German Car Zone

The quickest way to get some, besides just gazing at the GTS and admiring how Maserati's wheel designers incorporated tridents into the dubs' spokes, is to slide into the driver's seat and promptly press the dash-mounted Sport button, which instructs the steel exhaust system's pneumatic valves to pass on the bypass through the rear silencers. Then mash the drilled aluminum throttle pedal (don't be shy-redline is 7500 rpm and the redhead 4.7 can even spin to 7600 under "dynamic" shift conditions) and Pavarotti suddenly appears in the rearview, belting and swigging with every beat of your right foot. But the fun is just beginning.

Now hit the Auto button, situated below the Sport button, to deselect the automatic shift schedule and enter full manual mode -- this, of course, will require finger dancing with the large, biscotti-shaped shift paddles. A red "MC-S" lights up on the IP's digital information display -- a nice juxtaposition to the classic chrome-rimmed, blue-hued analog gauges -- signaling that the Ricardo six-cog auto-clutch manual has entered the hyperfast MC-Shift program. Translation? The GTS needs only 100 milliseconds to complete a full gear change, given throttle is input is at 80 percent and engine speed is above 5500 rpm. (For context, a GT-R executes a gear change in 200 milliseconds.)


Full Story: Motor Trend - First Test: 2009 Maserati GranTurismo S


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