Maserati Levante 2017 Review

Maserati's local marketing team believes that the new Levante SUV can take sales away from the Porsche Cayenne.

The current Cayenne is nearing the end of its life, with a new model set to arrive here before the end of 2017. So now is an excellent opportunity, in other words, for the Levante to seduce buyers away from the Porsche.

But can it?

If one places to one side branding and image, the Levante and the Cayenne share a lot of values. Both are prestige family wagons that are dynamically adept, for example, and both can manage light-duty off-road driving.

For the Aussie launch of the Levante we tested the diesel V6-engined SUV across a range of rural roads (including freeways), a closed bitumen track and some unsealed surfaces (featuring elevation and water crossings to test the Levante's ability in the bush).

And the outcome was generally favourable.

Refined touring in a sporty SUV
From the moment the Levante headed out of Sydney bound for points north it was very apparently a quiet car. Road noise was subdued, there was virtually no wind noise in the calm conditions – despite the Levante's unusual frameless windows – and the engine could be barely heard.

Complementing the serenity was the Levante's ride comfort, which was highly commendable for an SUV that can be pushed hard through corners, as we discovered later. Over some very ordinary bitumen the Levante rode more than acceptably well, even in sport mode. Yet the Levante also felt properly nailed down for on-road handling and grip.

On the road the Levante turned in with a tidy attitude, but changing direction on a closed circuit you became more aware of the sort of rear-biased weight transfer that's a hallmark of rear-wheel drive vehicles. The Levante sends its torque to the rear wheels most of the time, only resorting to front drive when the vehicle detects significant slip.

While the Levante's steering was moderately heavy, it was lighter in the SUV's normal drive mode, but less communicative with it. In sport mode (there are two sport modes, but only the second one changes the steering calibration) the Levante offered precise steering that kept the driver properly informed.

There was a distinct difference in feedback between the two variants driven – the Levante Sport on the 21-inch alloy wheels and tyres, and the Levante Luxury, riding on 20-inch wheels. It was the former that provided the better steering feel in normal mode.

The Levante's brakes were strong and capable, but the pads were smoking fairly heavily after some challenging laps on a private test track. There was no sign of fading however, and owners will be unlikely to subject the Levante to that level of punishment. Quite simply, the brakes were tasked with pulling up a 2.2-tonne SUV from speeds that were well beyond the legal limits on public roads. They passed the test...

Maserati's muscular Motori mill
The engine – a Motori-supplied 3.0-litre diesel V6 – occasionally produced a V8-like warble when it wasn't loping along in touring mode. For all its refinement, however, the Maserati powerplant lacked the ultimate charisma of the turbo-diesel V6 in our long-term Jaguar XF S, the same engine that powers the F-PACE 30d.

Unlike the Jaguar engine, there's no doubt the Maserati's engine is a diesel. It actually sounds sportier as the vehicle dashes past under full load than it does from inside the cabin. There was also some turbo lag prevalent, which took some of the shine off the Levante's point-to-point performance, although the V6 is not short of power and torque and the Levante will tow 2700kg.

Fuel consumption, according to the trip computer, was 11.2L/100km on the outward-bound leg, but as little as 7.6L/100km on the return trip along the Pacific Highway to Sydney.

Coupled to the engine is an eight-speed ZF automatic, which shifts crisply but without fuss. Given the torque available from the diesel V6, the shift paddles of the Levante Sport were almost redundant, but did amplify engine braking on the entry to corners. When the engine reached redline, however, the transmission would shift up automatically, even in manual mode. Surprisingly, the Levante Luxury didn't get shift paddles, despite being priced the same as the Levante Sport.

During the drive program the Levante successfully negotiated an undemanding fire access trail, fording a shallow water crossing and negotiating the track without exceeding the approach, departure and break-over angles of the entry-level model when raised to its highest suspension setting.

So just how much off-road ability the Levante can muster – relative to the Cayenne – remains unassessed.

One thing learned from the off-road section of the drive program was that the Levante's hill-descent control system was functional and could be adjusted for different speeds, but it was conspicuously noisy applying the brakes.

The Levante is big. In its market segment it's longer and wider than the Cayenne. And the Levante is longer than the BMW X6 and Mercedes GLE Coupe also, although both those rivals are wider.

Despite being larger than its peers, the Levante feels cosy inside. Bottle holders in the door cards are for smaller bottles (up to about 400ml), for instance, and the centre fascia is not as wide open as some competitors'.

Nor is the Levante particularly spacious in the rear, in light of its external footprint. Rear-seat kneeroom was fine for adults of average height. There wasn't a lot of room to stretch out, but there was enough space under the front seats for passengers in the rear to park their feet. Headroom was quite generous in the two variants sampled – even in the case of the Levante Luxury with the sunroof fitted.

The disconnect between external dimensions and roominess also carried through to the Levante's boot space. For luggage capacity the Levante couldn't compare with the Jaguar F-PACE – a significantly shorter and slightly narrower vehicle in a different market segment.

Stepping in and out of the Levante was helped by the car's ideal hip point. The seats were comfortable too, and nicely shaped to hold the occupant in place at higher cornering speeds. A comfortable driving position was readily achieved, although it took a little while to find the adjustment switch for the steering column. The instruments were easy to read and the controls were basically straightforward to use, the one exception being the transmission shift lever.

Unlike sequential shifting in other prestige cars, the lever in the Levante 'taps' in the same plane as the conventional PRNDL détente. Press the manual button next to the lever and the détente changes to sequential shifting. Furthermore, in the conventional mode, the lever operated in a two-stage set-up: press up against the spring-loaded step for Reverse, or past the step for Park. We still prefer the simplicity of a gated détente, which is arguably safer for that reason.

A large format infotainment screen in the Levante provided clear graphics in a reasonably high resolution, but it is the same screen as the RAM pick-up that ferried us back to the airport. Working through the screen it's possible to disable strident, audible alarms for lane-departure and parking, which was welcome. Bluetooth paired up a new smartphone without difficulty as well. And selecting points on the screen could be executed by touch, or through a combination volume-control knob and single-point controller that worked effectively.

But despite the well resolved interior design, it's in the cabin that the Levante will likely suffer in contrast with the Cayenne (or other rivals, including the F-PACE). Where dynamic ability is concerned, however, the matchup is much closer.

2017 Maserati Levante Luxury and Sport pricing and specifications:
Price: $159,990 (Luxury and Sport, plus on-road costs)
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo-diesel
Output: 202kW/600Nm
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Fuel: 7.2L/100km (ADR Combined)
CO2: 189g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety Rating: TBA