Here's Why the Maserati Levante Just Isn't Worth $80,000

This is the brand-new Maserati Levante. It's a luxury SUV, and it's fun to drive, it's reasonably attractive, it's expensive, it sounds pretty good, and it's the end of Maserati as we know it. You see, when you think of Maserati, you probably think of beautiful Italian sports cars, like the Ghibli in the 1960s, and the gorgeous birdcage race car from the 1950s, or maybe you think of the glorious exhaust note in the Gran Turismo, or the ultra-rare MC12. You probably don't think of a V6 midsize crossover with flat-folding rear seats and child seat anchors, but that's exactly what this is. And yet, that's not why this car signals the end of Maserati as we know it, although it is one sign, but it's more this. Maserati has become obsessed with sales numbers. Maserati sold six times more vehicles in 2016 than they did in 2011, and Maserati advertises their lease specials and factory incentives everywhere. Buses, internet banner ads, newspapers, and they're one step shy of buying the naming rights to a minor league baseball stadium and calling it Lisa Ghibli for $6.99 a month. Field. Also, Maserati has installed dealerships everywhere in the pursuit of increased sales. There is a Maserati dealer in Appleton, Wisconsin. There are two Maserati dealers in Oklahoma. There is a Maserati dealer in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. And I don't know if you've ever been to Coeur d'Alene, but if that dealership sells more than four Maseratis a year, we should send them a gift basket, which would be delivered by a moose. Anyway, when Maserati came out with the latest Ghibli in the Quattroporte, it was sort of in keeping with the brand's historical image. After all, they've made sporty sedans for years. But a V6-powered crossover? Maserati is clearly desperately chasing sales, and they're adding a lot of new dealerships, and Maserati now competes with BMW, with Lexus, with Mercedes-Benz. The Italian sports car brand is gone. That isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it's certainly a different thing. As of this vehicle, Maserati is no longer a brand you aspire to. It's no longer a car you get posters of when you're in middle school and put on your wall and hope you own it one day. Instead, it's a car your mom might actually lease to drive you to middle school. So now that we know that Maserati is, well, no longer Maserati, today I'm going to show you around the Levante, which, by the way, I borrowed here in Southern California using Turo, which is this service that lets you rent other people's interesting cars instead of normal, boring airport rental cars. You can sign up for Turo in the description below. After I show you all of the Levante's quirks and features, I'm going to get it out on the road and see how it drives, and then I'm going to give it a Doug score. Now, I'm going to start in the interior, and specifically up front, where there are a bunch of interesting quirks, some brilliant and some not-so-brilliant. Like, for example, the center console dials. If you take a look at these things, there's one small dial mounted on top of another larger dial. It's like the Maserati center console dial pyramid. Of course, both of them are unlabeled. The top one pushes in. Also unlabeled are the buttons right above them, so you don't really know what's going on in here until you start playing around with them. Now, one of those dials controls stereo volume, although I have to admit I don't remember which one right now. The next interesting thing in the interior is just to the left of the Maserati dial pyramid, and that would be the off-road button. Yes, the Maserati crossover has an off-road button. Now, if you ask Maserati what this button does, I bet you they'll give you this complicated engineering explanation and say it readies the suspension for off-road travel. But let's be honest, what it really does is it makes people in the suburbs feel a lot more confident about driving in a moderate thunderstorm. Something in this interior that annoys me to absolutely no end, there is no button for the heated seats. So when you get inside this car, you can't just push a button and have the heated seats go on. Instead, you have to go into the infotainment system. And when you go into climate, they're not there. You'd think that the heated seats would be a climate control function, but they're not. Instead, you have to go into controls, and that's where you'll find the heated seats. Or you can press the Maserati logo, and you'll also find the heated seats, although they're sort of randomly arrayed. You'll see the heated seat control for the driver's seat is on the passenger side, and the control for the passenger seat is on the driver's side. That's very interesting, Maserati. Good choices. However, major kudos to Maserati for doing something right with the interior controls that really upsets me with a lot of cars. That would be the steering wheel controls. Now, this