Owners' views on the Levante

[PJM986]

Chazsmash said:

Some less familiar with the brand might not realise that the Granlusso & Gransport are models with a pre selected list off extras then given the badge. What I am trying to say is that there may well be things in those specs you don’t care for and you may well find a base Levante with what you desire.. cheaper. The “S” also comes at a cost ( for same engine ) and for 0.8 sec improvement 0-60 is it worth it, ok if it is you can get 460bhp from it with a remap ( SA Tuning ). I found a car sitting in the showroom pre reg with 10 miles on clock with 20” wheels, red callipers, tinted windows, roof rails, body colour mouldings, pan roof, heated sports steering wheel and heated seats for 20k off list ??

Thanks Chazsmash,

I see the point you are making re performance, although I wouldn't get a car remapped as I wouldn't risk affecting the manufacturer's warranty. It doesn't look like there is a huge difference in price between the S and non-S cars once they are c1-2 years old, so come resale time I would expect the difference to still be there and balance the outlay v return. Like most of us, can't wait until the national picture improves and I can get out, do a test drive and get a car bought

[Daveb257]

Remember that most 2018 on cars come with FOC servicing which helps

[abucd4]

PJM986 said:

That is the other car in the mix. Clearly the big plus is performance / engine, but the Alfa's poor reliability and appalling customer support is a concern. As this will be driven by my wife as much as me for the daily duties, we don't want the hassle of it being in & out of the dealership with electrical gremlins.

Avoid a 2017 one and they’re really reliable although having said that most will have had the early battery sensors replaced now which caused the battery issues and associated gremlins.

They have a crap fuel gauge (it’s not linear) but that’s the only other “Italianness” they should have. Find one with extended leather and it should be a very nice place to be. Not covered in screens but personally that’s a good thing.

[BigR]

Daveb257 said:

Remember that most 2018 on cars come with FOC servicing which helps

Hmmm...not sure that's the case. I have a 2019 new from a dealer and it didn't come with such a 'perk'!

[Daveb257]

BigR said:

Daveb257 said:

Remember that most 2018 on cars come with FOC servicing which helps

Hmmm...not sure that's the case. I have a 2019 new from a dealer and it didn't come with such a 'perk'!

Odd, it applied to most “retail” registration types IIRC, haven’t the marketing stuff to hand anymore sadly but dealer & business inc business contract hire were excluded

[BigR]

Just checked back at my paperwork from the purchase - not least as mine was recently serviced! But nothing in it about service plans at all (which could've been an interesting conversation & refund!).

[speedbird1000]

drove the v6 - for a day while the f12 was being serviced, i thought ...what a great car... just a bit pricey..

[BigR]

I don't think you'd struggle to get a good deal out of a Maserati dealership - there do seem to be quite a few nearly-new around, and the dealers seem open to shifting them based on the relentless pursuit of me to switch mine for one identical...the rationale of which I can make nothing of other than being £20k lighter, something lost on the salesperson.

[lrdisco]

Just put a deposit down on a GT hybrid. Can’t wait to collect it next Saturday.

[jontysafe]

Weird someone mentioning the passenger headrest rattle, my QP VI does that too

[lrdisco]

Picked up my 2022 Levante GT. 5 hour drive home in it and I absolutely love it.
Great car and all the better for not being German and very rare. On the drive back saw literally dozens of X series and Q’s plus a smattering of Porsches SUVs but not one other Maserati.

[The Rook]

Bump on this thread but a couple of years on I would be very interested what owners still think?

Went to see a 2019 GranSport 3.0 v6 petrol 345bhp last week. It seems a good price and spec is lovely. Agree with some posters on here about some slightly cheap interior plastics (this was on 25k miles and felt a bit brittle inside in places). Wanted to ask about reliability and anything that has come up? Also rough cost you are finding for servicing or known issues either at main dealer or independent.

Love the rarity factor and it felt pretty special but curious to know how it has held up to family life or general issues.

Thanks in advance.

[fflump]

The Rook said:

Bump on this thread but a couple of years on I would be very interested what owners still think?

Went to see a 2019 GranSport 3.0 v6 petrol 345bhp last week. It seems a good price and spec is lovely. Agree with some posters on here about some slightly cheap interior plastics (this was on 25k miles and felt a bit brittle inside in places). Wanted to ask about reliability and anything that has come up? Also rough cost you are finding for servicing or known issues either at main dealer or independent.

Love the rarity factor and it felt pretty special but curious to know how it has held up to family life or general issues.

Thanks in advance.

In your shoes I'd look at the V6 S. A decent extra chunk of power.

[Rough101]

The Rook said:

Bump on this thread but a couple of years on I would be very interested what owners still think?

Went to see a 2019 GranSport 3.0 v6 petrol 345bhp last week. It seems a good price and spec is lovely. Agree with some posters on here about some slightly cheap interior plastics (this was on 25k miles and felt a bit brittle inside in places). Wanted to ask about reliability and anything that has come up? Also rough cost you are finding for servicing or known issues either at main dealer or independent.

Love the rarity factor and it felt pretty special but curious to know how it has held up to family life or general issues.

Thanks in advance.

I’ve had a Ghibli for 3 years, it’s basically the same thing, had an exhaust bracket come loose and it’s got an occasional warm up stutter (untraced and no EML light) but its been perfect otherwise. The Ghibli seems to have bigger brakes than earlier Levante’s and the parts alone are thousands, and there is zero aftermarket stuff on the discs and on the pads the aftermarket generics don’t have the right wear sensors. Independent Ferrari and Maserati specialists look after the scheduled services for not more than our XC90 costs at the main dealer. The stop and start still works after a long run on the 6 year old battery as well.

[ex-devonpaul]

Rough101 said:

I’ve had a Ghibli for 3 years, [...] The stop and start still works after a long run on the 6 year old battery as well.

If the stop/start is not working promptly then the battery is starting to fail, and will get worse as the weather gets colder. On many modern cars (and certainly older maseratis) if it gets to the stage of a voltage drop on startup then the electronics really don't like it. One thing for certain is that it WILL fail, so a couple of hundred quid now might be a better option than waiting for it to actually fail at the most inopportune moment, like 3pm on Xmas eve.

DAMHIK, IJK, OK?

[jv021]

The Rook said:

Bump on this thread but a couple of years on I would be very interested what owners still think?

Went to see a 2019 GranSport 3.0 v6 petrol 345bhp last week. It seems a good price and spec is lovely. Agree with some posters on here about some slightly cheap interior plastics (this was on 25k miles and felt a bit brittle inside in places). Wanted to ask about reliability and anything that has come up? Also rough cost you are finding for servicing or known issues either at main dealer or independent.

Love the rarity factor and it felt pretty special but curious to know how it has held up to family life or general issues.

Thanks in advance.

We have a Levante SQ4 (430 BHP version) and here are my view almost 18mths into ownership:
1) great rarity factor
2) decent engine / noise
3) Interior looks nice
4) not as well built as the German options
5) Spec is not as good as the German options
6) 20-25mpg if you are lucky
7) Main Dealer servicing expensive (expect each visit to cost £1k min and more if anything else needs attention) and not many specialists around so research that prior to buying
8) Overall reliability is good, no real issues, but a few minor niggles
9) Parts availability - many parts need to be ordered from Italy so minor repairs and end up taking time - mine needed a new sill light which took over 1week to arrive

Would I have have bought something else - as much as I would like to say X5 / Cayenne / GLE the answer is no, I did consider the others and while they are easier to own in some respects, they are too common on the roads.