RE: Maserati Levante Trofeo | Driven
Discussion
Robert-nszl1 said:
As the owner of a Cayenne S this should have been an alternative when choosing, but it falls way short given the price. Maserati doesn't seem to be able to work out where it sits. It wants to be premium, with a more driver focused remit, but if you look at their product range it is either old, or seems to answer a question nobody has asked. I'm sure the engine is amazing, but their interiors let them down hugely, and in this type of vehicle you really do want all the toys. If you just want a performance SUV the Alfa ticks all the boxes for so much less money. And is it just me or has Maserati lost the ability to make decent looking cars? They have ruined the GranTurismo, the QP is nowhere near as good looking as the previous version, and this with its huge cheese grater mouth looks very awkward.... I think it will sell in tiny numbers
Speaking of looks: The Levante is a more classy and a lot better looking car than the current Cayenne, which looks dull and lardy.I've sat in all the top SUV's and the interior of the Levante isn't so bad, especially with the Zegna interior option. The let down is the infotainment.
And it drives really well, even in diesel form. With a great suspension set-up incl. an lsd as standard on the rear axle, Porsche will probably charge 10 grand extra for it.
Speaking of diesel, which is so akwardly shafted in the article, all SUV's have diesels, the Cayenne even started the trend.
Another plus, you don't see it as often as a Cayenne.
And this is nonsense: "If you just want a performance SUV the Alfa ticks all the boxes for so much less money."
If so same can be said for the Macan vs. Cayenne.
But really, the Levante is larger and has a more subtle ride with it's air suspension. The Alfa is more extreme less GT has a V6 vs.V8. Etc. etc.
Edited by DeltonaS on Thursday 11th July 19:41
That lead photo is of a 580hp Maserati oversteering. Which should be a beautiful thing. Instead it looks like a top-heavy pig trying to doing ballet. Or a van. Or something.
I'm far from the target market, I know taste is subjective and all the rest, and people are obviously free to choose whatever they want to do with their own money, but really - why on earth do people want / buy these things? They're never going to take them near a track (muddy or race) and my 280hp family estate is plenty fast enough for any road to verge on antisocial and unnecessary, given the general weight, width and barginess of it.
Honest question to those of you who buy this sort of thing - what's the point? What makes this kind of car desirable to you? Or is the "f××× you, this is pointless and I don't care" the point of it? In which case fair enough I guess, even if I think that's a bit odd!
I'm far from the target market, I know taste is subjective and all the rest, and people are obviously free to choose whatever they want to do with their own money, but really - why on earth do people want / buy these things? They're never going to take them near a track (muddy or race) and my 280hp family estate is plenty fast enough for any road to verge on antisocial and unnecessary, given the general weight, width and barginess of it.
Honest question to those of you who buy this sort of thing - what's the point? What makes this kind of car desirable to you? Or is the "f××× you, this is pointless and I don't care" the point of it? In which case fair enough I guess, even if I think that's a bit odd!
I think Maserati’s approach on this car is ridiculous, release it with a diesel only, then a petrol V6, all of which have quad tail pipes and look fast, then years later release the one they should have from the start but with a poorly executed aggressive look and mesh in the bumpers/grilles?
The worst thing about this car is the noise of the V6 petrol, I saw one once in traffic, it sounded like a V8 when idling but abnormally loud then when the guy accelerated, you could actually hear the engine which sounded like a Golf R.
Ridiculous
The worst thing about this car is the noise of the V6 petrol, I saw one once in traffic, it sounded like a V8 when idling but abnormally loud then when the guy accelerated, you could actually hear the engine which sounded like a Golf R.
Ridiculous
Chestrockwell said:
I think Maserati’s approach on this car is ridiculous, release it with a diesel only, then a petrol V6, all of which have quad tail pipes and look fast, then years later release the one they should have from the start but with a poorly executed aggressive look and mesh in the bumpers/grilles?
The worst thing about this car is the noise of the V6 petrol, I saw one once in traffic, it sounded like a V8 when idling but abnormally loud then when the guy accelerated, you could actually hear the engine which sounded like a Golf R.
