Maserati has been through a pretty tough two decades. I remember so well – and Arnold will also – that one Saturday morning while Mr Chatz was taking a valued client on a demo along William Nicol Drive in a brand new red Maserati Biturbo twenty-odd years ago, I pulled up next to him at a red light on Katherine Road in my little Lupini Ford Laser.

After the light turned green and we diced up the hill, I had inadvertently lost Arnold the sale – my 1600 Laser with a cam and ‘pipe drilled the twin-turbocharged double-the-capacity Maserati up the hill and the cuzzie was miffed! The Biturbo also earned itself a wretched rep – so bad it was that Clarkson bought one just to destroy it…

Arnold has never forgiven me for that day, but happily Maserati has moved on dramatically.

I was most impressed with the Maserati Granturismo when I first drove it in Oman last December and when I asked whether a sharper version would be on the way, the Maser guys just smiled with a glint in their eye. ‘Make sure you’re at Geneva,’ they proposed, and indeed when I was there, I met the Granturismo S.

Up almost half a litre on the stock Granturismo, S is 25kW and 30Nm more powerful too and benefits a Ferrari F1-like robotised 6-speed manual gearbox as well as a refettled suspension over and above a raft of suspension tweaks, bigger brakes and spec enhancements across the board. Not to mention a barking mad exhaust note.

Granturismo S is a splendid looking car, quite Aston Martin like, but a bit ropier and rougher around the edges. Don’t take that as a negative – those Astons tend to be a touch too squeaky clean for my liking – this thing is more Maserati rugby loose forward than Aston soccer wing.

A bit of an Italian ruffian, so to speak – it has all the chic, class and kudos you’d ever want but it’s also street wise in a cool kind of a way. That streak filters throughout the car to produce something quite exceptional to drive and be seen in…

The biggest problem for this Maserati though, is its somewhat elevated access point. It’s almost as expensive as a Merc CL63 AMG, while in real terms – in size, performance and feel; it’s more of a BMW M3 rival. Were it closer to the M3 in value, we’d likely have rated it against that car and its rivals, and it’d likely have won that quick shootout because it is a bit quicker than the BMW, matches it around Kyalami and kills it on individuality.

But that million rand premium shifts it up a class, where it must meddle with the likes of that CL63, XK-R and M6, which it simply cannot beat anywhere except around the racetrack, maybe. And of course again on individuality.

So its biggest problem – and its only problem until it hit the track – was the Maserati’s cost of purchase and its gluttonous thirst for premium unleaded.