Maserati Levante Trofeo | PH Used Buying Guide
An also-ran SUV - made considerably more interesting when mated to a Ferrari-supplied V8
Key considerations
- Available for £63,000
- 3.8-litre V8 petrol twin-turbo, all-wheel drive
- Superb drivetrain and a decent chassis
- Electrical issues, looks a bit old inside
- Comfy, but only for five
- High prices mean huge depreciation and more to come
It seems like a very long time ago that we were all having a good old moan at SUVs, the newest and – remarkable as it now seems – most unacceptable design on the block.
In fact, it’s not that long ago at all. As recently as the late 2000s SUVs still constituted only a tiny part of the market. Part of the early SUVs’ problem was the perceived dullness of the drive. Land Rovers, Shoguns and the like had been around for yonks but they were tough and ‘authentic’ so we forgave them their driving terribleness. Maybe that and the market’s innate conservatism explained why bringing the obvious benefits of bringing a high-stanced two-box design to the masses was seen as near-heretical.
Whatever, SUV stigma is now very much a thing of the past. Today’s SUVs handle and go as well as many sports cars, let alone much more ordinary vehicles. You really can’t fail to find one that not only answers all your practical needs but also makes you feel good about yourself.
Maserati had a big head start in feelgood when they launched their first SUV, the Levante. They’d had rocky moments in the past but even through the worst of times they’ve managed to retain a starry connection with fabulous racing cars and ice-cool GTs. No surprise then that there was a good deal of hullabalooing when the Italians showed the all-wheel drive Levante at the Geneva show in spring 2016.
Maserati has a history of naming its road cars after tropical winds, of which there appears to be an inexhaustible supply. The one they picked for their first production SUV indirectly evoked an exotic eastern Mediterranean vibe while specifically referencing a western Mediterranean wind that could change from mild to gale force in an instant. The first two Levantes to go on sale in the summer of 2016 weren’t short of gale-like performance, with either 345hp or 424hp from a Ferrari-supplied F160 3.0 twin-turbo V6, but the one that really lived up to the Levante name were the V8 derivatives launched at the 2018 New York show, for sales in the UK starting in mid-2019.
The Levante was based on the 4.2 V8-powered Kubang concept of 2011, a very finished-looking car, so the arrival of a V8 in the production Levante wasn’t that much of a surprise. Maserati’s post-1999 status as Ferrari’s luxury division opened up some exciting possibilities there. The twin-turbo 3.8 that was eventually chosen for it was based on the flatplane F154 twin-turbo V8 that Ferrari had been using in 600hp+ cars like the GTC4Lusso T, Roma and Portofino. The version allocated to the Levante GTS and Trofeo (and, with different cams and valves, the Quattroporte GTS) was a crossplaner running a slightly smaller displacement. In the GTS it was good for 523hp, in the Trofeo 572hp, driving through the well-proven ZF 8HP 8-speed torque converter automatic.
No 155mph restrictions were applied to these V8 Levantes. Maserati claimed 181mph for the GTS and a headline-grabbing 300km/h or 186mph for the Trofeo, which if true was nearly enough to keep a maxed-out Ferrari Purosangue in sight on the autobahns. That’s why the Trofeo is the Levante we’re focusing on in this buying guide. We’d normally be including the GTS but we couldn’t find a single used one for sale in the UK, not even on Maserati’s own approved used site, so there didn’t seem much point. Where are they all? There was definitely a plan to sell them here. If that plan was carried out, maybe those who bought them ended up loving them so much that they won’t sell.
Or maybe the plan to bring GTSs into the UK was quietly dropped because of the V8 Levante’s curious pricing structure. None of the three V8s slated for the UK were cheap. The GTS was the base model at £104,000. From there it was a huge jump to £124,900 for the Trofeo. Clearly, there was going to be more profit in a £125k car than a £105k one, and Maserati sales folk would have been feeling pretty bullish about the Levante in general, so perhaps they were just very good at their job and at persuading customers to go all in on the dearer car.