Ridiculous
No, not really.The worst thing about this car is the noise of the V6 petrol, I saw one once in traffic, it sounded like a V8 when idling but abnormally loud then when the guy accelerated, you could actually hear the engine which sounded like a Golf R.
Ridiculous
DIesel and both V6's were released simultaneously. In the rest of Europe at least.
Range Rover released their SVR long after market introduction of the RR Sport as well. Jaguar did the same with the F Pace svr thing, Audi long had the habit of introducing it's RS models when the cars end of production was well in sight.
Speaking of quad tail pipes. VW Golf R's, Audi S1's, S3's, TT's and S4's are silly with quad tail pipes.
And by the way, the V6 doesn't really sound that bad:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygS4osqQGKo
DeltonaS said:
Speaking of looks: The Levante is a more classy and a lot better looking car than the current Cayenne, which looks dull and lardy.
I've sat in all the top SUV's and the interior of the Levante isn't so bad, especially with the Zegna interior option. The let down is the infotainment.
And it drives really well, even in diesel form. With a great suspension set-up incl. an lsd as standard on the rear axle, Porsche will probably charge 10 grand extra for it.
Speaking of diesel, which is so akwardly shafted in the article, all SUV's have diesels, the Cayenne even started the trend.
Another plus, you don't see it as often as a Cayenne.
And this is nonsense: "If you just want a performance SUV the Alfa ticks all the boxes for so much less money."
If so same can be said for the Macan vs. Cayenne.
But really, the Levante is larger and has a more subtle ride with it's air suspension. The Alfa is more extreme less GT has a V6 vs.V8. Etc. etc.
Classy? Well it's an opinion, I think the Cayenne now looks good. Infotainment in a luxury car (because that's what these things are) matters. I have other cars where this is less important, though it's amazing how you miss it when you get into older cars. I've sat in all the top SUV's and the interior of the Levante isn't so bad, especially with the Zegna interior option. The let down is the infotainment.
And it drives really well, even in diesel form. With a great suspension set-up incl. an lsd as standard on the rear axle, Porsche will probably charge 10 grand extra for it.
Speaking of diesel, which is so akwardly shafted in the article, all SUV's have diesels, the Cayenne even started the trend.
Another plus, you don't see it as often as a Cayenne.
And this is nonsense: "If you just want a performance SUV the Alfa ticks all the boxes for so much less money."
If so same can be said for the Macan vs. Cayenne.
But really, the Levante is larger and has a more subtle ride with it's air suspension. The Alfa is more extreme less GT has a V6 vs.V8. Etc. etc.
Edited by DeltonaS on Thursday 11th July 19:41
An LSD in a family SUV? Really has never crossed my mind. I like it to be fast and safe. Getting the back out? I suspect for a very small number of owners this is a consideration. These are not track toys.
The Macan can pretty much do what the Cayenne can do, other than carry 5 people with luggage. I am currently sitting in Bavaria having driven here with my family plus school friend. It suits my needs in other words. The Macan would have been too small.
You see lots of all types of Porsches because they are good cars. This is as true for the Cayenne as any other. I paid £80k for mine. The Levante wasn't out in this guise when I did so, but £125k is a big step up even vs the turbo. I will be accused of being a Porsche fan boy, and to a degree that's true. But I own a 73 Alfa Giulia as well, so I'd say I just like good cars from whichever era.
And the final point will no doubt be contested, but Maserati build quality is not great. Too many friends testify to this. So in order for this to be a car that you'd actually buy rather than talk about on here it needs to be better than the Porsche in every way, because frankly this is a plush, fast family wagon, and therefore needs to work. And yes who needs an SUV? I just wanted a change from my old 520d estate. Fortunately we are in a world where we can choose....
Robert-nszl1 said:
An LSD in a family SUV? Really has never crossed my mind. I like it to be fast and safe. Getting the back out? I suspect for a very small number of owners this is a consideration. These are not track toys.
An LSD's role is primarily to improve traction, so it will make it safer. nickfrog said:
Robert-nszl1 said:
An LSD in a family SUV? Really has never crossed my mind. I like it to be fast and safe. Getting the back out? I suspect for a very small number of owners this is a consideration. These are not track toys.
