Illustrious Italian sports car firm Maserati has finally embraced the growing premium SUV market. The Levante is the first SUV ever from the century-old company and Maserati knows it’s a make-or-break car, so it’s thrown all its might into making the Levante best in class for driving fun. The good news is that the firm hasn’t failed in its attempts – the Levante is an accomplished new entrant that could steal sales away from Porsche and BMW and should appeal to those customers who want something a little more exclusive in the premium SUV class.
A real strong point for the Levante is it interior. Forget any past impressions of flimsy Maserati interiors because the Levante is made from some really good quality plastics and leathers. It’s still a little behind the near perfection you get in a Porsche Cayenne or Audi Q7, but only a little.
The Levante interior has been designed with a sporty and luxurious feel throughout. There’s a high centre console to cosset you, while the rest of the interior feels plush and upmarket. There’s a large screen that runs a brand new infotainment system too, but the gear lever is really difficult to use with a clunky and imprecise action.
Trim levels haven’t been confirmed for the UK, but in Europe the Levante is available in four versions: a standard car, Luxury and Sport versions and a special Zegna edition. All models were well equipped with leather as standard along with ambient lighting, a Bose stereo with eight speakers, cruise control, hill descent control, dual zone climate control, auto wipers, keyless entry for the front doors and a powered tailgate. The Sport version adds sports seats with 12-way power adjustment, kick plates on the door sills, an electric steering column, gearshift paddles and metal pedals. Luxury spec includes nicer leather, a Harman Kardon stereo system and electric rear side sun blinds.
To befit its upmarket Italian character, there’s a large personalisation range with a total of 28 different colour combinations for the Levante. The Zegna Edition takes things one step further with seats trimmed in leather and Zegna silk.
Sat-nav, stereo and infotainment
The dashboard is dominated by an 8.4-inch toushcreen that runs a brand new Maserati Touch Control Plus infotainment system. It’s a big improvement over other Fiat Group systems with a high-resolution screen and attractive graphics and colours, and has swipe and pinch functions. It can also run Apple CarPlay and to make the system even easier to use on the move, there’s a rotary controller on the centre console.
Maserati is marketing the Levante with the slogan: “The Maserati of SUVs”. While it’s toe curling in its cheesiness, there is an element of truth to it – this is more than a generic or mediocre SUV with a Maserati badge slapped onto the nose.
Maserati’s engineers have given the Levante 50:50 weight distribution and fitted normally optional kit like torque vectoring, air suspension and a limited slip differential as standard. The result is a poised and balanced chassis that’s eager to attack twisty roads. It’s all backed up with a steering system that gives a huge amount of feel and is very accurate – bucking the trend for electronic steering set-ups on rival cars, Maserati has fitted a hydraulic steering set-up to the Levante and the SUV is all the better for it.
While it weighs over 2.2 tonnes, the balanced chassis and accurate steering make the Levante handle far better than its weight would otherwise suggest. It rewards quick driving and the eight-speed ZF gearbox is pinpoint sharp in its changes. On the diesel version, the brakes need a firm shove to get a response, but the standard-fit air suspension does a good job of ironing out bumps in Normal mode and sharpens things up nicely in Sport mode. Only large potholes and road imperfections affect the excellent body control.
All Levantes come fitted with Maserati’s Q4 four-wheel drive system. For the most part it sends 100 per cent of the engine’s power to the rear wheels, only sending power up front should it be needed. The system can be sending 100% of power to the rear then change to a 50:50 split in just 150 milliseconds, and with Off-road modes selected, the Levante is also pretty competent in the rough. The highest setting raises the ride height by 40mm, which should be more than enough for the intended customer base. Overall the Levante drives like a jacked-up version of one of Maserati’s saloon cars – which is an impressive achievement.
