[tryp]

Greets all,

Just thought I'd post my thoughts on my new 08 GranTurismo which I purchased in January. My previous car and everyday driver was a 05 Lotus Elise (which somebody backed into). For myself, there is no perfect car and every car has its compromises. The lotus looked exotic, handled great, and was a blast to drive. After driving it everyday for 4.5 years a lot of its compromises became apparent. I wouldn't drive it during rush hour (other cars can't see me), I wouldn't drive it at night (same reasoning), had to have friends drive me for errands if I had to pick up anything larger than would fit in the boot. So in replacing this car, I wanted something that I would be able to put up with everyday.
I had always liked the look of the GranTurismos since I first saw one out in Malibu shortly after they first came out... While visiting a friend a year later, there happened to be a dealership down the freeway from his house. On a whim, we pulled in to take a closer look at them. I was basically sold on the car as soon as I saw I full size adult could actually fit in the back seat. After doing research online and on this forum, I found that for me, who wasn't really interested in what BMW or MB had to offer, if I wanted a sporty 2 door coupe that I could really fit 4 people in, the granturismo was the only game in town. I test drove one here in vegas an realized, it wasn't a lotus... the car itself is very long, heavy, doesn't stop quickly, doesn't accelerate quickly, and feels very "floaty" with the steering and suspension. Nonetheless... I figured this was the compromise I was to make to have a nice looking, fun, and functional car... lets face it.. compared to the lotus that had no carpet, basic radio, no nav, no cupholders, no power mirrors, no cruise control, stepping into the maserati was like upgrading to a maybach.... I did consider the GranTurismo S with the extra hp and better brakes, it was a no go after I found out I would have to replace the clutch every 10-15k mi.
After delivery of my car, at end of january I was well aware of the performance gap I would be dealing with. I had read about the offerings from Formula Dynamics here on the forum and I decided to contact Jeff to see what he could do. At first I was only interested in upgrading to the larini exhaust but after talking with Jeff and being amazed with his expertise on these cars in general, he had me considering the ECU, DBW, X-pipe, and exhaust. Sure, it all sounded good but I really had to think about this... I had only 700 mi on my car and I was about to do stuff that could potentially void the warranty, or atleast make it a pain in the ass to get warranty work done through the dealership. I talked with multiple service centers and even the local dealerships service manager about their option on the safety of installing mods on this car. Answers ranged from "no way" all the way to "if you brought me a car to fix and told me it was chipped, just start throwing money at me and then we'll fix it".
After putting some serious thought into it, I called Jeff back and said I was ready to do it. I was gonna do the ECU, DBW, X-Pipe, and exhaust all in one shot... figure if I was gonna do it, mine as well do it big...... Jeff is a super guy and was able to pick up my car from me, do the entire install, and have my car back to me in 2 days!! When Jeff brought my car back to me and showed me the install of the DBW and ECU, my fears of killing my warranty were calmed. This install seems virtually undetectable once the bypass plugs are in. First off, the DBW and ECU upgrades turned this into a completely different car. Initially, I felt the input on the accelerator and the actual response from the car was somewhat disconnected. Now, when I have it in sport mode, the throttle response is more predictable and there seems to be a little more grunt at the lower rpms. I initially had a problem driving in nonsport mode with the upgrades.. It seemed like the car wanted to shift a lot and was shifting way to early in the rpm range, I don't know if the ECU needed time to adjust or what, but this seemed to have gone away.
Now the exhaust and x-pipe... WOW!! When Jeff first brought me my car back, I could hear him coming from down the street! The exhaust note is smooth and deep at the lower rpm, and then winds up into a high pitch scream with the throttle wide open. I was having issues with my stereo before the exhaust installation but this seems to have fixed them... I don't drive with the stereo on anymore.... The exhaust does drone a little around 2k-2.5k rpm but is in a very narrow range and doesn't resonate throughout the car that bad. As for volume, in my opinion it is perfect for an everyday driver. Its not as loud as my friends stock 09 gallardo but seems just slightly louder than a GranTurismo S on sport mode.
I am very happy with the excellent service and products Jeff from Formula Dynamics provided. Admittedly, these mods won't turn the GranTurismo into a true sports car, but I feel its brings me pretty close to what I wanted which was basically a GranTurismo S with the ZF transmission. Anybody thinking about these upgrades should rest assured the end result is a car that is well behaved in heavy traffic, and still fun to drive on an open road.
I have already talked to Jeff about upgrading the suspension to get rid of some of the body roll but I am still on the fence because I don't want too hard of a ride and most of the roads here in vegas are straight.. if anybody has any input, let me know...

