammed in, the spine is no longer forced into an unnatural erect position, but comfortably and physiologically supported on backrests designed so that sportiness does not need to compromise on comfort.
Maserati GranCabrio
The Maserati GranCabrio's Design
Dynamism, sensuality and passion have always been the features that transform Pininfarina's creative genius into masterpieces to be admired on roads the world over. The latest work of art to leave the Maserati factory, the Maserati GranCabrio, has the design of a dream car, but it is a real masterpiece that's just asking to be driven by lovers of beautiful cars who want to travel cocooned in a refined and comfortable ambience.
The challenge for Pininfarina was an intriguing one: never before had a proper four-seater convertible, capable of accommodating four adults comfortably without stealing even the tiniest bit of the incomparable pleasure of travel, been produced by Maserati. Now that the craftsmen have completed their work, it all seems obvious: the Maserati GranCabrio could only ever have been like this. An expert eye, however, understands how much power lies behind the front, imposing and dynamic at the same time, the sinuous and feline flanks and a rear that speaks a high-tech language with a wide aerodynamic diffuser tested in a wind tunnel, crowned by large, twin oval-section chrome tailpipes.
A sculpture that speaks to connoisseurs the ancient language of the great Italian coachbuilders, a beautiful car to admire when it is open, but also when it is moving with its roof up, something that isn't always the case for cars of this type. The canvas soft top was chosen over a rigid folding roof as, with its complicated closing system, would have imposed on engineers and designers unacceptable constraints for anyone seeking beauty in its purest form. And so the "all-clear" was given to supremequality materials and state of the art engineering, to a structure with a backbone consisting of five steel and aluminium spokes and covered with a triple-layer canvas available in six colours, meeting every single customer's requirement. The whole system weighs only 65 kg but, at the same time, guarantees maximum aero-acoustic efficiency and allows the Maserati GranCabrio to be enjoyed in all seasons, thanks to the most stringent tests conducted at 30 degrees below zero and at 40 degrees in the shade.
When the soft top is up the drag coefficient is 0.35, while with the soft top down 0.39. Extraordinary figures, the mark of a perfect chemistry between aesthetics and functionality. Without forgetting another absolute imperative, the comfort of those travelling in this open-top granturismo. The optional wind stop was designed precisely to fulfil this purpose, to provide passengers with excellent protection, even at high speed. So, with the wind stop on, the volume of air from outside falls by 70%, whilst the air speed inside the cabin is down 50%.
The Maserati GranCabrio's Voice
The voice of the Maserati GranCabrio, the musical notes of its V8 are powerful but subdued when travelling at a modest pace, but they can reach the strength of a tenor's high tones when the driver demands the maximum. The secret of such flexibility lies with the pneumatic control valves that manage the exhaust: normally they remain closed, to ensure that the car travels within the bounds of discretion, but if the Sport mode is selected, they open above 3000 rpm and the sound becomes a powerful roar, especially with the roof down.
The eight-cylinder orchestra is a chorus that sings about the pleasure of driving, harmoniously conducted by the 6-speed automatic gearbox. This transmission is the result of a close working relationship between Maserati and ZF, which has successfully interpreted the exciting combination between the 323 kW (440 HP) of the V8 engine and the fluidity of the automatic gearbox. And if the driver wants to feel even more like an orchestra conductor, all he has to do is select the Manual mode, and modulate the sound of the engine to the rhythm of the manual shifts, better still when using the steering wheel paddles.
The Maserati GranCabrio demands to be heard, also through the voice of its hi-fi system, developed by Maserati and Bose. Keeping even the most demanding audiophiles satisfied was not an easy task: without the roof to act as a resonating chamber the layout of the speakers had to be completely redesigned. In the end 12 were fitted: one speaker in the middle of the dashboard, two tweeters and two woofers set into each door, one front bass box under the front passenger seat, two tweeters and two woofers on both rear panels and a rear-mounted bass box containing two woofers. It is the woofers, speakers which reproduce the lowest tones and give the right depth to an orchestral crescendo or the rhythmic base of a jazz trio, the keystones behind the perfection of the "GranCabrio concert hall". The rear bass box, for example, has an unusual shape, extending behind the backrest and under the rear armrest so that it can perform at its best.
