Maserati Karif Reviews

Price no object, what car would you buy? A Ferrari, a Lambo, a Roller, perhaps a Bentley? In my case, Maserati's stunning Gran Turismo S auto would be on a very short list if I had around $330,000 to spend. Yes, the automatic.A work of automotive art, the Pininfarina-styled Gran Turismo (GT) exudes an aura of power and class, of controlled aggression. There's even a hint of American muscle car about its flanks.The superb, flowing exterior lines are matched by a high standard of craftsmanship inside and out from the people who build it, and that too is matched by the quality of the components used — nothing but the best.The Maser GT is a true GT in that it's an imposing long distance coupe with seats for four, supersports performance and handling and the luxury accoutrements you'd expect in a limousine.It adds up to a hefty 1880kg weight but with the 4.7-litre V8 engine up front kicking out 323Kw/490Nm, urge is not an issue here. It puts away a 0-100kmh sprint in 5.0 seconds neat and generates a stirring V8 burble/blatt into the bargain.The naturally aspirated engine features variable inlet valve timing and has a redline of 7250rpm. The thing to note here is the six-speed ZF auto is calibrated to change up at redline thereby contributing to the GT's performance potential. Most autos run out of legs well before redline. It also has Ferrari-style paddle shift levers on the steering column and multi modes to change how it swaps cogs.The suspension is a version of the electronically controlled “Skyhook” system and is adaptive to certain inputs from the road, driver and car itself. Push the Sport button on the dash and it goes into attack mode which allows the big coupe to be driven spiritedly on demanding roads.On test, the level of enjoyment driving this car was as high as just about anything else we have driven including real hotrods like the new Nissan GTR and German uber-cars— BMW's M3, Benz's C63AMG and Audi's RS4/6.Not as outright quick, the big Maser is a deft hand in the tight stuff and gets on the boil really fast. The engine howls up to redline willingly and the big coupe's dynamics are right up to the task, even the brakes but then it does roll on 20-inch rubber of extreme proportions. This is all aided and abetted by the slick changing transmission that wills you to use the paddles and not just leave it in D.There's plenty of kit inside the Poltrona Frau leather-clad interior — 3D satnav, electric seats, Bose audio, Bluetooth. And it's styled to match the stunning exterior — certainly as appealing as other high-end stuff, some of which costs plenty more.Befitting a true GT is the 86-litre tank that saps a bit of boot space but there's still enough for a couple of medium size bags. No spare is supplied — it's a tyre inflation kit for the Maser GT. Fuel consumption hovers around the 15-litres/100km mark so there's plenty of range available.It has a low front that can be problematic on driveways and there's a long stretch for the seat belts. Rear seat room is surprisingly generous — even for an adult. The GT attracts admiring looks wherever it goes and the attention is certainly justified. Sensible but awesome, sexy and svelte, this car is a piece of work. It looks a million bucks from any angle and backs up the eye candy with performance that may startle.

It is accelerating development of an open-air conversion on its two-door GranTurismo coupe to create a car capable of going nose-to-nose with rivals including the Aston Martin DBS, Porsche 911 Cabrio and even the Bentley Continental. The new Maserati Spider was spotted at Europe's favourite test location, the Nurburgring racetrack in Germany, earlier this week. The beautiful sister to the hardtop GT already looks good, despite a breadvan-style disguise on the tail end to protect details of the folding roof conversion. The Spider comes less than a year after Ferrari went topless with its California, a car that Italian sources insist was begun as a Maserati and then snitched to lead a revitalised red-car push into the USA. The difference is that the GT convertible has a folding hardtop roof and not a conventional canvas top like the California, a major change from earlier Maserati convertibles. The newcomer also looks likely to be built as a 2+2 open-top coupe, and not just a two-seat roadster, which moves it away from any potential rivalry with Ferrari as well as opening more sales opportunites. The Spider is expected to have the same engine and mechanical package as the GT coupe, which starts with a 4.2-litre V8 in Australia at $298,800 and is likely to be previewed at the 2009 Geneva Motor show next February.

Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa 0714TR set a new world record price of 9 million euro (16.2 million) on the weekend.

Slinging the bag around town said you were environmentally conscious, intelligently concerned for Mother Earth and so obviously eco-cool you cared not a whit that the bag’s shouty shade of green would never match anything you wore. Of course, it took only a nano-second – which seems a short yardstick of time, except when you’re measuring the viral spread of fads (and often the longevity of them) – before everybody else jumped on the bagwagon. Every shop of with even the slightest pretensions to … well, anything in the way of now-ness … had its own branded cloth bag. How environmentally sound all this was is open to question, since most of them were synthetic fabrics spun out of petrochemicals in third world villages where it’s of little concern if the water gets poisoned. But the continuing popularity of the bags, and the bagwagon, shows that everybody is putting the appearance of trying to be green Oddly, it has taken until now for Maserati – a name not normally associated with being slow – to join in. But when they do, they certainly take things to the next level. They’ve just announced their own initiative to save the planet, with a designer eco-bag produced in partnership with Italian fashion house Momaboma. And not only is it a reusable bag that replaces the plastic one – if there are any left in the world by now – but it has the double eco-barrel of also recycling rubbish. Well, not rubbish in our eyes. But car brochures from the Maserati archives that the company says would otherwise have been pulped. In the interests of international relations, we’ll just have to suspend disbelief about that claim. However it would be odd to pulp what was obviously a collection of rare archival material that would have collectors salivating onto their white gloves. Especially when a current model Maserati brochure is expecting to get $30 on eBay. For instance, we can see that one of the pages collaged into a the bag is a 3500GT brochures – an item cited in a story a couple of years ago as being part of an archival treasure, and which noted collector Philip Morrice says would be worth at least $100 in pristine condition. So we shouldn’t be surprised that the Maser bag is on the market for around $300. Perhaps that’s simply the price of saving the planet. Or perhaps it reflects the bag’s exclusivity, since only 150 of them have been made. Which means that you’ve got little chance of adding one to your accessory shelf. Never mind. We’re here to help by pointing the way to your own auto-exotica bag. Simply arm yourself with a pair of scissors and pot of glue, and print out some of the pages from our photo galleries… (may we suggest the Bugatti Bleu Centenaire or perhaps the Porsche 917) … your own eco-bag, and for a lot less than $300.  

UPDATED - The Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa (shown here) set a new world record for a car sold at auction on the 17th May 2009. 0714TR reached 12 million dollars US at RM Auctions Leggenda e Passione Ferrari auction in Maranello.  For me it’s the car in the photo gallery on the right. However the judgement of the most authoritative list of automotive experts ever assembled to make such a decision voted the Citroen DS21 to be the car. This panel included Gioretto Giugaro, Marcello Gandini and Gordon Murray, three of the most respected names in the industry and themselves responsible for such legendary cars as the Lamborghini Countach, Lancia Startos and McLaren F1.This past weekend at the Paris Retromobile, a Citroen DS Chapron Convertible sold at by auction by Bonhams  for just under A$650,000. The Chapron Convertible is the rarest and even more beautiful version of the DS21.Personally while I greatly admire the DS, it does not make my top ten list, which comprises;1.    1957 Ferrari 250 TR2.    Ferrari 250GT SWB California Spyder3.    1963 Ferrari 250GTO4.    Ferrari 246GT5.    Lamborghini Muira6.    Ferrari P47.    Ferrari 206SP8.    Mercedes 300SLR Coupe9.    Maserati 5000GT by Touring10.  Jaguar E-Type S111.  Ferrari 365GTB/4 DaytonaGiven my long term fascination with everything Ferrari I am interested to see how the auction of 0714TR will fare at Ferrari Leggenda e Passione in  Maranello, on 17 May 2009. This is the car that can (and should) break the current world sale record of $10.8m (currently A$16.6m) for the 1961 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spyder (s/n 2377GT) set at last year’s Ferrari Leggenda e Passione on 18 May 2008.The 1957 Pontoon Fender 250TR is one of the true legends of the Ferrari marque and generally considered one of the most desirable models by Ferrari cognoscenti. This particular example is unique and beautifully restored in its original black color scheme. Delivered to Piero Drogo; himself a substantial character within the history of Ferrari and extensively campaigned in races North and South America this car has the potential even in the current economic climate to blow the current record away.We will update you with the result in May. Rod Halligan