car has controls for everything on the steering wheel, and yet it doesn't look cluttered, and that's because a lot of the controls are behind the steering wheel and unlabeled. It takes some getting used to, but once you figure out what they do, you can basically do everything without pulling your hands off the steering wheel. You can set cruise control. You can use Bluetooth. You can change every function in the stereo just because of those little controls behind the wheel. Every automaker should do this. Another thing I like in this general area are the needles for the speedometer and the tachometer. Now, Maserati has placed the little lights that light up when you put on the turn signals inside the dials for the speedometer and the tachometer, and normally that would mean that the needles would conflict with you being able to see whether your turn signals are on as they go up and down, but Maserati has made the second half of the needles clear so they don't get in the way of you being able to see the turn signals. It's a really cool idea, and it's very functional. I like it a lot. Not so well thought out, that would be the shift lever, which is the single worst shift lever in the entire car industry, period. Not due to quality, but simply due to operation. Check out how difficult it is to simply get it into reverse, which allegedly lurks somewhere between park and neutral. And if that wasn't bad enough, oh, it gets worse. This car's parking brake automatically goes on when you put it in park, that's fine. But when you get back in the car, you put it in drive, you're ready to go again, the parking brake is still on, you forgot, so you take the parking brake off, and then you're ready to go, you press the accelerator, but oh no, the car has shifted itself back into park, which means that you then must shift it into drive a second time. Who thought that made any sense? Another interior quirk that's either cool or uncool, depending on your perspective, I can always tell whether a car is trying to sell itself based on brand name or actual quality based on the number of brand logos it has throughout the interior. And from the driver's seat of this car, you can see six different Maserati logos as you simply drive down the street. One, two, three, four, five, six, all visible from the driver's seat at any given moment. Read into that what you may about just how much Maserati is trying to sell you this thing based on the fact that it's a Maserati. And that's nothing, maybe the most ridiculous use of the Maserati logos is that infotainment screen. When you turn on the car, you'll notice the first screen has the Maserati logo on it, then it goes to a second screen that has the Maserati logo on it. When you press accept, it then goes to the main screen, which has the Maserati logo at the bottom. And when you go into that screen, you'll find that one of the apps that pulls up has the Maserati logo as its logo. A couple of other interesting things in the front seats of this car. Open up the center console and you'll find that it's very deep and that the bottom has two cup holders in it, bringing the total number of cup holders in the front seats of this car to four, which is very useful and practical. Maybe a little bit stranger in the center console is this on-off switch. I cannot figure out what this does. I can't even find it in the owner's manual. Normally, I think it's for a cooled center console, but trust me, this car doesn't have a cooled center console. It does, however, have a cooled glove box. Take a look at this. This little dial here allows you to change whether you have air coming into the glove box, so you can cool down whatever you keep inside. If, for example, you've gone to pick up food and you want to keep it cold on your drive home, then that is a pretty good idea. Last of a good idea is the power trunk release. This car has a power liftgate, and for the last five days and 500 miles, I've been driving around thinking there is no way to open it from the driver's seat. It's not on the door panel. It's not to the left of the steering wheel. It's not in the middle. I just figured Maserati forgot it. Well, it turns out they didn't forget it. Instead, they stuck it in the least intuitive place possible on the ceiling above the driver's head by the dome light. If you want to open the tailgate, that's where you have to push. It is very bizarre. It's not like that in any other car, but I guess they figured if they put it up there, you wouldn't accidentally open the tailgate while you were driving. Good thinking, Maserati. Now, speaking of the glove box, this car's infotainment system is pretty standard. There's nothing especially interesting in it, and I went through all the menus, but I did find one unusual piece, and that is the fact that you can lock the glove box from the infotainment system. In fact, you can super lock it, so you can't just open it with the key. Instead, you actually have to go into the infotainment system