Wednesday. Maserati GranTurismo S Cambiocorsa
Such is my astounding rise through the corporate world, I no longer have to do any real work at all. My minions are continuing the efforts I put in earlier in my career (well, earlier this week), leaving me free to indulge my petrolhead hobby. Therefore, my new steed is the more focused, hardcore GranTurismo S Cambiocorsa. This version takes the essence of the S and adds more attitude, largely by way of the robotised manual gearbox that gives the car its name; cambiocorsa is Italian for ‘race change’ or words to that effect. This six-speed transmission ditches the torque converter of the regular S and replaces it with an automatically operated clutch. The whole system is based on that in Ferrari’s F430 Scuderia, which is very encouraging as I search for a bit more get-up-and-go from my Maser.
This particular machine comes with the optional MC Sport Line package, which swathes our pearl white (or Blanco Fuji) GranTurismo with red lettering and carbon fibre bits. The result is fetching, giving a much sportier edge, as befits the Cambiocorsa’s brief. I settle into the better, but still not particularly brilliant seats and take in the surroundings. This is more of a departure from the S’s interior – the steering wheel paddles are now made from carbon fibre and are twice the size of their colleagues, while the gear shift lever is conspicuous by its absence. Instead, two cupholders and two buttons sit in its place, one marked with an R and the other with 1. Press 1 and first gear is selected, the car assuming that its enthusiastic drivers will want to shift manually from the off. An Auto switch sits next to the wheel should I decide to travel with less effort.
Can the new gearbox add a bit more zing to the GranTurismo? Yes, to a point. Away from traffic I floor the accelerator and the bellow from the rear end seems even louder than in the regular S, but again that lack of low-down grunt makes for a slight hestitation. Then though, the familiar swell of power rises through the back of the car, nose tipping up slightly and as it climaxes towards the red-line I pull back on the right hand paddle. BANG. The next gear is slammed home in the blink of an eye and the scream continues with barely a breath. This is much more like it, the raw, mechanical feel I’ve been hoping for.
A consequence of the new gearbox choice is that it’s placed at the back, rather than at the front like the ZF. As a result, the balance of the car is a fraction more rear biased (47/53 compared to 49/51), and it serves to make the Cambiocorsa feel a fraction more pointy, despite the change in balance. On the twisting complexes and sweeping roads that carve through the region around Hatta, in the east of the UAE, the Cambiocorsa still feels hugely grippy at the back; not the kind of car to be easily powerslid. It’s built much more for speed, carrying that momentum through bends rather than losing it by showing off.
Once that momentum has to be shed, the Brembo brakes lurking behind the trident-spoked alloys are fantastic. I’m giving them a much firmer workout in the Cambiocorsa than I did in the regular S and they’re more than up to the task, the pedal feeling firm but progressive and speed is scrubbed away with complete confidence, exhausts crackling on the overrun as I dance the Maser through the twisties. Yes, it’s still heavy and lumbers in the tighter sections, but the noise and the rapid fire savagery of the transmission puts a smile on my face that takes a while to fade.
On the way home, I ponder that the hardcore gearbox, in full auto mode on the motorway, is not as smooth on the cruise as the regular ZF transmission, which could put punters off the Cambiocorsa. Indeed, in Europe the ZF-equipped machine was released in response to just such criticism. For me though, this is the closest GranTurismo to perfect so far.
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