This V8 Maserati GranSport Is Our Weekend Want

With the unveiling of the gorgeous Maserati Alfieri coupe at Geneva this week, we were promised a car to fill the gap left by the old GranSport (the Granturismo that replaced it was a much waftier and more expensive proposition). The GranSport isn't exactly the best remembered car in Maserati's long history, so we thought we'd scour the classifieds to find a good one, and fill you in on why a new version would be a good thing.

Based on the Maserati Coupe - a car that promised much but never quite hit the spot - the GranSport is a much more hardcore proposition. It sits 10mm lower on revised suspension, and the delectably sonorous 4.2-litre V8 had an extra 10bhp squeezed out of it to bring the power up to a nice, even 400bhp, backed up by 333lb/ft of torque. 0-62mph takes 4.9 seconds, and the top speed is an impressive 180mph.

The much maligned Cambiocorsa paddle-shift gearbox received a thorough going over, to give crisper, faster changes. The exterior meanwhile was treated to a host of tweaks, resulting in one fine-looking coupe. All these improvements came together to create the car the Maserati Coupe always should have been. Sure, one of these won't be cheap to buy or run, but it's a curious leftfield alternative to a used Porsche 911.

These were never sold in particularly big numbers, so there isn't a huge amount of choice out there. This one could well be worth a look, however. It's done 27,000 miles, has a full Maserati service history and is under warranty until February 2015. Still not convinced it's a viable 911 alternative? Watch Richard Hammond tear about in a GranSport in the video below - the noise alone will sell you.

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