Maserati Levante (2016 – 2024) Review

Trying to stand out the in the luxury SUV market is no easy task nowadays, but the Maserati Levante manages it with its good looks and badge appeal. Is that enough to tempt buyers away from the likes of the Audi Q8 or its German rival the Porsche Cayenne? Read on for our full Maserati Levante review.

It’s a sign of how the car market has changed in recent years that Maserati – one of the most exotic sports car manufacturers around – now has an SUV in its line-up. 

When it comes to status, few brands carry as much weight. Drive a Maserati Levante, and you’ll attract plenty of attention, much more so than you would with a similarly expensive BMW or even a Porsche.

It’s this exclusivity and brand image that is a big part of the appeal for the Maserati Levante. If you want something different from the crowd, this is it.

It comes at a price, though. At the time of writing, the Maserati Levante starts at more than £93,000 new, which gets you the base 2.0-litre model. That’s a good chunk more than an entry-level Porsche Cayenne.

From launch, only a diesel Maserati Levante was available. This was the same big 3.0-litre twin-turbo V6 used in the Maserati Quattroporte and the Maserati Ghibli.

With 275PS, it’s not short of power, but it’s the 600Nm of torque that makes this SUV so driveable.

In mid-2017, the Maserati Levante S was added, which has a 430PS 3.0-litre V6 petrol engine that was built by Ferrari.

Since then, Maserati has dropped the diesel, offered a petrol V8 (now discontinued as well), and currently lets buyers choose between a 330PS 2.0-litre turbo petrol and the 430PS turbo V6.

The standard gearbox is an eight-speed automatic and the Maserati Levante comes well equipped with air-suspension as standard, a torque vectoring system, adaptive cruise control and, of course, navigation. That’s not to say you won’t find it easy to add on £10k worth of options without even trying.

The Maserati Levante is powerful, incredibly comfortable on the move and has a top- quality interior. Yes, the gear selector is clunky, the brakes could do with more bite, and the steering lacks feel through corners, but that doesn’t detract from what is one of the most appealing and desirable SUVs around.

Fancy a second opinion? Read heycar’s Maserati Levante review here.

The Maserati Levante excels with its ride quality. Thanks to air-suspension, it’s incredibly smooth and comfortable, despite the big alloy wheels. 

The ride height adjusts depending on your speed, plus you can lower it to an access height when parked. Even over poor road surfaces or motorway expansion joints, it continues to ride well.

There are, however, a few small issues that only become apparent if you start to drive the Maserati Levante with a bit of gusto. The brakes seem strong initially, but lack bite when you really need to engage them – for example, when approaching a tight bend at speed.

Then there’s the steering. It’s heavy and meaty at low speeds, but strangely lacks feel when you’re negotiating a corner.

That’s not to say the Maserati Levante doesn’t handle well. Quite the opposite, in fact – it’s one of the best SUVs around through corners, with minimal body roll and huge reserves of grip. It’s good enough to rival even the Porsche Cayenne.

When it was first launched, the Maserati Levante was only available with a diesel engine – not what you’d expect from the brand.

The 3.0-litre twin-turbo is also used in the Maserati Ghibli and Maserati Quattroporte, with the same 275PS and 600Nm.

It’s this pulling power that makes the Maserati Levante diesel so strong. All that torque means it’s not short of get-up-and-go when you want to overtake a slower vehicle or are pulling on to a fast dual carriageway from a short slip road.

The Maserati Levant Trofeo and Maserati Levant GTS models were the best of the bunch, with a 3.8-litre twin-turbo V8 that’s hugely powerful and sounds sublime. 

In 2019, Maserati introduced a 3.0 V6 petrol as an alternative to the diesel. That said, this is still a Maserati so it’s far from slow. In the fine aural tradition of Maserati, this is a great sounding engine, especially in sport mode when the exhaust flap opens. It’s incongruous coming from an SUV, and all the more enjoyable for that.

This 430PS V6 is now one of only two engines on offer in the Levante, along with a 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbo petrol. If that latter option sounds a bit weedy, it has hybrid assistance and some 330PS, so 0-62mph comes up in a brisk 6.0 seconds.

The eight-speed auto has a strangely polarised set of characteristics. In comfort mode, it’s hesitant to shift, keeping the V6 in the lower rev range where it’s really not at its best.

In contrast, in sport mode, it holds gear for too long, so unless you’re going full tilt it’s just not that pleasant.

Early Maserati Levantes had a rather clunky automatic gear lever which wasn’t pleasant to use, and it could be tricky to get it into reverse first time round.

Fortunately, in 2019 this was addressed with a redesigned gearshift lever that is far better and only needs a light touch to go into gear.

The Maserati Levante is a slightly curious mix in terms of its safety kit.

You get six airbags, ABS brakes, ESP traction control and stability control, but you need to pay extra for automatic emergency braking as part of a pack.

This pack also comes with lane keep assist, traffic sign recognition and adaptive cruise control, so you are almost duty-bound to order it – but we still think it should all be standard kit on a car of this price.

A Maserati may not be the first car you think of when it comes to towing, but this SUV can pull up to 2700kg with a braked trailer.

There is no quoted figure for pulling an unbraked trailer, however.

