2017 Maserati Levante First Drive Review

“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 FCA’s 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 wasn’t 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. That’s well over 160 mph to us Yankee Doodle types. Perhaps disregard is a form of respect in Italy? Either way, that’s 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 Levante’s wheelbase is more than 4.0 inches longer than the Porsche’s 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.” Don’t 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 don’t 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 Ghibli’s 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). And hey, the Rolls-Royce Phantom and BMW 2 Series have the same navigation system, and no one’s 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 we’re not getting. The big engine’s 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 you’re 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 that’s 330 pounds lighter than the Ghibli’s and 20 percent stiffer, as well. Maserati declined to state a weight, but I’ll 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. That’s 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 capability’s there. The Levante’s 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 rig’s 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. There’s also a parking lot setting that drops the Levante an additional 0.4 inch for loading stuff. Around Balocco’s 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. It’s that sporty.

The big takeaway is that Maserati didn’t 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 isn’t phoned in. Some real engineering work took place—Maserati says they logged 5 million development kilometers—and 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 Levante’s great.

2017 Maserati Levante
BASE PRICE	$73,250 (est)
VEHICLE LAYOUT	Front-engine, AWD, 5-pass, 4-door, SUV
ENGINE	3.0L/345-hp/369-lb-ft twin-turbo DOHC 24-valve V-6, 3.0L/424-hp/428-lb-ft twin-turbo DOHC 24-valve V-6
TRANSMISSION	8-speed automatic
CURB WEIGHT	4,400 lb (est)
WHEELBASE	118.3 in
LENGTH X WIDTH X HEIGHT	197.0 x 77.5 x 66.1 in
0-60 MPH	5.0-5.8 sec (mfr est)
EPA CITY/HWY/COMB FUEL ECON	Not yet rated
ON SALE IN U.S.	October

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