Rest of the Web Says We've gathered reviews from Edmunds.com, Cars.com plus live Tweets on this car. See What We Found »
"Cachet" sounds like some kind of exotic Italian baggage, and in the case of the 2012 Maserati GranTurismo coupes and convertibles, it's baggage we don't mind carrying on, and on, and on.
The GranTurismo replaced the GranSport a few years ago, and stunning must have been the mission assigned to designers. Today's grand tourer is a gorgeous piece, with a low-slung front end and a hippy rear end and a stunning, soothing interior upholstered in your choice of custom finishes.
The powertrain's core is a magnificent Ferrari-sourced V-8. This year, all GranTurismos are powered by the larger-displacement 4.7-liter eight, with either 433 or 444 horsepower shuttled to the rear wheels through a responsive ZF six-speed automatic. There's no manual to be had, but you'll barely miss it in Sport mode, clicking away at the GranTurismo's paddle shifters and letting the Skyhook suspension take the sting off the worst kinds of pavement while soaking up its excellent grand-touring ride quality.
At the extreme, the MC coupe has a non-adjustable suspension tuned more tightly for competition, if you're inclined to weekend track dates, but it's not the kind of car that tackles the track credentials of cars like the 911 head-on. The best GranTurismo will drop 60-mph runs in 4.8 seconds, right in Aston and Jaguar territory but a second slower at least than the fastest Porsches in the price range. The sonorous engine note alone is more soulful than any spec-sheet champ we've driven, though, and that has to count for something in a world of numbers-driven supercars.
The Ferrari-inspired engine is an awesome piece, but the GranTurismo's four-seat cabin is the real rarity, and a useful one. We're not suggesting you stuff NBA recruits back there, but the rear seats are usable for all but the biggest adults. The trunk has just enough room for a pair of weekend bags.
Elsewhere, the GranTurismo's up to date with technology, including a standard navigation system, Bluetooth, and a Bose audio system. The options list blooms with cosmetic frills and haute-coutuore fillips-- custom-stitched seats, a choice of wood trim and differently colored leathers stitched on the seats, steering wheel and dash. You'd be missing the point if you didn't spend for the red-painted calipers or the trident-embroidered headrests.
That custom look and feel is the point, in case you missed it in the blur of rushing landscape and the Doppler snarl of the sport exhaust. The GranTurismo's not about logical decisions. It's the Italian analogue to Jaguar XK, another car that warms your heart well before it sinks into your brain. They're gentleman's GTs, nearly bespoke in style as well as in pricetag, distinctive and worthy because of what they're not.
At the recent 2011 New York Auto Show, Maserati launched the hard-edged GranTurismo MC Stradale for America. At first glance, it looked just like the car the Italian automaker launched in the rest of the world a couple months back. But upon further inspection, the U.S.-spec MC doesn't have the idiotic interior arrangements of the global MC Stradale. It doesn't have a rollcage that precludes use of the back seats - that is, if there were any back seats, because they, too, have been removed. It's also missing the daft four-point harnesses that take ages to fasten and prevent you from reaching out to pay tolls.
Let's face it, these quasi-race items are pointless. MC might stand for Maserati Corse [Racing], but if you wanted a track-day car, you wouldn't start out with a 4000-pound machine on a 116-inch wheelbase. The GranTurismo handles mighty fine for a four-seater. But on track days, you don't want any 'for a...' provisos. You want a fine-handling car, period. For circuit use you'd go for a natural-born two seater, not a bigger car that's lost its back chairs to a roll cage. 
Further inspection reveals the American MC also lacks a lot of the other features that make the global MC Stradale so darned wonderful. Sure, it has all the aerodynamic changes, but they really only enhance stability at U.S. road-irrelevant speeds. It has the newly revised 444-hp engine. But that's only a scant 10 hp up on the existing GranTurismo S. The U.S. model sadly has a six-speed front-mounted slush autobox, rather than the global MC Stradale's quick-shifting six-speed AMT rear transaxle, to the detriment of performance, weight, and weight distribution. Our MC also lacks their MC Stradale's carbon ceramic brakes. And it's a couple hundred pounds heavier.OK, how and why is the global MC so great? What are we missing here?Body Style: Convertible, CoupeMotor Trend Rating: 