An LSD's role is primarily to improve traction, so it will make it safer. Robert-nszl1 said:
This is 2 tonne, 4wd SUV, with all the associated driver aids. Sorry, do feel free to argue the merits of a LSD, but frankly for this car it's just not relevant.
And for clarity I mean that in the sense of a sports car LSD, rather than a locking differential. I might take the Cayenne shooting though just to see whether it can cope. Winter tyres of course.... DeltonaS said:
Chestrockwell said:
I think Maserati’s approach on this car is ridiculous, release it with a diesel only, then a petrol V6, all of which have quad tail pipes and look fast, then years later release the one they should have from the start but with a poorly executed aggressive look and mesh in the bumpers/grilles?
The worst thing about this car is the noise of the V6 petrol, I saw one once in traffic, it sounded like a V8 when idling but abnormally loud then when the guy accelerated, you could actually hear the engine which sounded like a Golf R.
Ridiculous
No, not really.The worst thing about this car is the noise of the V6 petrol, I saw one once in traffic, it sounded like a V8 when idling but abnormally loud then when the guy accelerated, you could actually hear the engine which sounded like a Golf R.
Ridiculous
DIesel and both V6's were released simultaneously. In the rest of Europe at least.
Range Rover released their SVR long after market introduction of the RR Sport as well. Jaguar did the same with the F Pace svr thing, Audi long had the habit of introducing it's RS models when the cars end of production was well in sight.
Speaking of quad tail pipes. VW Golf R's, Audi S1's, S3's, TT's and S4's are silly with quad tail pipes.
And by the way, the V6 doesn't really sound that bad:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygS4osqQGKo
The quad exhausts thing doesn’t bother me because it ‘shouldn’t’ have them, but because the diesel and petrol V6 models having them means there isn’t much left for the Trofeo or GTS. There aren’t even photos of the back of the car in the article, probably because it looks the same as the lesser models!
The noise, well noise is subjective as I’m a fan of the noise a BMW M4 makes yet a lot of other people aren’t but I think it’s ridiculous how there’s speakers outside of the car making a V8 burbling noise at idle and when you put your foot down, you hear an almost 4 pot sounding V6 making a completely different noise!
Gecko1978 said:
Jeep GC track hawk faster cheaper crap interior still want
I hear this a lot - but usually from folks who've never even sat i one. Pay tell, how is the interior 'crap'?I took delivery of my new TrackHawk a week past Monday and while the interior wasn't really part of the decision process I really find it hard to fault. Ergonomically everything's easy to reach, easy to use - nothing's hidden-away or in a wacky place. And even if it was the voice command would do it anyway. Comfort wise although I've had it just under 2 weeks I've done 3 x 300mile+ daily journeys in it (as well as local stuff) and it's supremely comfortable. As you'd expect the seats are heated - but what's really great is they're cooled too through perforations in the leather that blow cold air; great on hot days.
Maybe it's the quality that irks you? I've just a lay-person's view on what quality leather looks like and feels like, but the Jeep leather is as good as I've seen and had my ass on...any to me at least, it looks better than the Maserati leather on the car I traded-in for it. In fact the guy who fitted the tracker (who spends his time fitting trackers to high-end stuff) was the first to comment (unsolicited) that he thought the leather and stitching was as good as he'd seen - I guess he too expected plasticised leather or similar (like my old Grand Cherokee). Most things are leather covered, but the trim strip etc are carbon fibre and certainly look real enough - certainly no less real than the carbon in the Maserati I traded. I'm no fan of wood in cars so being wood-free isn't an issue to me.
Design-wise it's not as swoopy as the Maserati (or the Cerbera interior I had some time back, held up as a high-point in design) but while it maybe doesn't look so jaw-dropping everything is easy to find, easy to use, and seems to be put together well.
Money no object how might I improve the interior? Not sure really - I'm finding it pretty hard to fault without going to silly levels like 'replace the wiper stalk with one made of carbon fibre with gold inlays'. Maybe I just have simple tastes, but looks and feels pretty good to me.
Rant over...
Now, back to discussing underpowered Italian stuff
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