[SG] Maser GT First Impressions?

I am not an owner but my first impression is deadly good looking but underpowered. I would much rather pay more for a used 612

 

Hey Vik,

There's one for you to try anytime you want to.....

Bring one out and judge for yourself!

 

Now this is a lesson exotic car companies must take note from HSM. I had the pleasure to be pampered by a sumptous Thai dinner (though I only had 2 course out of the multiples) with a night stay in a US$400 a night @ Amara hotel in Sentosa. That was followed by a test drive in the morning with up to 5 colours of my choice! Naturally, I chose white with red cabin & white stitching Got a chance to drop my wife & daughter off home too.

It was a press event for Asia so those journalists from all over here get to use them.

The car's quite an imposing sight & I like the tail lamps, huge distinctive grille & sexy arches. Interior is top-notch with on board GPS. Engine is quiet & exhaust note a gentlemanly V8 tone. I've not driven the QP but did a short drive in the previous 4200 last year. This time Maserati has gone soft IMHO but watch out for their latter models. The build quality is first class & engine+trans are well developed & tested. It's a great grand tourer & I can imagine having a great time in this with my family up Genting highlands & highways with occasional B rds while it does equally well in our city environment. The rear seats are spacious with ample headroom & a really useful boot. Left it in auto mode & it performs well enough, I suspect 90% of the time will be left in this & if I recall, there's a "sport" mode that holds revs longer etc, not sure if there's a "skyhook" suspension system involved. Flip the paddles & they work equally smooth while overtaking traffic is not an issue. This is a full auto trans & the paddles there are just over-riding the gear shifts, sort of tiptronic.

It's not a thrilling ride & suspension is not hard while soaking up most uneveness. I took it into twisty rds among a forested section @ up to 80~90km/h & it performed well with some bodyroll but never losing a footing (afterall it's already had a buyer so better not scratch it!) It's a class of it's own. It would outclass a CLS & 6 series while the AMG & M badged versions will cost more than this Maserati & still don't get the exoticness. I did consider a 997 but this car is way too impractical compared to the GT though the SWB is nice but life's got to compromise.

DM18 has an interesting opinion of getting a used 612. I don't know what will the used price be now since there are so few are available here. That will have a stronger hardware with that killer badge but the shell doesn't make me turn a 2nd look (very impt to me!). Someone suggested a used Bentley GT as well. Hmmmm

Anyway, for my driving style. I'll be waiting for the 4.7 with proper F-1 trans which will most certainly be more thrilling though the price tag might be a tad too high as well. We'll see.

So if you want to spend S$400K with a waiting time of 6months & a nice palette of colours+details to choose from. This is a desirable choice. Btw, my wife like it

 

Thank you for the well thought-out review

Yes, e 'sport' button is linked to SkyHook (standard option) and stiffens up the suspension as well as changing the transmission software to a more aggressive one.

Also, unfortunately, the waiting list is 1Q2009 at the moment (with a slight possibility of 4Q2008....).

 

I just took the GT out on a test drive yesterday, the car was white on black, very good looking car and had the pleasure of following it for a few km's on the way back home. I noticed its quite stiff and rather jarring on bumpy roads, i think the car had the skyhook option but im not sure, there was a sport button and i engaged it for the whole drive so that could be why. Does anyone know how much difference there is in ride quality without the skyhook option?