Key considerations
- Available for £18,000
- 4.2-litre V8 petrol, rear-wheel drive
- Fine Ferrari engine but some gearboxes went wrong
- Better to drive than the old Coupe
- Gobbles up fuel at quite a rate
- An aristocratic experience for commoner’s money
Guess how much a new Ford Focus costs? No Googling now, just play the game and have a guess. If you get within £5,000 of the answer you have our permission to give yourself a pat on the back. In spring 2023 the recommended retail price of a Focus started at just under £28,000.
If that came as a shock, how about this: for that same £28,000 you could be polishing a historic and evocative badge, listening to a naturally aspirated Ferrari-built V8, and creating lovely leather-lined cross-continental memories with up to three of your mates. Not only that, you’d have £10,000 in your back pocket left over for fuel and champagne.
Sounds like an impossible dream, but a genuine slice of Italian exotica for £18,000 is exactly what’s on offer in the slinky shape of the Maserati GranSport four-seat coupe. That’s not what you’ll be paying for some mega-mileage clunker riddled with issues either. That’s for a historied example with fewer than 50,000 miles on the clock.
Unveiled at the 2004 Geneva show, the GranSport was a higher-performing version of the M138 Coupe that had made its debut in 2001. Giugiaro had designed those early 3200/4200 Coupe cars but the GranSport was penned by American styling ace and New Mini designer Frank Stephenson. The distinctive ‘boomerang’ rear lights of the old Coupe didn’t make it in his design. This was controversial. There’s quite a story behind that if you care to look it up.
The GranSport’s 90-degree V8 was a ‘proper’ crossplane engine. As in the 4200, it displaced 4.2 litres but power was hoisted from 390PS (385hp) to a more headline-friendly 400PS (395hp), with maximum torque remaining unchanged at 333lb ft. Similarly, the top speed was raised from 177mph to a more thrilling sounding 180mph. The 0-62mph time was 4.9 or 5.1 seconds depending on whose side you were on. Read into that lot what you will. Whereas the first M138s were available with either a 6-speed manual in the GT model or a Graziano-supplied ‘Cambiocorsa’ (‘race shift’) hydraulic automated manual, the GranSport only came with the Cambiocorsa auto, recalibrated to gee up the shifting.
The GranSport Spyder was launched at Frankfurt in 2005. Unusually it was nine inches shorter than the Coupe and had no back seats, but with the roof down you did get full sonic value through a tunnel. A Limited Edition coupe was released in 2006 with heated seats with driver’s-side memory, Xenon lights, rear parking sensors, Trofeo wheels in Grigio Mercury and an Auditorium audio system. Spyders numbered about 470, most of which went to the US, which means that used examples are very thin on the ground in the UK. In fact, we couldn’t find any for sale here at the time of writing.
In total, around 2,400 GranSport coupes were built between 2004 and 2007, plus 180 ‘MC Victory’ coupes in 2006 to commemorate the MC12’s winning of the FIA GT championship the year before. These Victory cars had plenty of carbon aero body parts along with an Alcantara/carbon interior, heavily bolstered carbon race seats pinched from the MC12 cupboard, a quicker steering rack and Italian flag badges inset in the front wings.
MC Victories are rarely found on the used market. The last one we saw was priced at £58k from Richard Grace, one of the UK’s prime used Maserati outlets. Don’t worry though, if you want to join the Maserati club you’ll have no trouble finding a decent selection of regular GranSport coupes at prices starting from £18,000. We’ll link you to a few of those at the end of this piece.
SPECIFICATION | MASERATI GRANSPORT (2004-07)
Engine: 4,244cc V8 32v
Transmission: 6-speed automated manual, rear-wheel drive
Power (hp): 395@7,000rpm
Torque (lb ft): 333@4,500rpm
0-62mph (secs): 4.9
Top speed (mph): 155
Weight (kg): 1,680
MPG (official combined): 15.2
CO2 (g/km): 430
Wheels (in): 8x19 (f), 9.5x19 (r)
Tyres: 235/35 (f), 265/30 (r)
On sale: 2004 - 2007
Price new: £66,600
Price now: from £18,000
Note for reference: car weight and power data are hard to pin down with absolute certainty. For consistency, we use the same source for all our guides. We hope the data we use is right more often than it’s wrong. Our advice is to treat it as relative rather than definitive.
ENGINE & GEARBOX
After buying Maserati in the 1990s, Fiat handed the marque off to Ferrari in the hope that they might be able to sprinkle some magic on a range that had gone a bit dusty. As a result, the serious Maserati engines from the early 2000s were made by Ferrari. The F136 engine in the GranSport was a naturally aspirated dry-sump F430 unit with a 7,600rpm rev ceiling and with a maximum output of 395hp that wasn’t attained until 7,000rpm. Nothing much happened below 2,000rpm but it sounded brilliant at any speed and even better with Larini decats and Tubi exhausts.
