2024 Maserati Grecale Trofeo Quick Review

Welcome to Extra Throttle House. I'm Thomas. And I'm James. And James has been living with this big yellow bubble bee of a car. Yeah, which you'd think that that means that I've been really obnoxious and flashy, but where I've been staying there's G-Wagons and Uruses, so this is actually... I don't know, I think you fit in just fine. This is under the radar wealth. Is it? No. It's a bright yellow Maserati. I asked our Discord what they thought of it. Yeah. And the Instagram as well, and everyone said Ford Puma. That is exactly what it looks like. And that's me. Anyway, this is the Grecale Trofeo. Yes. Which means it's the big-boyed petrol version of the Grecale. There is a four-cylinder hybrid, right? There's lower trims. There's like the GT, I think, and a Modena, and then there's this, and then there's going to be the Folgore, which is the EV. Oh, it's going to be the EV. Yeah, it's the same treatment that the Gran Turismo gets. Yeah, but this has got the Nattuno engine. It's got the Nattuno engine, just like the Gran Turismo we drove. Right. And we liked the Gran Turismo a lot. We did. But the problem we had with it, and the problem we had with the Ghibli, and the problem we had with the Levante, is the price. And Maserati's learned. So they've learned their lesson. This is cheaper. It's more affordable. They've learned to not give a ----. This is still very expensive. Very expensive. Okay, good to know. It fits in between Macan, Cayenne size, but it's basically an X3M fighter. Right. And this Trofeo starts at $110 US. And this is a nice yellow paint. I will say this. You can't see it because it's overcast. Wait, hold on a second. That's cheaper than the Gran Turismo, isn't it? The Gran Turismo was really expensive. The Gran Turismo was like 250 grand. And under the same engine. Discount Gran Turismo, for sure. Okay, okay. You're getting a raging deal. Yeah, so this yellow, there is a lovely blue flake in it when the sun hits. When the sun hits. And for that privilege, you're paying an absolute fortune. I'm prepared to be wrong. Stick me on a Maserati fork, if that's the case. Oh, I see it! It's like... Neat. It's like $10,000 for this color. I don't know if I'd pay 10 grand for yellow. What's it called? Giovanni Crotchrot. We'll put the real name up. Yeah. It's something like that. Yeah. Tagliatelle. But yeah, as you said, this benefits from the Natuno engine. That's a turbocharged V6. And it is... From an MC20. One heck of a turbocharged V6. So... Turbocharged to the moon. I forgot. You're going to drive this in a second. Okay. I forgot what this engine was. And when I first got in, I revved it in the driveway with the door open. Yeah. And it slaps. I'm not saying like, this engine slaps. It slaps when you rev it. And I jumped. Jesus. Oh my god, that gave me a fright. Oh, really? But thanks to iPhone stabilization, it doesn't show it at all. But yeah, so you're looking at a 523 horsepower twin-turbo V6, which doesn't sound crazy exciting for the price, because normally you're into V8 by the time you get to six figures. I don't know. Okay, so here's what I think about this. I think that I didn't know that it existed until today. That's actually the truth. It's not one of those ones that I was excited about, didn't stand out to me at all. No. It's not one that I think I would buy. Like if I was going for that... What's that class of car called? There's going to be a name for it. The G-Wagons, the Uruses, the Maseratis. I don't think it's a word that you can say on YouTube. That's the word that I was looking for. Cybertruck is now part of that crew. It is 100% part of that crew. The look at me's. I'm not sure this is... The look at me's. That's a look at me's. I like that. That's really PG. It's cute. Yeah, you can't say I'm a C-Class. Anyway, this is not maybe my first choice, but I haven't driven it yet. So maybe I'll change my mind. It looks practical. There's seats in it. I've been using it as a family car. Yeah, we used it as a camera car today. And it rocketed. Did it? We were driving the 911 ST. Yeah. And I was honestly having trouble keeping up. I half blamed the terrible P-Zero's on the 911. But yeah, I was having trouble keeping up with this. So... Okay, can I drive it? Yeah. Let's do it. All right. Hang on. I want to start this with windows down. Okay. Go to sport mode. This thing here? This car is one entire experience. And you're about to just floor it. Just go. What the... What was that? It's farty. It does big farts on the upshift. That's a real fart. That's a wet fart. It's really wet. There's a wetness to it. It's like a Tuscany in the summer, sort of. Yeah, you can hear the follow-through. They've really gone all out with it. Yeah, I know. Wow, that's fun. Yeah, so I forgot. I was like, you know what? We actually had a great time in the Gran Turismo Trofeo. And I remember the engine being a really exciting thing. I didn't miss the V8. Well, that's silly. That's just silly. I like it. Oh, I like it. Oh, it's quick too, isn't it? It's very quick. This is 0-60 in three... Oh, hey, water. This is 0-60 in 3.8 seconds. That's pretty quick, actually. Yeah, that's quick. Right away, this is... It's handling this very well. The seats are quite firm. But they have been in all the other Maseratis we drove. Good damping in sport mode too, eh? So we've got a big column mounted paddle shifters. Yeah, they've got a great throw to them. I would rather they be on the steering wheel. No, no. What if I'm drifting? I've got to