Maserati Levante S 2018 Review

Launching the Maserati Levante S in Australia in 2016 with only a turbo-diesel engine choice made sense because it’s a big, heavy SUV. But it’s also a Maserati, which means sparkling performance is expected too.

The latest Maserati Levante S has addressed that issue with addition of the same 3.0-litre V6 turbo-petrol engine found in the Ghibli and Quattroporte sedans. It also comes with a substantial price hike.

Help from Ferrari

The Maserati Levante S’s twin-turbo Ferrari-built 3.0-litre petrol V6 produces 316kW/580Nm. It races to 100km/h in 5.2sec and on to a top speed of 264km/h. By comparison, the turbo-diesel does 0-100km/h in 6.9sec.

Maserati has also swapped out hydraulic power steering for an electrically-assisted rack and added driver assist systems including highway and lane-keep assist, active blind-spot assist and traffic sign recognition. The Maserati Levante S also gets bigger Brembo brakes and suspension tweaks.

Other standard safety equipment across the range includes six airbags, adaptive cruise control, forward-collision warning, blind-spot warning, lane-departure warning, hill-descent control, electronic parking brake, a tyre-pressure monitor and surround-view camera.

Other gear includes bi-xenon headlights, 8.4-inch touch screen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity, an eight-speaker audio system (which provided terrible AM radio reception), alloy wheels (a choice of 20 and 21inch diameter), leather trim and dual-zone climate control.

At its core the Maserati Levante is based on an architecture derived from the aforementioned Ghibli and Quattroporte. It drives via a ZF eight-speed automatic to a rear-biased all-wheel drive system dubbed Q4 (hence the SQ4 badge on the power tailgate).

Suspension is via double wishbones and multi-links, air springs with variable ride height and electronically controlled adjustable dampers.

Total price? $169,990 (plus on-road costs). That’s $30,000 more than the diesel model. Our test car also added the GranSport trim for $10,000 and a few other bits and pieces to take the total up to $186,511.

Big stuff

The Maserati Levante S is a big beast. From its gaping maw and over-sized trident back to its sizable butt it dominates the road and grabs heaps of attention. It measures up at 5003mm long, 1968mm wide, 1679mm high and weighs in at more than 2100kg.

What you get is a vehicle very rapid in a straight line that takes a bit of effort to maneuver around the bends… if you’re attempting to drive the Levante S as you would other Maseratis.

There is a fair amount of assistance being provided to tailor the drive experience. The suspension, drivetrain, steering can all be tuned for economy, comfort or speed. The air springs have 80mm of ride height adjustment.

Economy (or ICE) mode is fine for fuel saving on the highways. Speaking of which, our fuel consumption for the week averaged out at 12.7L/100km versus the claimed 10.9. Not too shabby.

Normal mode is where you want to be most of the time. The Lavente S's ride offers some compliance, although low-speed on low-profile 21-inch rubber was poor, steering isn’t too heavily weighted, throttle pedal response is less frisky and the engine and gearbox more relaxed. This is when the Levante is at its best.

Get into Sport and the engine starts to howl and the exhaust pop and snarl, the responses become keener and the engine’s fast-spinning character is noticeable.

The ride also gets sharper, controlling the body better but transmitting more hits into the cabin. The steering gets heavier but feels no more communicative. Despite all that and a mechanical limited slip diff, the Levante drives like most other big, heavy and powerful SUVs. It’s a bit clumsy, a bit harsh and just a bit too much hard work.

The Maserati Levante S also has an off-road mode, but all we experimented on was some gravel roads. They attested to decent anti-lock brake tuning and a good level of under-body noise dampening to subdue gravel splash.

Not so big stuff

Inside the overall atmosphere is as you’d hope. The combination of light and dark leather, neat stitching and piano black makes for a luxurious mix. The front seats are simply massive and all-supportive. There are neat touches like an analogue clock at the top of the centre stack.

But there were detail issues too; the size of some numerals in the instrument panel (such as the cruise control speed) are too small for those of us with ageing eyes to make out.

The climate control also struggled to keep us cool, except when the fan was turned right up.

I also found my right foot fouling under the brake pedal sometimes when operating the throttle. Big feet… or big shoes, anyway.

But the most annoying thing is how easy it is to over-shoot the gear you want. I lost count of the number of times I went straight through reverse from park.

There are manual paddles as well for when you are feeling sporty, but they don’t rotate with the steering wheel, which sometimes makes grabbing a gear difficult.

The Levante isn’t as spacious inside as its exterior dimensions suggest. There are a variety of storage spaces, but no bottle holders in the doors. You can fit three adults in the rear, but it’s better off with two.

The boot offers 580 litres of space, which is fine. But fold row two down and it’s not that spacious. You must remove the front wheel from your mountain bike to fit it in. Under the rear floor we had an optional collapsible Vredestein tyre which had to be called in to action after the right rear Pirelli Pzero punctured. Thanks to the lads at Balnarring Motors for their FOC assistance.

Appealing to some

There’s no doubt the Maserati Levante S has more vim, vigour and zing than the turbo-diesel version. So, ‘the Maserati of SUVs’ now drives more like it claims to However, as we’ve noted you do pay dearly for that extra performance.

Take the wider view and the reality is the Levante takes the luxury SUV scene nowhere new.

Fresh arrivals like the impressive new Porsche Cayenne show where SUVs are now at. Maserati still has some catching up to do.

How much does the 2018 Maserati Levante S cost?
Price: $169,990 (retail, plus ORCs); $186,511 (as tested, plus ORCs)
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder twin-turbo-petrol
Output: 316kW/580Nm
Transmission: Eight-speed automatic
Fuel: 10.9L/100km (ADR Combined); 12.7L/100km (as tested)
CO2: 253g/km (ADR Combined)
Safety rating: N/A