As usual it is interesting times in F1. Interesting in the way a soap opera is …. you know everything about it could be a lot better, but a lot of us still watch it anyway. 2008 was actually a good year except for the final result. No sport should ever put itself in a position where the person who wins the most comes second.  Massa won 6, Hamilton 5. Professional sport is all about winning - seconds should not be rewarded - it's a race. This year it went down to the wire but I am still skeptical about Glock’s sudden slow down. I'm with Jean Todt..... McLaren cannot be trusted. Max Mosley may feel the same.Good riddance Honda, I hope Toyota is next. The matching pair of the world’s most boring auto manufacturers.... I never got it anyway, marketing dull cars to cardigan-wearing, centre-lane hugging drivers via F1. I'd prefer Nissan and Mazda to be part of F1, at least they are building interesting sports cars.Reportedly the Honda team is up for sale for a little as 1 Euro. Lotus - please buy it - we need your creative innovation back in the sport. If not Lotus, Fiat - you buy it for either Alfa or Maserati and pay Ferrari to manage it as their B-team. If not Fiat then VW - for Audi or Bugatti. Bugatti need to be more than a one hit wonder.As we race towards The Singularity we may be entering our period of radical change, and in that vein I offer up two alternate plans for F1;Don't reduce the budget. Let the teams drop to 5 but let them have four cars. Get more money out of Bernie, the manufacturers should get the bulk - not him. Split all the money just five ways. Four Ferraris, four McLarens etc. Here in Australia we can make a better race out of it with just Commodores and Falcons.Don't reduce the budget  .... sort of. Keep the reductions for petrol engines but throw in a wild card rule. If you want to use electric motors you don't need to abide by any of the rules other than safety and size. There's a way to get our real slot cars quicker .. and sooner. Pit stops would become battery pack swaps.... and they can have as many as they need until the technology reaches the point where they don't need any. Oh ..... and get more money out of Bernie, the manufactures should get the bulk - not him.While I don't know what is going to happen, I do know a lot will change over the next five years. A Perfect Storm is forming, Max will be gone soon. Bernie can not last for ever. We are in a period of financial crisis where even Ferrari legend and Honda team leader Ross Brawn can be made redundant. We previously just had a silly season for drivers, we may be about to see a silly season for teams.So back to the question..... who will be next?Rod Halligan