Crucially, the Maserati Levante gets the basics right, with an excellent driving position that lets you see the end of the bonnet. That’s handy, as the car has a big turning circle. 

What the Maserati Levante also has is space – lots of it. There’s plenty of legroom in the back, along with good headroom. This is where the Maserati Levante trumps the Maserati Ghibli – it’s far more spacious throughout.

The boot is big, too, with 580 litres of carrying capacity. In the real world, this means several large suitcases, golf clubs and an electric trolley can be carried with no issues. You can even stow a pushchair with room to spare.

That said, a BMW X5 has more boot space, as does a Jaguar F-Pace. 

While the Maserati Levante is striking on the outside, the interior is a little muted in comparison. There’s no denying the quality, though.

It feels superbly finished and well put together, plus there are various wood trims and leather finishes available so you can personalise the car as much as you’d like.

You’d expect some of the buttons and controls to be nicer on a car at this price – the large indicator/wiper stalk looks distinctly old-hat. But those are small gripes in what is a very high-quality cabin.

When it comes to the cabin layout and controls, it’s fairly standard Maserati fare.

So the design is neat, albeit predictable, and while everything is easy to operate, there’s nothing special that makes it stand out. It lacks the modernity of an Audi Q7, but thanks to the excellent 8.4-inch touchscreen system, there are fewer buttons than on the Porsche Cayenne.

That touchscreen controls all the main functions, although there are still buttons for the air-conditioning and a proper dial to turn the radio up and down.

In fact, it is one of the best infotainment systems around, with a responsive screen and a crisp, high-resolution display.

The new Maserati Levante line-up gets going at a shade more than £93,000 at the time of writing, and that’s for a car with a 2.0-litre turbo petrol engine.

For those wanting an engine sufficiently exotic to match the car’s style, you'll pay from £115,000 for the 430PS V6 petrol.

On the used market, a 350PS V6 petrol model that is five years old and with 45,000 miles could be yours from £31,500.

Up that to a V8-powered version and you’ll be looking at spending from £47,000 for a car of similar age and mileage.

Alternatively, you could look to the diesel-fuelled Maserati Levante for its lower running costs. Pick one that’s five years old with 45,000 miles, and you’ll pay a reasonable £27,500.

It’s unlikely anyone has ever thought to buy a Maserati if they need an economical car.

However, you could do worse in the large, luxury SUV market than the Maserati Levante, as the petrol claims official combined economy of 28mpg.

Better still, our Real MPG data shows that works out to 34mpg in normal use.

Take the V6 petrol and it claims 22.4mpg, but you’ll be lucky to see anywhere near that in routine driving.

As for the previous V8 model? It claimed a best official figure of 20mpg, but somewhere in the mid-teens is more likely, even with a gentle driving style.

All of this makes the diesel V6 an almost sensible bet, as it claims up to 39.2mpg on official numbers. On the road, you’re more likely to see 30mpg.

In terms of carbon dioxide emissions, the 430PS V6 petrol kicks out 282g/km, so attracts the full force of road tax costs, with a duty of £2745 in the first year.

This reduces to £190 in subsequent years, but with a £410 surcharge applied to cars that cost more than £40,000 when new until they reach six years old.

The 2.0-litre petrol with mild hybrid assistance manages a CO2 figure of 225g/km, so you pay a lower, but still not inconsiderable, £1650 for the first year and the same £600 – £190 plus the £410 surcharge – in the following years.

All of the other Maserati Levante engine options are in used cars, so they pay the flat rate plus the surcharge levied on cars until they pass their fifth birthday.

Servicing a Maserati Levante will not be cheap and most owners will stick with their dealer for peace of mind, although there are some good independent specialists around that will draw out some of the sting with lower labour rates.

However, genuine Maserati parts are still expensive.

Getting insurance will be another large cost to factor into Maserati Levante ownership, as the car resides in group 50 – the top rate – regardless of which model you pick.

As you’d expect, standard equipment levels are high, and all models have leather-trimmed upholstery, an 8.4-inch touchscreen, cruise control, dual-zone climate control and keyless entry.

The Maserati Levante GranSport added 12-way power sport front seats, a power-adjustable sport steering wheel with aluminium gearshift paddles, power-adjustable sport pedals, parking sensors and navigation.

With the Maserati Levante GranLusso trim, you got posh stuff like Ermenegildo Zegna silk interiors, Radica open-pore dashboard wood and a leather steering wheel. It also had soft-close doors.

Top of the range was the Maserati Levante GTS, with premium leather on the seats and 12-way power sport front seats with memory function, a power-adjustable sport steering wheel with aluminium gearshift paddles, power-adjustable sport pedals and velour floor mats.

The Maserati Levante Trofeo got sculpted sport seats featuring a premium full-grain leather available in black, red and tan, all with contrast stitching and ‘Trofeo’ logo stitched on the headrests.

The present range starts with the Maserati Levante GT Ultima that has the 2.0-litre engine. It also comes with climate control, leather upholstery, keyless entry and cruise control. It also has air-suspension and an 8.4-inch infotainment screen.

Above this sits the Maserati Levante Modena Ultima. It has much the same spec, but with the 430PS twin-turbo V6 engine.