Today's Levante Update (it could change tomorrow of course)

daverichardson

daverichardson

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Well I have read this thread from the beginning again and my opinion WAS not hopeful
I can now reveal I LOVE it particularly the side elevation. This is based on my opinion of the picture on the Maserati website and I would have to see it in the flesh.
I am staggered, all of the mules looked awful I am not keen on SUV's anyway but this has changed my mind
It is far better looking than the awful Jaguar, Porsche etc
but each to their own
So well done Maserati and we have the start of a decent modern range Ghibli and Levante
It augers well for the Alfieri!
 
Bianco

Bianco

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Conaero said:
I got my first one 6 months ago, just an Audi Q3. It's an entry level SUV and I must say it's very, very good for what it is, a daily waggon and Family away day explorer. Took it to France 4 up and coped with everything we threw at it. The media interface is a breeze, connects to my iPhone, makes calls, streams music, voice control, it just works in this role and this is where my problem with the Levante is. I am sure it's going to be a very capable everyday car and deal with everything you throw at it.

But that's not why I buy Maserati. I don't want to be the same as everyone else. I want to be the oddball, the non conformist. I want to drive it occasionally and I want to meet likeminded individuals and discuss the finer details. I want to point out the effort and equisit design on something as unimportant as a door handle, a tail light or a leather headlining.

I want people to stop and point and say "look, a Maserati"

I want the masses not to buy one as they don't want to throw their money into keeping it running.

Most importantly though I want a Maserati, and Alfa come to think of it, to be instantly noticeable as a Maserati and Alfa Romeo. You could line the Levante up with the rest, de badge it and it would just blend into the rest.

So, there you have it, and thank you Andy for the Strad pic so I know all is notquite lost yet.

So suppose I have just showed what a last century dinosaur I really am, and I will continue to embrace it!

Oh, and one last thought. Maserati played safe on the design in the past with the Bi Turbo, I'll let you all have a think about how well that went.
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I suppose that's where viewpoints differ. I don't see Maserati as being a particularly special brand in the first place. I've not had a long standing affinity for the brand like others on here who have been buying them for decades, and whereas the sports car of the line up, the GT, is a desirable car, personally it would be way down a long list of cars in that segment that I'd buy first. However I too like it when people stop, point and stare and say "Look! a Maserati" but if people like me are to afford their cars, it's inevitable that those incidents won't happen forever AND for that to be justified the cars have to be much better than the competition that they're aimed at and currently they simply aren't. A £100k Quattroporte and GT are beaten by any number of similar cars at lower price-points in both performance, drive and fit and finish. Where they edge it is the mystique of the badge and the aesthetics but that won't be enough in the long run.

Maserati is going the way of Porsche in terms of the line-up and I get that many don't like it but its inevitable if it's to survive and actually make really good cars. What excites me about the Levante is that, to me, it looks genuinely different to other cars in the segment.
 
drewf

drewf

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Rwc13 said:
Nope. Don't see it. Range Rover Sport does not look like a Cayenne, does not look like a Lexus. That's a bit like saying all 4 door saloons look the same because they broadly have the same three box shape. So a QP5 looks like a Rover 75..........
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The cars I mentioned bear much more than a passing resemblance to each other.

Cayenne looks like Macan, like Lexus, like Levante, Audi Q3, Q5, Q7, VW Touareg... And there are more. They are remarkably similar in profile. It's no good just picking an example which doesn't fit in an attempt to disprove the general comment, as we can all do that with pretty much anything in life. The reality is that debadged, many of the SUVs now look very similar indeed. I'm not saying that's a bad thing, either - I like the shape of the Macan in particular, and if the rest are similar, then so be it. The same also is true for some models in the three box shape, with the Ghibli, Mazda etc example mentioned elsewhere. Take the badges and grills away, and many of the cars lose their 'identity'. In my mind, this means they possibly don't have that much identity to start with...
 
safrane

safrane

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16,896
SUVs - load of cobblers you drag all that 4x4 gubbjngs around for 99.9% of the time unused guzzling fuel whilst the wife goes shopping 1 up. What's wrong with an estate?...yes i know its just a fashion thing.
 
drewf

drewf

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7,159
What's wrong with an estate is the ground clearance - come home from the airport late at night, and with an estate I need to clear the access where the snowplough has made a nice wall of icy snow, far too deep for an estate car with a front spoiler to drive over. The SUVs can do it, which means I don't need to clear the drive late at night. I appreciate it's not a big concern in London, but not everyone lives in London...
 
Contigo

Contigo

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The problem is SUV's do lots of things but pretty badly compared to say a Discovery or Defender.
 
Rwc13

Rwc13

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1,668
safrane said:
SUVs - load of cobblers you drag all that 4x4 gubbjngs around for 99.9% of the time unused guzzling fuel whilst the wife goes shopping 1 up. What's wrong with an estate?...yes i know its just a fashion thing.
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As heavy, gas guzzling cars, often driven 1 up, you couldn't really justify any Maserati on that basis.......
 
Bianco

Bianco

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Remember that an SUV isnt the same as an off-roader. My wife's Qasquai is a FWD. She likes being high up and having plenty of interior room for the kids. She certainly doesnt have people breaking their necks to look at her every time she drives over a speedbump like I do in the Ghibli thanks to those stupid front deflectors.
 
M

MAF260

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7,662
I'd like to see the interior, but could have a good guess what it looks like. If it's anything like the Ghibli/QP it'll be a very nice place to be indeed. IMO most SUVs look quite similar, it is the face of them that makes the difference. This looks sufficiently different (in a good way!) so stands its own ground. We definitely seem to have a large amount of members who instantly want to hate anything new produced by Maserati for reasons I'm not privy to. The Ghibli is an excellent example of this. Maybe it's a forum of old farts completely entrenched in their old-fashioned ways who fondly remember the once 'golden era' (the time when the car they currently own was built!) and want to stay there. The world has changed and Maserati need to build cars with more mass appeal than ever before. They're still great looking, well built, comfortable and fast. What's not to like?
I'll certainly be looking at the Levante as a potential family wagon when the time comes.
 
Rwc13

Rwc13

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1,668
MAF260 said:
I'd like to see the interior, but could have a good guess what it looks like. If it's anything like the Ghibli/QP it'll be a very nice place to be indeed. IMO most SUVs look quite similar, it is the face of them that makes the difference. This looks sufficiently different (in a good way!) so stands its own ground. We definitely seem to have a large amount of members who instantly want to hate anything new produced by Maserati for reasons I'm not privy to. The Ghibli is an excellent example of this. Maybe it's a forum of old farts completely entrenched in their old-fashioned ways who fondly remember the once 'golden era' (the time when the car they currently own was built!) and want to stay there. The world has changed and Maserati need to build cars with more mass appeal than ever before. They're still great looking, well built, comfortable and fast. What's not to like?
I'll certainly be looking at the Levante as a potential family wagon when the time comes.
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Well said MAF. Good to be able to appreciate old and new equally
 
safrane

safrane

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16,896
Ha ha...stuck in there ways; no doubt there are some who fit that profile. The only thing I'm stuck on is a sports car manufacturer making just that.

Inside looks nice, just like the cars it is based on... I guess the key thing will be the cost compared to the likes of the x5 / Range Rover and porker.
 
conaero

conaero

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Contigo said:
MAF naturally likes it because he is a Ghibli owner! :D
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I have to agree. Everyone is entitled to their opinion.

Interior, it's nice but 3 cars in the range with the same interior now, come on Maserati, put some effort into it.
 
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