Someone once told me that it’s best to be the second fastest driver on the road — you can quench your need for speed while the cop’s radar settles on the faster bloke blowing by you. Such nuggets of wisdom, however, were quickly gnawed up and spit out by the 2019 Maserati Ghibli S GranLusso, whose gas pedal I delicately squashed for seven glorious days in early April.
When you find yourself behind the wheel of the fastest car on the road, there’s an inherent obligation to embrace the opportunity, not squander your pole position. I’d never encourage dangerous driving, but eclipsing 100 before reaching the end of the empty freeway on-ramp is a g-force sensation that’s both thrilling to all ages and rather innocuous. While the Maserati’s speedometer topped out at 190 mph, such potential isn’t just for going fast — it crowns you master of the road, able to pass anything with a brief roar of the engine or silently slip away onto a sudden side street with grace.
I’ve driven pickups my whole life, but I’m no stranger to fast or fancy cars. I passed my driving test in my dad’s 1987 Ford Mustang, then got to whip from San Jose and Santa Cruz in that convertible during high school. I wrote about driving the first line of the retro-design Thunderbirds, turning many heads in Montecito back in 2002, and I once jammed East Camino Cielo in a Lotus.