Maserati Levante Trofeo and Levante GTS.
If you had told me 10 years ago I would be in Italy driving a Maserati, I would not imagine that it would be a 1.7m tall SUV.
Today, however, no manufacturer can afford to ignore the segment. Not even a traditional purveyor of sultry sports cars and grand tourers.
Maserati’s Levante appeared in 2016 and instantly became the brand’s top seller, with 55,000 units sold in two years.
What, surprisingly, the Levante has not had until now is a V8 engine. Enter the Maserati Levante Trofeo and Levante GTS.
Their bonnets bulge with Ferrari-built, dinosaur fossil-incinerators that shriek out 580hp and 530hp respectively.
The cockpit of the Maserati Levante Trofeo.
Except for some Maserati-specific parts, the V8 engines in the Maserati Levante Trofeo and Levante GTS are largely the same blocks you will find in a Ferrari 488 or Portofino.
Are you excited yet?
Some aggressive new decorations adorn the car’s exterior, but for the most part this is the same strikingly good looking, voluptuously seductive shape that has made the Levante one of the best-looking SUVs around.
Grafting a sports car’s aesthetic onto the proportions of an SUV is never easy. Heaven knows BMW has tried in vain. Even Alfa Romeo’s Stelvio cannot escape a bit of awkwardness in this regard.
The Levante, however, marries grace, muscularity and ferocity in one alluring package.
The sensuality continues inside, with generous lashings of pudgy leather in cuttings distinctly Italian in aesthetic.
The cockpit of the Maserati Levante GTS.
You will definitely not mistake these shapes as coming out of Germany or Japan, and the Levante’s claims to high-end luxury are all the richer for it.
Nitpick, and you might whinge about the rather rudimentary infotainment system, but it does what it needs to. It is also equipped with smartphone-mirroring software.
HARNESSING PERFORMANCE
Chassis changes to bring all that power, not to mention the titanic mass, under control are most notable for an upgrade of the “intelligent” Q4 all-wheel-drive system.
The latter’s improved algorithm enables the car to manage its power and brake-based torque vectoring proactively rather than reactively, helping you stay on target even before things start going awry.
It takes into account in milliseconds a multitude of parameters including steering angle, yaw, speed, pitch and powertrain factors.
Additionally, the Maserati Levante Trofeo gets Corsa mode. Corsa means “race” in Italian. The setting drops the car’s ride height by 35mm and sharpens all control elements.
Launch control, which you will never use on a public road, makes an appearance as well.
All of that almost amounts to witchcraft on the aggressively knotted mountain roads around Modena. Looking at the weight and size statistics, you might assume it will act like a baby elephant trying to climb these hills.
Yet instead it scampers up like a predatory cat. Despite my ham-fisted sawing at the wheel the Trofeo makes me look a far better driver than I am.
Bump absorption is good, body control is excellent, and the car remains resolute through even the most aggressive directional changes.
STEERING SENSATIONS
The steering is weighted quite lightly, a decision that not everyone will enjoy but, I think, necessary here considering the bulk.
Most importantly it feels linear and progressive, despite not being the most talkative rack.
Balance is perceived as it is for something that claws hard into the ground at all four corners to haul itself through, banishing either under or oversteer within the stratospheric limits untouchable on a public road.
If there is a front weight bias imposed by the bigger engine, I couldn’t feel it.
The Maserati Levante GTS.
THE SOUNDTRACK
There is one thing about this car that renders all else unimportant. That is the incredible, Ferrari-built V8, an engine that is basically the same lump you find in the Ferrari 488 and Portofino.
It is unrelenting, serrated, ferocious, melodious, cultured, and utterly captivating. It washes over you and makes every hair stand on end. It is a thing of wonder, and is worth the price of entry alone.
If the Maserati Levante Trofeo were nothing but a rickshaw tied with raffia to this engine, I would still buy one.
I hop into a blue Maserati Levante GTS for the other half of the journey.
Mechanically, the Maserati Levante GTS is basically the Trofeo minus 50 horsepower and the Corsa mode. Maximum attack thus has to be undertaken in “Sport”, one level of ferocity down.
So configured, some clumsiness banished by the Maserati Levante Trofeo makes a reappearance, along with sensory confirmation of the car’s colossal mass. A little bit of time is required for the car to settle before it will graciously accept the next input.
The subjective elements of the engine, however, are uncompromised. With the same torque output, by the time the Trofeo’s extra ponies arrive you are screaming past 7000rpm and desperately upshifting in joy and panic.
For all intents and purposes outside a track, this is the same captivating engine.
The Maserati Levante Trofeo.
TROFEO OR GTS?
While the Maserati Levante Trofeo feels like a dynamic reinvention, the GTS is the regular Levante with an engine upgrade.
The chassis upgrades on the Maserati Levante Trofeo do not sound like much on paper, but out in the hills they are the difference between a muscle car and a hot hatch hunter.
High-end SUVs, like nouveau riche tourists at Marina Bay Sands, are a dime a dozen. By and large they’re well-built and capable, but feel like homogenous locomotives.
Not so with Maserati. There is genuine sex appeal emanating from these cars, and I find myself desiring one on an emotional level.
I would stretch for a Maserati Levante Trofeo, for it does everything the Levante GTS can, but with an extra level of ability to call upon.
Well, either way, you’ve got that magnificent engine.
MASERATI LEVANTE GTS 3.8 (A)
ENGINE 3799cc 32-valve V8 twin-turbocharged direct injection
MAX POWER 530hp at 6250rpm
MAX TORQUE 730Nm at 2500-5000rpm
POWER TO WEIGHT 253hp per tonne
GEARBOX 8-speed automatic with manual select
0-100KM/H 4.3 seconds
TOP SPEED 291km/h
CONSUMPTION 7.3km/L (combined)
CO2 EMISSION 313g/km
PRICE INCL. COE On application
AGENT Tridente Automobili
MASERATI LEVANTE TROFEO 3.8 (A)
ENGINE 3799cc, 32-valves, V8, twin-turbocharged
MAX POWER 580hp at 6250rpm
MAX TORQUE 730Nm at 2500-5000rpm
POWER TO WEIGHT 276.8hp per tonne
GEARBOX 8-speed automatic with manual select
0-100KM/H 4.1 seconds
TOP SPEED 300km/h
CONSUMPTION 7.3km/L (combined)
CO2 EMISSION Not available
PRICE INCL. COE On application
AGENT Tridente Automobili
Group Test: Porsche Cayenne S vs Maserati Levante S vs Jaguar F-Pace
