The Maserati GranTurismo is the last Maserati with a naturally aspirated V8 and one of Pininfarina's last great coupés. At Japanese auctions it offers two things Polish classifieds almost never do: 76% of the cars are left-hand drive and the median mileage is 42,000 km. We cover the versions from the 4.2 to the MC Stradale, two completely different gearboxes and the faults mechanics see most often, then run the import maths with 18.6% excise and set it against asking prices in Poland and Germany.
Maserati GranTurismo: the last naturally aspirated V8 from Modena
The Maserati GranTurismo (type M145) is a four-seat grand touring coupé built in Modena from 2007 until December 2019, powered by a naturally aspirated 4.2 or 4.7-litre V8 from the Ferrari F136 family. Maserati built 28,805 coupés and 11,715 GranCabrio convertibles. In our Japanese auction data the median starting price is 1,980,000 yen and the median mileage is 42,000 km.
The car was developed faster than anything the industry had seen: nine months from design to production. The reason was less romantic than the result. According to accounts cited by Wikipedia and autoevolution, the planned successor to the Maserati Coupé turned out too expensive to build; the project went to Ferrari and reached the market as the Ferrari California, leaving Maserati without a coupé. Salvation came from a shortened Maserati Quattroporte platform and from Pininfarina, where Jason Castriota penned the body. Years later he told Robb Report it is the car he is most proud of, in a portfolio that also includes the Ferrari P4/5 and the 599 GTB Fiorano. The brief was simple: reach back to Maserati's racing DNA of the 1950s and 1960s, to the Birdcage and the 450S.
The GranTurismo is 4.88 m long on a 2.94 m wheelbase, so adults genuinely fit in the back, which is rare in a 2+2. It debuted in Geneva in March 2007; the open-top GranCabrio followed in Frankfurt in 2009 as the first four-seat convertible in the brand's history. Production ran until December 2019, and the final car, the GranTurismo Zéda, was shown in November in a three-tone finish: satin bare metal at the rear, a metallic tone in the middle, Maserati Blue at the nose. Zéda is the letter Z in the Modenese dialect; Maserati explained that every ending is a new beginning, since the successor was already taking shape in Turin with a turbocharged V6 and an electric version. That makes the M145 the last GranTurismo with a naturally aspirated V8 and the last to be purely rear-wheel drive.
The car entered pop culture in 2011 with the film "Limitless", in which Bradley Cooper drives a GranTurismo. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Maserati spent less than $10,000 on the placement, mostly on shipping and a technician on set, and two trailers featuring the car ran during the Super Bowl.
GranTurismo, S, Sport, MC Stradale and GranCabrio: the differences
The F136 family is a joint Ferrari and Maserati design, built by Ferrari since 2001. The difference lies in the crankshaft: Ferrari uses a flat-plane crank for high revs and a sharp, racing note, while Maserati and Alfa Romeo use a cross-plane crank, which gives more torque low down and the deep, burbling sound that suits a grand tourer. In the S, Sport and MC versions, exhaust bypass valves open in Sport mode and the car gets louder still. The base engine displaces 4,244 cc for 405 PS; the S and its successors 4,691 cc for 440 to 460 PS.
The second dividing line is the gearbox, and it is the first thing to settle before buying. The GranTurismo 4.2, the S Automatic, the Sport with the automatic and every GranCabrio use a six-speed ZF torque-converter automatic, familiar from German saloons, with no clutch to wear out and a reputation for durability. The 2008 GranTurismo S and the MC Stradale got the MC-Shift automated manual, mounted at the rear axle as a transaxle, which moved the weight distribution from 49/51 to 47/53. In Race mode it shifts in 60 milliseconds and kicks like a racing box, but it has a dry clutch that wears and it can be tiresome in traffic. Weekend drivers pick the MC-Shift, daily drivers the automatic.
