H S A L F IVE DR
Maserati Levante Gransport
T
he first Levante I drove was a few years ago during a press do at Millbrook, I opted to take it around the varied off-road routes instead of the track because hey, that’s how I roll. Unlike the rest of the manufacturers that year, that included Rolls Royce and Bentley, Maserati insisted I have a chaperone. This wasn’t a problem except for when he kept telling me to brake to slow down as I was heading down a steep muddy hill. When I asked about hill descent control he admitted that he was more used to the track as opposed to mud. Anyway, the Levante proved to be a really capable SUV off the black stuff, despite its obvious road biased tyres.
50
THE MUD LIFE MAGAZINE
F
ast forward to last year when at another press do up at Wetherby, Maserati had their latest Levante for us to play with - I mean assess. The £70k (incl extras), 350bhp SUV was resplendent in Nero Ribelle and a rather tasteful black and red stitched interior in which we quickly found comfortable positions. On the road I was quite surprised by the smoothness and delivery from its twin turbo V6. It was far less aggressive than the Stelvio Quadrifoglio I’d had the week previous. Ride and handling wise, it was difficult to come up with a conclusive verdict, as a 30 minute drive just wasn’t long enough to test its abilities.
