2022 Mercedes GLE 63 AMG S vs 2022 Maserati Levante GTS, value vs name! Comparison and Drag Race.

Today we get to enjoy amazing SUVs. Back in the days they were sloppy, they were big, they were not fuel efficient and definitely not powerful but we've come to a certain point where we can enjoy all that and in this video I'm going to compare two amazing, powerful, comfortable SUVs. On the right side we have the Italian Maserati Levante GTS with a mix of American and on my left side we have the German, the Mercedes GLE 63 AMG S. Two powerful, massive SUVs. So let's start the video. At this point I'll be talking about the price tag for each vehicle but I will do that at the end of this video. So do me a favor, do not look up the price per model, I'll tell you exactly, so wait till the end. Let's talk about each car individually though. Let's start first with the Maserati Levante GTS. I know it sounds a bit Italian but that's the name. The Maserati, it's quite an interesting car. The brand itself has been pushed from one owner to the other one. Recently it's part of the Stellantis although it's technically FCA. This car, it's a mix of Italian engineering and also American at the same time. See, the outside, the design, the engine specifically, it is Italian. The engine, it's the same one used in the Ferrari, 488 GTB and other models. It's a V8, twin turbo and it sounds really good. Exterior design though, this thing looks nice on the front but in my opinion the back, even with the updated taillights, is not very appealing. The front, it's also an argument as well. You can make different arguments in terms of the grille, it's pretty massive. Luckily though, the one that we have for today's video doesn't have a front plate which actually makes it look pretty good. Unfortunately, in the province of Ontario, you're required to have one. The Mercedes does have a front plate. This though, it has an interesting design. If you come close here, I'll show you quickly. The front has this massive grille. Most importantly, the flaps that you see inside there, they open up for more air. Pretty cool design. The rear end is not the most exciting thing in this car. The taillights this year have this blacked out area and the same thing on this side. In terms of the exhaust system, it uses a quad exhaust. It sounds really, really good thanks to that V8 twin turbo engine. It sounds very much like a Ferrari in some ways. You could call this the cheapest Ferrari you can buy or the only SUV Ferrari that you can buy at the moment. Let's move on to the interior of the Maserati Levante GTS. The exterior might look appealing but the interior, it's a bit disappointing I must say. Well, let's start first with the cluster. It is a standard cluster. It's not even digital. It has a center screen but it looks like it was pulled out of a Grand Cherokee but certainly doesn't look very appealing in my opinion compared to the Mercedes which has a full digital cluster all the way through with different layouts. It's also disappointing that you don't get a heads-up display with this car and let me tell you the price but that will be at the end. The next thing is of course the pedal shifters. Although they might be all fun when you're driving and you might enjoy that, they tend to be a bit of like an obstacle when you're using the turning signals. I wish they put them in the actual steering wheel but they can't do that because the buttons are located at the back of the steering wheel for the volume and of course for the seeker if you want to operate the radio. The next thing that is disappointing in this car is of course the rear view mirror. It looks like it was pulled out of a Dodge Caravan. The switches all around are definitely, definitely not designed specifically for the Maserati. I've seen this in a Dodge Ram and more vehicles that are part of the FCA or now called Stellantis but the great news about the 2021 model is that we have a new infotainment display which is nicer, it looks crisper and most important is very intuitive. But they've used the exact same backup camera and the 360 camera they used in the previous model which doesn't make it very good quality. The next thing that you might find interesting in this car is of course the clock that that's the only thing that looks different from any other Stellantis vehicles. But I have to say though overall the Maserati is very welcoming inside, it is a comfortable vehicle for day to day to use, to drive and mostly important in comparison to the Mercedes it is much lower to the ground so it doesn't feel as high and it doesn't feel like a big SUV. The GLE it's technically the coupe so you have two options you can get a standard SUV GLE or the coupe that we have for today's video. This thing is quite an interesting one too, it looks massive compared to the Levante GTS but you also get a lot of space, you