| Version | Years | Engine | Power | Gearbox | 0-100 km/h / top speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GranTurismo | 2007-2019 | V8 4,244 cc | 405 PS | ZF automatic | 5.2 s / 285 km/h |
| GranTurismo S | 2008-2012 | V8 4,691 cc | 440 PS (late cars 450) | MC-Shift, transaxle | 4.9 s / 295 km/h |
| GranTurismo S Automatic | 2009-2012 | V8 4,691 cc | 440 PS | ZF automatic | 5.0 s / 295 km/h |
| GranTurismo Sport | 2012-2019 | V8 4,691 cc | 460 PS | ZF (MC Auto Shift) or MC-Shift | 4.7 s / 301 km/h |
| GranTurismo MC Stradale (2 seats) | 2011-2013 | V8 4,691 cc | 450 PS | MC Race Shift | 4.5 s / 303 km/h |
| GranTurismo MC Stradale (4 seats) | 2013-2019 | V8 4,691 cc | 460 PS | MC Race Shift | 4.5 s / 303 km/h |
| GranCabrio | 2010-2019 | V8 4,691 cc | 440 PS (later 450) | ZF automatic | 285 km/h |
| GranCabrio Sport | 2011-2019 | V8 4,691 cc | 460 PS | ZF automatic | 5.0 s / 285 km/h |
| GranCabrio MC | 2013-2019 | V8 4,691 cc | 460 PS | ZF automatic | 4.9 s / 289 km/h |
The MC Stradale, shown in 2010, is the collector's version: 110 kg lighter (1,670 kg dry) thanks to the deleted rear seats, carbon bucket seats and carbon-ceramic brakes, and the first GranTurismo past 300 km/h. Around five hundred two-seaters were built between 2011 and 2013: Wikipedia cites 497 cars confirmed by Maserati, while a factory spreadsheet quoted on the SportsMaserati forum says 502. From 2013 the MC Stradale went back to four seats and lost some of its edge, so purists pay a premium for the early two-seaters. There were special editions too: the GranCabrio Fendi from Frankfurt 2011 with an interior by Silvia Venturini Fendi and Grigio Fiamma Fendi paint, the anniversary Centennial cars, and the Sciàdipersia, a Touring Superleggera body on GranTurismo mechanicals shown in Geneva in 2018 with a planned run of 15 units as a tribute to the Shah of Iran's 5000 GT.
The Maserati GranCabrio came only with the 4.7 and only with the ZF automatic, but it seats four adults, which is rare in a convertible of this class. In our data it makes up a fifth of the cars on offer and its median starting price is twice that of the coupé, as shown below.
GranTurismo prices at Japanese auctions: our data
As of 25 August 2026 our catalogue of Japanese auctions holds 95 published GranTurismos and 25 GranCabrios, 94 of the coupés and all 25 convertibles carry a starting price. The coupé median is 1,980,000 yen, roughly PLN 46,000, with an interquartile range of 1,580,000 to 3,900,000 yen. The convertible is dearer: a median of 4,000,000 yen, roughly PLN 93,000, with a typical range of 2,850,000 to 4,500,000 yen. Every figure is a starting price, where bidding begins, and the auction data available to us covers, in most cases, only that price, so treat it as the floor of your budget rather than the purchase price.
Two numbers explain why Japan is worth looking at in the first place. First, 72 of the 95 GranTurismos and 19 of the 25 GranCabrios, 76% in each case, are left-hand drive: Japanese buyers have long ordered Italian luxury cars in continental configuration (on Japanese classifieds sites roughly two thirds of GranTurismos are left-hand drive), so in Europe they arrive in the right layout from day one. Second, the median mileage is 42,000 km for the coupé and 27,000 km for the convertible, against a median of 74,000 km across the 28 Polish listings from the same day. Left-hand-drive cars show a median of 1,980,000 yen and 39,000 km, right-hand drive 2,330,000 yen and 46,000 km, so the European layout carries no premium. Three-quarters of the cars on offer have the 4.7 engine and over 90% of the cars carry an auction grade of 4 or 4.5.
The price curve by model year climbs steeply at the end. Model years 2008-2012 have starting-price medians between 1,300,000 and 1,980,000 yen, 2016 sits at 3,200,000, and 2019, the last full production year, at 5,550,000 yen across eleven cars. The last Sport models with MC Auto Shift and low mileage are priced like future classics. You know each car's condition before bidding from the auction house's independent sheet; we explain how to read it in our guide to the USS auction sheet.
Maserati GranTurismo z Japonii na aukcji
The auction pool turns over every few days. We'll watch these criteria and email you when the next one appears.
Running costs of the F136 V8: what mechanics confirm
The engine is durable, but it has one weak point every independent specialist will name: the cam phasers, or variators. In engines numbered below 148697, the early production years, the front camshaft bearing caps had no non-return valves, so oil drained from the head while the car stood, and on a cold start the variators ran dry for a few seconds and rattled. Maserati issued a service bulletin with a cap modification; UK specialists quote around £900 for it on owner forums, and if the rattle persists once warm, the variators need replacing with the timing reset, at £2,500 to £3,500 plus VAT. On inspection you listen to the cold start and look for annual oil changes in the service history.