There was an even bigger leap from the Trofeo to the Launch Edition. One hundred of those were built at a gasp-inducing £159,900. Running on 22-inch wheels they had matt carbon inlays and three unique body paint options (Blu Emozione Matte, Giallo Modenese and Rosso Magma) whose colour was repeated in the stitching of the black leather seats. Other than that, well, we’ve got no idea as to why it was so expensive.
Anyway, if you liked the idea of a Levante but didn’t need such bombastic performance, those two 3.0 petrol V6s were available in right-hand drive form from mid-2017. Before that, it was the 270hp 3.0 V6 diesel or nothing in the UK. From mid-2021 a 325hp mild hybrid/Multiair 2.0 GT with a 0-62mph time of 6.0sec was added to the range.
Predictably, high-mile diesels are the most affordable Levantes. At the time of writing in early 2024, you could get one of those for under £22k. Petrol V6s start at around £26k, while the newer MHEV 2.0GTs are yet to drop much below £40k for 40,000-milers. If you think that a mild hybrid four-pot Maserati sounds a bit rubbish, and if you have the financial wherewithal, a three-year-old Trofeo with fewer than 25,000 miles on it can be had for under £70k. We’ve seen leggier examples – by which we mean 35,000 miles – popping up for under £63k. In fact, there was one of those on PH Classifieds as we went to press. We’ll link you to it in the last bit of this story.
The idea of a used Trofeo for less than the price of a new VW Transporter 2.0 TDi Crew Van should get you stroking your virtual beard, especially when you remember that it’s the last of the V8 line, Maserati having stopped production of all V8-powered cars at the end of 2023.
Cayenne owners who have made the switch to a Levante typically praise the German car’s efficiency while noting the Italian car’s extra ‘soul’ and feeling of driver engagement. Quite a few made that switch too, not just from Porsche but from other premium brands. Numbers were never huge, not at these prices, but by 2019, just three years into its lifecycle, the Levante was accounting for 52 per cent of Maserati UK’s sales.
So, who needs a Ferrari Purosangue at well over half a million pahnd when you can get a Trofeo for not far off a tenth of that amount? OK, we’re having a bit of fun there, the Purosangue is a 715hp 6.5 litre V12 with a prancing horse badge, but the Maserati does have nearly 600hp (making it the third most powerful production Maserati ever after the 630hp common to both the V12 MC12 Versione Coupe and its spiritual successor, the MC20) and there’s plenty of heritage in that trident badge. A big, powerful, Ferrari-engined Maserati for the price of a van. What could possibly go wrong? Hmm, let’s look at that.
SPECIFICATION | Maserati Levante Trofeo (2019-23)
Engine: 3,799cc V8 32v twin-turbocharged petrol
Transmission: 8-speed automatic, all-wheel drive
Power (hp): 572@6,250rpm
Torque (lb ft): 538@2,250-5,250rpm
0-62mph (secs): 4.1
Top speed (mph): 188
Weight (kg): 2,170
MPG: 17.7-20.2
CO2 (g/km): 317
Wheels (in): 21
Tyres: 260/40 (f), 295/35 (r)
On sale: 2019 - 2023
Price new (2019): £124,900
Price now: from £63,000
Note for reference: car weight and power data is hard to pin down with absolute certainty. For consistency, we use the same source for all our guides. We hope the data we use is right more often than it’s wrong. Our advice is to treat it as relative rather than definitive.
ENGINE & GEARBOX
The Levante’s twin-turbo 3.8 engine didn’t rev as freely as its Ferrari cousin. To cater for the Maser’s not inconsiderable weight of approaching 2.2 tonnes it was set up for long torque, not just in terms of its headline figure of 538lb ft but also in the 3,000rpm-wide band of revs over which it’s produced.
European Trofeos did the 0-62mph in 4.1 seconds, compared to 3.9 seconds in non-Euro 6 restricted markets. You probably wouldn’t mind about that when you fired it up though because even the weedy Euro-spec Trofeo sounded epic.
