Took a trip to the local Maserati dealer yesterday to test drive a Levante SQ, which is basically an updated Ghibli S on stilts.
The interior updates seem to work. I liked the updates to the Infotainment system, tough as the screen is still a touch screen I don't see the point of the little dials it seems like a me-too feature rather than anything else. The way that it automatically lowers the suspension as you get to silly speeds, to lower the centre of gravity, is a neat.
On startup they've done something to the exhaust. Its raspier than my Ghibli S, especially in sport mode. I like the Ghibli sound but this is just more. Attention grabbing more.
This car was fitted with pretty much all of the options, so the 360 camera, and all the driving aids. These were all on to start with. The 360 camera I liked, especially when manoeuvring out of the car park. Likewise the blind spot warnings in the wing mirrors. That would be useful driving abroad I think. Just to keep an eye on the passenger side. One thing that was a little odd was the adjustment of the drivers wing mirror, I couldn't move it out far enough so got to see a huge chunk of the rear of the car.
Anyway onto driving it. In traffic it felt just like a tall Ghibli. I'm not sure about sitting that high, its not really for me on a day to day basis. The one real change from my Ghibli is the steering is now electric rather than hydraulic. It did feel different. Not as smooth and, if anything, heavier even though the salesman said that it should be lighter.
Around the low speed part of the test drive the car behaved itself. Even though it was taller I didn't notice any roll or pitching. It did feel better behaved than the standard suspension on the Ghibli to be honest. Sport mode on the suspension was more like my Skyhook sports mode. It does drive like a normal car.
It was on this part that I came across the lane assist trying to interfere for the first time. The reason for the electric steering is so that they can have lane assist etc. as it allows the computer to take over the steering if it thinks in needs to. There were some road works on the left that meant you had to put the right wheel over the white line. The car didn't like that and tried to nudge me back and into the cones.
On the more open, quicker section, of the drive I pushed the throttle a bit and, blipping the paddles down, got that anticipated roar from the exhaust and decent acceleration to overtake. That lane assist kept trying to interfere though so I turned it off. I really don't understand why anyone would want these things on any car, never mind a Maserati. To me it seemed to be trying to second guess my decisions and I just didn't like it. Annoying despite being switched off it turned itself back on when you restarted the ignition. That would irritate.
Interestingly M found it easier to drive than the Ghibli. She thought that's probably to with two things; it wasn't my car so any damage to it she'd feel less guilty about, also the taller driving position.
All in all its a decent car. It was in GranSport (I know) trim with carbon bits and leather dash. It felt like a luxury vehicle, made the right noises, and did hustle when we tried to make it do it. If I need to get a 4x4 at some point its definitely on the list. For the moment though I'd rather not.
As we were chatting it was mentioned that there was a 2018 GT in the car park around the back, so we went to have a look at listen:
If this is the last of the NA V8s its worth it. The sound is awesome, the cabin cosseting, and I really like that front. I was told that if I brought this home when I changed the car there would be no complaints.