2025 Maserati GranTurismo Folgore | UK Review

Heard the one about the 2.2-tonne, £180k electric Maserati sports car? It's actually pretty good

By Stephen Dobie / Wednesday 5 March 2025 / Loading comments

Let’s get the biggies out of the way first. If you’re here to guffaw at another overpowered, overpriced and overweight EV, then the Maserati GranTurismo Folgore’s numbers are thus: 761hp, £180k and 2,260kg. The latter will redden the faces of purists most, not least because it makes this a Maserati sports car that weighs as much as two PH heroes combined.

But this is an EV like few others I’ve driven. While its silhouette and long, luxuriant bonnet parrot its V6 equivalent, the latest GranTurismo and GranCabrio were designed from the outset to take their power from either the plug or pump. They each represent more of a leap forward than their evolutionary styling indicates, even if the charging flap of the Folgore incongruously interrupts the surface of the rear bumper like a blemish on a Hollywood star.

It's at odds with the rather slick transition beneath. At the core of the Folgore is a T-bone battery structure that helps keep you low-slung in the cockpit while accommodating enough cells to power three 408hp motors (albeit not all at their peak, all at once) for up to 280 miles of WLTP range or a 202mph top speed, the double ton a rarity in the world of EVs. The novel layout also yields 50/50 weight distribution, improving on the 52/48 f/r of an ICE GranTurismo.

There’s one motor up front and two at the rear, giving the Folgore AWD but allowing 100 per cent of the 761hp/996lb ft combined peak to be delivered at the rear axle. GT, Sport and Corsa driving modes alter the aggression of the power delivery and damping with the latter loosening the stability control and allowing you three levels of torque vectoring assertion – Stable, Standard and Agile – the latter really waking up the chassis beneath you.

It unlocks this car’s most impressive trick: feeling fun and ferocious at regular road speeds, albeit only when there’s room to play in a car of this heft. The feeling starts right from a prod of its throttle. For all its riotous straight-line performance – 0-62mph achieved in 2.7sec – there’s a linearity to its forward thrust that’s strangely coddling. Especially compared to the much more binary (yet less powerful) Audi S6 e-tron I travelled to Maserati’s West Midlands event in.

The Italians have subtly nailed the warbling, synthesised soundtrack which acts as a backdrop. This is categorically not a car that needs artificial gears or an OTT noise profile to feel like a performance EV of merit. Its natural buildup of sound helps immerse you in the process of acceleration and inhibits the internal uneasiness that can accompany such devilish pace. It also softens to a hush as you ease off the throttle and into a cruise, a transition which BMWs and their Hans Zimmer crescendos don’t always nail. The calibration is so smooth that I repeatedly pull the long, slender paddles expecting gearshifts until my brain finally tunes into the fact they serve a different function here (namely brake regen adjustment). Perhaps they’re also a useful security blanket to cling onto during Maser’s leap of faith into the future.

Quick-witted steering and progressive pedals make this a simple car to start exploring. And given its almighty numbers, a surprising amount of the resulting performance (or at least the sensation of it) feels safely accessible on a grimy British B road, predictable responses allied to instant torque for snatched moments of glory where you can find them.

Corsa mode cranks the damping up a little too much and turns the ESC off whether you like it or not, yet the car doesn’t become a liability and you might ramp things up more frequently than you expect. Assuming range isn’t a pressing concern, of course. While this car would more convincingly prove its abilities on a deliciously unspooled Alpine pass, the reality of Great British commuting ties its 2.2 tonnes in far fewer knots than it ought to. Even if the Folgore’s considerable heft is never truly shrugged off and its V6 sibling – being 465kg lighter – steers and rides with a heap more immediacy and fluidity in comparison.

It'll do everyday stuff well and the interior is broadly a very nice place to be. Those paddles look spiffing and set the tone right away, encouraging you to get more stuck into exploring its brake regen levels than a switch or sub-menu ever would. The materials, fit and finish take a stride on over the old GranTurismo with the ambience only really undermined by an over-reliance on screens. A misstep no better evidenced than by the central, circular clock which mimics the endless configurability and inescapable lack of soul of a smartwatch. Have another peek down the bonnet and its sculptured haunches and you might just let Maserati off the hook…

There’s tangible depth to the engineering which breeds a slightly sad irony – that perhaps the most accomplished Maserati GT in a generation comes without the requisite range to gulp down distances. Its 800v architecture and resulting 270kW rapid charging should at least ensure reasonably short stops if you’re brave enough to give it a go, though. With luck and a fair wind, the Folgore can accrue 62 miles in five minutes, while a 20-80 per cent charge takes 18 minutes at full pelt. Call it half an hour in reality.

The price is monumental, I can’t deny that, and who knows what it’ll be worth in a year or two’s time. It’s certainly not an investment opportunity. But beyond that, I can’t think of a modern Maserati I’ve had to make fewer excuses for bar the terrific MC20. That’s a car of raw, singular focus whereas this GranTurismo feels malleable to most desires bar a lengthy Autobahn blast. It also stands far prouder of its rivals than its internal combustion sibling, going some way to justify a starting point fifty grand taller than a base GranTurismo.

Choosing one of those amongst a bunch of Astons and 911s is a tough task that boils down to looks, character and spirit, much like it did with the Ghiblis and 4200GTs of yore. The low rev limit and overriding chuffs and hisses of its turbocharged delivery also ensure the Folgore doesn’t demonstrate too much of a sonic deficiency alongside it, a huge leap in performance and wow factor compensating for any loss. Maserati is no stranger to cloudy crystal ball readings and as rumours abound concerning its future – and Stellantis’ patience as its guardian – it’s at least heartening to know the products coming out of Modena are as technically intriguing as they’ve ever been. It’s just a shame the Folgore’s price and range currently carve it into such a niche proposition.

SPECIFICATION | MASERATI GRANTURISMO FOLGORE

Engine: 800V lithium-ion battery, 83kWh useable capacity (92.5kWh net)
Transmission: single electric motor front, twin motors rear
Power (hp): 761
Torque (lb ft): 996
0-62mph: 2.7 seconds
Top speed: 202mph
Weight: 2,260kg
Range: 280 miles, efficiency 2.7-2.8 miles/kWh (WLTP)
CO2: 0g/km
Price: £179,950