What it’s like to spend a summer of love on the Riviera with the seductive Maserati GranTurismo.
There is no shortage of wistful allusions to summertime, when the living is easy. But American author Jenny Han enshrined the seasonal spirit like no other when she wrote, with a poetic flourish of the pen, that “everything good, everything magical happens between the months of June and August.”
The quote, taken from bestselling novel series The Summer I Turned Pretty, caressed us like a warm, offshore Riviera breeze every time we climbed into the Maserati GrandTurismo over the past few months. As any automotive journalist will attest, one of the drawbacks of critically assessing the world’s elite machines is the unavoidable time restraints, with testing periods usually restricted to one day, and variants and models shared between a dozen or so pan-regional scribes.
In this context, the Italian marque’s loan to Robb Report presented a rare opportunity to live side by side with a vehicle. And, as with all whirlwind summer romances of lore, the chance to experience the highs, the smiles, the laughs, the special moments that seldom transpire during motoring’s one-day stands.
Since the 1930s, Gran Turismo cars, more commonly labelled GTs, have played into one of driving’s most enduring visions—the long, cross-country drive, shared with a four-wheeled steed that offers sportiness, comfort and luxury in the same package. Maserati spiritually subscribed to the notion so intensely—“intense” being the default Italian sports car sensation—that it eventually named one of its models in honour of the totemic auto experience, debuting in 2007 with the one-worded GranTurismo, a slinky, two-door, stealth powerhouse that took little time in positioning itself as the emotional heartbeat of the brand.
The most recent iteration launched in 2023—at Milan Design Week, no less—and yet two years later, the GranTurismo still holds its own in a competitive segment. The Modena, Trofeo and all-electric Folgore make up the current roster, but it was the first of these iterations that we spent the region’s golden months with—wafting around Port Hercules with its 3.0-litre V6 “Nettuno” engine straining at the leash; purring up to the Casino forecourt for after-dark social gatherings, the Maserati glamorously attired in broodingly sensuous lines; or, perhaps our most cherished memories, removing the performance shackles on the driving Nirvana offered by the hills surrounding the Principality, revelling in the car’s handling and brisk acceleration.
The refined interior remains a fine place to while away tranquilising journeys, too. We quickly became enamoured with the uniquely shaped 12.2-inch digital-gauge cluster, and the genuinely roomy 2+2 seating configuration. No extreme cabin gymnastics required here, even for full-size adults.
And then one recent morning, it happened: cooler temperatures pervaded the marina air; a few less striped bathing towels populated Larvotto Beach; the cloak of darkness descended earlier on the evening terrace at Café de Paris Monte-Carlo. The last embers of summer were flickering, and a note in the diary confirmed that our dalliance with the GranTurismo would be over in the coming weeks.
All love affairs must come to an end—that, we understand. But we’d gladly sign on the dotted line and make it something more permanent.
The GranTurismo Modena starts from €179,600
