Maserati GranCabrio Debuts

If you are looking for a car on which to spend your lottery winnings, the new Maserati GranCabrio might just be the ideal bet. It's the first 4-seat convertible in the Trident carmaker's history, and it's glitzy, for sure. If the idea of St. Tropez or Las Vegas glamour doesn't appeal, then this machine is not for you. But it will impress anyone who finds style an important factor in a car.

Take the interior, for instance. The GranCabrio has four delicious-looking seats, and heaps of detailing and blond wood around the steering wheel and along the dashboard. The GranCabrio is capable of turning even the most hard-nosed captains of industry weak at the knees.

Residing alongside the debutant GranCabrio is the entire current Maserati lineup. The Aston Martin Rapide and Porsche Panamera may hold novelty value, being so new. But for our money, the Maserati Quattroporte remains the most lascivious 4-door saloon you can buy — it is always worth a look.

Then there's the car the GranCabrio is derived from, the lip-smacking GranTurismo. A true 4-seater coupe with immense presence (in part thanks to its rather pronounced size), the only travesty about the S version is that the folks at Maserati can't fire it up inside to demonstrate the truly biblical exhaust noise.

We doubt the standard GranCabrio offers quite the same level of aural entertainment, by which we mean decibel level. With the same 440-horse 4.7-liter V8 as the GranTurismo S, the GranCabrio's dispensable roof will surely make it an even better place to appreciate the mellifluous Italian engine tones.

It's just with any luck they won't be at quite the same volume — the combination of GranTurismo S exhaust tuning and the wind rushing by would likely make all conversation impossible. Since the GranCabrio really does offer generous seating for four, this would presumably be a shame.

After all, when you're wafting along the seafront in the south of France, you want the passers-by to appreciate that you're a person of sophisticated conversation as well as superb automotive taste, right? But we digress. The GranCabrio is perhaps the most alluring convertible on the market.