Two weeks ago, I went to Mars. Or rather, Maserati brought Mars to Milan to unveil the brand new Grecale car, an all-new Maserati SUV, inciting the exceptional into the everyday.

You don’t have to be a car aficionado to know that Maserati represents the holy grail of pioneering high-speed supercars. The Balenciaga of the automotive world, Maserati is dextrously forward-thinking, imbued with personality, and thanks to their style, technicality and charisma, the four-wheeled icons are at the epicentre of all things luxury and elegance.

The rapid pace of our everyday lives mean that, for the most part, we often forget to take the time to value each day and what makes it exceptional. Enter Maserati, offering a solution, to punctuate our quotidian lives with comfort, elegance, but most importantly, the enchantment of escaping to another world, as the engine roars to life.

So how did I end up on Mars? By fastening my seatbelt, taking to the steering while and trialling out the The Grecale Mission from Mars, projecting Maserati forward into the future, as a bold synthesis of avant-garde, passion and unbounded customisation, a car that looks ethereal and otherworldly, yet belongs to the roads of Planet Earth. The Mission from Mars has begun and the options to customise Grecale are pushed to their absolute limit. Taking cues from beyond the stratosphere, the red dust of the planet and its oxidised rocks cross-fertilise Grecale Mission from Mars: a special textured metallic paint, inspired by mineral dust and metal erosion is used on components inside and out.

Merging planets across the solar system, to complete the exterior, the Grecale Mission from Mars deploys a Galactic Orange coating, its highly liquid base reminiscent of molten metal, on top of an intense, futuristic and almost frosted orange-red resin. And while Earthly terrain might propose a few bumps along the way, life on Mars brings a whole new surface, meaning Vortex wheels, recalling the displacement of air caused by start-up and travelling at speed.

To never drive on the opposite side of the car, nor the opposite side of the road might seem Martian in itself for first timers such as myself, but with an ethereal instrument such as the Maserati Grecale, the unknown felt imaginable as I turned roundabouts in opposing ways for the very first time. Guided by the voice assistance, the bellowing speakers prompting soothing tunes, I released my inner Charlize Theron, gliding through the Italian countryside.

Putting a mere Earthling, such as myself, in the car means that even if you’re going to the supermarket, the journey feels like an escape from reality. Reclining into the interior; the seats, fusing innovative design, are a paradox of traditional artisanal craftsmanship and contemporary touch, where natural leather, carbon fire and wood exist in an unexpected harmony.

While we might not be adept in knowing the secrets of daily life on Mars, here on planet Earth, we’re driven by connectivity and the unrelenting language of communication, which doesn’t stop once you enter the vehicle. As digital surfaces replace the need for a congestion of buttons, Martians might do it differently, but in the Grecale Mission from Mars, the tap on a 12.3” screen – the largest ever seen in a Maserati – does the job, connecting you to others, and navigating your journey between tunes and traffic.

They say you shouldn’t meet your heroes, but ever since watching the heartfelt comedy-drama, Intouchables (2011) following the unusual friendship between a caregiver and a French nobleman, the Maserati Quattroporte GTS that raced across the screen had become a pipedream in my head.

So to get to grips with a model that was touching the ground for the first time defied any and all expectations. The lightness of steering, and the advanced navigation through projection on the windscreen, a state-of-the-art, clear vision Head-up display shows key driving and navigation data as well as safety pop-ups, so you can keep your eyes on the road. So for navigation panics, when you don’t know your left from your right, it means that for novices such as I, you don’t have to be an F1 driver to get from A to B in the supercar.

While Mars might not be the voyage for everyone, fear not, the Maserati Grecale prides itself on being a tabula rasa, a blank slate, open to the nuanced personalisation of its driver. Introducing Fuoriserie, your Maserati tailor-made to your unique personality, a distinctive personalisation programme that allows you to create one-of-a-kind Maserati cars, styled by you.

But why all the hype of life beyond the orb we know and love? It’s a reminder that the exceptional doesn’t happen to be found searching out into the stars. A trip to the extraordinary can be found right there on your doorstep, or your driveway for that matter.