get more trunk space compared to the Levante GTS and overall more space on the inside. On the exterior this got to be the ugliest Mercedes in the lineup in my opinion, it's not the most appealing car but if you get used to it maybe you'll disregard the outside look. One thing I do love about Mercedes that they've thought about the front plate as you can see it's positioned perfectly. If you had to do the same thing in the Maserati Levante you'd have to block the actual badge in the front but in here they position it right in the bottom in the center that way you can still see that beautiful emblem in the front. The grille is massive same thing as the Levante GTS but here's what I like about the exterior of the Mercedes, the rear end in my opinion is far more appealing than the Maserati Levante GTS. The taillights are beautiful, the exhaust pipes are there you can see them although they're technically non-functional but they're still a quad exhaust and most importantly it is the whole thing looks better than the front end. What I do love also is the fact that they've hidden the backup camera so that way it doesn't get dirty and most importantly you can use this to open the trunk so just push this part here and automatically it opens up. The interior of the Mercedes GLE 63 AMG it is on another level, what do I say that starting with the beautiful cluster digital all the way through including the infotainment display which is actually bigger than the one in the Levante. On top of that you of course get a heads-up display in here, you have a wireless charging pad something you're missing in the Levante, it's going to shock you once I tell you the price but wait till the end about that. Then this also offers a built-in air freshener, yes it is located by the glove box and you can replace the bottle once it's done. The way that works is basically it sprays every time, it's like a bad smell on the outsides, you feel nothing on the inside, next level comfort. The next thing I love about Mercedes is the center console, you have multiple ways to use the infotainment display, a track pad, another butt located onto the steering wheel and of course it is a touchscreen. But what makes the so special compared to the Levante is the infotainment display which in my opinion it is far better than the Levante GTS, it is smaller in the Maserati, this is far bigger and very intuitive, you also have a ton of options. Here are a few extra things you get in the Mercedes in terms of performance, first of all you have a track pace so in here it will tell you the nearest track, you can pick the track as well yourself, it will record basically the entire track experience with all the parameters that you need. Then you have a drag race here will tell you the time, 0 to 60, quarter mile and so on, everything is built in, you're missing all that in the Maserati Levante GTS. Also you have a performance page that you're missing in the Levante, the only thing in the actual cluster which shows you the power that is delivered to the front wheels or rear wheels, it's the same thing in here and you have the g-force, you have so much more in terms of the performance gauges, like everything in here that you need when you go to the track. Now mind you this is a normal SUV and you have performance, engine torque, consumption as well, dynamic select. Another absolute thing that I love about Mercedes is, let's say you're driving and you have it in sport mode or race mode, when you turn off the car and you come back, it will show you at the top the go back into the first driving mode, so that way you don't have to select the driving mode again, it goes back into the previous driving mode. How smart is that? The Maserati might not be the prettiest in size or the most luxurious, but it sounds really good. Come on 7,000 rpm and go! Go! God damn, this car 3.8 liter v8 twin turbo 550 brake horsepower, yes this is a Ferrari engine, it is technically the only Ferrari SUV that you can buy at the moment, it's quick, it's delicious, it's like a mix of Italian pasta with some American cheeseburger together in one plate, it sounds pretty good, again just the sound because everything else in this car it's just a bit disappointing. When you jump in into the Mercedes, things change completely, now you're in more, inside a more luxurious vehicle, comfortable, very high off the ground, feels like a boat, but yet just the interior just makes you forget the Maserati in some ways and the interior from the cluster, the infotainment display, everything in this car feels like the highest luxury you can buy at this point for the money and the difference between these two is noticeable when you drive one, then you jump into the other one and you just notice the quality of the Mercedes is next level. I love everything about this car, everything just makes sense, I have driven both of them