2008 Maserati GranTurismo

This is a seriously sexy-looking car.

It’s a beautifully balanced symphony of swoops and curves, and the dark grey metallic paintwork accentuates the car’s squat, aggressive stance and its alluring promise of power and speed.

This is a car you’ll want to park outside the pub or restaurant window (one day soon, please) just so that you can carry on admiring it - and congratulating yourself on your good taste for buying it in the first place.

Finished in dark grey with a red interior, this car starts, goes, steers, rides, handles and stops as well as it looks.

Mercifully free from the “wait for it…wait for it…thump!!” unpleasantness of the flappy-paddle gearboxes on some earlier Maseratis, this GranTurismo makes the most of its marvellous Ferrari-derived 4.2 litre V8 to deliver plenty of power and grunt as and when it’s needed.

The steering is positive, direct and weighty. The ride is sporty but not harsh – this car was developed for normal people in the real world, not racing drivers at the Nordschleife.

If you hear any rattles, groans, sighs, twangs, whistles, clunks or creaks when driving, they’ll be coming from the car’s occupants, not the car. This one is properly screwed together and feels solid.

It sounds fantastic in ‘Normal’ mode. In ‘Sports’ mode it sounds for all the world like an angry velociraptor playing the trumpet in a tin shed.

And that’s a good thing.

All in all, this is a very handsome, capable, well-maintained pedigree GT car and one that’s in excellent condition even for its low mileage, let alone its age.

The vendor has owned the car for around 6 years, during which time he’s dutifully spent whatever money Graypaul or Meridien or a Maserati specialist have told him to spend.

Aside from an early trip with his parents to the Italian Lakes via France and Switzerland (it really is a proper four-seater), on which he said the car truly came into its own, he’s kept the miles low.

He has also evidently taken very good care of it.

It’s a fine vehicle.

The dark grey paintwork is in fine order, with a deep, metallic shine and lustre to it.

The panels are uniformly free of any dents, dinks, creases, scuffs, warps, buckles, ripples, nicks, chips or other unsightly marks. The shut lines and door gaps are crisp, even and consistent.

Even the usual stone chips and road rash found beneath sills and on valances are barely in evidence.

All exterior trim appears to be equally untroubled by the ravages of time or use, as are the light clusters, glass, bumpers, badges and grilles.

The alloys are in decent nick but there is some bubbling on the front wheels, plus a few scuffs to the metal and chips to the lacquer here and there.

There is a small, very faint scratch just below the handle on the driver’s door.

The matching Pirelli P-Zero tyres have plenty of life left in them.

We haven’t seen any signs of rust anywhere on the bodywork except for some very localised bubbling on the lower sections of the windscreen wiper arms.

A word of advice.

Make sure you’re OK with the colour red before climbing aboard.

Because, if you’re in any way prone to snorting, pawing at the ground or charging madly at anyone in a spangly bolero jacket, this interior might just tip you over the edge.

It really is as red as red can be. Which is, of course, no bad thing if you like red.

Either way, we think red suits this pedigree Italian GT car very well and it’s a pleasant counterbalance to the relatively cool and sober dark grey exterior.

Lashings of hide, carpet and brushed aluminium. All beautifully crafted. All in exceptional condition. This is a place that makes you feel more than a bit special.

The red leather upholstery is in fine fettle all round and the seats - front and back - are both supportive and comfortable.

The door cards and headlining are pristine and even the kick plates have clearly never been kicked in anger.

All dials and instruments are in good order both aesthetically and functionally, and all knobs, switches and levers have avoided the ‘sticky button’ feel sometimes encountered in Maseratis and Ferraris of a comparable vintage.

As far as we can ascertain, everything electrical works as intended and does what it’s meant to do.

The black carpets and mats are in good nick.

The boot, which isn’t cavernous but is certainly big enough for normal living, is clean and tidy. Lifting up the carpets here or anywhere else on this car reveals…no rust whatsoever.

Faults? Well, we found a couple of stiches missing from one row of stitching on the driver’s seat. There are a couple of light scratches to the top of the gear lever.

Frankly, we’re just being picky now – and we don’t like ourselves for it much.

There really is nothing to raise a frown or prompt a tut here.

Yes, it has an underneath. No doubt about it. Not much to say really, as most of it is covered by trays, heat shields and protectors - which seem to have done a sterling job of, er, protecting it.

There is no rust, save the standard superficial bloom of rust dust, visible anywhere. Everything is in its right and proper place and appears unchallenged by time, mileage or mishap.

It’s a similar story in the very clean and tidy engine bay.

This Maserati has a full book of stamps, plus bills and receipts to cover most work done in the last decade or so.

Importantly (as Maserati aficionados will know), this car had its cam variators replaced under warranty just before the vendor purchased it.

The discs and pads were replaced about three years ago (since when it has done really very few miles) and the tyres are fairly new.

The car received a full service at Meridien just before Christmas, when the vendor asked them to highlight anything that needed doing to get the car properly sorted and fettled.

Every task on the list was then carried out by ShilTech Maserati specialists in February 2021 at a cost of £6,600.

The car has an MoT certificate, with no advisories, valid until 27.1.22.

This is a vehicle that combines luxury and style with plenty of performance and continent-crushing ability.

It’s also a thing of beauty, a joy to behold and a thrill to drive. And it’s been properly looked after and had the right money spent on it at the right time.

This, then, is an exquisitely crafted, classily understated, highly desirable car and one that we feel sure will make its next owner’s heart swell with pride every time he or she opens the garage door.

We like it a great deal and we think you will, too.

We are happy to offer this car for auction with an estimate in the £18,000 - £24,000 range.

Inspection is always encouraged, within Govt. guidelines of course, and this particular car is located with us at The Market HQ near Abingdon; to arrange an appointment please use the ‘Contact Seller’ button at the top of the listing. Feel free to ask any questions or make observations in the comments section below, or try our ‘Frequently Asked Questions’.