and pin in order to have access to the glove box, so if there's anything you really don't want anyone to find, you can stick it in your Levante glove box, and you can keep it cool. The only other really interesting thing I found in the infotainment system is the owner's manual. Obviously, this car still comes with a paper owner's manual, but check this out. The owner's manual inside the infotainment system is one of the most useful I've seen. It allows you to select various areas in the car, and then it zooms in, and then it allows you to select those things, so you can figure out exactly what some button is if you don't know what it does, except, of course, for that little button inside the center console that says on, off. That's not in there, but everything else is in there, and I swear this is a really intuitive owner's manual. It's probably the best I've seen, and it makes it very easy to find what you're looking for. Next up are the back seats, which are pretty straightforward. I fit reasonably well, though it's a bit tight, but then again, I'm pretty tall, and the Levante isn't a giant SUV. Naturally, the seats also fold down in a split configuration like virtually every other SUV. Maybe the most interesting thing back here is the buttons you'll find on the door panel. Those buttons control all the doors. They're just like the lock and unlock buttons in front or on your key fob, and I think that's kind of a strange thing to give the rear seat passengers, especially in a family vehicle. You'll have kids back here. That's not really a power I want to give to children. And it's the same deal in the cargo area of the Levante. There's not anything particularly interesting or unusual back here. With that said, there is one little item in the cargo area I kind of like. This little pass-through into the back seats. You can see it there. Obviously, this is for skis or something like that. If you have someone sitting here and here and you can't put the seats all the way down, you can open this thing up and then push this forward, and look, I can see into the back seats. And yes, I realize this is not a new feature in the grand scheme of the car industry, but I'm used to Maseratis with tiny back seats and crazy exhaust notes, not little pass-throughs for extra storage. So it's kind of an interesting feature in this car. Next up, moving on to the outside, I want to discuss the Levante's exterior styling. Now, the exterior styling of this car has been kind of controversial, but personally, I like it. I like the fact that it's sporty, it's low, it's fairly restrained. It isn't dramatically over-styled like some modern practical luxury cars. With that said, I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't report the facts. And in this case, it is a fact that from some angles, the Maserati Levante looks just like the Infiniti EX35, which is now called the QX... EX35. Here's what I mean. Take a look at the Infiniti and now take a look at the Maserati. You can't tell me there isn't some similarity between those two vehicles, which is a shame for Levante owners because this thing costs like double what that Infiniti costs. But aside from that, I do like the design. I like the aggressive front end, especially. When the car is on, the running lights are on, it looks like it's about to pounce. Now, I don't think this is the most beautiful car, but I know a lot of people hate it. I'm not in that camp. Although personally, I would get larger wheels than these. These wheels look like they're 14s inside this car's giant wheel arches. Now, around back, there are a couple of interesting things about the Levante. Number one is the fact that this car has real quad exhaust. That's right, four real exhaust pipes. They don't quite line up with the actual exhaust of the car, but they're a lot better than most automakers who are just faking those things openly. And the exhaust comes out down here and they have giant pipes going across to make the car look more aggressive. And the other benefit of these quad pipes, this thing sounds pretty good. Take a listen. Okay, no, it doesn't sound like an exotic supercar, but for a V6 crossover, that sounds good. It's a lot better than your family's Highlander. So there are some pros and cons to the Levante, but I couldn't do this review if I didn't mention the biggest drawback, and that would be simply the fact that this car is just really overpriced. This is a base model Levante with only a couple of options. And the sticker price is just a shade over $80,000. That's $20,000 more than a base level BMW X5. Underneath the hood, you will find a three liter V6 with only 345 horsepower. That's not exactly Maserati territory. And in fact, this thing has less horsepower than the nicest version of the Audi Q5 for $80,000. And then there's the interior. This just isn't an $80,000 place to be. Take a look at the window switches. Once again, Maserati is simply using the exact same window switches from a Dodge Dart, except