If the car was worshipped during the ‘Fifties as a dream of design, cars and music for the most part should these days stay well clear

 With a torso like his, God rest him, there’s no way Luciano Pavarotti, the great operatic tenor, could ever have made it behind the wheel of a grand tourer by Maserati, but still there are parallels between the two maestri of Modena.

As with so many things, it’s all about the music. But although Pav and Mas were similar in an uncanny and ungainly way, they shared much more than their birth in the same northern Italian town.

Music can be likened to so much because it comes from the soul and mirrors aspects of life. Everything that touches the heart, from a singing voice to an installation of visual art, via engineered design and Mother Nature’s wide open spaces, can be encapsulated in the metre, timbre, acoustics and meaning of a musical score, be it renaissance, modern classical, blues, dub or rock.

Music and the automobile – itself for over a hundred years a testimony to modern art, beauty and style – should similarly be entwined, although there has always been an edgy dysfunction between the two.

We’re not talking about Echoes and Altimas here, but of the things of beauty that are a joy forever, to quote the poet. From the 1957 Chevy drophead to the 2008 Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead Coupé, cars with drop-dead design and grace should come with their own soundtrack. Probably they do, but it is the drivers that let them down.

Take, for example, Marc Bolan of T-Rex, the glam-rock band of the early ‘Seventies. A motoring nut, he wrapped his Mini around a tree in London’s Barnes Common. Dead. Then The Rolling Stones’ Keith Richards let rip with his Roller and drove it into a swimming pool minutes after departing the showroom. Write off.

On the whole, even if the car was worshipped during the ‘Fifties as a dream of design, cars and music for the most part should these days stay well clear.

There is something, however, about the Maserati-Pavarotti duet that makes for an enchanting melody. One is a beauty, the other was a beast, but together they combine the same soul. As purveyors of the finest art, from the cradle of a similar upbringing, they sing from the same sheet.

The GranTurismo S, itself, is a masterwork, with everything from the scream of the engine to the growl of the exhaust, the drama of the body to the soft depths of the interior, dripping with an essence of classic Italian musk that wouldn’t have been wasted on the greatest lovers of all time.

‘The Maserati marque has had its ups and downs over the years, but it has been consistent in releasing sports cars that combine desire and real beauty’ 

The Maserati marque has had its ups and downs over the years, but it has been consistent in releasing sports cars that combine desire and beauty.

All the while, in another corner of old Europe, a different carmaker has been behind its own school of art for nearly 100 years. Aston Martin is wholly different from Maserati in the way that at Da Vinci is a world away from a Hockney.

If you were to combine Aston Martin with music, you would probably conjure up images of the British Invasion of the ‘Sixties. The company produces world-beaters of cars but, until recently, they have left you feeling as if you have seen them all before; just like how the Stones formed a reincarnation of Muddy Waters, and The Animals were a latter-day Bo Diddley.

But over the last 10 years, things have moved fast in Gaydon, Aston’s hometown near Birmingham. Under the design tutelage of Marek Reichmann – an automotive artist every bit as sublime in his mastery as Michelangelo was to canvas – the British coachbuilder has turned back to the glory days of the golden age of motoring and is no longer churning out, in limited production runs, the curiosities for which it was known for far too long.

Today, much has changed at Aston, not least ownership governed by a Kuwaiti consortium and some of the most beautiful models on the market. The DB9, for example, is a world away from the DB7, while the Vantage was a contender in last month’s evo Car of the Year Awards, and the brand has developed some serious drool factor.

The DBS is the latest offering by Aston and is arguably the most beautiful and aggressive model in the range. Its positioning is curious in that it shares its architecture with the DB9, its engine with the DB9 and Vanquish and the price tag with two Vantages.

