This Yellow Maserati GranSport Is Way Cooler Than A Used 911
For the first time ever, Maserati is getting into the engine building game. Its ‘Nettuno’ V6 is good for 613bhp, will rev to 8000rpm, and is set to appear in the new mid-engined ‘MC20’ supercar.
For the last time the company made anything close to that, we have to wind the clock back to 2007, the final year of production for the Gran Sport. To build it, the Maserati took the more GT-focused 4200 Coupe, dropped it by 10mm on revised ‘Skyhook’ adaptive suspension, and bumped the power up to 400bhp.
The engine providing that figure was a corker - the Ferrari-built F136, a revised version of which was powering the larger, waftier Gran Turismo until very recently. Unlike Ferrari-destined iterations of the F136s, Maserati’s derivative used a cross-plane crankshaft, making it arguably the sweeter-sounding lump of the two.
Even with the tweaks it still wasn’t as good as a Porsche 911, and for the amount you’d pay for a good Gran Sport now, a 996 or 997 would be a much more sensible choice. But life’s too short for a succession of good decisions, so if you do want to get hold of Maserati’s last kinda/sorta sports car, we have just the ticket.
This 2005 example is, according to the seller, one of only three finished in ‘Giallo Gran Turismo’ yellow in the country. In total, the UK population of Gran Sports is only a little over 500, so we can believe that, especially since most seem to be either grey, blue, black or silver.
In a refreshing break from the norm, the advert is fantastically detailed, noting the matching Goodyear Eagle F1 Asymmetric tyres, the recent fitting of new discs/pads, and even clutch condition.
There are some modifications, but don’t panic - they’re the kind of things you’d probably want to consider yourself further down the road anyway. These include Ferrari 360 Challenge Stradale software for the Cambiocorsa robotised manual gearbox and a part-Larini exhaust system.
The Gran Sport has covered 68,000 miles, which is reasonably high for a car like this, but not excessive either. It’s up for £22,995.
Growing up on a diet of World Rally Championship highlights and lengthy Gran Turismo 2 sessions, a life in cars was as good as inevitable for Matt.
Comments
The coolest set of wheels I’ve ever come across today. I agree that several cars, this GranSport included, looks stunning with yellow paintjob. But there’s one thing that slightly annoys me seeing this car: This particular GranSport has a manual transmission with paddle shifters instead of the normal H-Pattern stick-shifter. Paddle-shifters always best served on semi-automatic sequential gearboxes as was the case with H-Pattern manuals with stick shifters. This is just an “odd one out” sort of car. Kinda reminds me of watching a Top Gear episode where Richard Hammond test drives the GranSport and doing a hotlap around Varano circuit in Italy.
I’d still be wary about reliability on these ones, but I absolutely love that paint: I’m a sucker for yellow paints on most cars because it flashes out so damn much without being all that obnoxious.
Instead of #savethemanuals which has no chance of happening, we should launch #savetheyellowcars, or maybe even just #savecolors
Personally, I always preferred the 3200GT’s rear lights