Maserati’s long-awaited Levante SUV arrives

Here, finally, is the Maserati Levante SUV, a car that will give buyers of various Porsche, Audi, BMW and Jaguar SUVs something else to consider. It will cost from £54,000 for a V6 diesel version with 270PS, and you can order one now.

Two twin-turbo V6 petrol versions are available too, with 350PS or 430PS, but despite the company perpetually claiming this is "100 per cent Maserati", there’s no V8 version. But hey, there’s no Peugeot-Citroen head unit for the stereo either. Swings and roundabouts.

An eight-speed automatic is your only transmission option, with the diesel taking 6.9 seconds to hit 62mph, and the petrol versions 6.0 and 5.2 seconds respectively. The 189g/km CO2 emissions of the diesel compares unfavourably to the 179g/km of the Porsche Cayenne diesel, and even more so to the 159g/km of the diesel Jaguar F-Pace.

But the Levante is more exotic than both, and could well become the best to drive of the lot too, boasting a very low centre of gravity, even weight distribution, and a cabin that can come trimmed in silk.

The five-seat SUV has a spacious cabin, but its sporty styling (that description being relative of course) means it loses boot space – where a Cayenne has a 670-litre boot, the Levante has just 550.