Maserati Levante vs Land Rover Discovery Sport

What's the difference?

Maseratis are built for a fairly specific niche buyer; someone with a lot of money, someone slightly older and certainly someone who likes the finer things in life and appreciates Italian style, quality and heritage.

They are not, typically, the kind of buyers who want to tear around race tracks like fiends in big, shouty SUVs. But apparently there is a niche within the niche of Maserati fans who do, and they are willing to invest big dollars in vehicles wearing the Trofeo badge, like this Levante.

It might seem a slightly strange creation, a track-mad SUV with a screaming Ferrari engine, but surprisingly, it really does work.

The Land Rover Discovery Sport P300e has a beautiful and practical cabin space. The powertrain didn't always convince me on the road but it does offer decent economy, if you charge it often.

The media system left a lot to be desired and having to pay around $15K extra for all of the customisations means it's not as affordable as what it initially seems. Still, if you’re looking for a plug-in hybrid with a great cabin and on-road looks, this is a good option.

While the other two Maseratis to get the Trofeo treatment - the Ghibli and Quattroporte sedans - are undeniably lovely, the Levante is not quite as pretty.

Admittedly, for an SUV, it looks very good, and the Trofeo touches - that big, nostrilled bonnet, the red gills on the sides, the carbon, the badges - really do lift its game to another level.

Overall, though, the Levante has just never felt beautiful enough to me to be a Maserati. These guys really do style well, as you'd expect from a premium Italian brand, but making an SUV sexy is beyond even them.

I'll grant you, it does look good from front on, but at the rear they just seem to have run out of ideas.

Credit is due for feeling properly special inside, however.

The updated Disco Sport gets new underpinnings which are shared with the Range Rover Evoque.

The body has seen a minor facelift but honestly, it’s so slight only die-hard fans will notice anything different. Overall, it still has the styling that people know and love.

It’s once you head inside that the facelift becomes far more apparent. Gone is the more traditional looking e-shifter and in its place is a rather nubby-looking one.

The dashboard looks more streamlined and features wider padded accents and in our test model, we have the Oyster and Black upholstery which does make it look quite luxurious. There are a few too many blank spaces for me personally but it looks slick.

Accentuating the dashboard is a floating-effect multimedia system and a large digital instrument cluster – both of which look great but there are no other control buttons or dials. I’m not a fan of the fact that you’re 100 per cent reliant on the tech screens and I'll explain why in the Practicality section.

The optioned panoramic roof makes the cabin feel airy and it's cool that it has a memory function – it will close when you turn off the car but reopen upon starting again.

If you've got to move five people in a genuine hurry, the Levante is a pleasant way to go about it.

There's plenty of head and shoulder room, the seats, while firm in the front, are pleasant to the touch and supportive and there's a 580-litre boot with an electric tailgate and split-folding seats.

The boot feels properly spacious, too, with a 12-volt power outlet and four tie-down points. You won't, however, find a spare wheel out there, so serious off-roading is out (although it probably was already if you look at those expensive wheels).

There are huge door pockets with room for bottles and two big cup holders in the front. The centre-console bin looks lovely, it's all carbon fibre, but is quite small.

There are also three USB points, one in the front and two in the rear, and Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity.

With it's 4597mm length, 2173mm width and 1727mm height, the Discovery Sport is technically classed as a medium SUV but the cabin space is much larger than it has any right to be.

Both rows have ample head- and legroom for both my 168cm (5ft6') height and those much taller. When you have a co-pilot, you’re also not jostling for elbow room and it’s easy to slide in and out of because of the 212mm ground clearance.

The amenities up front are good with the update seeing more decent sized individual storage options.

There are two cubbies in the centre console as well as two cupholders and a medium-sized middle console. The glove box can hold more than a manual and the storage bins with their single drink bottle holders are also larger than before.

The powered front seats are comfortable and the optioned heat functions are most welcome on the cooler days we've been having lately.

The back seats also have superior padding comfort but you sit on top of, rather than in, them which is typical of an SUV.

The amenities and storage are what you would expect for the grade level with a fold-down armrest with two cup holders and small storage cubby, directional air vents, reading lights, map pockets and small storage bin in each door.

There is also an accessory hole to attach device holders on the backs of the front seats - perfect for hooking up a screen for little ones on a long journey.

The P300e loses points on its practicality with the multimedia system. You eventually get used to using it while on the go, even though the lack of buttons/dials means more time is spent with your eyes on the screen.

That's when the screen turns on. The display has cut out a few times this week and the wireless connectivity for Bluetooth and the connection for Apple CarPlay (wireless or wired) drops out a lot.

The P300e I'm driving is brand-spanking-new, so it may just be a case of something that needs calibrating but for a lot of the Land Rovers I've sampled in the past, the media system seems to be the area with the biggest teething issues.