[SteveInNYC]

Nice job!
These are wonderful things!

[BigFoot]

Great review

[adam76]

Great review, thanks!

I wonder whats in the works from FD for the GT-S

[*MaSeRaTi*]

Very nice review!! And what a different world it must be coming from what most would consider..... an extreme go-cart. (no offense intended).

[trygve11]

Nothing like voiding your warranty right off the bat!

[ssivulka]

Hi all,

I also did the FD upgrades. DBW, ECM, X-pipe and Tubi's. After getting everything installed the engine blew up and the transmission cracked in half. Okay just kidding (take a breath Jeff)...

Here's my $.02 on the upgrades: Tubi was just too loud around 2-3k rpm for my taste. So here you go...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...m=330310919304

All the other upgrades (ECM, DBW and X-Pipe) really "woke" the car up. It's now mean and hungry, so get out of my lane (okay?) I would definately recommend these upgrades to anyone like me. You feel in love with the GT at first site, but you want to bring it over the dark side (just a little.) The car really rocks now. When you step on the gas it no longer says, "are you sure?" anymore. It just says "yes, master." It also says "come on whimp, is that all you got?" It's constantly mocking me and begging for more tickets.

There's talk about a badge for Formula Dynamics stuff. I would suggest the badge says "In Jeff We Trust." Thanks again Jeff for pulling more of the Ferarri out of my Maserati.

[trygve11]

I honestly don't think the Tubi is very loud, at least on my QP. I have the Larini x-pipe with the tubi boxes. Not that loud at all in my opinion. And I am pretty sensitive to overly loud crap, "loud for loud sake" stuff....

[ssivulka]

Also, Kevin at Cavallo (SoCal, Carlsbad) handled the install. Great guys who know what they're doing. 760 603-8321 FYI.

[FormulaDynamics]

Thanks for the excellent review guys. I'm glad we were able to help! These cars just need a bit of help to get the beast out of them.

TYRP, you're going to love the Sport Springs and I promise that it will not be too harsh like the Lotus. Let me know when you're ready and we'll get it handling.

Regards,
-- Jeff

[jcka]

Hi guys, im new to this, and was wonder what ECU, DBW, X-Pipe is. i have the 08 Maserati GT and want to make it louder. what kind of things can i do without voiding the warranty? i live in Long Beach CA. is there any body shops that you would recommend around here? please help.


also, around what price range would it be? thanks! =)

[FormulaDynamics]

Lots of options and recommendations. Give us a call or shoot us an email when you have a free minute and we can help you pick the right setup.

Best Regards,
-- Jeff

[MistralAtom]

I can only comment on springs. I measured spring rates on '09 GT-S 4.2 with local shop. With that data, comissioned a set of custom springs @ stock rates + 25% and lowered the end result 15mm at front and 20mm at rear. The ride is not harsh (it's still a massively heavy car) and rides like a dream on the highway and surfacee roads. Gets even more attention now than when new. Certainly less body roll. Oh, corner weighted and dialled in a more agressive alignment too and that also helps with turn in, reducing understeer at highway speeds. Just turns in flat. It still is a w i d e car though.
Now a bit more surgical in the handling \ steering departments.

[Greg23]

Are these upgrades available also for the GTS?!

[wassy]

From the QP-S side, with skyhook, I can tell you that the springs "fix" the handling issue. It will take about a week of driving for the suspension to relearn itself. While a tad bouncy the first few days, it's a dream now. You follow the pavement precisely. Body roll? What body roll (post springs). Given the weight on our cars, Jeff did a super job dialing in the right combo of quality and performance.

Having driven a QPS with dbw and ECM, I can tell you with no uncertainty that your car will feel generously more powerful, maintain its excellent smooth shifting, and in my opinion gives it a but louder exhaust note. When I first drove after the mods, 3 words were spoken. Repeatedly- HO LY SHIT!