Few engines are as revered or as charismatic as the V8. The eight cylinders are a staple of every American muscle car fantasy along with forming the core of the European muscle car industry with the likes of AMG, BMW and Audi leading the charge. Then the Italians come in and teach every one how make a V8 sing. Enter Maserati.
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The Italian V8’s found in modern Ferraris to Maserati’s have a spine-tingling soundtrack. It makes us relish the last years of this great power train. Emissions along with a greater environmental focus means hybrid and smaller capacity motors are the future.
For now, let us savour the present with the V8 Italian beast of an SUV right here. You can get the Maserati Levante with a hybrid or other more conventional power trains but the V8 Levante Trofeo is the one to buy since it is dripping with the core values that we associate a Maserati for.
Canada’s best luxury website: The Maserati Levante Trofeo’s Twin Turbo V8
The engine is the star of the show here and it is made by none other than Ferrari themselves. It is a 3.8-litre Twin Turbo V8 engine which develops 590 hp at 6,250 rpm and 730 Nm of peak torque at 2,250 – 5,000 rpm. As a result, the performance along with the sound track is like a shot of caffeine to our senses.
For such a big SUV, the Levante Trofeo is remarkably fast. The aforementioned V8 enables it to reach 100 km/h in 3.9 seconds along with a top speed of over 300 km/h.
Hand-built Italian luxury
A Q4 Intelligent All-Wheel Drive System keeps things in check and manages to harness all that power effectively along with providing ample grip.
The Levante Trofeo looks much more aggressive than its lesser powered sibling too and it certainly expresses the firepower underneath its hood. The front-end gets a new look courtesy a lower front fascia and the rear bumper. It is underlined by the 22-inch forged aluminum “Orione” wheels – the largest ever fitted on a Maserati.
To keep the V8 cool, there are bigger intakes along with more on the sides. And to help improve the airflow distribution, Trofeo is outfitted with carbon fibre side bezel blades and a carbon fibre splitter. There is more carbon fibre in the rear too with a horizontal element and body-colour lower extractor along with those lovely oval quad exhaust tips. Even the brake calipers can be painted either in red, blue, black, silver or yellow. Finally you will also see “Saetta” Trofeo logos scattered all over the car including the c-pillars of the SUV.
New Maserati Levante Trofeo focuses on the driver
Inside, it feels more driver focused and feels a bit more hard edged when compared to the standard Levante. The all-black cabin along with those large paddles behind the steering wheel scream performance. So does the carbon finished center console. There are also new sculpted sport seats with “Pieno Fiore” natural leather available in black, red and tan, all with contrast stitching and “Trofeo” logo stitched on the headrests.
Metal Trofeo badges and a Maserati clock round off an intriguing cabin mixed with race car pretensions and a hand-built Italian luxury vibe. You do get all the luxuries which you expect, including a 1,280-watt, 17-speaker Bowers & Wilkins premium surround sound audio system.
With a price-tag of $153,090, the Levante Trofeo seems like an awful lot of charismatic Italian metal for your money with that V8 engine alone justifying the price. It is one of the last species of motor cars having the great big V8, hence there is no better time to enjoy it than right now!
Somnath Chatterjee grew up around cars and most of his childhood was spent obsessing over supercars. Years later he decided to start writing about them and hasn’t looked back since. While he has had his fair share of cars, the world of automobiles never ceases to amaze him. Travelling all over the world to drive them along with sharing that experience is what ultimately keeps him going. He hopes to drive a Ferrari 288 GTO someday because, well, do you really need a reason?