That being said, the built-in satellite navigation is top-notch and easy to use. The directions also get displayed on the instrument cluster and optioned HUD.

The charging options are excellent with the front row getting three USB-C ports and a large wireless charging pad. The rear gets two USB-A ports and two USB-C ports plus a 12-volt socket and the boot also has a 12-volt socket. Totally spoiled for choice.

The boot is a great size at 897L with all seats in use and that jumps up to 1749L when the rear seats are folded flat. The rear row also has a 40/20/40 split, which opens up storage opens.

There is a temporary spare tyre housed underneath the flat floor and a powered tailgate comes standard in this model, which I always like.

The Discovery Sport is offered in four grades and the model on test in this review is the plug-in hybrid mid-level P300e.

The P300e is priced from $102,125 before on road costs but the addition of the plug-in hybrid powertrain means that it is actually $8855 more expensive than the flagship HSE.

In terms of its rivals, the P300e sits towards the middle of the line-up with the Volvo XC60 Recharge Plus PHEV coming in as the most affordable at $92,990 before on-road costs, then the Lexus NX450+ PHEV at $93,498. Sitting at the more expensive is the Audi Q5 55 TFSIe at $106,600 and then the BMW X3 xDrive30e M Sport PHEV at $111,800.

However, our test model does have a few optioned extras which ups the price tag and its position in the pack.

Those options include:

- A Technology Pack for $4700 which adds a digital rearview mirror, head-up display, and a 360-degree camera system with wade sensors.

- A fixed panoramic roof for $3040.

- Upgraded Meridian Surround Sound System for $2220.

- Upgraded 20-inch alloy wheels for $2080.

- Heated front seats for $860.

- Home charging cable for $520.

- Titanium mesh trim for $420.

All of that brings the grand total to $117,290, before on roads. Which is no small lump of change for what is essentially just a baby Land Rover.

Standard luxury and practical features include powered front seats with a three-position memory function for the driver, synthetic leather upholstery, keyless entry, push-button start, powered tailgate, temporary spare-tyre, and dual-zone climate control.

Technology includes an 11.4-inch touchscreen multimedia system, 12.3-inch digital instrument cluster, Android Auto, wireless charging pad, Bluetooth connectivity, and DAB+ Digital Radio.

The update also sees wireless connectivity for Apple CarPlay, an Amazon Alexa app, as well as new USB-C ports, as opposed to USB-A ports from the previous model.

This will be the last time Maserati gets a proper Ferrari engine like this a 3.8-litre twin-turbo V8 shouty monster, which is good for 433kW and 730Nm.

The future, as is the case everywhere, is going to be more electric and less noisy. For now, anyone who can should enjoy this V8 masterpiece, which drives all four wheels through Maserati's Q4 on-demand all-wheel drive system via a limited-slip rear differential and uses an eight-speed automatic transmission.

Its claimed 0 to 100km/h time is 3.9 seconds, which puts it in what used to be super-car territory, and is still very quick indeed, while top speed is an unimaginable 304km/h.

The Discovery Sport P300e has a 1.5-litre, three-cylinder plug-in hybrid turbo-petrol engine with an eight-speed auto transmission and is an all-wheel drive.

The engine produces a combined power output of 227kW and 540Nm of torque. On paper, it’s punchy and can do a 0-100km/h sprint in 6.6 seconds but in practice, it’s not always great at using that power.

The official claimed fuel economy for the Maserati Levante Trofeo is 13.5 litres per 100km, but good luck with that. 

A more realistic number would probably sit somewhere above 17 litres per 100km, and we would have easily exceeded 20 litres while driving it like lunatics around a track.

But you just paid $330K for an SUV, what do you care about fuel economy?

The official combined fuel cycle consumption figure is 2.1L/100km and my real-world usage sits a 4.8L/100km after doing some open-roading and lots of urban trips this week. For an SUV of this size and with it's power, that's pretty darn good.

The trick is to regularly charge it for maximum fuel economy gains and that's not always practical.

Officially, you get up to 66km of pure electric range in this but expect closer to 47km in the real world. 

The P300e has a Type 2 CCS charging port which means you can hook this up to a fast charger. On a 50kW system, you can go from 0-80 per cent in as little as 30 minutes but on a 7kW system, going from 0-100 per cent jumps up to to two hours and 12 minutes.

Expect to leave it on charge overnight on a standard domestic socket.

The driving range based on the official combined fuel cycle is obscene, and I can't see it happening in real life - so, based on my fuel economy figure and the 58L fuel tank, expect a theoretical driving range of up to 1208km.

We got to drive all three Trofeo-fettled Maseratis on track at Sydney Motorsport Park, and before that on the road, where the Levante felt very pleasant, and pleasantly expensive at all times.

As you might expect, a vehicle with 433kW is difficult to fully appreciate on public roads, although there was the occasional and exciting change to give it a quick, loud blat between gears.