The second item is the MC-Shift clutch. On the SportsMaserati forum owners consistently report a clutch life of around 45,000 miles, roughly 70,000 km, in a GranTurismo, but aggressive driving and creeping in traffic finish it off much sooner. The disc alone costs about £1,400 and a full replacement with bearing and calibration usually comes to £2,000 to £3,000. Wear is read as a percentage by the diagnostic computer, so if an MC-Shift car comes without that reading, budget for a replacement. The ZF automatic has no such issue at all.
The third item is invisible from the outside: the front subframe. Where the upper wishbones mount, it has closed triangular box sections that trap water and rust from the inside; forum mechanics describe 2009-2010 cars where a screwdriver goes straight through, and the tipping point is around ten years. A new subframe costs £2,200 plus VAT and about £1,100 in labour, and the official advice is not to weld it. That argues for a low-mileage car that has lived somewhere dry, but it is no excuse for skipping the underbody in the auction photos.
Then come the items typical of an Italian car of that decade. The Skyhook adaptive dampers weep with age, new ones are periodically unavailable, and a rebuild by an Italian or British specialist costs roughly a third of new. The electronics can flatten the battery within two weeks if the car is left standing, so a trickle charger is essential kit. The frameless windows sometimes fail to drop when a door opens, and the soft-touch coating on the buttons turns sticky after years in the sun; cosmetic, but worth budgeting for. On the MC Stradale the carbon-ceramic brakes are a line of their own: they do not wear like iron but lose mass by oxidation, so discs are weighed at service, and a full set costs as much as a cheap car. Poland has independent Maserati specialists, and an annual service with an oil change costs thousands of zloty, not hundreds.
Importing a GranTurismo from Japan step by step
The process is the same as for any car from Japanese car auctions; the one GranTurismo-specific point is that its Italian origin and large engine put duty and excise at the top rates.
- Choosing the car. You settle the gearbox (ZF or MC-Shift), the version and the budget, and we filter cars by the auction sheet: it will not reveal variator rattle or clutch wear, but it does show rust, bodywork repairs and mileage corrections.
- Contract and deposit. We sign the contract first, then you pay a deposit of 10% of the starting price, minimum PLN 8,000. If we do not win the car, it is refunded in full.
- Bidding. We bid up to the limit agreed with you; the starting price is the beginning, not the end.
- Payment and shipping. Once we have won, you pay for the car, and the crossing to Europe usually takes 4 to 6 weeks; the whole journey from the winning bid to delivery at your door usually takes a dozen or so weeks.
- Customs clearance. Duty of 10% on the customs value (the GranTurismo was built in Modena, so the zero rate under the EU-Japan agreement does not apply), excise of 18.6% on the customs value plus duty because both engines exceed 2,000 cc, and VAT of 23% on the total.
- Inspection and registration. The car goes through a technical inspection at a vehicle inspection station and you register it like any other; we help put the paperwork together. Our fee, a flat PLN 8,000, is due only after the car is delivered to Poland.
For a right-hand-drive car, one in four GranTurismos in our data, § 9 sec. 2a of the regulation on technical conditions of vehicles (Journal of Laws 2024, item 502) applies and one of the permitted routes must be used; we describe them in our article on registering a right-hand-drive car.
| Scenario | Starting price | Taxes total | After clearance |
|---|---|---|---|
| GranTurismo, catalogue median (around model year 2012) | 1,980,000 yen (approx. PLN 46,000) | approx. PLN 32,700 | approx. PLN 86,800 |
| GranTurismo, lower quartile | 1,580,000 yen (approx. PLN 36,700) | approx. PLN 27,100 | approx. PLN 71,900 |
| GranTurismo, upper quartile | 3,900,000 yen (approx. PLN 90,600) | approx. PLN 59,700 | approx. PLN 158,400 |
| GranTurismo, model year 2019 median | 5,550,000 yen (approx. PLN 128,900) | approx. PLN 82,900 | approx. PLN 219,900 |
| GranCabrio, catalogue median | 4,000,000 yen (approx. PLN 92,900) | approx. PLN 61,100 | approx. PLN 162,100 |
The other side of the comparison, from the same day: Poland's largest classifieds portal listed 33 GranTurismos, 28 of them model year 2019 or earlier. The median asking price was PLN 176,000 at a median mileage of 74,000 km; the cheapest was a 2008 4.2 at PLN 95,000, the dearest a rare 2011 MC Centenario at PLN 369,000; 2008-2012 cars had a median of PLN 145,000 and 92,000 km, 2013-2016 cars PLN 164,500 and 64,500 km, and 2017-2019 cars PLN 269,000 and 48,000 km. Two of those listings were described as Japanese imports. There were 13 convertibles, with a median of PLN 249,000. In Germany AutoScout24 showed 82 listings across all generations, and a sample of 25 first-generation cars gave a median of EUR 52,900, about PLN 228,000, at 61,000 km. Asking prices are not transaction prices, just as starting prices are not hammer prices, so we compare the cost after clearance with the listed price and nothing more.
