Nothing to prove

Most great ideas are put to the test of time to achieve the credibility and respect they deserve. The same can be said for cars. There are hundreds of brands to choose from but only a few stand out and create an aura of excitement. Some excite with performance and some with finesse and quality. Some combine both with a sense of individuality.

High-end sports coupés find themselves in a segment that is under a lot of scrutiny. Buyers love them because they offer all of the above in varying combinations that suit a person's needs and personality, and environmentalists hate them because of their big engines. Personally, I think that the toughest spot to be in because not only do you have to consistently prove yourself to your fans, you need to fight off plenty of criticism from a lot of other groups.

Coupés go mainstream

Today, premium sports coupés are about being everyday cars - the kind that you can drive to your office and use for fun on weekends. With vehicle stability programmes that assure more road-gripping capability than was available in high-powered cars years ago, it isn't all that scary to buy a fast coupé these days. Suspension systems have advanced to the point where the driver can choose the comfort levels that suit the purpose.

In fact, you can switch between a ‘hard and stiff' ride and a ‘soft and smooth' ride today by pressing a few buttons on the dash that control the gear changes, stability control levels, and suspension stiffness. Yes, that's all it takes! With all the electronic intervention available, it's only a matter of choosing the right combination of the feel factor, performance and price when buyinga car. Like a Maserati, for example.

Maserati leads the pack

It's quite obvious that the technicalities or performance figures aren't really what gets one to buya Maserati. Instead, it's the sense of fine craftsmanship, the sound of the engine, the great feeling of gearshifts while speeding along and its motorsport heritage that sell cars like these. In fact, I experienced a lot of these while driving the 2010 Maserati GranTurismo S recently.

This isn't a supercar that's made for track times or to lap the overrated Nürburgring faster than its competition.

Nor is it built to offer the latest electronic and multimedia gadgetry to the driver and passengers. The GranTurismo S has a minimalist personality. It offers just the bare necessities that a modern sports car requires. Many sports coupés that cost half the price or less come with twice the gadgetry and probably better sprint times and bigger engines. What then is this Maserati all about?

It's a feeling

The ‘GranTurismo S Automatic' is all about the feel factor - just like its cousin the Ferrari California, but ina more subtle kind of way. The Maserati isn't as aggressive in its gear shifts and neither is it as fast as the California in its sprint times. But it offers the same combination of Italian design and craftsmanship powered by a 4.7-litre V8 wet sump engine that is developed by Ferrari.

These engines are instantly recognisable by their red cylinder heads and are the most powerful in the Maserati V8 family.

More power to this Maserati

The GranTurismo starts up witha grunt and the exhaust tone is one that's loud and classy at the same time. In the sport mode, it accelerates and changes gears with a little more aggression and a lot more noise, which is the intention rather than any significant change in performance. The exhaust system in this mode channels the gases through a much shorter route using a bypass valve above 3,000rpm and you therefore have louder and quieter rides at higher and lower speeds respectively.

In addition to the responsive V8 and the aforementioned exhaust system, the 6-speed ZF automatic gearbox that is mated to the engine is quite worthy of mention as well. There are a lot of driving modes to choose from to activate the preprogrammed gear change styles such as the Auto Normal, Auto Ice, Auto Sport and Manual modes. In addition to these, the auto-adaptive feature of the gearbox adjusts the shifts to suit the road conditions and the driving style of the driver, which it learns quite quickly.

In terms of power and torque, the GranTurismo S isn't a segment leader, but isn't too far behind either. The V8 engine generates 440bhp at 7,000rpm and 490Nm of torque at 4,750rpm. It's well suited for the everyday sports car that it is and the rear-wheel-drive system, which I am particularly fond of, is quite grippy with the stability control turned on. There is an amount of oversteer which is just right and contributes a great deal to the car's character. The steering feels good as well. It's not too tight with a lot of feedback, but it fits in well.

Both highways and curves are fun with the GranTurismo S. The car feels very stable and composed on a straight road and the chassis is great for hard curves as well.

A look inside

The interiors are classy and sporty at the same time and the quality of the materials used is just as great as can be expected from any premium Italian car. The rear seats can hardly seat an adult, but they are there for that extra room - just in case.

The 2010 GranTurismo S starts ata price of Dh599,000 for those fitted with the ZF gearbox like the test carI got to drive and goes a little higher for the optional MC-Shift gearbox.

To summarise, I am quite fond of the GranTurismo S. It is one car that makes you feel that it was built with a lot of passion and its motorsport heritage is just as obvious.

It is a sports coupé that offersa lot of luxury and class in addition to its sporty nature and that kind of works for me.