2019 Maserati Levante vs 2018

What's the difference?

The entry-grade Levante is the best choice in the current line-up (Levante, Levante Turbo Diesel and Levante S) because it’s almost identical in performance and features to the pricier S. 

I’d give the GranLusso and GranSport packs a miss on this base Levante, but would consider them on the S where they are possibly worth the extra $10,000 rather than the $35K asking price on the entry car.

The Levante does a lot right – the sound, the safety and the exterior styling. But the quality of the interior, with its FCA shared parts, lowers what should be a prestige feel.

And back seat comfort could be better, Maseratis are grand tourers and an SUV from this brand should be able to accommodate at least four adults in superb comfort – something this one can’t do.

The Levante S is indeed the Levante we have been waiting for - now not only does it look right, it sounds right, and drives impressively. Now you can have your Maserati sports car and SUV in one. 

The Levante looks exactly how a Maserati SUV should, with the long bonnet flanked by curvaceous wheel arches with their vents, leading towards a grille that looks ready to eat up slower cars. The heavily raked windscreen and cab-back profile is also very Maserati, as are haunches that muscle over the rear wheels.

If only its bottom was less Maserati. It’s a personal thing, but I find Maserati rear ends lack the drama of their faces and the Levante’s tailgate is no different in that it borders on plain.

Inside, the Levante looks to be a premium, well-crafted place, although closer inspection reveals there are certain items which appear to be shared with other brands which, like Maserati, are owned by Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA). 

The window and headlight switches, the ignition button, the air-conditioning controls, even the display screen all can be found in Jeeps and other FCA cars.

There are no functionality issues here, but from a design and style perspective they look a little basic and lack the refinement a buyer may expect from a Maserati.

There’s a lack of technological pizazz inside as well. For example, there’s no head-up display or large virtual instrument cluster as you’ll find in the Levante’s competitors.

Despite the Jeep-looking bits the Levante is truly Italian. The chief designer Giovanni Ribotta is Italian and the Levante is made at FCA's Mirafiori plant in Turin.

What are the Levante’s dimensions? The Levante is 5.0m long, 2.0m wide and 1.7m tall. So that means space inside is enormous right? Um… let’s talk about that in the next section, shall we? 

The Levante looks exactly how a Maserati SUV should – that trademark gaping grille adorned with the trident badge, the blade-like headlights and tail lights which also ooze family traits, the long bonnet and cab-back profile, the vents that dot down the front wheel-arch towards those massive haunches at the rear. 

At 5003mm long, 2158mm wide (including mirrors) and 1679mm, the Levante S is big. In the morning when it steps out of the shower and onto the scales it looks down and sees 2109kg. 

The Levante is an imposing SUV and if it was my money I’d definitely go for the GranSport pack because it accentuates that “I’m going to eat you” look even more with its piano-black finish to the grille bars, 21-inch wheels which fit those guards perfectly (the 19s look too tiny).

I haven’t been a major fan of Maserati interiors in the past because they seemed fussy, with too many fabrics and textures and bits that seemed out of place – maybe that’s just me, but since the Ghibli came along, the cabins have become far better in my eyes.

The Levante S’s cockpit is sumptuous, elegant and put together well. I love the leather upholstery dash in the S GranSport, ours had the option carbon trim inserts which wasn’t overdone.

Letting things down a bit for me are things you may not notice – unless you’ve owned a Jeep. See, Maserati is owned by Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, and so is Jeep - and while the Levante is based on the Ghibli platform and not a Jeep, there are interior elements which it does share with Jeep. The display screen, the climate control switches, window buttons, start button…  There’s nothing wrong with that - it’s just hard to ‘unsee’.

You know the Tardis from Dr Who? The time machine police phone box that is much bigger on the inside than it appears from the outside? The Levante’s cabin is a reverse Tardis (a Sidrat?) in that even at five metres long and two metres wide, legroom in the second row is tight and at 191cm tall I can only just sit behind my driving position.

Headroom is also getting tight back there because of the swooping roofline. These aren’t major issues, but If you were thinking of using the Levante as a SUV limousine of sorts then the limited room back there just won’t be enough to let your taller passengers stretch out comfortably.

Also ruling it out as a chauffeur car in my view is the ride experience in the second row. I’ll cover this in the driving section below.

The Levante’s cargo capacity is 580 litres (with second row seats up) which is on the small side, and less than the Porsche Cayenne’s 770 litre boot space.

Cabin storage is pretty good, with a giant centre console bin up front with two cupholders inside. There are another two cupholders near the shifter and two more in the fold-down armrest in the rear. Door pockets are on the smaller side, however.

