The 1st Levante review, from Motor Trend, and that's a great one. They really liked it and even go to say that this is a very sporty vehicle. 2017 Maserati Levante First Drive Review - Motor Trend Article: You must-a respect-a the speed limit, our twinkly-eyed former F1, Indy, and Le Mans racer group leader, Domenico Schiattarella, said before we hopped into a foursome of Maserati Levantes and barreled off toward FCAs famed Balocco proving grounds. Follow me. After we whipped through a dozen roundabouts like so many eggs, I found myself parked on the Autostrada del Sole at 110 miles per hour. I say parked because despite our triple-digit speed, the Levante felt solid as a rock. Then a BMW X5 M blew by us, and, well, Seniore Schiattarella wasnt having it. He and his Quattroporte went tearing after Mr. BMW. I buried my right foot, and voila, I was suddenly seeing greater than 270 kilometers per hour on the speedo. Thats well over 160 mph to us Yankee Doodle types. Perhaps disregard is a form of respect in Italy? Either way, thats damn fast for an SUV, and the Levante felt like it had plenty of juice left when I lifted. So yes, Maserati built an SUV. Shocked? Upset? Look, Porsche did the same with the Cayenne way back when, and the car world has forgiven Zuffenhausen. Why not Maserati? Look at it like this: Last year Maserati sold 32,517 vehicles worldwide. Maserati is planning on selling 30,000 Levantes in the first year. Want great Maseratis in the future? The Levante is the key. Speaking of the Porsche Cayenne, the Levante is more than an inch narrower than the Cayenne. However, the Levantes wheelbase is more than 4.0 inches longer than the Porsches and almost 3.0 inches longer than a BMW X5. Turns out that the Levante is based on the Ghibli, not a Jeep Grand Cherokee. This can be observed not only in the long dash-to-axle ratio but also in the spacious back seat. The Levante is a true two-row, five-passenger SUV. Should you want a third row, Maserati advises you to go somewhere else. Dont be surprised, however, to see a four-passenger, super-luxury model in the future. Visually, the Levante is the latest in a long line of vehicles that dont work in two dimensions as well as they do in three. While the face is aggressive, it fits the overall character of this SUV. The rest of the body is pretty much OK, but depending on the angle you might see Porsche, Infiniti, and/or Mazda. The Levante looks much better in person. I dig it. When the Ghibli went on sale, the car world was shocked to discover that the interior was loaded up with Chrysler parts. Not necessarily the good Mopar stuff, either. The Ghiblis cabin was a disappointment. The Levante goes about halfway in terms of righting that wrong. I can still see too much Jeep in the switchgear (such as the hill descent control button). But hey, the Rolls-Royce Phantom and BMW 2 Series have the same navigation system, and no ones crying themselves to sleep over that fact. The leather, wood, and metal on display is a huge step in the correct direction. Also, the optional Zegna silk seat and door inserts nicely break up the tyranny of leather. Under the hood sits a twin-turbo, 3.0-liter V-6 that comes in two flavors: 345 horsepower and 369 lb-ft of torque or 424 hp and 428 lb-ft of torque. I drove the more powerful version, as well as a nice diesel were not getting. The big engines power is routed to a ZF eight-speed automatic transmission and doled out to all four wheels. Kinda. See, most of the time the Levante runs around with 100 percent of its power hitting the rear wheels only. When needed in extreme traction conditions, as much as 50 percent of the torque can hit the front wheels. In normal driving, and depending on which of the four driving modes youre in, as much as 20 percent of the power is routed up front, though in most modes the front tires only get 10 percent of the torque. Maserati figures 0-60 times of 5.8 and 5.0 seconds. And yes, with most of the torque hitting the rear wheels, the Levante will drift. The Levante uses aluminum for the front subframe, shock towers, and the frameless doors. Maserati claims this results in a body-in-white thats 330 pounds lighter than the Ghiblis and 20 percent stiffer, as well. Maserati declined to state a weight, but Ill guess 4,400 pounds. Like the Ghibli, it drives lighter than it is. The Levante features 50/50 weight distribution, no easy trick for a front-engine SUV. This weight split makes the car feel sporty and (obviously) balanced. Speaking of sporting, the front suspension is composed of double A-arms, and out back is a five-link rear. Thats sports sedan and sports car type of gear. Guess what? The Levante, as a result, drives excellently. Much more sporting than I would have guessed. Maserati figures that less than 1 percent of Levante owners will ever take the rig off-road. Knowing that, they went ahead and made the Levante quite capable in the dirt. Why? Because customers will like knowing the capabilitys there. The Levantes non-pavement prowess is enabled by its sophisticated air springs and an automatic, electronically locking Torsen differential. Those springs are also the key to the rigs on-road goodness. Featuring 3.3 inches of total height adjustment, the two Off Road modes will give you as much as 1.6 inches of extra height compared to Normal mode or drop you down as much as 1.4 inches when in Sport 2 mode or at speed. Theres also a parking lot setting that drops the Levante an additional 0.4 inch for loading stuff. Around Baloccos off-road track, the Levante was surprisingly capable and sure-footed. Around the handling track, there were moments I forgot I was behind the wheel of an SUV. Its that sporty. The big takeaway is that Maserati didnt need to build an SUV this accomplished. Because high-riding vehicles are all the rage, anything that simply looked the part would have done fine in the showroom. Think the Camry-platform-based Lexus RX. But the Levante isnt phoned in. Some real engineering work took placeMaserati says they logged 5 million development kilometersand it shows in the way the Levante drives. Bewildered? Astonished? Confused? You should be, as no one thought a Maserati SUV would be any good. Turns out, the Levantes great.
