Beneteau brought in designers Carlo Nuvolari and Dan Lenard when it was creating the Gran Turismo 40. They helped to give the 40-foot express cruiser a thoughtful two-stateroom layout.
In the engine room, the two Volvo Penta powerplant options are twin 300 hp D4s or twin 380 hp D6s. Top speed varies depending on the engines: 33 knots with the D4s or 38.5 knots with the D6s. With the latter, the GT 40 can cruise at 30 knots for more than 200 nautical miles.
At press time, there were 17 Beneteau Gran Turismo 40s available, from $259,000 to $498,000.
From the Archive
“Beneteau has essentially made this boat float, both on water and on air. I was surprised by the handling of the GT 40 as well. Beneteau’s US sales director, Justin Joyner, kept telling me to crank harder in the turns until I was going hard over as fast as I could spin the wheel. Yet the GT 40 tracked like it was on rails, without cavitation or instability. In all, it’s a sweet hull on many levels.”
— Yachting, December 2016