Driving out to our test location near Madam on the way to Hatta, the first impression of the big Aston is that it sits somewhere between the DB9 and the racing DBR9, with manners between the Vanquish and the Vantage. Right from the off, it behaves better than Aston’s erstwhile most expensive model, albeit without that smidgeon of satisfaction you get from taming the beast. The point of the DBS is that it is bigger, better and faster, and promises scintillating performance with a lighter outlook than the DB9, given the significant weight savings – nearly 65 kg over its stablemate – provided by a whole heap of carbon fibre at the front, back and inside.

The family resemblance is there, but a few tweaks such as greater width, patches of the carbon, spoilers and venturis give the DBS its own identity. But with an extremely limited production run of around 500 per year, you won’t have a great deal of opportunity to test your recognition skills on the open road.

The Maserati GranTurismo S also is a variation on a sporting sister. The trouble with the base GT was that, for all her good looks, she was not inconsiderably flabby and somewhat uncoordinated at times. The super sister, however, has come on the market boasting a larger engine, new transmission and a handful of bespoke design cues. Oh, and a whole lot more fun. Driving on lightly undulating, arrow straight roads may not be the best test of a GT, but with a lack of decent ‘B’ roads the choice of venue is limited. The line to the horizon does however give you the chance to explore the upper limits of both the crisp V8 and booming V12.

With a 4.7-litre, Ferrari-built, Maserati-specific V8, it has a four-cylinder and over-a-litre disadvantage to the DBS’s 5.9 V12 unit. But in the tick column there’s plenty more ear-ripping noise. Put statistically, this sound is 30 times more appealing than the pleasured moans of a buxom virgin, 16 times throatier than the address of a raging bull and every bit as overwhelming in its beauty as Pavarotti belting out Nessun Dorma.

Capacity in the Mas is up from 4,244 cc to 4,691 cc and the highest point of a much flatter torque curve is 361 lb-ft at 4,750 rpm, with the power maxing at 433 bhp at 7,000 rpm, a 34 bhp increase over the lesser GT. In order to get every last horse powering you along, you must push the Sport button, which generates 10 bhp in itself and gives you access to the MC-Shift transmission, which must be the standout feature of this upgraded car.

The equation can be complex to get the full experience – you must be revving at over 5,500 rpm with the throttle at least 80 per cent open – but, like Ferrari’s F1-SuperFast system, MC-Shift overlaps clutch movements with gear engagement for faster shift times.

The DBS, meanwhile, with its $ 250,000 plus price tag, timing and power, which has been raised by 13 per cent over the DB9 to 510 bhp at 6,500 rpm and 420 lb-ft at 5,750 rpm, bring it in for competition with the Bentley GT Speed and Ferrari 599, as well as to an in-house rivalry with the Vanquish.

But while the Vanquish made you work hard for your joy, the DBS makes things easier, with more precision from the brakes and suspension and a silkier transmission.

To return to the music analogy, putting these two cars together is roughly similar to pitting Coldplay against AC/DC: while both models are at the top of their game, with phenomenal performance and sensational engines, one must bear in mind that the Maserati is a V8 with a smaller powerplant – albeit one that hits all the right notes – and price tag while the DBS is more heavyweight in every respect other than its actual poundage.

But when you get the chance to spend one day inside two of the most desirable cars in the world, you find any means to make a comparison, regardless of how tenuous. This is evo, after all. In the case of the DBS v the GranTurismo S, we’ve taken the angle of the reigning best grand tourer in the region, and the new kid on the block, to see which one comes out as king of the bends.

Given a choice between driving the GranTurismo S or the DBS first, which would you take? It’s one of those questions – usually hypothetical – that can have you wracking your brains and scruples for far too long, dominating your daydreams. Which would it be? The throbbing Italian with a voice like a Vatican choir? The upstart Aston with film-star looks and a billing to match?

'Sitting behind the wheel of the DBS, you get that Aston feel: grunt, width and a soundtrack to match'

Seeing as this was the first opportunity anyone has had to test the Aston in the Middle East, we immediately leapt on the V12 in Quantum Grey (guess where the name comes from).