The ZF transmission was dependable and fast for a TC unit, dropping down a cog or two as soon as you booted it in auto, not when the box felt like it. There have been complaints about it occasionally shifting into neutral, however. This was rectified by a software recall involving nearly 3,300 cars. Some owners have had their coolant pipes coming adrift and/or leaking and there was another recall to change a potentially fracturing pipe between the turbocharger and the intercooler, although we’re not sure if that affected the Trofeo. It’s not a big fuel tank so with average consumption figures in the high teens you’ll be struggling to eke 300 miles out of a fill.
The warranty is the usual three-year jobbie. Dealers like HR Owen advertise fixed-price petrol Levante servicing from £825. We weren’t able to dig up specific costs for a Trofeo. There’s usually a reason for manufacturers’ coyness on this subject. We did find a cost-per-mile figure of £7.18 on a respected fleet car website, which is a sobering thought. On that basis, it’s fair to assume that a Trofeo service will cost more than £825.
CHASSIS
All Levantes had double-wishbone front, multil-ink rear suspension. All were equipped with Q4 ‘intelligent’ all-wheel drive and a mechanical limited-slip differential on the rear axle. The Q4 was set up to deliver 100 per cent of the torque to the back wheels when conditions were right, switching to a split of up to 50/50 when they weren’t. The asymmetric lock on the LSD provided 25 per cent lockup under power and 35 per cent off the throttle. There was also torque vectoring through the application of braking force to the inside wheels. ABS settings were specific to the Trofeo.
The Trofeo’s Integrated Vehicle Control system was accompanied by a model-specific Corsa drive mode incorporating new engine and transmission maps, new and less intrusive traction control settings, a new launch function and faster gearshifts. The air suspension’s ride height level was lower and the Skyhook adaptive damping was deemed to be ‘sportier’. Essentially Maserati’s engineers had had to recalibrate the V8’s suspension to accommodate its extra 60kg of mass relative to the V6.
Trofeos came with 21-inch forged aluminium wheels as standard, 22s being an option at launch but later becoming standard, making the Trofeo the first Maserati to be so equipped. Standard tyres were Continental SportContact 6. Brakes were 6-piston 380mm steel discs at the front, 330mm at the rear. These could be quite squeaky in operation.
It all worked very nicely on the road though with good stability powering out of corners and steering that was accurate enough (if slow) through bends. Some Levante owners have found the ICE mode less responsive than they would have liked. Dampers have been known to fail and they are not cheap to replace.
Tyre judder on full lock has been experienced by many Levante owners. That’s not exclusive to the Levante. Excessive and uneven tyre wear has affected quite a few cars. Four-wheel alignments help to avoid both these problems. Independent specialists will do that for around £240.
BODYWORK
The Trofeo had the most aggressive stying in the Levante range, with vents in the aluminium bonnet and a decent sprinkling of carbon fibre trim parts front and rear.
With the rear seats in place, there was a reasonable 580 litres of luggage space. It’s not the biggest SUV boot. Without dropping the rear seats to increase the space to 1,625kg it wasn’t actually big enough to hold two golf bags, but who wants to do that anyway, golf should be a solitary pursuit where you can get angry in your own time without bothering anyone else.
Anyway, if you couldn’t fit your assorted nonsense in the boot you could always tow it, the Levante being the first Maserati to come with a factory-fitted towbar. This was rated for a 2,700kg braked trailer. There have been some reports of door handles not working correctly.
INTERIOR
There was far from universal agreement on whether the interior design matched the Levante’s new price. US owners noticed a strong similarity between its switchgear and that of the considerably cheaper Dodge Challenger, and the panel fit had more of an American than a European look about it.