As noted earlier, the only gearbox you could get with the GranSport was the Cambiocorsa transmission. It was basically the Ferrari F1 box, a single-clutch automated manual that had impressed few reviewers or owners. Maserati persevered with it and got it to a decent level of functionality in the GranTurismo, the Quattroporte-based coupe that superseded the GranSport in 2007, but in the GranSport it would try to get into sixth as soon as possible if you left it in auto mode and then act dumb if your right foot asked for a quick response. Changes generally were slow and lumpy. You could improve them by easing off the throttle to take the pressure off the box but it was never really happy at low or medium speeds, and reversing felt like an imposition.
By far the best plan was to put it in Sport mode and then tape over the button so you were never tempted to touch it again. That sped up the changes by 35 per cent. You could work the paddles and enjoy the bark of revs on downshifts through exhaust valves that were always open in that mode (in auto they only opened at 4,000rpm). If you wanted to make it the best gearbox it could be, a ‘Drive By Wire Enhancement Module’ from Formula Dynamics in the US did a good job of smoothing the automated action and cutting down the long delay before first would engage from neutral.
Fitting the larger gearshift paddles from the GranTurismo was quite a common mod. We think these might not have had the felt backing that Maserati in its wisdom decided to glue onto the backs of the GranSport’s standard paddles. The reverse selection lever has been known to break. Hill Engineering in Orpington can help you with a replacement for this and quite a few other less-than-perfect GranSport bits, like for example the connector for the oil pipe feeding into the bottom of the sump which could suffer from galvanic corrosion.
The big stumbling block with the Cambiocorsa was the life expectancy of a batch of clutches. This was generally quoted to be 30-40,000 miles. That meant 30,000 if you were a glass half-empty type, 20,000 if you were born unlucky or 10,000 if you knew beyond all doubt that the whole world was against you. The cost of replacement was in the order of £4,000. Putting in a clutch from the Ferrari F430 reportedly resulted in a superior drive.
The pump relay for the gearbox could overheat, leaving you with no gears. A higher capacity relay would sort that. Gearboxes have blown as a result of insufficient oil. Talking of overheating, moving back to the engine, the Nippon Denso alternator lived a hot life in the centre of the vee under the air intake plenum and could fail as a result. Rebuild parts aren’t available so you have to buy the complete unit. A similar fate could befall the clutch for the air conditioning compressor which was surrounded by the exhaust manifold. A new compressor will be at least £700.
Driving through standing water needed to be done carefully otherwise water might get into the engine via an air intake positioned under the left bumper. The bolts holding on the air cleaner housing could rust in damp climates, eg Britain’s. Cam cover gaskets could be leaky. Cam timing was by chain.
Many would associate this type of car with electrical problems but the evidence is that these seem to affect other models more than they do the GranSport. It was a good plan to periodically clean the throttle body and the MAF sensor, access to which required a special security Torx set. Hot starting could occasionally be an issue. This was usually fixable by replacing the temperature sensor or, if not that, by replacing the injector rail. If not that then you would look at the fuel charcoal canister. Rattly startups were more common, generally traceable to oil collecting in the variator connector. Replacing the two variators was reasonably straightforward as long as you took extreme care not to let their small connecting block fall into the engine. Replacing the oil non-return valve was another handy trick.
Non-starting was often down to dirty contacts on the starter button. Lambda sensors gave up over time, as did radiators, but obviously these weren’t Maserati-exclusive things. Cats could crumble too. That was expensive. Some mechanics will tell you that 21st century (i.e. 2000-on) Maseratis are not very nice to work on. Grimaldi Engineering in Halstead near Ipswich have a good rep for servicing these. JMH Engineering, a Cheshire-based independent, offers fixed-price servicing for the GranSport. They quote £570 for the annual/10k service (inspection, oil change, pollen filter), £980 for a major service which adds aux belts, new brake and power steering fluids and coolant. For the 3-yearly/31k spark plug changed it’s £342. HR Owen, a Maserati dealer, has fixed-price servicing starting at £599.
If you drive a GranSport for 10,000 miles a year your biggest expense in the UK at least is not going to be servicing. It’s going to be fuel. Extrapolate the official combined average of 15mpg over 10,000 miles at an average cost for petrol of £1.47 per litre at the time of writing and you’re looking at nearly £4,500 a year. The tank held 88 litres, or over 19 gallons, but at that consumption rate you’d be lucky to see 300 miles out of a tankful. Booting it everywhere and/or spending most of your time in town would increase your fuel burn to nearer to, or lower than, the official urban figure of 10mpg. GranSport owners weren’t really bothered by any of that though, or by the sometimes wince-inducing cost of spares (assuming you could get them – Maserati didn’t go in for as much cross-marque componentry with Fiat as you might have hoped) because the sound it made on the open road was magnificent.
CHASSIS
The Skyhook adaptive suspension that had been quite problematic in the earlier 3200/4200 cars (although, oddly, less so in contemporary Ferraris) delivered a comfortable and composed ride at moderate speeds. The factory shocks were Sachs items that needed reconditioning fairly regularly. Replacing them with a set of KW V3s delivered very worthwhile improvements.
