Maserati GranCabrio review

Perhaps it’s because it’s a convertible, but against our expectations it’s the Folgore that wins us over first. You approach a Maserati soft-top with a heap of (expensive) emotional baggage, and a yearning for a sonorous yowl upon starting the engine. Obviously there’s none of that in the electric GranCabrio, but really that’s all that’s missing. This is a classy, responsive and startlingly vivid high performance car, a Maserati that just happens to be electric.

It’s also a very smartly calibrated car. Push the ‘engine’ start/stop button on the wheel, and there’s a faint, vaguely sci-fi whoosh. After that things are velvety smooth, and the GranCabrio serves up what must be the most frictionless and competent Maserati driving experience in the company’s 110-year history. Except that it’s better than that: this is an EV that really does conjure some soul out of a process that’s not over-burdened with emotion.

Just how fast is it?

Well, 750bhp is another way of generating emotion. The GranCabrio Folgore has savage step-off, pins you to your – sustainably trimmed and supportive – seat if you nail the throttle. The Folgore accelerates to 62mph in 2.7 seconds, the Trofeo taking a leisurely 3.5 seconds by comparison. Apparently the electric GranCabrio can do ‘over 199mph’ but again that’s theoretical. Still, our experience with powerful EVs has shown that that sort of warp factor 11 performance is to be expected. It’s the Folgore’s overall character that stays with you.

There must be modes to play with?

Too right, four of them from Max Range through GT, Sport and Corsa (plus a button in the middle of the wheel-mounted dial to stiffen/soften the dampers), but the default setting is GT. That limits the power to 80 per cent but the system’s interventions are imperceptible. In that mode though the steering is slightly at odds with the soft suspension.

Sport mode sharpens responses and instantly feels more together, Corsa is the one that is least necessary in the GranCabrio, but actually the chassis doesn’t get the jitters too much. It retains flow even when the suspension is stiff, but the rougher the road – and driving it in the UK was all the evidence we needed – the less able the suspension is to deliver comfort.

What is the ride quality like?

A bit baggy on B-roads in Comfort, but well supported in Sport. Give it a smooth surface and it rides beautifully on the double wishbone front/multi-link rear suspension. The thing that cuts through and makes you question the GranCabrio’s cost and value is the scuttle shake, that tremor you get through the steering and chassis on bumpy roads. It’s not terrible, and it’s something that even a Ferrari Roma Spider isn’t immune to, but it’s there and your passengers will detect it.

How are the brakes?

Most impressive in the Folgore where the friction stoppers happily blend with a fairly serious amount of regen. The paddles on the wheel that operate the gearchanges in the Trofeo have been repurposed here to vary the regen across four levels. One-pedal driving is possible, but it doesn’t feel right in a car like this. At its most intense, the regen can slow the car down at 0.65g, while recovering 400kW into the battery.

It's a good trick, but if you’re the kind of person that actually enjoys braking, then the Trofeo does it better – shorter stopping distances, better pedal feel.

But which sounds better?

Look, the Folgore’s not bad here and while we’re all for authentic induction noise, the Folgore’s sound balance is pretty close to the real thing. It’s linked to your road speed, and mixes V6 and V8 tones. There’s a decent bass note to it, but it never gets too strident.

The Trofeo, however, has a V6 that’s pretty tuneful by the standards of these things in 2024. It’s there in the background, providing just enough edge so that you know there’s a proper engine under the bonnet, not enough to dominate. It’s pretty rousing as the revs climb, but just doesn’t have the baritone operatic voice of the old V8.

However, this is a good engine, cleverly designed with pre-chamber combustion (Maserati Twin Combustion) which preempts the traditional spark plug to create a bigger and more efficient burn. There’s direct and indirect injection too, working at 350 bar, all in the name of lowering emissions and reducing fuel consumption without sacrificing shove. But mostly it’s about 542bhp, piling on revs and turbo pressure and letting the V6 sing as it closes in on 7,000rpm.

How’s the Trofeo’s gearbox?

The eight-speed ZF auto isn’t super snappy, but it’s fast enough. It slurs the shifts in Comfort, but fires them through tightly in Sport. That’s where we left the car most of the time. The gearbox sends the power out to a comprehensive array of tech: all-wheel drive, electronic rear diff, variable centre diff and torque vectoring.

You wouldn’t think Maserati would be able to get this all working together that well, but this is a composed, complete car to drive. Well, apart from the ever-intrusive driver assist systems.