It only takes hearing that engine note, and feeling that torque surge, a few times to see why someone might fall in love with this car, or at least this engine.

Out on the track, the rear-driven Ghibli and Quattroporte, which share the Levante's engine, were surely the more fun and frenetic things to drive, but there were those who chose the Levante as their best of the three, even for circuit driving.

There's no doubt that its on-demand all-wheel-drive system, which is biased towards the rear but asks the front wheels for help when required, made it feel the most planted, and the safest, through fast and slow bends.

There's a definite sense that its engine is being asked to work the hardest, though, to push all that bulk through the air (although its brakes never seemed to fade, which is impressive with more than two tonnes of SUV to stop).

While the big, deafening V8 is willing and keen to rev all the way to 7000rpm (where it bangs on the redline waiting for your upshift, if you're driving in manual mode - I do like that), it started to make large sucking sounds towards the top of each gear, as if it was desperately trying to get more oxygen in.

It genuinely sounded different to the other two Trofeo cars, which is odd, but perhaps they just weren't as near their limits. That bulk also slowed it slightly in terms of top speed down the straight, but it still exceeded 220km/h with ease.

What should be said is that I was genuinely shocked at how good the Levante Trofeo was around a track. So much so I asked to have a second go, just to make sure I wasn't going mad.

Sure, it makes no sense to me personally, and I don't know why anyone needs an SUV that's good on a track, but if you do, I can recommend the Levante for sure.

That hugely enjoyable engine is just too much fun, although it's even better in a sedan like the Ghibli...

The Discovery Sport P300e has the goods on paper when it comes to power and it does... once you're up to speed. That's when you can punch it and feel confident at overtaking or keeping your speed consistent on hills.

It's when you're accelerating from a full-stop that it becomes a bit lacklustre as there's serious lag between accelerating and actually moving forward. Accept that you will have to accommodate for this inaction whenever you are joining or crossing traffic from a standstill.

Besides this little hiccup in the power delivery, handling on the whole is good.

The Disco Sport is easy to manoeuvre and you don’t feel like you’re driving something big, despite the ample cabin space. It also handles itself well in corners without too much roll.

The switch between the electric and petrol components isn’t always the smoothest but when it’s in its electric mode it’s blissfully quiet. The cabin feels refined too because you don’t get a lot of external noise in the cabin at all.

The wide windows and higher ride means visibility is great and the optioned digital rearview mirror adds another viewpoint if the back window isn’t clear.

The Disco Sport proves to be nimble and easy to park with the optioned and clear 360-degree camera system, and the sensors at the front and rear are sensitive.

The Discovery Sport plug-in hybrid variant is not covered by its siblings' five-star ANCAP safety rating from 2022, so the P300e is unrated but features some good safety gear.

Standard items include AEB, blind spot monitoring, driver attention alert, tyre pressure monitoring, rear collision warning, forward collision warning, rear cross-traffic alert, lane keeping aid, traffic sign recognition, intelligent seatbelt warning, and adaptive cruise control.

The traffic sign recognition tech is dreadfully intrusive, which impacts the driving enjoyment. I turn the warning sound alerts off each time I hop in as it's like a small child is hitting the same piano key over and over again - just to give you a sense of the sound itself and resulting annoyance.

It has seven airbags but interestingly, and unusually, the seventh one is a pedestrian airbag.

This model misses out on lane departure warning but for any families, there are ISOFIX mounts on the rear outboard seats plus three top tethers and you should be able to get three seats back if they’re not too big.

Maserati offers a three-year, unlimited kilometre warranty, but you can choose to buy 12-month or two-year warranty extensions, and even a sixth or seventh-year drive-train warranty extension.

When much, much cheaper Japanese and Korean cars are offering seven and even 10-year warranties, this is so far off the pace that such a fast vehicle should be embarrassed. And if you're buying something Italian, a better, longer warranty would seem like a must. I'd be negotiating at sale for them to throw the longer warranty offer in.

Maserati says servicing for the Ghibli has a "ball park costing of $2700.00 for the first three years of ownership" with a service schedule of every 20,000km or 12 months (whichever occurs first)

Also, "please note that the above is indicative only of the manufacturers basic routine service maintenance schedule and does not include any consumable items such as tyres, brakes etc or additional dealership charges such as environmental levies etc."

The Discovery Sport comes with a five-year/unlimited km warranty and the battery is covered by an eight-year/ 160,000km warranty which is a usual term to see for this class now.

There is a five-year capped-price servicing program which costs a flat $2100, or $420 which is both reasonable for the class and is more affordable than a pay-as-you-go option. There is also a five-year roadside assistance program as a part of your servicing plan through Assist Australia.

Servicing intervals are great at every 12 months or 20,400km, whichever occurs first.