Sitting behind the cosseted wheel of the DBS you soon get that old Aston feel. Lots of grunt, lots of width and a soundtrack few can match. Behind, editor-in chief Bassam is keeping up in the Maserati. Its droop-snoot nose and trident badge a permanent fixture in the mirror.

Initial impressions were of a slightly confused car, something that comes with lightened luxury. Outside, the lines couldn’t be more striking, with perfect proportions, but the sports-effect cuts and air intakes weren’t entirely necessary on an exotic car like this, a car that immediately announces its presence as something in between a GT and a sports car.

Inside, many of the Fordisms have disappeared, such as the flimsy switchgear cribbed from the Fiesta that is now replaced by aluminium controls on the centre console and sturdy stalks coming off the steering column. Although the DBS is available kitted out as a super-lightweight racer, with carbon fibre-backed sports seats and no second row, our test model was built more for luxury than racing speed. Saying that, though, the mix of carbon, alcantara and hide was once again confusing; the door grab, for example was carbon fibre nestling within a swathe of leather, and looked somewhat uncomfortable.

Some nice-yet-useless Aston features are crammed in the cockpit, such as the ball-point pen disguised in the centre stack as a button switch, and a removable crystal ashtray between driver and passenger. Above eye level, the super-skinny sun visors hide a polished aluminium mirror on each side to give a novel touch.

Aft, there is barely enough room to seat a cat, never mind swing one, and the 2+2 option looks little more than a titular one. The seating in the front, however, is extremely opulent and comfortable, as well as supportive, easily adjustable and beautifully saddle stitched. The quality of the materials and fitting, too, is very impressive and shows how far Aston Martin has come over the last five years.

Perhaps one of the biggest plus points of the DBS, before the engine is lit, is the layout and aesthetics of the interior, which matches that of the outside. The dash, with its opposable rev counter, is truly beautiful and a work of art.

The GranTurismo S, meanwhile, is just what you would expect of a Maserati: buttons everywhere, and in the most incongruous – and hard to find – places. A beautiful leather dash sweeping across the width of the car with plenty of stylised labels, rubberised controls and the marque’s unique mix of the finest quality plastics with cheap, shiny ones all add to the standard Modena fare.

The seats themselves, with the Maserati trident in bas-relief on the headrests, are a work of art but give you similar support to those of a Buick barge. You certainly feel cosseted by the Italianate style of this car, and would probably feel cheated if everything inside were perfect since this is not the way of the Mas.

For example, the sweep of the leather-lined doors is interrupted by the side airbag cases that don’t quite fit and stands out within the lines. But the alcantara-covered steering wheel, fronting dials and gauges in the deepest Maserati blue, is a comfortable touch, although you wouldn’t want to ruin the nap with sticky hands.

In the rear, two genuine seats are available, which makes this a genuine four-seater. The headroom isn’t perfect back there, but all aspects of vertical and lateral space are plentiful in this very Italian long-wheelbase affair.

The interior matches the outside lines perfectly. With a darker grille than the staple GrandTurismo, smoked-glass headlights and 20-inch wheels, the S is given its own design cues to make this model brood more than its sister. But the purposeful nose, with its concave radiator and meaningful expression, which sweeps across the three-quarter in a crescendo of perfect proportions, ends in a definite andante at the tail.

The back does not match the front. In musical terms, while the fascia heralds Beethoven’s fifth, the rear is more Handel’s Water Music and is too friendly by comparison, with the curve of the taillights that is not unpleasant, but neither is it in keeping with the theme of the car.

As a complete package, the DBS, in spite of its somewhat gawky vents cutting into the overall swoop of the bonnet, wins hands down, even if it is far less emotional than the Maserati. But the GranTurismo S does win points for its Latin character.

And with a turn of the key – there is no start button in the Mas – the Italian maestro comes into its own. While the DBS issues a roar that would please race fans, and is an audible sign of its sporting pedigree, the sound of the Italian V8 is more akin to a full cathedral choir hammering out the Halleluliah Chorus. There is nothing quite like the sweet music at blistering decibels that goes in tandem with the Maserati, and it never goes away.

