2024 Maserati GranTurismo Trofeo First Test: Let It Be
“Trofeo” doesn’t mean “track,” so Maserati should let the GranTurismo be the GT it wants to be.
Pros
- Overperforming engine
- Quiet interior
- Drop-dead gorgeous
Cons
- Stiff ride
- Numb brakes and steering
- Odd interior choices
The Maserati GranTurismo will forever hold a special place in my heart. I drove one for three days on my honeymoon 14 years ago, and I haven’t stopped thinking about it since. My colleagues would argue it’s made me something of a Maserati apologist (what, just because I named my cat Maser?), but car enthusiasts know no one is more critical of a car than someone who’s obsessed with it. This all-new 2024 Maserati GranTurismo Trofeo, then, has a lot to live up to.
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The Same but Different
For those not up on the latest Maserati news, the GranTurismo might not look all that new. Design boss Klaus Busse has been up front about the pressure he put on himself and his team not to ruin what I would argue was the best car design of the ’00s. As a result, it looks very similar to the outgoing car. It also hasn’t changed format at all, still a large 2+2 with a convertible roof option.
What’s changed is everything else. New platform, new powertrain, and new technology. Finally, it feels like a brand-new car, not one that stayed on the road for 12 years. Slick screens, adaptive cruise control, air suspension—this car’s got it all. How well they all come together, though, is another matter.
First, the Numbers
At 4,186 pounds, the new 2024 Maserati GranTurismo Trofeo is effectively the same weight as the previous one we tested way back in 2013. This time, though, it has standard all-wheel drive and gets 550 hp and 479 lb-ft of torque from its 3.0-liter twin-turbo V-6, substantial increases over the old Ferrari-built 4.7-liter V-8 driving the rears only.
As a result, this new Trofeo model hits 60 mph more than a second quicker, doing the deed in 3.4 seconds (a tenth slower than Maserati advertises). Likewise, it’s far quicker through the quarter mile with an 11.7-second pass at 119.2 mph, cutting almost 1.5 seconds off the old car’s time. It feels it, too, pulling harder in a straight line than most cars with this weight-to-power ratio. Interestingly enough, we got a better launch doing it ourselves in the default GT mode than when using launch control in Corsa (race) mode.
It was the opposite experience going the opposite direction, so to speak. Stopping from 60 mph, the new Trofeo needed 106 feet, whereas the old Sport model needed just 102. On top of that, the brake pedal has absolutely no feel in it, not even when you get into ABS. It feels completely wooden and disconnected, making it very difficult to figure out how much stopping power you’re using or have left.
The issue only gets worse in our figure-eight test. Not being able to judge the braking accurately made it difficult to get a good lap, and the stopping power wasn’t what we hoped for even when we got it right. As a result, a lot of the lap time improvement comes down to being more powerful, because steady-state average lateral grip on the skidpad is the same 0.97 g as it was back in 2013. Credit the rowdy engine, then, for a good bit of the 24.1-second lap at 0.84 g average, improvements from 24.9 seconds at 0.80 g average.
It’s worth dwelling on the grip a moment because we found the car’s at-the-limit behavior frustrating. Get the braking right, and you’re rewarded with immediate turn-in from the super-quick steering, but it then bleeds quickly into understeer. You simply must over-brake the car before turning, carry less speed than you think you can, and wait on the throttle. Exiting the corner is the best part as the all-wheel drive does its job and yanks you down the road, with only the mildest of power oversteer if you deliberately provoke it. Unfortunately, it also comes at the price of steering feel, which isn’t as dead as the brake pedal but trending in the same direction. A classic rear-drive sports car, this isn’t.
Back In the Real World
Usually, we tell you to take sports and performance cars to the track, but with the new Maseratis, the best advice is apparently not to. For as disappointed as we were with the GranTurismo Trofeo’s performance at the limit, the car—like Maserati’s MC20—makes complete sense on a winding road.
Once you back down from the bleeding edge, the GranTurismo finally comes together. Driven hard but not flat-out reveals a competent sports car more than quick and agile enough to put a smile on your face. It turns out the most undesirable dynamic behavior only shows up at track speeds and is completely absent at public-road pace.
The brakes are strong enough, and you don’t need perfect feel to slow up in time when you’re not stepping on them at the absolute last second. The quick steering and sharp turn-in make the big GT car feel lighter and nimbler than you’d expect. The steering feel still isn’t there, but the all-wheel-drive advantage certainly is when coming off a corner. The engine punches well above its weight, and the transmission picks off shifts so well the big, metal shift paddles are rendered mostly decorative. With all the lumbar support adjusted out and absent track-level cornering g, the seats have almost enough bolster to keep you fully in place. Body roll, which seemed excessive on the track for how stiffly the car rides, comes off more like a big Miata than a luxury barge.
