Maserati SUV’s Ferrari engine offers power and pride
describes the Trofeo as “tempestuous” – able, l ike the weather, to be transformed in an instant from a benign calm to a raging storm.
And whi le you can forgive the producers of a car costing about £125,000 a little poetic licence, having driven it, I can see where they are coming from.
On the one hand, this beautifully made luxurious car will do your every bidding like a baby and, on the other, it can hurtle down the track and take your breath away.
In Corsa mode – only available on the TrofeoT – it has a race launch feature. featu Jamie, the pro- driver, demonstrated demo it until, at almost 150mph, 150m I was screaming at him to stop. (That’s better than Disney.) Trying Try it out myself, I topped 125mph 125m and then chickened out. One minute you are burbling along alon ready to drop off the kids and the next you are, heigh ho, king of the road.
The Th Trofeo is differentiated from its llower-powered siblings with a pianopian black gloss grille front, sports side skirts, air scoops on the bonnet, a sportssp bumper, a great rear end and 22in wheels.
Inside,I it is luxe itself in leather with blessed few knobs and dials but a fabulously comfortable drive thanks to the adaptive air suspension and soft-touch materials everywhere.
It sports the delightful exclusive Trofeo badging and there is loads of room in the back seat for a big un’.
Its intelligent all-wheel drive system leaves the car in rear-wheel drive until it senses you need more and then it simply steps in – no fuss, no histrionics, just the power to get you out of trouble.
It is helped by a new intelligent vehicle system, which is proactive rather than reactive, reading the road ahead to keep you on track.
The Trofeo is well balanced on the road whether in Comfort or Sport mode, swooping into bends and powering out of them. It will even off-road successfully. I took it over ruts, down 60 per cent slopes and along 23-degree angles and it never even blinked.
When SUVs first drove into our lives, we loved them – but it was surely never in anyone’s mind that one day we would be presented with a model with a Ferrari engine under the bonnet.
Maserati has always had a reputation for creating elegant and enduring cars and the Levante is no exception. Mating it to a Ferrari engine in the Trofeo is a triumph.