The Maserati GranCabrio's Dynamics A must-have feature for a car that is as much fun to drive as the GranCabrio is a great sense of balance, achieved with a well thought out weight distribution. The latest Trident creation is unrivalled on this level as well: with the soft top up 49% of the weight is over the front axle and 51% over the rear, whilst the rates with the soft top down become 48 and 52% respectively.
The Skyhook suspension system features continuously adjustable gas dampers which adapt to the ever changing road conditions. In practical terms, this means that every irregularity is "concealed" to the driver, who can then enjoy an incredibly smooth driving experience in true comfort.
On board the Maserati GranCabrio
Sleek and sporty from the outside, comfortable and cosy from the inside. This formula was refined with the expertise of the designers who were put to the test with the Maserati GranCabrio concept. A concept which envisaged, first of all, two adults being able to use the rear seats even on long journeys, without suffering from cramps or fatigue.
Integrated systems
Twenty five degrees centigrade and dehumidified air: this is what the experts reckon is the ideal situation for the wellbeing of people at home, in the office or when travelling by car. A rule that is certainly not set in stone, given that each of us has our own ideal temperature and, during car journeys, uses the on-board climate control system to find it.
On the Maserati GranCabrio the driver is just required to set the desired temperature in a range falling between 16 and 32 degrees and the electronics will start to mix the air and meter with micrometric precision the intensity of the flows until the target is quickly reached. The climate control system has been finetuned to offer maximum comfort both with the soft top up and down, adjusting itself accordingly. It knows that it has to perform quite differently on an early summer's evening or on a blisteringly hot day and it is also very well aware that it mustn't be too invasive in acoustic terms so that the engine can be left to sing to its heart's content.
The Maserati GranCabrio's Interior
The Maserati GranCabrio embodies the essence of Italian craftsmanship, which has its roots in historic workshops from the Renaissance era and has gradually evolved, without losing sight of its own noble origins. The seats are the first thing one appreciates when getting behind the wheel: upholstered in Poltrona Frau leather, they feel plush, naturally soft and cosy in Winter, fresh and airy in Summer. Leather bound to improve with the passing of time, just like a great vintage wine.
The palette of colours includes no less than 10 shades, which can be blended together for seats, dashboard, tonneau cover, steering wheel and gear knob in an infinite number of combinations to create a tailor-made ambience to suit one's own taste. Each button on the steering wheel and dashboard is embellished with a fine chrome surround, an elegant stamp of an unquestionable superiority of style. The Trident logo is embossed by hand on the headrests and the exposed stitching on the armrest is hand-sewn.
More hands have crafted the precious woods that take pride of place in the Maserati GranCabrio's cabin. These hands have smoothed these woods with infinite patience, removed even the slightest impurities and polished them again to obtain an eye-catching end-result. The Carbalho wood comes from Brazil. Maserati sought it out in its distant lands of origin because it has inimitable credentials: each part of it has a different weave, a sort of fingerprint that guarantees that each car is unique.
Maserati open-top Heritage
The Maserati GranCabrio is the first open-top four-seater Maserati but this doesn't mean that it is without noble ancestors. On the contrary, entire chapters of the history of the motor car have been written by open top Trident cars, although they were strictly two seaters.
The first is the legendary A6G Frua Spyder, produced in a very limited series in the 1950s: it is in the details that the individual cars are distinguished from one another, details, which in the unique Frua, soar to the level of a masterpiece. To have a better understanding, one has to look no further than the front end with the chrome surround and the sunken fog lights, which a few months later, in the A6G 2000, would be transformed into the oval-shaped radiator grille, typical of the Maserati, with the large trident in the middle.
The same blood flowed through the mechanical veins of the A6G Frua Spyder that would then ennoble cars such as the 3500 Gt Spyder by Vignale, a matchless source of inspiration for the great Italian coachbuilders of the 1960s, who made a competition out of dressing them with elegant suits hand-forged by master panel beaters. The 3500 Gt Spyder was so beautiful that it even turned heads in Hollywood: it was used countless times in major studio films, it «acted», for example, with Lee Marvin and John Cassavetes in The Killers and together with Kirk Douglas in Two Weeks in Another Town, in both cases wearing "stage outfits" signed by Vignale.
