Maserati Levante

[Col Lamb]

At Lytham St Annes today and not only did I see a Bentley Bananarama or whatever they call it but a couple of minutes later a Masser went past.

Both looked great.

Half an hour later we were on the way home and an idiot in a RR Wraith cut out in front of me and he floored it, I would have floored the Turbo but the Wraith laid down such a black smoke screen from the four pipes I could not see a thing?

[Zinzan]

James,
Are you sure it was the 3L petrol you tested and not the diesel? When I enquired about the Levante I was told the petrol was not being made available in the UK. At that point I lost interest.....

[Hawkeye]

I wondered the same thing .... I thought there was only a diesel version too.

[Ray G]

My understanding too.

[goron59]

Me too me too! :)

As soon as the dealer said, "UK sucks, we only get diesels," I lost all interest.

Masers are all about elegance + style (subjective) and exhaust note.

The diesels have neither :(

[johnd]

https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/industry/petrol-maserati-levante-will-make-10-sales-following-diesel-only-u-turn

[jesim1]

James,
Are you sure it was the 3L petrol you tested and not the diesel? When I enquired about the Levante I was told the petrol was not being made available in the UK. At that point I lost interest.....

Good catch - and you could be right. I tested the Levante and the Ghibli back to back, and when I was talking to the salesman about the engines he said they were the same (and the Ghbili was definitely a 3L bi turbo) - but the Ghibli was louder and rougher with much of that coming from poor sound insulation from the back area of the car - it was very noticeable. So it could be either one of us made a mistake or didn't quick catch the other?

As it was a demo day I was not really interested in flooring it, I was more interested in was it nice, and could I live with it - but ultimately it was not as good as the Macan. I genuinely would find it hard to believe many people would consider it after driving it back to back with a Macan - it almost spoils the Levante for you, which on it's own, is a very nice car.

James

[bigbaldybloke]

Levante petrol is now available to test drive in the uk, just been contacted by the local dealer to see if I'm interested. I'd previously declined a drive in the diesel version.

[bigbaldybloke]

Just taken a short test drive in the petrol Levante S, only about half an hour or so with the sales rep on board so had to be a bit restrained! It certainly goes well and sounds great, definitely faster off the line than my Macan S , but it has an extra 90 bhp so you would expect it to be. The ride on 21” wheels was surprisingly good, air suspension is standard and it soaked up pot holes and poor quality roads better than my Macan on 19” wheels with PASM. Didn’t like the red interior, but that’s just my personal choice, seats were good and the sat Nav and infotainment system seemed quick and quite intuitive. Managed about 18mpg on this short trip which the salesman reckoned was pretty indicative of what you are likely to get in real world driving. Delivery is quoted as 12 weeks, but I didn’t put down a deposit to test that! The configurator on the Maserati website still doesn’t cover this model so I couldn’t see what a reasonably specced one would work out at, but probably similar to a Macan Turbo pp. they have a hybrid version in development which the salesman said was planned for 2019. Would I buy one, probably not, but mainly due to the initial cost and expected depreciation rate. Space wise, it’s a little bigger inside than the Macan but smaller than the Cayenne. I preferred it to the F-Pace, but still waiting for the Stelvio Quadrifoglio to compare them with.

[goron59]

^^ @BBB did you get any pics of the car you drove?