The good burghers of Metz, France, haven't heard a racket like this since Prussian Prince Frederick Charles besieged the place back in 1870. Trundling along the narrow cobblestone streets, our Maserati GranTurismo S - the brand-new, hooligans-rejoice version of Maserati's sexy coupe - clatters raucously on overrun and shakes the picturesque rafters of the medieval buildings with barely muffled blasts of V-8 pandemonium. We pull into a parking lot beneath the soaring spires of a Gothic cathedral and squeeze into a ridiculously cramped space after much gratuitous revving of the engine. By the time we kill the ignition, the parking attendant is hopping up and down with what we hope is enthusiasm. "Bruit magnifique!" he shouts over and over. Magnificent noise!
We hear you, dude. There are faster cars than the GranTurismo S, but none of them make more intoxicating sounds when you select the Sport mode, thereby opening a bypass in the exhaust and liberating countless decibels of race-car-style mayhem. Luca Dal Monte, Maserati's affable chief of public relations, had advised us to avoid the Sport mode in confined spaces because, as he put it: "Even when you're going 30 miles per hour, it sounds like you're speeding." But photographer Mark Bramley and I have agreed that Sport mode is a must in small towns, when leaving tollbooths, and, especially, when blasting through long tunnels, where the GranTurismo S sounds like a prototype wailing down the Mulsanne straight at Le Mans.... Read full article