for a week and back and back, back to back and I haven't found something annoying about Mercedes yet. On the road, as I said, it feels like a boat, like a heavy, heavy boat, visibility in the back, it's something I can complain about it, but the car has the latest tech features from 360 camera, all the bells and whistles that you need for your protection on the road, when you're parking, you have all that and they help, but again that visibility in the back, not my favorite, but here's what I love about this car and Mercedes in general, specifically the AMG cars, first of all, right now I'm driving in normal roads, it's open country roads, beautiful, don't have to look for anything, everything is right in here, Sport Plus, bang, transmission into manual, bang, exhaust into full performance, downshift, downshift again and hammer it, bang, that's it, that's literally it, that's how fast this thing goes from a civilized SUV to an absolute beast, love the switches they have in here for the driving mode, you have race mode, by the way, if you want to do a launch control, you can only do that in race mode, it will activate launch control, once you press down, paddle the brake and the gas, it will tell you exactly when it's in launch mode, Sport Plus, I have it into manual mode, I want to put it into an automatic mode for the transmission, one button on the left side of the steering wheel, it's back to automatic transmission, it's perfect, it's literally a performance vehicle with the looks of an SUV and it is an SUV technically, it has the space, it has the comfort, it is quick, it actually feels quicker but it doesn't sound as good as the Maserati Levante GTS, it just, it's one of those cars that you don't appreciate it until you actually drive it, that is the perfect way to describe this car, again, I'm turning here, open country roads, into manual mode because I love shifting myself, push it down, the cluster is telling me keep shifting and then red line, nice, god damn, oh this is good too, like the Maserati sounds amazing, this on the other hand is just the next level and there's so much tech inside this car, let's go into the performance pages here, that's something I don't understand with the Maserati, it's part of the Stellantis, they have, the Dodge has the performance pages, they couldn't just transfer that into the Maserati, that would have made the car so much better, this, see everything, it tells you how much horsepower you're using right now, how much pound-feet of torque, the temperature for the oil, everything, the engine, downshift, downshift again, the pops at the back are just addictive, the next question is which one is faster, the Maserati Levante GTS or the Mercedes GLE 63 AMG S, so let's find out. Okay Richard, I have mine in drive mode, my car is in sport mode, yours has race mode, so you can use race mode in yours, I am good to go on this side, Carlos, thank you, let's roll. Come on Maserati! Yeah, there's no chance, Jesus, the guy is like yeah, damn it! Can't hold this thing, like brakes are all the way down, had a bit of a head start, but he's got me, he has got me by a lot. Okay Richard, we're gonna do this again, you keep it in race mode, I'm gonna keep mine in sport mode with traction off, and we're gonna do automatic mode for transmission, and make sure the second pole, 50 kilometers right beside each other, are you ready? Yep, let's roll. Okay, on a roll it's much closer, but he's gone on me again. Much closer on a roll. So, we've come to the end of this video, and we're gonna pick the winner out of these two, as I promised, now I'm going to tell you the price for each vehicle. The Mercedes in Canada, that's Canadian dollar, starts at about $132,000. The model we have for today's video, fully specced out, it's $152,000 Canadian in total. Now, are you ready to learn about the Maserati Levante GTS? And this is not even the top trim, the Trofeo is the top trim, this in Canada starts at $146,000. The one that we have for today's video, fully specced out, it's $182,000, that's $30,000 more than this car here, and yet, doesn't offer more options, or it's not even better in many ways. So, why is this thing so expensive compared to that? Well, I think probably has to do with the engine, because you're buying technically a Ferrari engine, and here you're just getting a standard V8 biturbo. But here's the most shocking part about this car. The most expensive item on that list is the paint job, which cost $21,000. Yes, the paint on this car, it's $21,000, that's the price of a Hyundai Elantra, that's the price of an old Honda Civic, like $21,000 for paint job. Which one do I think is the best out of these two for the money? Although, I love the engine on that car, I love how it drives, I could not pay $182,000 for a Maserati which doesn't offer more than a Mercedes. That was it guys, thanks for watching.