they have a little chrome tip at the end. The turn signal stock, which is also the wiper stock, is identical to the one in the Dodge Durango and the Grand Caravan. A lot of the buttons and switch gear on the steering wheel, little buttons I like on the back of the steering wheel are pulled straight off Chrysler products that cost $19,995 after manufacturer rebates in an $80,000 Maserati. With all that said, I am happy to report that the panel gaps in the interior of this car are smaller than they were in the Ghibli. I don't have a tube of toothpaste handy, but I can promise you one would not fit in between the panel gap for the door and the interior, and you can't even see the exterior paint through that panel gap. So at least Maserati is improving slowly. And then there's the stuff that this one doesn't have. Now, I admit this is the base model, but this car still costs $80,000, and it doesn't have blind spot monitoring. It doesn't have radar cruise control. It doesn't have rear cross-traffic alert. It won't automatically stop for you or slow down, speed up. It doesn't have lane departure warning or lane keep assist. It doesn't even have parking sensors for $80,000. So there are some benefits and some drawbacks to this car, but that is a huge drawback. In the end, Maserati really entices you to spend money on options, as a lot of luxury car brands do, but this car's starting price is just too expensive to justify that. You could add virtually everything that I complain this car doesn't have back in through options, but then you've spent $90,000, and you're still driving around in a base model Levante with only 345 horsepower. The value proposition simply doesn't add up. So the Levante has some interesting quirks and features and some drawbacks, but there is an upside to this car, and it comes when you get behind the wheel. So I'm gonna take it out on the road and drive it, and as always, for more of my thoughts on the Levante, click the link below to go to autotrader.com slash oversteer, where I've written more about it and where I've compiled a list of the most interesting Maserati models currently for sale on Autotrader. Driving the Levante. Now, I've been a little bit critical of some Maseratis lately, including this one, obviously, but I will say that the thing I like most about this car is the way that it drives. For one thing, just driving down the street here, I'm going 25 miles an hour on a residential road, and it sounds great. I love the sound of this car. It may not have the power of a Maserati, you know, but it has the engine note, even though it's just a V6, and it's sort of like a family SUV and all that. The ride quality is pretty good. It isn't all that harsh, which is kind of surprising to me, because the thing I like most about this car is the way that it handles. I think this car is one of the best handling SUVs I've driven. It's benefited by a low center of gravity. It's a fairly low vehicle, and it's reasonably wide. Through corners, it feels really flat. I took it on those big circular highway on-ramps at speeds I probably shouldn't have been going, and it felt great, and it felt stable, and it felt like I was completely in control. At one point, I was going so fast that it did start to get a little squirrely, but I never felt like I was going to spin out or anything. I felt like it was very predictable, and I knew exactly where it was going and what was going to happen. I guess what I'm saying is I really, really like how it drives. It feels a lot quicker than 345-horsepower V6. I'm in Sport mode now, and Sport mode really holds the revs probably way too long, but the benefit is you really do feel it. It feels quick, and the acceleration is ready to go. Now, I'm going around some corners here, and it just... It grips. In fact, as soon as I picked this thing up from the airport, I texted one of my friends, and I said, I wish I had considered this, when I was getting my AMG wagon. I later found out how much this car costs, and I no longer wish that, but in three, four years as a CPO, in the 40s, 50s, this car is going to be a little bit difficult to resist. I actually like the way that the Ghibli drove. I thought that the Ghibli was okay in terms of driving experience. I didn't think it was best-in-class. This, I would say, is definitely up there with the best-in-class. In fact, the Ghibli's This, I would say, is definitely up there with the best-in-class. In fact, on a personal level, I think the Cayenne, the steering in the Cayenne, has gotten a little bit too numb and too over-assisted, and I actually think this car steers better than the Cayenne. Unfortunately, the driving experience side, when you look down, it's just not all that nice. It's not as nice as it could be. It's not as nice as it should be. The interior materials are simply not there. Nothing. None of it is. There's too much plastic. There's too much... Some of the stuff, if it is leather, it's cheap. There's no hand-stitching, like