GranTurismo Trofeo

A grand tourer asks for road, and southern Sardinia has it in abundance: from Cagliari, the Costa del Sud unspools wide corners above the sea all the way to Capo Spartivento, then Chia, Teulada and — across the gulf — Villasimius, with its coast road suspended over the blue. It is perfect terrain for the Trofeo's 550 hp Nettuno V6 and all-wheel drive: enough space to stretch its legs, enough corners that boredom never gets a look in. Our Cagliari–Chia–Villasimius grand tourer itinerary was written for exactly this kind of day.

The point is that this coupé never makes you choose between travelling and driving. Four genuine seats, a boot that takes two couples' cabin cases, and a ride quality that leaves no fatigue at the end of the day: take delivery in Cagliari in the morning and you are dining in Villasimius that evening with an entire coastline behind you. On an island where the best roads are never just behind the hotel, that is an advantage you feel every single day.

The Nettuno is the same three-litre twin-turbo V6 with racing-derived pre-chamber combustion as the MC20's, tuned here to 550 hp and a rounder character. On start-up the note is low and rich; as the revs rise it turns metallic, the turbos whistling through the mid-range and the exhaust valves opening in Sport and Corsa modes. The 3.5-second run to 100 km/h arrives without drama: all-wheel drive puts every last horsepower to the ground, even on the rippled tarmac of the Sulcis back roads.

The eight-speed automatic plays both registers: invisible when you are cruising, quick and decisive the moment the pace lifts, with steering-wheel paddles for those who prefer to call the shifts themselves. The steering is precise without ever turning nervous, the low centre of gravity keeps the coupé flat through committed corners, and at cruising speed the cabin stays quiet enough for conversation at a murmur. That is the difference between a fast car and a true grand tourer: this one never presents the bill.

GranTurismo is the most storied name in the Trident's catalogue, and Trofeo is how Maserati takes it to the petrol-engined summit: 550 hp, a 320 km/h top speed and an impossibly long bonnet that stretches the silhouette to the edge of extravagance. Our car wears Blu Emozione, a deep shade that seems to shift tone with the light at sunset along the Cagliari waterfront.

Inside, the surprise is in the back: not a token gesture but seats in which two adults genuinely travel — a rarity among high-performance coupés. It is why the Trofeo ranks among the grand tourers for rent in Sardinia best suited to those who want to cross the island rather than merely photograph it, within a fleet of more than 100 models and over 150 versions.