There are cars you drive, and there are cars that take you somewhere. The 2026 Maserati GranTurismo Trofeo belongs firmly in the second category. Partnering with the Italian marque for a road trip from LAX to Las Vegas, the team at The Executive Magazine had the opportunity to put the latest generation grand tourer through its paces across several hundred miles of genuinely varied terrain.

The route threaded through the urban sprawl of Los Angeles, climbed into the mountain passes east of the city, and then opened up across the Mojave Desert before dropping into the Nevada basin. Each environment presented something different, and the GranTurismo handled every transition with an ease that reminded us precisely why Maserati has built grand tourers since the 1950s.

The car collected admiring glances at every stop. The United States is Corvette country, particularly out west, and a Nero Assoluto GranTurismo cuts an unusually exotic figure against that backdrop. That distinction felt entirely appropriate for a car that takes its brief so seriously.

The right machine

The Trofeo is the flagship petrol variant, sitting above the entry-level GranTurismo in the two-model combustion-engined line-up. Its 3.0-litre V6 produces 550 hp and 650 Nm of torque, dispatching 62 mph from rest in 3.5 seconds on the way to a 199 mph top speed. The drivetrain is all-wheel drive, and the gearbox is a twin-clutch automatic that responds with proper urgency when required.

Our car arrived in Nero Assoluto, a deep metallic gloss black that shifts tone depending on the light, paired with the Rosso red leather interior. The combination is unapologetically bold. Almost every surface inside is finished in that bright red hide, yet it avoids becoming overbearing. Credit goes to the quality of the leather itself, which is soft and well-appointed, and the contrast it strikes against the dark exterior when the doors open.

Getting acquainted

The first stretch of the journey, pulling through Los Angeles in traffic, offered a chance to settle into the interior properly. At 4,966 mm long with a 2,929 mm wheelbase, the GranTurismo is a genuine four-seater. The rear quarters are legitimately usable, and the 310-litre boot took luggage for the trip without complaint. This is a car built for travelling with people and bags, not just for solo sprints.

The cabin layout rewards patience. The main 12.3-inch touchscreen is clean and well-resolved, while the secondary 8.8-inch climate panel sits beneath it. Lighting controls are handled by a discreet capacitive button, intuitive once found, though locating it initially while rolling through the Mojave Desert at dusk was its own small adventure. These are the sorts of quirks that come with driving a new car for the first time, and part of the pleasure of it.

The seats deserve particular mention. Wide, supportive, and adjustable across eighteen axes including a thigh-support tilt function, they are the kind of seats that make a long journey feel shorter. The metal gear-shift paddles, borrowed from the Giulia Quadrifoglio, are among the finest in the class: heavy, mechanical, and satisfying in a way that cheap plastics simply cannot replicate.

Through the mountains

East of Los Angeles, the road lifts into the hills and the character of the drive changes entirely. The switchbacks and elevation changes are the sort of territory that exposes a grand tourer’s limits, and in this case its considerable talents. Switching into Sport mode tightens the steering response and sharpens the throttle mapping, and the GranTurismo’s 1,900 kg kerb weight becomes less of a conversation topic than expected.

The V6 is the beating heart of this experience. Its torque arrives in a broad, muscular wave through the mid-range, and the exhaust note shifts from a composed burble at lower revs into something considerably more theatrical when pushed. It is not a car that demands to be screamed to its 6,500 rpm limit; the performance is accessible, usable, and all the more enjoyable for it.

The steering is genuinely communicative on well-surfaced roads, conveying enough information to build confidence without becoming demanding. This is the GranTurismo at its most rewarding: a well-surfaced mountain road, the throttle open, the exhaust doing its thing. It is a reminder that grand tourers, at their best, can also be driver’s cars.

Across the desert

The Mojave is where the GranTurismo earns its grand tourer credentials in the most literal sense. Long, straight roads, heat shimmer, and the kind of distance that makes lesser cars feel like an endurance test. The Trofeo simply absorbs the miles. It sits calmly at highway speeds, the suspension taking the surface’s minor imperfections without complaint, the noise levels low enough for easy conversation.

This is what the car was built for. At sustained motorway speeds it breathes with the road just enough to remain engaging without ever feeling unsettled. The all-wheel-drive system operates transparently in normal driving. There is no drama, just composure. The contrast with the mountain section an hour earlier is instructive: the same car, but a completely different mode of operation.

Red Rock Canyon

A detour to Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, some 15 miles west of Las Vegas, was one of the trip’s most memorable diversions. The conservation area is managed by the Bureau of Land Management and draws more than three million visitors per year, and it is easy to understand why. A one-way loop road of 13 miles provides access to the canyon’s principal features: towering sandstone formations shaped by thrust faults, walls rising to 3,000 feet, and a landscape with La Madre Mountain reaching 8,154 feet at its highest point.

The GranTurismo against those red walls and deep blue Nevada sky is an image that stays with you. The loop road is smooth and well-maintained, the sightlines are long, and the combination of scenery and driving surface made for the kind of afternoon that justifies putting a road trip together in the first place. Photographic stops were frequent and entirely unapologetic.

Arriving at the Fontainebleau

Pulling up at the Fontainebleau Las Vegas in a GranTurismo is not a subtle experience, and it is not meant to be. The hotel’s valet area, the Strip’s lights, and the general theatre of the place suit the car’s personality entirely. A vehicle that commands presence in the California hills translates directly to the Vegas Strip. The GranTurismo is equally at home crawling past casinos in the early hours as it is working through mountain switchbacks.

The four-seat layout proved a practical asset during the Las Vegas stay. The ability to collect friends and travel between venues without splitting into multiple cars is the kind of quiet practicality that the GranTurismo’s sporting character occasionally obscures. It is a genuinely usable vehicle, not a showpiece that demands careful handling.

The return to LAX

The drive home via Interstate 15 was precisely what a long trip deserves at the end: relaxed, refined, and unhurried. The GranTurismo in its most comfortable suspension setting is a different proposition to the Sport mode mountain drive, and that flexibility is one of its most useful qualities. It covered the miles back to Los Angeles without fuss, the V6 settling into a quiet, efficient cruise.

The Maserati GranTurismo Trofeo starts from around £150,000, placing it in territory occupied by some formidable alternatives. What it offers in return is a character and a visual presence that its competitors struggle to match. The trident bonnet badge still means something, and the car beneath it has earned the right to wear it. It is fast, genuinely comfortable, and capable of producing the kind of driving memories that make a road trip worth doing.

A Los Angeles to Las Vegas run in something more ordinary would have been a pleasant enough journey. The same route in the GranTurismo was something considerably more than that.