There are some surprises. Good and not-so good ones. First the good – that centre console storage bin under the armrest is enormous – you can put two regular sized bottles into it standing up. There’s also a storage area in front of the shifter, two more cupholders up front, another two in the back, and bottle holders in all the doors. 

The boot has a cargo capacity of 580 litres which isn’t the biggest or the smallest around. But it’s the rear legroom which is a not so good surprise – I can only just sit behind my driving position. Sure I’m 191cm tall but I’ve sat in small SUVs with more space.

Rear headroom is limited, too but it’s because of the sunroof which lowers the ceiling height. I can still sit up straight but can only just slide my hand into the gap between my head and the roof.

Up front you’ll not notice any of these issues: like a sports car, the priority is on the front passengers - and primarily the person in the driver's seat.

The Levante S lists for $169,990 and Levante Turbo Diesel has kept its $139,990 price which it launched with at the start of 2017.

Standard features on the S include leather interior, heated and power adjustable front seats, an 8.4-inch touch screen with surround view camera, sat nav, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, dual-zone climate control, panoramic sun roof, power tailgate, bi-xenon headlights and 20-inch alloy wheels.

Be aware that the Turbo Diesel doesn’t quite match the S’s standard features and misses out on the sun roof and gets smaller wheels. 

There are two packages you can apply to your Levante as well – the GranLusso (luxury) and the GranSport (sport). The S GranLusso and the S GranSport both list for $179,990. The packages add an extra $20K to the list price of the Turbo Diesel.

We tested the Levante S GranSport which is kitted out with 21-inch rims with red brake calipers, a blacked-out grille, rear spoiler, while inside it has a harman/kardon 14-speaker stereo, sports steering wheel, fine-grain extended leather upholstery, sports front seats and sports pedals. None of it makes the Levante go any faster, but it looks sure good.

As well-equipped as that may look there’s items which are missing: there’s no head-up display and no LED headlights – you can’t even option these. Dual-zone climate control is great but you’ll have to option the Levante further to get four-zone. The Mazda CX-9 gets all of these for a third the list price.

At the same time don’t forget that what you have with the Levante S is an Italian SUV with a Ferrari built engine for less than $170,000. If you’re at the Levante also and take drive in its rivals such as the Porsche Cayenne GTS, Mercedes-AMG 43 and Range Rover Sport.

If you’ve just read the section above on price and features, you’re now probably wondering how much less powerful the Levante is compared to the Levante S.

The Levante has a 3.0-litre twin-turbo petrol V6 and it sounds magnificent. Yup, the entry-grade Levante lets loose that Maserati high-pitched scream when you open the throttle, just like the S. It may sound the same as the S but the Levante’s V6 has less horsepower. At 257kW/500Nm, the Levante makes 59kW less in power and 80Nm less in torque.

Is there a noticeable difference? Not much. Acceleration isn’t as rapid in the Levante with 0-100km/h coming in six seconds compared to 5.2 seconds in the Levante S.

Shifting gears is an eight-speed ZF-sorced automatic transmission which is super smooth, but a little slow.

When we told readers we were heading to the launch of the Levante S and asked them what they wanted to know they didn’t tip toe around the issue: “When are they releasing one with a proper engine?” 

My thoughts exactly – the diesel version Maserati launched with back at the start of 2017 was powerful, with 202kW, but didn’t sound the way a Maserati should. Because diesel.

The answer to the question is: it is now here! The 3.0-litre twin-turbo V6 in the Levante has been built by Ferrari, and not only does its sound almost bring me to tears it’s so beautiful, but the 321kW and 580Nm it produces is delicious.

Gears are shifted through an eight speed ZF automatic transmission – this is my opinion the best production car transmission on the market, with its seamless shifts.

Even if you were to drive your Levante conservatively Maserati says you can expect it to use at best 11.6L/100km over a combination of urban and open roads, the Levante S is a bit thirstier at an official 11.8L/100km. 

In reality you can expect the twin-turbo petrol V6 to want more – just open road driving was seeing the trip computer report 12.3L/100km, You can bet that’ll go up in the city and climb higher if you like to keep raising the Levante's beautiful voice.

The Levante S can get thirsty, with Maserati claiming that after a combination of open and urban roads you should see consumption of 10.9L/100km. During my few hours and few hundred kilometres with it the tripmeter told me I was averaging 19.2L/100km. What? Don’t judge me.

