Need a genuine four-seater, £170,000 luxury convertible for the school run? Maserati has you covered
The Maserati GranCabrio is one of the last remaining examples of the four-seat luxury convertible: one of those concepts that’s probably more appealing on paper – or in some romantic, coming-of-age road trip movie, perhaps – than in the real world.It takes about ten seconds travelling in the back of one to appreciate why. There’s seldom an abundance of space; and there’s so much wind buffeting and fluttering that you can’t really hear any conversation – or even succeed in wearing a hat for very long. Imagine travelling eight miles to visit inlaws, or for a weekend away, exclusively via a particularly draughty rollercoaster and you’ll begin to get the idea.Most luxury car manufacturers – the likes of Bentley, BMW and Mercedes-Benz – have come to tacitly admit as much by declining to offer big, four-seat convertibles anymore. Their flagship open-top cars are now almost exclusively ‘2+2’ models in which the back seats are pretty clearly there for short hops and ‘emergencies’ only.But the second-generation Maserati GranCabrio – which entered production earlier in 2024, and is now in the UK in right-hand drive form – is the exception. This is the one luxury cabriolet operator that targets genuine four-seat usability. And you don’t have to drive it everywhere with the roof down, of course; there’s a lovely motorised cloth hood to keep the wind out, when you want to.It’s available in either Trofeo (V6 ICE) or Folgore (three-motor electric) forms, and our review is opening with impressions of the former.