What a quote. Sounds like the perfect opportunity for history to repeat itself. Maserati markets an expensive, exceedingly competent, highly engineered product to a clientele with different expectations and who misunderstood the brief. 40 years ago it was called the Bora. My inner pessimist predicts the moms of tony neighborhoods from suburban New Jersey to Hollywood will give the Leviathan negative feedback, somehow identifying exactly the qualities that Maserati engineered into it. However, my hope is the real world will appreciate it like Motor Trend, because that would mark a huge success for Maserati. - Art
Oh Art let's not equate this with birth of the Bora in the early 1970's. This is a hell of a lot less expensive and not nearly as avant garde. If it isn't a hell of a lot better and more car then they should just send them straight to recycling. I'm certain it blows the doors of a Bora. Most modern cars do save perhaps for top end. It's an old car ... and a gorgeous one that's very unique to pilot and ride in. The SUV is getting good initial reviews.
Thank you for this article! I like the Levante more and more, from "good" to "very good"... Image Unavailable, Please Login
The best line from the article is: "The big takeaway is that Maserati didnt need to build an SUV this accomplished" That is a powerful statement.
Biggest surprise for me was that it's not a Jeep chassis, I would have assumed they would have started with a GC frame and differential/4WD.
That was nixed a long time ago but the rumour has hung around forums like this because yes they do use some Chrysler sourced stuff on the cars. Fiat owns Chrysler so duh! Some people just want to keep pushing the old Chrysler TC by Maserati meme after all these years.
Cant wait for it to arrive at my Maserati dealership! i need to drive it! Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
It's literally the best review a Maserati product has received in years in terms of presenting a homogeneous and solid product. It seems they spent time and money to make it great which only brings more hope that the next round of Ghiblis and QP's will be even better. On a side note, if FCA can do this well with a Maserati SUV it should bode well for the new Alfa Giulia
Another glowing British review: First drive: 2016 Maserati Levante - - Manchester Evening News " Despite being a little short on the kind of electronic and infotainment goodies one takes for granted in this marketplace, the Levante is an attractive, fast and superbly agile machine. The fact that it more than handles itself off-road is a genuine treat. But its most appealing aspect is its surprisingly wallet-friendly pricing in this sector. Maserati can hold its head high among its more mainstream peers."
I had the pleasure to visit a Levante presentation event yesterday evening. I have experienced: with cW 0.31 best drag coefficient in its class, deepest center of gravity in its class, almost a front mid-engine design, its Sport-Skyhook system in combination with a mechanical locking differential and torque-vectoring-funktions is the most complex chassis/suspension system in its class and and and... It seems that the 2016-quota for Switzerland will be sold out already soon. What a beautiful and impressive SUV, well done Maserati! Image Unavailable, Please Login
...but it's not an easy way to fulfill. The V6 tt in the levante is a "small" 60° V-engine which fits well between the front suspension braces and therefore allows a deep center of gravity. The Ferrari V8 tt is a "wider" 90° engine which causes problems for a correspondingly deep installation. This is one of the reasons why Maserati can't use the 510hp V6 tt engine from Alfa Romeo, this engine has also a 90° cylinder arrangement (this engine is a Ferrari V8 tt with two cylinder less, deviated from the Ferrari F154 engine family). But yes, I heard that Maserati is working on a proper solution.
Thanks for the explanation. I would assume some re-engineering is due but the Halo Effect for the V8 will be monumental. It seems that large SUV's need them. Jeep is currently working on a 707hp Grand Cherokee.
So happy to hear Maserbygodi got the Levante right as there is some stiff competition from the Germans.
I think I prefer the Masser, although I guess it competes more with the Cayenne and X5 than the Macan or Q5, like the F-Pace seems to. F-Pace base model is a 2.0 diesel. And the Jag, just like any Jag, looks great. Except for the final 1/4, which looks a bit like they've extended it to create some extra booth space.
They were both next to each other at nyias and was no competition re exterior. Interior might be different story
Be clear they were not side by side. They were near each other in completely different displays a couple of hundred feet apart. The FPace is much smaller and nearly as capable as the Levante more along the lines of a Range Rover Sport. Styling is purely subjective, remember the FPace was displayed with the other car from the Jaguar line, which from a styling stand point really don't look like Jaguars but more like really nice Volvos. The Levante styling looks like a Maserati and fits the family line, as does the Bentley.