you'd expect, like you'd get in a lot of cars at this price range. I mean, this car, at $80,000, even though this is the base model, this car is as expensive as the nicest X5, and with that, you get just all of this stuff, and it's fully loaded, and, I mean, I don't even have parking sensors in this car. It's unbelievable to me that an $80,000 SUV, so designed for, you know, family use in suburban neighborhoods where you're often backing in the driveway, all it has is a federally mandated backup camera. No parking sensors. That... High-speed sweeper curves is where this thing's the best. I mean, it just hugs the road, and I feel like I could go a zillion miles an hour. The car inspires a lot more confidence than you would get in most other luxury SUVs. In the end, I think this car has flaws, but I think that the driving experience is not really one of them. I think this car has flaws from a quality perspective. I think this car has flaws from a value perspective. However, from a driving perspective, I think this is a really impressive car, and if I could grab one at a pretty substantial discount or CPO at some point in the future, you could start to ignore some of these flaws. Oh, I can't believe it's an $80,000 car and doesn't have that. Well, if it's a $55,000 car, it's like, hmm, it drives better than almost any other luxury SUV, and maybe some of these things don't matter as much. So that's the new Maserati Levante. In the end, I don't think this is a bad car. It's just the end of old Maserati and the beginning of, can you match my payments on my X5? But if you get past the brand name and everything associated with it, I think you'll find it's a pretty decent car, and I've had fun driving it around San Diego and Los Angeles for the last week. With that said, I don't think it's worth $80,000, but I do think it could be a good deal in a few years with Maserati's certified pre-owned warranty once it drops in value. Or try your luck at a Maserati dealer. I've heard that they are so obsessed with chasing volume numbers and sales targets that they are offering massive discounts on these things just to get them out the door and hit another sales figure. And if your local Maserati dealer won't work, you can always try the Maserati dealer in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, desperately trying to reach their annual sales quota of five total units, where the sales manager is a moose. And now it's time for the Doug Score. Starting with the weekend categories and styling, I think the Levante looks fine, but no one's calling it beautiful except maybe the guy at Infiniti who designed it in the first place, and it gets a 5 out of 10. Acceleration is good, especially for an SUV. It does 0-60 in 5.8 seconds, and on the Doug Score acceleration scale, that gives it a 4 out of 10. Handling is strong, and I debated this one for a while, but I ultimately gave it a 6 out of 10, which is really good for an SUV. Tied with the Lamborghini Countach, but the Levante is really sharp. The steering is excellent, and I think it deserves this big number. Cool factor is above average. This one really depends on who you are, as most car enthusiasts think a Maserati crossover is uncool, but this is the hot car in the suburbs right now, and it gets a 6 out of 10. Importance is roughly the same story. It's certainly more significant than an average car, but it's not like these are limited production, and it gets a 6 out of 10, bringing the total weekend score to 27 out of 50. Next up are the daily categories, starting with features. In the grand scheme of things, the Levante is pretty good, earning a 6 out of 10, but it's weak for a car at this price point. That figure is lower than the Jaguar F-Pace S I drove, which was much cheaper. Comfort is good, and the Levante gets a 7 out of 10. Quality is fine, acceptable, but not standout, and it gets only a 6 out of 10. Practicality is strong, as the Levante offers 57 cubic feet of cargo space, giving it an 8 out of 10. Finally, value. This is a good car, but at $80,000, it's a ridiculously overpriced one. The Maserati brand name definitely helps its case, which is exactly what Maserati intended, but I just can't give it more than a 4 out of 10. Add it up, and the total daily score is 31 out of 50. Add up all the scores, and the total dug score is 58 out of 100, which places it one point below the Jaguar F-Pace S and Volvo XC90 Excellence I already reviewed. The Levante has a higher weekend score than those rivals, but its daily score is lower, mainly on account of its price tag. The Levante is simply too expensive unless you're buying used or you get a big discount from your local desperate Maserati dealer. I also can't help shake the fact that the Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk I already reviewed is more fun, and it has roughly the same amount of equipment for about the same dollar value, and plus, the Trackhawk gives you all the same switches you'll find in the Levante anyway.