2008 Maserati GranTurismo Video

2008 Maserati GranTurismo Video Transcript

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>> Is this the best value in motorcars today? I think it might be. Let's check the tech and the rock in the Maserati GranTurismo. ^M00:00:13 [ music ] ^M00:00:22

>> Let's start with the outside, because for crying out loud, we're driving a Maserati! The styling is not confused with anything else on the road, unless you're just one of the dummies who doesn't care about cars, in which case why are you watching this video? Under the hood we have a 4.2 liter Ferrari assembled V8. Remember Maserati, Ferrari, Alfa, they're all part of the Fiat family. That all aluminum V8 puts out 405-horse power, 340 foot-pounds of torque, zero to 60, just a tick over 5 seconds; and a lot of that credit goes to this beautiful gearbox. This is, in my estimation, the best automatic transmission in the world. It's a ZF 6 speed controlled by either this paddle lever over here, or more enticingly, by these properly done paddle shifters mounted to the steering column. It's tight, it's quick, there's no slip, there's no jerk. Inside, welcome to my parlor. This is a joyous interior; it celebrates design. It's got a beautiful look all around, though some ergonomic screw-ups here and there. First of all, the gauges are beautiful and clear, easily seen all the time, but there's a whole bunch of buttons right over here that I think are important, but I don't know, because they are absolutely, completely blocked by the left wing of the wheel. And I cannot see them unless I look over here, or here I'll try this; I'll put the window down that might help. Yep, I can see them. One of them's for the trunk, one's for the gas door. Now lets check the cabin tech. There's our navigation screen; nice looking, well rendered. Basically up to the fineness of this interior in general. Here are your audio functions, and those include the sources of AM, FM, HD radio, and a single slot CD. No satellite radio, no iPod connector available either. Starting to feel kind of long in the tooth, right? Until I do this. Under the audio functions there's copy CD to jukebox. Hello! We just got rescued! 30 gig of user addressable hard drive space is available; that's nice. Now directory here relates to the phone, and we do have a T9 keypad right here and buttons to pick up and hang up a call. So we're all revved up to pair our phone. Not so fast, no Bluetooth! Instead you got this dumb thing, a GMS card chip slot. That's not gonna fly in the U.S. market, we're in a Bluetooth space and a Bluetooth era, and they need that in this car. You here those sources out of a Bose Audio System, 11 neodymium speakers placed around the cabin. It sounds really good. Now the driving experience on this car is really solid and planted. The suspensions firm; I would never call it hard. I don't get those kind of jarring feedbacks from it. In fact, right now I'm in the standard or comfort mode. If I hit the sport mode here, we get a tighter set of higher range shift points. And it gets much more aggressive, making this car ride so agilely is what they call a Skyhook Suspension. It's an electro dampened suspension on all four corners and it's constantly sensing what's happening to the vehicles wheels and changing the response rate, the curve of all four dampers around the car. The only thing I don't like about this delicious as hell powertrain is how fast it moves the gas needle. EPA estimate is 13, 19 on this car. Real world let me check our mode here, yeah, about 16. Okay, now I've gotta close the deal on my outrageous thesis, that this is the best value in new cars today. $110,000 dollars, Ferrari V8, best automatic transmission in the world, take my word for it, bespoke interior, great audio system, good if imperfect cabin tech, and lines and design that no one's gonna mistake for some other car. If you've got the money, this is your car. ^E00:04:23