Engines
The 3.0-litre V6 diesel is a strong engine. With 275bhp and 600Nm it’s quick but you can’t call it rapid, and with a rev limiter not much higher than 3,500rpm it doesn’t feel especially Maserati-like on first impressions. However, it does emit 189g/km and returns 39.2mpg on the combined cycle so, while a Porsche Cayenne diesel may fire you out of corners a little quicker, the Maserati shouldn’t be as expensive to run. The car actually becomes more appealing the more time you spend with it. It even makes a decent noise in Sport mode thanks to sound actuators in the exhausts.
The 430bhp 3.0-litre V6 petrol in the Levante S – that’s expected to join the range alongside the diesel we tried at launch – is unsurprisingly potent and makes a terrific sound. It’s a halo version and not an eco warrior, as a 253g/km CO2 figure testifies.
Maseratis have never featured prominently in the Driver Power survey as the cars haven’t had a large enough sample size to make the cut. However, with the brand entering more mainstream sectors like the executive saloon class with the Ghibli and now the premium SUV segment with the Levante, Maserati says it has improved its quality and reliability because it has to. The petrol engines are built by Ferrari and the diesels by an outside supplier called VM – and both companies are known for building strong engines.
The Levante hasn’t been crash tested yet by Euro NCAP but there are six airbags – two front, two side and two curtain airbags – and there is the usual haul of driver assistance systems.
Maserati hasn’t confirmed the warranty or servicing plan with the Levante, but we would guess it’ll follow the Ghibli saloon with a three-year warranty and various extended options packs for further peace of mind
Maserati says the Levante is towards the top of the class for roominess, and while it’s true there is more space than you would expect – especially given the sloping roofline – the claim is a little misleading.
Overall space is excellent in the front and adequate in the rear, while the boot doesn’t exceed those of rivals in size. Visibility out of the front is good but the coupe roofline ruins rear visibility; the Levante also feels quite large on the road.
Size
In pictures, the Levante looks quite small, as though it would rival the Jaguar F-Pace, BMW X3 and Audi Q5. In fact, it is in the class above and a large car in the premium SUV class for that matter. At just over five metres in length, it’s around 200mm longer than a Porsche Cayenne and a 100mm longer than a BMW X6.
Leg room, head room and passenger space
There is tonnes of room up front and it’s easy to get a good driving position thanks to plenty of adjustment from the steering wheel and seats. In the back there is a good amount of space considering its sporty, coupe-like profile with decent headroom. There’s lots of kneeroom, but with that roof and shallow windows, a Porsche Cayenne does feel more spacious in the back.
Boot
Maserati says the Levante is towards the top of the class for boot space, and it is – it’s just not class-leading.
There’s a capacity of 580 litres – that’s the same as the BMW X6 but the Porsche Cayenne has 618 litres. The boot is of a good shape and with a flat loading area it’s easy to load items in. It’s also luxuriously finished with soft carpet and the standard power tailgate is a nice feature.
Maserati hasn’t given a figure for the complete load area with the seats folded down, but we would guess it would be roughly the same as the BMW X6’s 1,525-litre capacity.
The vast majority of SUVs sold in the UK are diesel powered, so it was of little surprise that Maserati initially elected to sell the Levante in Britain only with diesel power. However, at the international press launch, Maserati did reveal it will also be selling the most powerful Ferrari-built 430bhp V6 petrol here.
The decision to offer the petrol Levante S in the UK allows Maserati to compete against charismatic sports SUVs like the Porsche Cayenne GTS. With a standard-fit sports exhaust, the Levante S sounds better than the Porsche and with a claimed 26mpg it’s economy is roughly the same. However, the Maserati is dirtier kicking out 253g/km compared to the Porsche’s 228g/km.
Naturally, the Levante S is a halo car and it’ll be the diesel that’ll interest most. It packs more power than a comparable Cayenne Diesel S (275bhp versus 262bhp) and more torque (600Nm compared to 580Nm) but the Porsche’s engine feels more urgent and is smoother. The Cayenne is also slightly cleaner (173g/km compared to the Levante’s 189g/km) and returns better mpg (42.8 versus 39.2) – although in the real world both would average somewhere in the low 30s.