The addition of carbon trim pieces did actually lift the feeling of cabin quality. That’s a sensation you wouldn’t always get in a car with, shall we say, a more modern-looking interior. The plastics weren’t that great either, but Maserati reckoned that the ‘Pieno Fiore’ full-grain leather in the Trofeo was like no other automotive leather (in a good way). This helped most passengers to find comfort in the Levante cabin, but only for five: there was no 7-seat option.
Most Trofeos had a thunderously grunty 1,280-watt Bowers & Wilkins 17-speaker audio system (some have Harmon Kardon) along with an 8.4-inch Maserati Touch Control Plus, CarPlay/Android Auto compatible, drag/scroll/swipe/rotate-capable touchscreen. That came with a ‘user-friendly knob’ (eeh, what will they think of next?) made from milled aluminium. This infotainment setup was apparently also used on a Chrysler 300. Problems with freezing have been reported, by no means a Maserati-exclusive issue. The rear-view camera could conk out too (ditto), especially in bad weather. That was subject to a 7,500-car recall.
Apple CarPlay might fail. Adaptive cruise and auto-brake parking sensors didn’t cover themselves in glory either, and the audio speakers could blow. Some Levantes have thrown up the proverbial Christmas tree of warning lights and service warnings, sometimes accompanied by power steering failure. This was usually down to the battery being in poor condition.
Some passenger seat headrests have been known to rattle slightly when the seat is empty. Back seats and windows rattle too, and there have been complaints about mysterious noises – rattles,you might say – coming from under the car somewhere. There was a 39,000 vehicle recall to rectify short-circuiting seat wiring harnesses caused by rubbing.
PH VERDICT
Fast, fun, flawed. That was one respected British mag’s three-word summation of the Levante Trofeo. You could apply the same three words to more than a few Maseratis over the years. Some have severely tested their owners’ loyalty, and although the reliability and quality of the Levante seems light years ahead of much of the stuff they put out in the past there’s still that slight feeling of uncertainty about the marque. Even now when you look at Maserati UK’s peculiar and clunky website you wonder if they’re really up to speed.
We’ve mentioned a few problems in this guide. In all honesty, most of them – particularly the electrical ones – affect other high-end, complex cars too. That doesn’t make them any more annoying though, especially when you’ve laid out such large amounts of money. UK Maserati owners with difficulties have remarked on the paucity of head office support and there are only a dozen or so authorised dealers in the UK network (including Scotland and Northern Ireland) so you may find yourself waiting quite a while for faults to be rectified or services to be booked. Having said all that, there are many reports from delighted Levante owners who have experienced no problems whatsoever.
Maserati stopped making V8 Trofeo models at the end of 2023. From 2025 or thereabouts the Levante will have been absorbed into the electrified Folgore range. Even with talk of 745hp and three motors there will always be those who prefer the explosive whiff of petrol to the cold, odourless hum of electricity. If you fall into that category there’s still time to get a new IC Levante, but your only choices from now (early 2024) are a 330hp or 430hp version of the 3.0 V6, at £93k or £115k respectively before extras.
The reason for the big gaps between the prices of the top-ranked Levantes has never been clear other than the obvious one, i.e. corporate greed. The option packs for lesser models were crazy money too, £9,000 for GranLusso (different alloys, wood, leather) or GranSport (bigger alloys, red brake calipers, a few gloss black and carbon bits and a sports steering wheel). Seriously? Anyway, it’s all good news for used buyers who can benefit from the inevitable dive and compression of values to today’s more realistic levels.
Here’s that sub-£63k Trofeo we mentioned in the overview. In a fetching shade of Blu Emozione with a tan interior and 35,000 on the clock, it’s yours for the slightly random sum of £62,791. If it really is a Launch Edition (the Blu doesn’t look very Matte?) it’s dropped 97 grand in depreciation in four and a bit years.
Throw another seven k into the pot and you can have this black-on-black 25,000-mile gangstamobile with B&W sound. For considerably more cash, there’s this matt blue ’22 car with just 3,000 miles. £107,500 doesn’t seem too bad when you compare it to the prices of new Levantes, but that sort of money will also go a long way in an Audi, Mercedes, Porsche, BMW or Range Rover dealership.
