DUCATI MULTISTRADA V4S GRAND TOUR (2024 - on) Review

As a riding experience, the Multistrada V4 adventure bike is hard to fault – it’ll provide smiles aplenty, whichever road you’re on and whatever mood you’re in.

• Latest news: Ducati load Panigale engine into Multistrada for RS model

As a factory-built options model, the Grand Tour is the Multistrada V4 S with all the comfort-enhancing boxes already ticked. It looks classy and will save you a few hundred quid over speccing up a V4 S.

But you can’t help but feel Ducati have missed a trick by not basing this model on the Multistrada V4 Rally platform, with its bigger 30-litre fuel tank, and updated low-speed rear cylinder deactivation strategy – which would help address two of the bike’s only real niggles: tank range/MPG and excess heat.

Ducati’s Skyhook semi-active suspension has been a feature on the Multistrada for 10 years and its performance is nothing short of supernatural. Linked to the IMU and riding modes, the system uses feedback from the both the rider’s inputs and the suspension itself to automatically and instantly adjust the damping as you ride.

The result means that the Grand Tour, just like the V4 S, simply glides over potholes and flattens out yumps in a way that makes your confidence soar and allows you to simply concentrate on enjoying the corners.

First introduced on the Multistrada V4 Rally and rolled out to the V4 S this year, the Grand Tour also features the handy Minimum Preload, Autolevelling and Easy Lift functions, too.

Whilst Autolevelling and Easy Lift work automatically, Minimum Preload is activated either at a standstill or when travelling below 60mph via holding a button on the switchgear down for three seconds. The amount the bike lowers by depends on the all-up weight being carried, but for me riding solo it lowered the Grand Tour enough to take me from standing on tip toes to comfortably on the balls of my feet.

Although the system does automatically revert to normal once speed transcends 60mph, it’s best to reset it manually by pressing the button again, as we discovered on our test that featured many tight, low-speed corners directly after towns, it does noticeably slow the steering.

Although you’d expect a more road-touring version of the Multistrada to feature a 17in front wheel (as is the case with the Multistrada V4 Pikes Peak), Ducati have chosen to stick with the 19in wheel as they say to conserve the Multistrada’s position as an adventure-style model (rather than a tall sportsbike, as was the case with the previous Multistrada 1260 V-twin edition).

Although the 19in wheel will prevent you from fitting the stickiest of sports rubber, in reality it’s not an issue as the latest sports-touring tyres, including the Pirelli Scorpion Trail II that are fitted to the GT as standard, brilliant in all conditions.

Braking via Brembo Stylema calipers and backed up with cornering ABS is effective, if undramatic, but very confidence inspiring.

The Grand Tour uses the exact same motor, gearbox and final drive as the Multistrada V4 S – and it’s a masterpiece. Creating a smidge under 170bhp, it’s brutally fast, packs oodles of bottom end grunt, and is utterly flexible right through the rev range, too. And it achieves all this by remaining totally smooth in its delivery to give it a highly refined, yet somehow still raucous, character, especially at the top of its rev range.

The only blot on the motor’s copybook is the amount of heat it produces. Yes, this will no doubt be a boon on chilly winter mornings, especially seeing as Ducati have also added closable leg vents in order to direct more heat towards the rider especially for such occasions, but it’s stifling when the outside temperature is much above 26C.

Why Ducati haven’t fitted the updated rear cylinder deactivation system, as featured on the V4 Rally’s motor and which claims to reduce heat output and boost fuel economy during, is a mystery.

As is the case with modern Ducati, build quality is stunning and all the fixtures and fittings are top quality. Ducati have an impressive quality control and customer feedback programme, and have been working hard to prove the reliability of the Multistrada so offer it with a four-year warranty as standard, as well as free access to their Ducati 4Ever roadside rider assist scheme.

If you’re looking to buy a brand new Multistrada V4 for touring then the GT represents decent value. For £600 more than the Travel & Radar edition, you get all the same spec plus fog lights, hands-free filler cap, tyre pressure monitoring and a classy paint job, plus you actually save £400 against buying all the individual items separately.

In terms of servicing, Ducati are leading the way with impressively long intervals: oil changes are required after 9300 miles and valve checks after 37,500 miles!

The Multistrada GT's stiffest competition will likely come from the soon-to-be unveiled BMW R1300GS but we won't know which is best until we've ridden the new BMW. You might also consider a Triumph Tiger 1200 GT Explorer for road touring or a KTM 1290 Super Adventure S.

Fuel economy isn’t anything to write home about, though; a fun ride on the twisty hillside roads near Bologna yielded just 33mpg on our test, before a stretch of motorway cruising averaged it out to a slightly better 38mpg. But either way, it’d take some very conservative riding indeed to eke out anywhere near 200 miles from the 22-litre fuel tank.

Here’s what the GT comes with as standard: 60-litres’ worth of hard luggage capacity, heated rider and pillion seat (‘Rally’ spec for the passenger), heated grips, front and rear radar allowing blind spot detection and adaptive cruise control, Ducati EVO electronics with four switchable rider modes which adapt the engine output and throttle response as well as the suspension behaviour, traction control, cornering ABS, wheelie control, quickshifter/autoblipper, hill-hold control, autolevelling, minimum preload.

There’s a 6.5in TFT dash with smartphone connectivity and screen mirroring, USB power socket, keyless ignition and fuel filler cap, and fog lights.

For the GT, Ducati have added increased ventilation for the mobile phone cubby hole on top of the tank, to prevent smartphones overheating when connected to the bike’s system and/or being charged via the 12v socket. It’s just a shame my phone (Samsung S21) is too big to fit inside – in fact, I’ve not met many people who can fit their phones inside the Multistrada’s cubby hole!