You Can Buy The Best Damn Road Trip Car Ever For The Price Of A Used SUV
What's important to you in a car? Is it comfort? Fuel efficiency? Speed? How about prestige and overall experience? Well, it better be one of those things because this Maserati Granturismo S, is the best possible mix of everything you need in a car- for a price of a lightly used SUV from CarMax.
This 2009 Maserati Granturiso S is the car everyone needs in order to feel whole again, and I'll tell you why. It has a massive amount of space inside – so much in fact, that it can fit four adults comfortably for hours on end – no easy feat for an exotic. Its 434 horsepower 4.7-liter V8 engine is derived from the Ferrari F430, except the one in this car is bigger, therefore better.
It also has an cargo-shorts-ruining exhaust note that no other car in this price range will ever come close to matching. No, it doesn't have the crash-boom-bang single clutch automated manual transmission that plagued Maseratis of old – this GT has the bulletproof ZF 6-speed automatic that shifts quickly in sport mode and drives as smoothly as your grandmother's Honda Civic LX in regular operation.
It's beautiful from every angle, even though I do admit I'd change out the sunken-looking wheels for something with a bit more dish. This particular example is one of the best you can buy today, and it costs less than a base model BMW 5 series. Depreciation - why you so good to me?
Though I'm not a fan of the safe black on black color scheme, the car's a vinyl wrap away from any color on the spectrum. Although the interior does look a bit dated with buttons and switches on the cheaper and less ergonomicaly friendly side, they're not unusable and with a little getting used-to, could become second nature to anyone driving this car on long trips. But don't fool yourself, that isn't why you're buying the car- it's all about the driving experience, which this car absolutely knocks out of the park, into the next town over.
This is an absolute must-buy for me, even with the above average for a supercar but way below average for a regular car mileage, which stands at a barely broken in 44,000 miles. While some jaded autojournalists might tell you that this car is a bit floaty and not thrilling in comparison with some more taught exotics, this car is the unrelenting jack of all trades that everyone wishes they could have.
It's very literally an exotic sports car you could and should drive every day. Maintenance and repair is pricey, but it doesn't approach Ferrari-level insanity because the engine is in the right place for your independent mechanic to get to it. Apart from some small issues with interior panel fitment and longevity, it's a stout drivetrain in an amazingly sleek body, with a Ferrari soundtrack and a price tag that anyone can afford, if'n they save up enough cash.
Get it before I do and write about it for a year.
Tavarish is the founder of APiDA Online and writes and makes videos about buying and selling cool cars on the internet. He owns the world's cheapestMercedes S-Class, a graffiti-bombed Lexus, and he's the only Jalopnik author that has never driven a Miata. He also has a real name that he didn't feel was journalist-y enough so he used a pen name and this was the best he could do.
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