Italian sports car

The first thing you notice about the Maserati GranCabrio Trofeo is not the speed, although with 542 horsepower and a 196mph top speed it has quite enough of that to rearrange your hairstyle permanently. Nor is it the noise, though the Nettuno V6 produces a soundtrack so gloriously operatic that nearby pheasants briefly consider filing noise complaints. No, the first thing you notice is how astonishingly beautiful it is.

So naturally we took it touring through Wiltshire valleys and along Dorset’s coastal roads, to show it off.