know where they are, you know? I'm never going to drift this thing. So this has all the new stuff that the Gran Turismo got. Right. So not only does it have the fun clock thing... Oh, I love that. That is just such a good idea. Yeah, let's go to classic clock there. And it's got the dumb transmission option. That's so stupid. The drive select. Yeah, I hate that. But it also has a touchscreen that has not been working that well for me. Oh, OK. So if I try and choose a song, let me go to... You're hitting that a couple of times to make that work. Yeah, so I go home. Oop, yeah, no. Oh my god, come on. Like, it's not doing it properly. So that's not... That might be a bit of duddy on this particular model. Maybe, because it worked fine in the Gran Turismo. It's fine on the Gran Turismo. OK. So you have four modes at your disposal. Comfort, GT, Sport, and Corsa. The ride in Corsa is too harsh. I'm in Sport right now. Yeah, so that's what I've been rocking around. That's just a great fart noise, isn't it? Give me another one. Here we go. That's like one of those farts that, you know, like you've been sitting on a GI issue for a couple days. No, let's not go there. And you finally get it out, and you're just like... That's what that fart sounds like. I think it's satisfying. I think it's correct. If you've got a loud... If you're going loud with the colour, go loud with the engine. So the materials are quite nice in here. They're quite proud of their Saurus, Sonus, found... I don't know what it's called. Sound system. It's... The materials are OK. It's not as fancy in here as the Urus. No. But it's a lot cheaper. No, it's like baby Ferrari vibes. Like, well, the Urus is a different class, but I guess you're going for like curb appeal, you mean? Yeah, I'm going for like flashy Italian crossover sport SUV things. It's fun. There's a playfulness. You know, the X3M competition is probably a better car, and will probably do a better lap time. With a lap time, but at the expense of feeling like you're riding on stone wheels. That's the competition. This is more like X3M non-competition. Right, OK, yeah. But in sports, it's reasonably compliant. Yeah, but if you buy a Maserati instead of an X3, you're saying, I didn't think about this purchase very well, and I don't understand depreciation. Untrue. You like the Trident. Neptune's here. That's all you got. I don't know. This is hustling right now. Oh, it absolutely is. I'm barely pushing it. There's so much more in the tank. There's space in the back. It's quick. There's space in the back. I mean, they've got this funny thing where like, thanks to making the car bigger and increasing the wheelbase, the cabin is really big. It's like, that's what happens. Yeah, that's what happens when you make the car bigger and increase the wheelbase. Maserati's still learning about this stuff. It's OK. I tried to read the press release, but it was 90% like, passion is so style. And I didn't understand. There was no substance to it whatsoever. But, you know, I'm reasonably comfortable. I'm pretty held in. They're quite bolstered, these seats. Yeah, yeah. The seats are fun. They're a bit stiff, as you say. But I don't know. But like, the whole car is comfortable. Like, the ride is good. Even in sport mode. By the way, even in GT mode, maybe even in comfort, it does the faults on the upshift. Oh, OK. I don't need to test that. Yeah. But no, I don't know. This is a very impressive vehicle. The off-road mode, I put it in off-road mode. I know we did a little bit of water there. Yeah. But I've been on trails with it, not crazy trails. Like, as in, like, I've been to the car park next to the hiking trail. You madman. And there was a rock and a small boulder. Are you OK? And I put it in off-road mode, and the air suspension raises it up. Wow. Quite high. Incredible. You did the most of what one of these owners is going to do. If you're asking six figures, I wanted to have stuff like that. I wanted to feel like stuff's going to break in five years that's very expensive. Exactly. That's the Maserati experience. That's what you get. I don't know if I would get it over a... I don't know. I don't know what I would choose. I don't... Yeah, I can't picture myself buying this. To be fair, I did just learn this morning that it existed, right? So I haven't really had time to come to a conclusion on whether or not I would potentially... You knew what a Grecale was, which is a wind. Yes, it's a north-easternly Mediterranean wind. Yes. Thomas knows that. He didn't look it up or anything. That was the best one. The other day we were like, are you feeling that little bit of Grecale coming in? That was the one thing I gleaned from the press release. No, they've made a competent fun. This has brought it completely up to date now. That's a W201. A 911 ST. That was exciting. It's funny being in this now after chasing it with a 911 ST. Yeah. It feels like I'm not actually that scared as a passenger. It feels very confident. It's honestly incredibly confident. And it's done commuter duty just fine. I've not been driving it like this with a baby in the back and it can calm right down. Yeah, you know what? I'm impressed, honestly. It's well dialed in. It's well sorted in terms of the drive, right? Yeah, the last Alé you were in was the Tun Alé. Oh, that was a hunk of... Yep, I'll stop talking now. No, I wasn't impressed with that at all, but I am impressed with this. This is a good vehicle. Yeah. I think they need to change the colour name though. You think so? Giovanni Crotra.