The first thing you need to know about the new Maserati is that I haven’t driven this car. I felt compelled to write this after seeing a few on the road, and looking over the details. This is one of the first supercars that got the recipe right.

Think about how many 100k+ sports cars you see on the road. If you think about it really hard, you almost never see Ferraris or Lambo’s - you see more 100k+ mercedes sports cars than anything else, I see SL500/600/55’s daily. I see Ferrari’s around once a week. I think what Maserati have done with the GrandTourismo is give you the excitement of a supercar without all of typical drawbacks. Here’s why:

1. It has an automatic gearbox - Yes, having the sweet SMG clutch-auto transmissions is great for the track, ever try driving one around town? It is not fun, other than the Audi DSG (there are other variants of this spectacular BorgWarner trasmission coming in this years’s M3, and the ‘09 911 line) but for the most part high end cars are wither manual’s, or SMG’s. I’ll take the automatic for LA traffic, thanks.

2. It doesn’t have a volcano for an engine - With around 400 HP and a a 4,200lb curb weight, this thing has enough power to get you into trouble, and fun without melting the asphalt. I always feel sympathy watching people in their 650hp Lambo driving down the 405 - what’s the point? And because it doesn’t have the enormous engine, you aren’t afraid of using it.

3. It looks AMAZING - The visual feast of this car is fantastic, something you don’t even get close to with any merc, bmw, or other luxo-sports cars, it is simply STUNNING. Its exciting just to look at, and that is half of the battle won. No 9 year olds want a boring SL600 pinned up on their wall, but they would want one of these.

This is the recipe for success, lots of these will sell to poser soccer moms who want to look fast, and they will also sell lots of these to true enthusiasts who want to drive fast, but not die for the cause. Kudos.