As we run through Maserati's general ledger we also meet one of the cars that could be considered to be a direct descendant of the Maserati GranCabrio: the 2001 Spyder, the car that gave rise to the carmaker's renaissance that can be seamlessly linked back to legendary names and denominations such as the A6G 2000 GT, 3500 GT, Mistral and Ghibli. Understatement, passion and elegance. These are the distinctive traits of the new Spyder, which is more than a simple dream car with a great temperament, endowed with a technology adding greater prestige to Maserati. The transmission, for example, is located in the rear axle in unit with the limited-slip differential. The effect is balanced on-road performance, enhanced by an automatic suspension system that adapts to the road with a speed ten times higher than the systems employed to date.
Maserati Quattroporte Sport GT S Awards Edition, 2011
Maserati Quattroporte Sport GT S Awards Edition, 2011
The Maserati Quattroporte Sport GT S Awards Edition, the latest jewel in the Maserati range, made its official debut at the 2010 Geneva Auto Show.
Six years after its birth, the car that created the luxury sport sedan segment continues to receive accolades from the general public, automobile enthusiasts and the press. Maserati has decided to celebrate its success with a superlative version, blending the elegance and sporty stylishness of the brand's flagship, thanks to the combination of highly refined details, handcrafted finishes and features with a decidedly sporty flair.
During its six years of life, the Maserati Quattroporte has received no less than fifty six awards from the most prestigious automotive and lifestyle publications in fourteen countries over in four continents: a global approval for a car that has known how to recreate itself over the years, never failing to maintain the appeal of the lines and purity of the forms created by the hand of Pininfarina, which defined it an instant classic.
The Maserati Quattroporte Sport GT S Awards Edition, based on the Quattroporte Sport GT S, aims to combine in one car all the features that have made the Trident flagship a benchmark for its segment:
* the unique and elegant styling, mixed with a hint of sporting flair due to the eye-catching features adopted on both the exterior and interior fittings;
* driving enjoyment, because the "Awards Edition" is based on the Quattroporte Sport GT S, which boasts dynamic and top-class performance;
* the craftsmanship of the hand-finished details which make each car a unique product.
The new Quarzo fuso finishing - a pearlescent metallic grey with golden nuanced colour - exclusive to this model, makes the exterior immediately recognizable, and highlights the body's elegant lines. The burnished treatment used on the exterior chrome parts, as well as on the side air vents and radiator surround, also blends with the 20" Multi Trident dark grey rims with satin finish.
The brake system, which replicates the system fitted to the Quattroporte Sport GT S and uses dual-cast technology, is further enhanced by the hand-polished calipers both at the front and rear. With the Maserati Quattroporte Sport GT S Awards Edition, Maserati and Brembo are introducing on the market for the first time polished calipers, treated with precision mechanical processes and featuring a hand finish which gives them their special mirror-like appearance and enhances their sporty credentials at the same time.
The interior also bears witness to the combination of sporting flair and craftsmanship that has always characterized the Maserati flagship sedan. The Poltrona Frau leather of the seats is combined with perforated Alcantara with a new undulated pattern, and the headlining still in Alcantara. Completing the interior space are the special brushed aluminum door sills and Piano Black satin-finish wood moldings.
The boot with a full black trim has been embellished further with chrome details and a leather side pocket. The attention to details has even been extended to the mats, which are made of even richer and softer material.
A special exterior "Awards Edition" series plate completes the car's look and makes an already unique car even more unmistakable.
Maserati Quattroporte Sport GT S Awards Edition, 2011
Maserati Quattroporte Sport GT S Awards Edition, 2011
The Maserati Quattroporte Sport GT S Awards Edition, the latest jewel in the Maserati range, made its official debut at the 2010 Geneva Auto Show.
Six years after its birth, the car that created the luxury sport sedan segment continues to receive accolades from the general public, automobile enthusiasts and the press. Maserati has decided to celebrate its success with a superlative version, blending the elegance and sporty stylishness of the brand's flagship, thanks to the combination of highly refined details, handcrafted finishes and features with a decidedly sporty flair.
During its six years of life, the Maserati Quattroporte has received no less than fifty six awards from the most prestigious automotive and lifestyle publications in fourteen countries over in four continents: a global approval for a car that has known how to recreate itself over the years, never failing to maintain the appeal of the lines and purity of the forms created by the hand of Pininfarina, which defined it an instant classic.
