Of course, it is customary at this stage of a buying guide to point out what a grave mistake you would be making by buying such a car. To the usual horrors, high running costs and questionable reliability among them, you can add almost zero availability of certain crucial spare parts. It’s £20,000 for a reason.
Still, park those niggles for a moment and the Gransport is clearly a charismatic car worthy of further investigation. It was launched in 2004 as a sportier version of the already sporty Coupé (commonly known as the 4200 GT, being the successor to the 3200 GT).
Its additional fizz derived from an extra 10bhp, the standard-fit faster-acting version of Ferrari’s Formula 1-style Cambiocorsa six-speed semiautomatic paddle-shift gearbox with a taller sixth gear, Skyhook active suspension that reduced the ride height and brought more composure and an exhaust that sounded growlier, especially in Sport mode.
In addition, it enjoyed a full body makeover: restyled bumpers with chrome mesh grilles, new side skirts, a rear lip spoiler and Trofeo 19in spoked alloy wheels. Underneath, there was new cladding designed to smooth airflow and reduce lift.
Inside, sumptuous sports seats necessitated a slimmer centre console crafted from carbonfibre, which also covered the dashboard.
A handful of special editions followed, most notably the MC Victory, launched in 2006 to mark the 2005 FIA GT Championship success of the Maserati MC12.
It was no more powerful than the Gransport but had slightly quicker steering, a little more downforce and a lot more carbonfibre. It’s extremely rare, but you can grab several examples with 40,000 miles for a shade under £60,000.
Despite the very positive review extracts quoted earlier, our testers weren’t that impressed with it at the time. Most of the other criticism we made of the Spyder, which measured 229mm shorter than the coupé and thus lacked rear seats, was aimed at poor practicality, refinement and insufficient dynamic polish.
With the roof in place, there’s more wind noise at motorway speed than you would hear in, say, a Porsche 911 Cabriolet.