Rain deluges the northern Italian plains slowing even the autostrada, so the three Maseratis take to the hills, roaring onwards into the Apennines and ever upwards through the grey cloud curtain.Braking hard into and punching assertively out of the endless succession of second gear corners carved into the mountainside, the Trident-badged missiles finally roar into the pale late autumn sunlight that bathes the uppermost of the tiny hamlets studded on these green peaks.Oh, such sweet music these Masers make, each V8 singing in a different state of tune, but very much from the same songbook. Taking lead tenor is the recently-released (or unleashed) GranTurismo S whose aural report is but one reason to wonder if you really need to graduate to Ferrari - not least because the Maranello-sourced engine has been trained to an operatic pitch by Modena's acoustic engineers.The visual impression is every bit as empathetic. Already one of the world's most beautiful cars, the GranTurismo appears positively sinister in S guise, a dark metallic predator that looms out of the cloud bank for a moment and promptly vanishes. Its sonic register is always audible as every one of the available 331kW and 510Nm are called upon in this superbly executed 4.7-litre combination of sky high revability and low down twist.“When we design an engine we want it to have a very male sound,” says Maserati product development manager Benedetto Orvietani, smiling ruefully at the incorrectness, but absolute desirability, of this. “It is important for car to have the right voice.”But this piece of auto erotic is mainly here to provide context. In less emphatic, but scarcely less resonant voice than the luxury sports coupe, is the pair of luxury sport sedans that are our main objects of interest today; the mildly revised Quattroporte and the new Quattroporte S.The now five-year-old base model - if one priced from $286,000 can be so defined - retains the highly-adapted and wholly simpatico ZF automatic transmission. It gains LED lights and literally brilliant Xenon lamps which that night will distinguish the car from hundreds of metres back on a storm beset autostrada.Cosmetically the interior wood and leather trim is somehow even more opulent. The trademark clock is present and correct. The tactility of this magnificent cabin is such that fingertip pleasing strips of material are laid behind the chrome gearshift levers.Against that the satellite navigation systems remains enigmatic to put it politely. In all, the enhancements are of the sort likely to be appreciated by Maserati aficionados without dismaying current owners.In that vein there's no outward indication of any sort that the $323,800 Quattroporte S is in any manner worthy of a premium over its lesser sibling sufficient to buy a new Golf GTI. Only on the road does its worth become (abundantly) evident.By no means though can the lesser car's 295kW/460Nm 4.2-litrre V8 be considered an underperformer. The version that reinvented and reinvigorated the marque remains an absolutely no apologies required and altogether more stylishly Italian alternative to comparatively ubiquitous Germans.Remarkably unremarkable in urban deployment (“You can take it to the supermarket,” suggests Orvietani) it's almost unfeasibly entertaining on the tight, treacherously slick surfaces on were pedaling with some abandon. Unfeasible because despite being nearly two tonnes unladen and giving away a significant output deficit, it does a job of keeping the GT-S in sight.The Pirelli Rossos for which the suspension is specifically tuned exert exceptional grip in these intimidating circumstances. The Quattroporte's sport mode is among the more meaningful weve encountered, containing this hefty four-doors natural propensity to body movement under duress like an electronic corset and allowing full enjoyment of the near ideal weight distribution.Yet as pleasing as it is in isolation, there's no doubt that what must now be called the entry-level Maserati is labouring to do what the Quattroporte S is taking in its stride. The absence of readily accessible torque means were not often out of second gear here, and so the slightly slower car is the first of the three to see a petrol warning light.It's also the first to run out of brakes. Never the Quattroporte's strength, the required anchor abuse all too soon sees the stop pedal in perilous proximity to the floor. Not something to cause concern in normal running, but a glaring defect when compared to the S model with its unperturbed Brembo six-piston dual cast discs.Yet the ability to stop resolutely and consistently is the least impressive aspect of Maseratis range topping sedan. While it shares the equivalent S coupe's bored out 4.7-litre capacity, the 317kW/490Nm output is not the equal of the two door. For that matter it's not significantly greater than the lesser four-door and at a claimed 5.4 seconds to 100km/h from standing it's a bare two-tenths quicker.The Quattroporte S proves, however, that it's not so much a matter of what you've got as what you do with it. Whereas the base sedan (and coupe) wants for a bottom end, the S model summons some 82 per cent of its torque total from 2500rpm and revs for a further five grand.This more obtainable oomph makes it all the easier with which to live. “The engine,” Orvietano tells us, “has reached its best configuration.”Indeed the Quattroporte S entails the best of Maserati's two model world, approximating the attack of the GT-S while affording the facility and comparative discretion of the saloon.As to how it could be further developed, Orvietano says “there's no technical reason” why Maserati should not emulate Ferrari in climbing aboard the twin-clutch transmission bandwagon. And while he deflected with much charm questions as to an AMG-fighting Quattroporte, a member of our party saw two test variants in duct-taped disguise howling through the pre-dawn near Modena.Such a thing would, of course, be wasted in the 19th century road conditions and attitudes that prevail in our wide, bland land. So is, to a too great an extent, the Quattroporte S. But surely it's churlish to quibble with a car that's both more efficient and ferocious than the base model.Of course, you can always order one of the latter and use the $40K premium towards relocating to Italy, where there is a silver lining on even the cloudiest driving day. 

Maserati is claiming to have smashed the Nurburgring production lap record.