The Maserati Quattroporte Sport GT S Awards Edition, based on the Quattroporte Sport GT S, aims to combine in one car all the features that have made the Trident flagship a benchmark for its segment:
* the unique and elegant styling, mixed with a hint of sporting flair due to the eye-catching features adopted on both the exterior and interior fittings;
* driving enjoyment, because the "Awards Edition" is based on the Quattroporte Sport GT S, which boasts dynamic and top-class performance;
* the craftsmanship of the hand-finished details which make each car a unique product.
The new Quarzo fuso finishing - a pearlescent metallic grey with golden nuanced colour - exclusive to this model, makes the exterior immediately recognizable, and highlights the body's elegant lines. The burnished treatment used on the exterior chrome parts, as well as on the side air vents and radiator surround, also blends with the 20" Multi Trident dark grey rims with satin finish.
The brake system, which replicates the system fitted to the Quattroporte Sport GT S and uses dual-cast technology, is further enhanced by the hand-polished calipers both at the front and rear. With the Maserati Quattroporte Sport GT S Awards Edition, Maserati and Brembo are introducing on the market for the first time polished calipers, treated with precision mechanical processes and featuring a hand finish which gives them their special mirror-like appearance and enhances their sporty credentials at the same time.
The interior also bears witness to the combination of sporting flair and craftsmanship that has always characterized the Maserati flagship sedan. The Poltrona Frau leather of the seats is combined with perforated Alcantara with a new undulated pattern, and the headlining still in Alcantara. Completing the interior space are the special brushed aluminum door sills and Piano Black satin-finish wood moldings.
The boot with a full black trim has been embellished further with chrome details and a leather side pocket. The attention to details has even been extended to the mats, which are made of even richer and softer material.
A special exterior "Awards Edition" series plate completes the car's look and makes an already unique car even more unmistakable.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Maserati Coming Soon In India
Maserati is coming to India. For those of you who don’t know, Maserati is a subsidiary of a very famous Italian car brand. If you are still clueless, may be this will help – most people are fans of this stallion because of the racing legend Michael Schumacher. If you still don’t know which manufacturer I am talking about then it is time for you to open some general knowledge books! Also please note, Ferrari (Yes, Ferrari owns Maserati) is the luxury car division of the group FIAT.
maserati granturismo
Maserati will be launching the Quattroporte range, the GranCabrio and GranTurismo series in India. The price range is expected to be between 1Cr and 1.5Cr. So if your pockets are deep enough, the waiting game may have started for you already - Maserati should be here within the next 6 months.
maserati granturismoMaserati will be launching the Quattroporte range, the GranCabrio and GranTurismo series in India. The price range is expected to be between 1Cr and 1.5Cr. So if your pockets are deep enough, the waiting game may have started for you already - Maserati should be here within the next 6 months.
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Maserati Quattroporte Sport GT S, 2010
Maserati Quattroporte Sport GT S, 2010
The new Maserati Quattroporte Sport GT S sets yet another milestone in terms of sportiness in the high performance luxury saloon segment of the automotive market. Conceived and developed as "a real driving machine in the guise of a luxury saloon", the Quattroporte Sport GT S is the ultimate expression of Maserati's sportiness in the Quattroporte range.
The technical changes to the new Maserati Quattroporte Sport GT S in respect to the Quattroporte S concern four areas:
The sportier and more aggressive look is also evident due to the interior and exterior stylistic choices:
The technical changes to the new Maserati Quattroporte Sport GT S in respect to the Quattroporte S concern four areas:
- the mapping of the V8 4.7 litre engine, with power increased to 323kW;
- the gearshift management software, with new features designed to increase driving enjoyment;
- the front and rear suspension system featuring single-rate dampers, stiffer springs and lower ride height;
- the sports exhaust controlled by pneumatic valves for a deep, throaty and captivating sound.
The sportier and more aggressive look is also evident due to the interior and exterior stylistic choices:
- the new black grille with concave vertical fins featuring the Trident logo with red accents, typical of the sportier versions of Maserati models;
- the new headlights, in metallic titanium finish;
- the side and rear "shadow line", which includes black finishing around the doors, body-coloured door handles and black twin oval exhaust pipes;
- the new M-design seats with perforated Alcantara and leather upholstery;
- the standard trim in Titantex, a "titanium coloured" composite material.
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