The 2019 Maserati Levante Isn't Too Sporty For Its Own Good

Do you really need an SUV that sets Nurburgring records?


Alfa Romeo sells three models in the US; one sports car, and two practical family cars trying their hardest to be sports cars. The Giulia sedan and Stelvio SUV, especially in 505-hp Quadrifoglio form, are among the most exciting cars on sale. Perhaps, too exciting. If you put every premium car on sale today on a sport-luxury continuum, Alfa's Quadrifoglios would be as far to the sport side as possible—further than any BMW M, or Mercedes-AMG.

In the case of the Stelvio Quadrifoglio, this is great... if you want an SUV that'll run a sub-8:00 lap of the Nurburgring Nordschleife. Do people paying close to six-figures for an SUV want something so uncompromising? Many won't. The Maserati Levante presents an interesting alternative. It's not a direct competitor for the Stelvio Quadrifoglio, but after driving it in the south of England, I think they hold a similar appeal.

You buy an Italian luxury car to make a statement. A car like a Maserati has always been a non-conformist choice, and in a world where Porsche Cayennes are common, the Levante is the car for the person who wants to be different. And it'll continue to be rarer than the Cayenne, because Maserati is only chasing 100,000 sales per year (up from around 50,000, currently), less than half as much as Porsche.


I was wasn't a fan of the Levante's styling at first, but this example–painted in a new $2700 shade of blue dubbed Blu Nobile–started to win me over. While the rear is still too anonymous, the rest has presence. The 2019 model also has a number of other subtle styling tweaks inspired by the upcoming V8-powered Levante GTS and Trofeo.

Maserati has updated the Levante every year since it launched, and there are a number of welcome improvements for 2019. Electric power steering replaces hydraulic assist, which might worry the purisits in the audience, but it's a good thing. This allows Maserati to equip the Levante with hands-on active steering assist. When combined with adaptive cruise control, it helps make the SUV an even more relaxed highway cruiser. In my limited time using the system, it worked well. This brings the Levante closer to parity with its rivals, and there's no significant drop in quality of the steering itself. The old hydraulic rack wasn't the most talkative anyways, and this electric setup is nice and accurate. Not Ferrari-quick like what you get in the Alfa Romeo Stelvio, though it suits the more relaxed nature of the Levante better.


The biggest improvement, though, is actually a very small piece—the shifter. It was maddening in the first Levante I drove, its weird operation making it too easy to grab park when looking for reverse. Here, Maserati opted for a BMW-esque shifter and it works so much better. The rest of the interior is a little bland, and still populated by lots of Fiat Chrysler switchgear, but there's lots of nice leather and lovely column-mounted aluminum shift paddles. The infotainment system will be familiar to anyone who's driven a modern Dodge, Jeep, or Chrysler, and that might not be a bad thing. As this system has been out for a while, it's probably better than Alfa Romeo's homebrew setup.

Both the Alfa Stelvio and the Levante use a clever fully variable all-wheel drive system called Q4, but the commonalities end there. The Levante's 3.0-liter twin-turbo V6 is designed and built by Ferrari (though its block is made by Chrysler in Indiana), though it's not a V6 derivative of Ferrari's 3.9-liter V8, as with the Alfa. The Levante gets something the Alfa doesn't—air springs. Even on the UK's notoriously bumpy roads, the Levante rides gracefully, albeit unsettled, with 21-inch wheels.


The comfort was refreshing. When automakers try to make SUVs overcome their big weight and high centers of gravity in service of handling, ride quality suffers. Which is exactly what you don't want in something like this. If you want to get the Levante to rip around a country road you can. Just lower the air springs and put the dampers in their firmest setting. I don't really see the point. I'd rather just enjoy its smooth GT qualities instead, and leave the sports-sedan stuff to, well, sports sedans

While we're all waiting to drive the new V8-powered Levantes—the 550-hp GTS, and 590-hp Trofeo—this V6 shouldn't be overlooked. It's got ample power and torque, and I even like the over-dramatic snarly noises it makes in Sport mode. Plus, the transmission—ZF's ubiquitous eight-speed—is a peach, with none of the lurchiness found in modern Alfas. As I did last time I was in a Levante, I found myself using manual mode just to play around with those big aluminum paddle shifters.

Unfortunately, it's expensive. The base 2019 Levante starts at $76,000, while stepping up to an S model will cost $87,000, and the cars we tested were right around the $100,000 mark. That's on par with a new Porsche Cayenne. Is it too expensive? Maybe. With the Levante, you have to compromise for its uniqueness. I'm not positive I would, but if everyone in your gated community has a Cayenne, I can see the appeal.

While a Stelvio Quadrifoglio offers similar exclusivity, the Levante is probably the one you'd want to live with day to day. The Levante S might not be ready to rip around the Nurburgring like the Stelvio Quadrifoglio, but this is a car I could see myself doing lots of miles in. It's a strange sort of SUV-GT hybrid, and that's a compelling thing.

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