Really, the ride quality is the one disagreeable aspect that remains. For a GT, the Maserati GranTurismo Trofeo is sprung too stiffly, yet it’s not enough of a supercar to justify the harshness. Here again, like with the MC20, it feels like Maserati hamstrung itself halfway in between. I’m begging you, Modena, please just pick one. Either let it be a sporty GT, or make it a supercar. Trying to split the difference isn’t working. As much as I enjoy the power of the Trofeo-spec engine, I suspect I’d be a lot happier with the base Modena model’s softer suspension, even if it means giving up 60 hp and 36 lb-ft. To be fair, I’d be equally happy if the Trofeo badge meant something more in practice than extra power and stiff springs.
Justify the Price
The most difficult pill to swallow is the new pricing. Yeah, a lot of inflation happened between when the old model dipped out in 2019 and today, but Maserati also decided to go upmarket. The last GranTurismo MC Coupe went for just shy of $152,000, and its replacement, this Trofeo Coupe, starts at $190,000. That’s a big hike, but it’s nothing compared to the roughly $240,000 asking price on this exact car. (Prices are estimated, as Maserati doesn’t provide exact pricing inclusive of delivery fees.) Quicker acceleration but otherwise the same performance for a lot more money isn’t an easy sell.
It gets even tougher if you start looking too closely at things. Idling in gear, the engine gets coarse and feels almost as if it might be on the verge of stalling. As good as the exterior design is, the panel gaps around the clamshell hood are on par with the average Tesla. Inside, the pushbutton gearshift feels decidedly cheap and often doesn’t register your selection if you don’t press hard and hold the button a beat. The tweeter speaker pods at the tops of the doors look like last-minute additions and, for reasons I can’t imagine, feature cheap-looking black grilles not 6 inches from beautiful, integrated, laser-cut, brushed metal speaker grilles in the door cards. The rearview mirror picks up reflections in the rear window from the parcel shelf when used as a mirror or from the overhead console on the screen when used in video mode.
Speaking of screens, the big infotainment screen is laggy, which is wild because it’s the same software used in any other Stellantis product. The lower control screen is good, but it would be better if you could customize the shortcuts. I don’t need to be able to access the ambient lighting settings at a moment’s notice, as is the default, but it sure would be nice if I could turn on the 360-degree camera without digging through multiple menus when I’m trying to park my nearly quarter-million-dollar sports car without running over the parking stop.
The Hand Wave
This is the part of the review where I’d really like to say all this just gives the car character, or that it’s so wonderful to drive none of these quibbles matters. To me, that’s true, because I’m always going to love the Maserati GranTurismo no matter how many nitpicky complaints I have about it. But it becomes a lot more difficult when I have to explain why you shouldn’t just spend the same money on a Porsche 911 Carrera GTS with an equally tiny trunk and useless back seats that’s quicker and drives better, too.
To that, I say, because just look at the Maserati. Why do you want to drive the same Porsche as every other person at the club? How often do you really go to a track or an amazing back road? Wouldn’t you rather stand out in one of the prettiest cars on the road? And really, if you’re worried about the price, just get the $32,000 cheaper Modena trim and save a bundle over that played-out Porsche. Or remind yourself any other car with this kind of presence, say an Aston Martin or Ferrari or Bentley, costs way more money and comes with its own quibbles. So go ahead, pick the one that’s going to stand out most at the valet stand. The car that makes people turn their heads at stoplights. Choose elegance. Choose beauty.
Were you one of those kids who taught themselves to identify cars at night by their headlights and taillights? I was. I was also one of those kids with a huge box of Hot Wheels and impressive collection of home-made Lego hot rods. I asked my parents for a Power Wheels Porsche 911 for Christmas for years, though the best I got was a pedal-powered tractor. I drove the wheels off it. I used to tell my friends I’d own a “slug bug” one day. When I was 15, my dad told me he would get me a car on the condition that I had to maintain it. He came back with a rough-around-the-edges 1967 Volkswagen Beetle he’d picked up for something like $600. I drove the wheels off that thing, too, even though it was only slightly faster than the tractor. When I got tired of chasing electrical gremlins (none of which were related to my bitchin’ self-installed stereo, thank you very much), I thought I’d move on to something more sensible. I bought a 1986 Pontiac Fiero GT and got my first speeding ticket in that car during the test drive. Not my first-ever ticket, mind you. That came behind the wheel of a Geo Metro hatchback I delivered pizza in during high school. I never planned to have this job. I was actually an aerospace engineering major in college, but calculus and I had a bad breakup. Considering how much better my English grades were than my calculus grades, I decided to stick to my strengths and write instead. When I made the switch, people kept asking me what I wanted to do with my life. I told them I’d like to write for a car magazine someday, not expecting it to actually happen. I figured I’d be in newspapers, maybe a magazine if I was lucky. Then this happened, which was slightly awkward because I grew up reading Car & Driver, but convenient since I don’t live in Michigan. Now I just try to make it through the day without adding any more names to the list of people who want to kill me and take my job.
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