The sums make a clearer case for importing than they did for the Maserati Ghibli: a GranTurismo near the median, a car from around 2012 with 42,000 km, costs about PLN 95,000 after clearance and with our fee, while Polish listings from those years, with twice the mileage, start at PLN 95,000 and have a median of PLN 145,000. A 2019 car comes out at about PLN 228,000 against PLN 269,000 at home and roughly PLN 317,000 in Germany. Two things narrow that gap: bidding ends above the starting price, and the import side still needs auction house fees and costs at home added. So you import a GranTurismo for its condition, mileage and steering layout, and treat the price difference as a buffer for the initial service. We break down the full cost mechanics in our guide to how much importing a car from Japan costs and the excise in our article on excise duty on a car from Japan.
What we take care of
You do not see the car in person before bidding, but you are not buying blind. Every GranTurismo at a Japanese auction has the auction house's independent sheet with a grade and a damage map; we read hundreds of them a week and reject repaired, corroded or clocked cars before you ever see them. The money follows the same order as the risk: the deposit is refunded in full if we do not buy the car, and our fee is paid only after delivery.
Frequently asked questions about the Maserati GranTurismo
How much does a Maserati GranTurismo cost?
In Polish listings from 25 August 2026 the median asking price of a GranTurismo is PLN 176,000, from PLN 95,000 for an early 4.2 to PLN 369,000 for rare editions. At Japanese auctions the median starting price is 1,980,000 yen, about PLN 46,000, which after duty, excise and VAT comes to about PLN 86,800 before our fee and any bidding.
Which Maserati has a Ferrari engine?
The GranTurismo and GranCabrio use naturally aspirated 4.2 and 4.7-litre V8s from the F136 family, a joint Ferrari and Maserati design built by Ferrari; the same engine type powered the fifth-generation Quattroporte. The newer Ghibli, Quattroporte and Levante got twin-turbo V6s, also built by Ferrari. Maserati versions have a cross-plane crank, Ferrari's a flat-plane one.
Is the Maserati GranTurismo reliable and expensive to run?
The F136 engine is regarded as durable with annual oil changes, and the typical faults are known: cam variators in early engines, the MC-Shift clutch (£2,000 to £3,000 to replace at UK specialists) and front subframe corrosion after ten years. Running costs are high but predictable: a car with the ZF automatic, low mileage and paperwork avoids most of them.
Is the Maserati GranTurismo worth buying?
Owners on the forums agree: sound, looks and character make up for the costs, provided the service budget is planned and the car is a weekend or second car. The safest choice is a GranTurismo Sport with the ZF automatic, the collector's choice a two-seat MC Stradale, and a low-mileage Japanese car offers condition Europe cannot match.
Summary
It comes down to three decisions. Gearbox: the ZF automatic for daily driving, the MC-Shift for character, with a clutch budget set aside. Version: the 4.2 as the cheapest way in, the Sport 4.7 as the sweet spot, the two-seat MC Stradale as the investment. Source: a Japanese auction gives you 76% left-hand-drive cars, a median mileage of 42,000 km and, at the median starting price, about PLN 95,000 after clearance and with our fee, which is less than the median of Polish listings from the same years, with the caveat that bidding raises that figure. What is at auction right now is on the Maserati GranTurismo and Maserati GranCabrio pages, and the whole brand on the Maserati page.
The figures in this article were calculated at the rates in force on 25 August 2026 and the NBP rate of 24 August; they are for information only. Confirm duty, excise, VAT and the classification of a specific car with a customs agency or a tax adviser before buying.