You've got to question Maserati's marketing strategy. You normally launch your halo models like the Trofeo and the GTS first, rather than get the public used to the Trofeo being associated with a V6 diesel.
You've got to question Maserati's marketing strategy. You normally launch your halo models like the Trofeo and the GTS first, rather than get the public used to the Trofeo being associated with a V6 diesel.
That said, IMO the 430 bhp V6S petrol is the sweet spot in the range-sounds great on a cold start and very characterful in sport mode.
It really has nothing to do with complexity either. Unless you're talking about the trick gearbox on a Koenigsegg none of these cars has anything more difficult to get right than a supermini, from a software or hardware perspective. They just make more power and have more cylinders. The issue isn't complexity, it's poor engineering and inadequate testing.
I wouldn't touch one of Maserati's new EVs with an incredibly long bargepole. Even as a new car they're straight into Brave Pill territory.
Screen one or twice showed a a warning about temperatures momentarily and twice it said parking brake overheated (when cold) that’s it. Car play works, park sensor works, keyless works, hands free boot works, home link works…..
It’s also the first car I’ve had where the front parking sensors don't s
t the bed when wet or frozen.The reliability angle is overplayed unless you frequent American forums, but then they have scare forums for every marque.
But, wow, that's some depreciation !!
Hell of a bargain is you can get one for only £17,000. Watertight warranty and it would be a great car to own. Just thirty !
Screen one or twice showed a a warning about temperatures momentarily and twice it said parking brake overheated (when cold) that’s it. Car play works, park sensor works, keyless works, hands free boot works, home link works…..
It’s also the first car I’ve had where the front parking sensors don't s
t the bed when wet or frozen.The reliability angle is overplayed unless you frequent American forums, but then they have scare forums for every marque.
If the Purosangue had a V8 version it would have to be powered by something pretty similar to this. Which is why they will never do a V8 Purosangue.
Trouble with these Trofeos is that while they have depreciated a lot, they still have a lot to go...
Engine is a beauty, makes a great noise and enjoy the car, hence the second Levante. Both suffered a brain fart with the door locks but were easily fixed by the dealer under warranty. And a minor issue with a parking sensor. And literally nothing else - no lit up dashboards or electrical gremlins. Unfortunately those that don't have them but read about a Maserati from the 80s once, continue to type this kind of thing on forums - and as though no other cars have ever had problems!
The only other thing I ever had was on my original V6 which had a slightly rattly passenger headrest, again fixed by the dealer (even though Maranello originally claimed they were designed to rattle - righhhttt...but that's Maranello Maserati service!).
Anyhoo, I also had a couple of Cayenne's before and much prefer the Levante. It is a little different, the interior is no lesser quality, the engine is nicer, it's plenty spacious enough and...well it stands out and is just a nice bit different to the standard German options.
So, you can see why there is a blood bath in the prestige end of the car market. So a lot of nasty surprises are being dished out to people who have to downsize, or just want to change.
Heard of someone who was complaining that their car wasnt worth quite as much as they thought, i.e. over what they paid being quite desirable and has actually depreciated, but limited sympathy as it was bought with a Covid loan that will never get paid back, that wont be unique either. Also, a lot of folk have had the big posh car and realised its not the be all and end all and are focussing on something that does the job, or perhaps that money ploughed into a big SUV or whatever pays for a lot of holidays and other stuff.
The government printed a load of cash and some people got a bit Wolf of Wall Street with it for a time, now reality has returned with some added aggression.
There are now a lot more expensive cars sat round waiting for a buyer, some are there month upon month, buyers market at the moment so if you have cash and want something flash, now is the time to buy, or maybe give it a little longer, keep an eye on the AT history.
Beautiful cars, lovely engine notes and drive, but both times shied away from them in favour of the SVR/QV - my (personal) summation both times was that they were/are 20% less car for 20% more money.
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