When I reviewed the Levante S at its launch in 2017 I enjoyed its good handling and comfortable ride. But impressed as I was with performance from the engine I felt the car could be quicker.

So how then would a less powerful version of the same car feel? Not much different, actually. The base grade Levante is only 0.8s slower to 100km/h than the S at six seconds. The air suspension is the same as the S’s and returns a comfortable and compliant ride, and handling with the dampers in the firm setting is impressive for a two tonne, five-metre long vehicle.

Front brakes in the Levante base grade car are smaller (345 x 32mm) than in the S (380 x 34mm) and the tyres aren’t staggered either with 265/50 R19 all around.

The variable-ratio, electrically-assisted power steering is well weighted, but too quick. I found the car turned in too far, too quickly, with regular mid-corner corrections a tiresome necessity.

To me there’s no point going for the S based on the assumption that it’s going to be a much higher performing car. The Levante and Levante S and are both mild in their power delivery and have better dynamics than an average large SUV.

If you are after a true high-performance Maserati SUV then you might be best off waiting for the Levante GTS coming in 2020 with a 404kW V8.

The base grade Levante V6 sounds just as beautiful as the S’s, but there's one place where it isn’t very pleasant. The back seat.

At the launch of the Levante S in 2017 I didn’t have the chance to ride in the rear seats. This time around I let my co-driver steer for half-an-hour while I sat in the left rear position. 

For starters it’s louder back there – the exhaust note is almost too loud to be pleasant. Plus, the seats aren’t supportive or comfortable. 

There’s also a slightly claustrophobic, cave-like feeling in the second row, largely due to the roof's accentuated slope towards the rear. This, to me, rules it out almost completely as something to ferry guests around in comfort.

My expectations weren’t high. I’d been burnt before with some Maseratis and other exotic brands – going in and testing a new model and being super excited and coming out a bit underwhelmed. I was dreading driving the Levante S. I thought this would be another high-end let-down.

I could not have been more wrong. I have tested the Ghibli, the Quattroporte and Maseratis that Maserati doesn’t even make any more and I need to say that this version of the Levante, the Levante S GranSport, is in my opinion the best Maserati I have driven. Yes, I reckon Maserati’s best car is an SUV.

That exhaust note even at idle is magnificent, and when pushed just a little bit the V6 twin-turbo petrol screams like a Maserati should. But it’s more than just sounding right. The Levante S feels right. Most of the time the all-wheel drive system sends all of the mumbo to the rear wheels but diverts drive to the front when you need it.

So you can power though corners like a rear-wheel drive sports car, but when you turn up the heat the system will send up to 50 per cent of the drive to the front. This combined with a perfect 50:50 front to rear balance makes the Levante feel solidly planted, secure and controllable.

I reckon Maserati’s best car is an SUV.

Rolling on massive 295mm rear tyres which look like oil drums and 265mm rubber at the front grip is excellent.

The increase is horsepower over the diesel that the V6 brings means the Levante S has been given an upgraded brake package with 380mm ventilated discs with twin-piston calipers up front and 330mm ventilated and drilled discs with single pistons at the rear. Stopping is almost as impressive as accelerating.

The Levante weigh two tonnes and 0-100km/h in 5.2 seconds is quick – I’d think a more brutal shove to get that down to 4.9 would be impressive. Yes, I reckon acceleration could be better. Still, that’s like saying I don’t like this bowl of ice cream because there’s not enough ice cream. 

Air suspension makes the ride super comfortable but still composed. Sport mode has two levels – the first sets the throttle, shifts and exhaust note to an aggro level, but keeps the suspension comfy; but press the sport mode button again and the suspension will firm for handling that is remarkable – given that this is a five-metre-long SUV.     

One of the issues we had with the previous version of the Levante was that seemed to lack some safety equipment you’d expect on a prestige SUV – we’re talking auto emergency braking, or AEB. But that’s been addressed in this latest update: AEB is now standard across the range. There’s also blind-spot warning, lane-keeping assistance and adaptive cruise control. Also new is the speed limit reading technology – which actually sees the sign – it worked for me even on a small temporary road works speed sign. 

The Levante hasn’t been tested yet by EuroNCAP, or given a safety star rating by ANCAP. 

The Levante is covered by Maserati’s three year/unlimited kilometre warranty. Servicing is recommended at two year or 20,000km intervals. More brands are moving to longer warranties and it would be good to see Maserati offer its buyers longer coverage.

The Levante is covered by Maserati’s three-year/100,000km warranty and this can be extended to five years.

Servicing is recommended every two years or 20,000km. There is currently no capped-price servicing in place.