2027 Maserati GranTurismo Gets ‘Country Mode’ That Lifts It Over Bad RoadsThe GranTurismo has always been a car for the long haul: relaxed, capable, happy eating up a motorway at triple digits. What it has never been great at is the kind of potholed back road you inevitably hit on the way to wherever the motorway was taking you. Maserati's answer for the refreshed 2027 model is a new Country mode that directly addresses that problem.On the 490-hp combustion version, Country mode raises the ride height by 20 mm and holds that height up to 120 km/h (about 75 mph).It's also offered on the Folgore. But it's not just a simple lift. The calibration of the whole car adjusts to suit the new stance. Maserati Head of Engineering Davide Danesin explained the thinking during the reveal: "The Country mode came very much from our experience and from customer experience of using the car. Given the nature of the GranTurismo, we pay a lot of attention to the fact that the car should be really convenient and usable everyday."AdvertisementAdvertisementThe key distinction between this and the temporary lift function that already existed on the GranTurismo is persistence. The old system raised the car briefly, then dropped it back down once a speed threshold was passed. Country mode stays engaged until the driver cancels it – and while it's active, Danesin says the shocks and engine are tuned specifically to work at the new height rather than just running the standard calibration higher off the ground."So basically the car stays higher until you came out from that Country mode, and everything in terms of calibration of the system is optimized for this new height."Why This Actually Makes Sense on a GranTurismoThe GranTurismo is a low, sporting grand tourer – not what you'd typically call rough-road-friendly. But Danesin argues the platform has more capability than its ride height has historically suggested.All versions come standard with all-wheel drive and air spring suspension with adjustable setup and height. That's already a solid foundation; Country mode is essentially a pre-set that tells the car to use it more aggressively.AdvertisementAdvertisement"We also know that the GranTurismo it's an all-wheel drive car – I mean it's an all-wheel drive, it's part of the GranTurismo. So this traction capability together with this new setup of the suspension really makes the GranTurismo behaving astonishing in all situations, including the one that you would think to take with an off-road car," Danesin said. That's an ambitious claim for a low-slung Italian grand tourer, but it speaks to something genuine: if your daily commute ends on a rough driveway, or the scenic coastal route home has deteriorated badly, you shouldn't have to dread it just because you own a sports car.The full mode structure for combustion models runs to three settings – Country, Sport, and GT – while Corsa is reserved for the Trofeo. The Folgore expands the roster further with Max Range and GT modes on top of the base three.Country mode sits at one end of that spectrum, Corsa at the other. The fact that Maserati now considers low-speed comfort over degraded surfaces as worthy of a dedicated mode says something about what its customers are actually doing with the car."So this is really an extension, an important extension of the capability of the GranTurismo," Danesin said. The word "extension" is doing a lot of work there. Maserati isn't calling it an off-road mode, and nobody should mistake it for one. But for a car that costs well north of $150,000 and is meant to be used every day, not being able to clear a rough farm track without scraping the front lip has always been an irritating asterisk. Country mode looks like a reasonable fix for exactly that.