In comparison, the Aston is more subdued, and you need to work the revs hard on the open road to get anything near the same effect. But as we said before, this is a V12 – and an English one at that – versus a V8, but still one might hope for more from the Aston to go with its promise.

And on the road, the cars display even more individuality. Right from the offset, the DBS wants to move, displaying intent with power and torque that under full power darts out the rear end before full control is regained. Even if the sonic boom of the engine doesn’t remind you this is verging on a supercar, the torque of the take-off will immediately put you in the right frame of mind.

The smaller-engined GranTurismo, meanwhile, is far better behaved but no less fun. Its ascent is more measured, but it still provides you with satisfying, lightning thrust to squash you back in the leather.

The trouble with roads in this region is it is hard to find stretches that can do justice to these cars. Having been nurtured on the winding highways of northern Italy and the country lanes of the English Midlands, these two vehicles are naturally agile with plenty of flourish. Luckily, we found just the spot on one of those quiet roads to nowhere that can be found now and again in rural UAE.

The GTS is lean around the turns. This is a car that has shaved off half a minute around the Nurburgring over the Vanquish and is so much easier to drive than its big behemoth of a brother. With the Sport button depressed and the six-speed automatic ZF box from the DB9 worked hard, you have full manual control and the ability to hit the top of the red line – if there were one on the rev counter – without any intrusion from a limiter. Shifts are suitably swift, albeit a little on the gentlemanly side with gearing too long for true sporting value. But the box is absolutely spot on.

The big Aston is marginally the lighter of the two cars, and when you want to have some real fun, it is also definitely the more nimble, exhibiting mild understeer as you turn in, particularly in tight, lower-speed bends. The tail, however, will really swing out if you keep the throttle nailed. It is a surprisingly driftable car, all things considered, and this is mainly due to the massive torque that allows you to steer it on the throttle, albeit in a crude, on-off manner. Overall, the impression it leaves you is that of a brawler in a tailored suit, or of an elegant muscle car.

The GranTurismo S, meanwhile, has generally impeccable suspension traits, and is thoroughly keen and agile around the turns. Stiff dampers turn the steering quickly and there’s a great deal of feedback through the wheels.  The ride may be slightly nuggety but on harsh, demanding roads the S’s body control is excellent on its regular springs, while the steering gains even more heft as you apply some lock.

‘While the DBS roars to please race fans  the Mas is more akin to a cathedral choir hammering out the Halleluliah Chorus’

While the Maserati gives the impression of being a hardcore sports car, it is nothing of the sort when you flick the Sport button and up the pace to the limit. It will oversteer and take a very aggressive line and needs a confident hand as the weight of the thing really makes itself known. When you start to lean on it, it also initially understeers but then leans and lurches into an inelegant slide, which can be very difficult to control. At higher speeds, the body control is excellent, although you are always aware of the weight transfer as you change direction.

When revving it to within an inch of its life, the MC-Shift comes into its own with remarkably quick changes accompanied by the characteristic roar of the engine and exhaust.

Comparing these two is like mashing up crotchets and quavers and there can be no clear winner at the end of the day. You get what you pay for, not least in this high-end market and the smaller engine and more limited performance and handling of the Maserati is reflected in the difference in price between the two models.

Also, just like having horses for courses, while both cars display a distinct similarity in intent, it is patently clear that the DBS is designed for a more sporting market, while the GranTurismo S is with us for its ability to play more on the road than on the track. It is a work of art, combining all elements of a great orchestra in timing and tonality, and bringing the driver a truly classical experience of art and beauty.

The DBS, meanwhile, is much more of a rocker with balls-out riff value, taking good taste to the limit. It provides a thoroughly modern experience from start to finish and sniffs at the classics. If pushed to make a choice between these two great cars though, the music the Mas makes would be the more difficult to ignore.