Clinical research conducted by insurance firm Hiscox UK has revealed – according to the researchers — that “100 per cent of woman tested are sexually aroused by the sound of a Maserati, with the roar of the Italian legend’s V8 engine producing a primal, sexual response.” Frankly, the looks of the Maserati Gran Turismo are enough to get Driven Troppo trembling, without anybody having to be bothered with the effort of turning the key. Which means by the time you’re stomping the accelerator I’ll be slipping into something lacy and making plans for breakfast a deux. Just me and the car. Mmmmm…. Ooops, where we were? Oh that’s right, the research. Which was conducted with rigorous scientific methodology The human rats in this particular libido laboratory were exposed to a recording of a selection of high-end engines being revved up. Their ears were titillated with the roar of the Maserati, a Lamborghini and a Ferrari. And just as a control sample, they were also subjected to the sound of an everyday Volkswagen Polo, to ensure a fair comparison of arousal. After 20 minutes of ear foreplay, their sexual response was measured by the levels of the hormone, testosterone, in their saliva, which is apparently an indication of arousal. David Moxon, the psychologist who conducted the study said: “We saw significant peaks in the amount of testosterone in the body, particularly in women. Testosterone is indicative of positive arousal in the human body so we can confidently conclude from the results out today that the roar of a luxury car engine actually does cause a primeval physiological response.” And while 100 per cent of the women showed a “significant increase” in testosterone secretion with the sound of a Maserati, they all also showed a similar decrease in testosterone when confronted with the little VW. Which puts paid to any misconception that what women want in a car is a user-friendly little shopping trolley. But oddly, the research also revealed that only 50 per cent of men reacted sexually to the Maserati growl. Which probably backs up the old saying that men fall in love through their eyes, and women fall in love through their ears. So while it used the Polo as a control test, perhaps the study might have done better to examine women’s sexual response to other aural stimuli. The rustle of tissue paper being lifted off a perfectly boxed pair of killer heels. The quiet snick as the clasp of a diamond necklace closes on your skin. The phrase “you relax, darling … I’ll do the washing up”.  

... when the wraps come off the new Maserati Quattroporte and the range-topping high performance Maserati GranTurismo S at the 2008 Australian International Motor Show's Press Day on October 9. “The fact that we are launching two new models at the same motor show, both of which are central to the success of Maserati, is a clear sign of progress that Maserati has made over recent years in both Australia and around the world,” says Edward Butler, General Manager of Maserati Australia and New Zealand.“The Quattroporte redefined the high performance saloon and its success around the world has led other car makers to attempt their own imitations of its effortless blend of performance, style and exclusivity. The new Quattroporte will ensure that Maserati maintains its lead as the ultimate performance saloon.”“Maserati built its unique and legendary reputation on performance,” explains Mr Butler, “so the launch of new, range-topping high performance Maserati is extremely significant. The new GranTurismo S provides our unique coupe with a new level of performance, on-road ability and driving excitement. It is the epitome of a Maserati.”Setting a new all-time Australian record in 2007, Maserati sales rose to 134 cars, a 25 per cent increase over the 2006 total of 107, which was a record year in its own right. Yet, in 2008, Maserati has already delivered 151 cars to new owners in Australia, making this year a new all-time record year for Maserati in Australia with five months to spare!The new Quattroporte has a dual soul as a luxury saloon with sports-car performance and is fully responsive in all driving conditions whilst cosseting the driver in its luxurious and distinctive ‘Made in Italy’ interior. In its new S version, the new Quattroporte is equipped with a 4.7 litre V8 delivering a maximum power output of 430 bhp at 7,000 rpm, accelerates from 0 to 100 kmh in 5.4 seconds and has a maximum speed of 280 kmh where the law permits.The GranTurismo S is the ultimate expression of the performance edge. Its 440 bhp V8 4.7 litre engine, electro-actuated gearbox with fast MC Shift, transaxle layout, performance exhaust and dual-cast brakes make the GranTurismo S a true ambassador for Maserati’s sporting flair, with acceleration from 0 to 100 kmh in 4.9 seconds and a maximum speed of 295 kmh, the highest ever reached by a standard production Maserati.Official prices for Maserati’s latest models will be announced when they make their Australian and New Zealand debut at the show.