Steering and braking were already improved over the old Coupe. All in all the GranSport was highly useable even on British B roads with entertaining rear-drive characteristics, although you did need to exercise a little care in the wet as there wasn’t a vast amount of rubber on the 19-inch wheels and the safety electronics were quite dim-witted.
You’d never group the GranSport with Porsche’s 911 in terms of sportiness but once you’ve remembered never to use anything other than Sport mode to sharpen both the chassis and the transmission you’ll be more than happy with the Maserati, especially as it came with the bonus of a lot more cabin space than the Porsche.
Suspension control arms, especially the lower fronts, were given to cracking. Rear tie-rod bearings went. These problems were usually flagged up by vibrations through the steering wheel. Even with unworn suspension the Spyder suffered quite badly from ‘mobile steering column’ on poor roads.
Tyres are an odd size and can be hard to find at economic prices. They can wear unevenly on the inner edges. At least one GranSport wheel has cracked after hitting a two-inch ridge. Some have found 18-inch wheels to be vastly superior to the 19-inch BBSs in terms of ride comfort. EuroSpares do pattern wheels.
BODYWORK
The mild aero tweaks front and rear really helped to polish up the look of the GranSport relative to the 4200. One of the most strongly favoured paint colours was Blu Mediterraneo. Obviously, you should look under any UK car for signs of corrosion. Rust could form around the rear lights.
Door lock barrels could sometimes malfunction, locking the doors unbidden and requiring the use of the key to unlock them. The internet suggests that you can no longer purchase lock barrels from Maserati or Fiat but it also tells us that this issue can sometimes fix itself. Very Italian. That’s quite a rare one anyway. Rattles coming from inside the doors generally indicated a window regulator issue. Headlamp lenses could ‘milk over’ on the inside if you lived in a sunny place, eg not Britain. These are a pain to remove as you have to take the bumper off first and then they’re glued into channels.
The boot wasn’t huge at 315 litres but it was plenty big enough for a ritzy weekend away. Lift the spare wheel to check for water in the boot well. The rubber surround for the rear window has been known to distort.
INTERIOR
It was hard not to be impressed by the first sight of the GranSport’s interior, although the standard ‘Technical’ cloth was not so impressive. Most UK cars were leathered up, including the headlining, and there were some nice splashes of carbon fibre in the cabin. Of course, there was also that trademark analogue clock elegantly advising you how fashionably late you were.
Quality wasn’t peerless. The rubberised buttons became sticky over time and the chrome around the air vents flaked off. The outside temperature readout wasn’t always truthful but you could easily fix this by replacing the door mirror-mounted sensor.
A malfunctioning radio is not usually a harbinger of something worse but it could be on a GranSport. If your AM signal became weak, it was wise to check the passenger footwell for dampness because it might well be that your heater matrix was leaking and dripping onto your radio. An Alfa part would do the job there at around a sixth the price of a Maser-branded one. Some say that a Volvo one fits too. Another drainage pipe could sometimes leak into the driver’s footwell.
PH VERDICT
The GranSport lives in a kind of limbo land. It’s not quite a Ferrari, but it’s not far off one. Some folk will give you the thumbs-up for driving one, others will give you the single digit. Routine running costs can be crippling, and not just on fuel either, but the driving experience is liberating. Although the core engine is strong, it wasn’t fault-free and parts availability today, 16 years after the GranSport line closed down, is far from perfect. Overall though the GranSport made a good fist of combining sporting ability with four-seat capability, a task that ‘2+2’ cars like the Aston DB9 didn’t accomplish nearly as well.
The good thing about the GranSport’s mix of high running costs, reputational uncertainty and the difficulty of finding many parts is that it keeps secondhand values realistic. Just one year ago the entry price was £20k. Now it’s down to £18k. You’d think they can’t lose much more. Even if you buy one and sell it a year from now your losses will be small – assuming nothing breaks of course. They’re really cheap in the UK compared to elsewhere in Europe or further afield, so advertising overseas might get you all of your money back and more.
The most affordable GranSport on PH Classifieds (and as far as we could see anywhere in the UK) at the time of writing was this 49,000-miler from the first year of production at £17,995. There’s no info on service history, but 35,000 of those miles were accumulated in its first three years and it’s done minimal annual mileages since, the only advisories in that time being for worn tyres or smudgy registration plates. It could be a good find but you will need to see that service paperwork.
For £1,000 more you’ll get all the paper gold you need with this 41,000-mile ’06 car. Again, the only MOT advisories have been minor wear-related issues like tyres and suspension arms, and the good news is that it’s had its clutch replaced in the last 2,000 miles or so. Annoyingly there appears to be a cig burn on the driver’s seat and the seat base has had a few kicks but otherwise she’s a tempter at £18,995. If you want a keeper rather than a daily driver then this black-on-black privately-owned 10,900-mile specimen from the last year of production could be the answer. It’s not cheap at £29,950, which puts it at the very top of the price tree, and the clutch replacement hasn’t been done yet, but the service book is heavily stamped and the PZeros are effectively new.
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