Maserati Grecale review: Make it a Maserati
A slight financial jump takes you from a BMW or Mercedes into a Maserati Grecale. Tempted? You should be
EVERYWHERE you look there are sport utility vehicles (SUVs), simply because people want them – and who is Maserati to leave money on the table? The Grecale is the second such car from the storied Italian brand, and it slots into the line-up below the larger Levante.
Think of it as a Porsche Macan rival instead, just so you know what to expect. It’s a car meant to be sporty and useful while ensuring that other people describe you as “that guy who drives a Maserati”.
When it comes down to it though, at S$279,800 without a Certificate of Entitlement (COE), the starting price for a Grecale isn’t too big a leap from the pricier versions of the BMW X3 and Mercedes-Benz GLC. Surely you’re tempted now?
Given that it has so many rivals to steal sales from, you might have expected the Grecale to tug at the optic nerves a bit more.
True, the trident emblem in the big front grille is fairly glamorous, and it does have the trio of portholes on each front fender that’s been a Maserati thing since forever. But the Grecale’s soft curves and beady headlights don’t exactly jangle the heartstrings.
What’s missing is a long bonnet, that classic visual signifier of a car’s potency. Yet, the Grecale range isn’t under-endowed in that department by any means.
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Your choice of one boils down to three variants, all of them with an eight-speed transmission and all-wheel drive. The range starts with the 296-horsepower GT version tested here, which gets to 100 km/h in a solid 5.6 seconds.
Next up comes the Modena version, which packs 325 hp (5.3 seconds, in case you were wondering). Both have a 2.0-litre turbo engine with mild hybrid technology, which is contemporary but unremarkable.
If you want something a bit frothy and special, you’ll have to plump for the Trofeo and its twin-turbo V6. It has 530 hp, which it uses to blitz to 100 in 3.8 seconds so you can mess with sportscar drivers.
But even the basic GT is an enjoyable experience behind the wheel. The Grecale might be an SUV, but it takes corners deftly, whipping through them in a way that feels fit and spry. It somehow does it with a well-composed ride, too, instead of sacrificing comfort on the altar of sportiness.
The engine packs a nice wallop, too, and you can often feel the hybrid system’s motor feed in a bit of assistance before the turbocharger spins up. Just don’t expect the fuel bills of a Prius. In fact, I’m too embarrassed to say what sort of fuel consumption I got out of the Grecale.
Anyway, the idea of a thirsty Maserati should surprise precisely no one. If anything came as a mild shock, it was how big the Grecale is. Photographs seem to downplay its size somewhat, but the measuring tape says it’s bigger than the BMW X3.
You realise it anyway when you clamber into the back, where it has the Porsche Macan licked in terms of size. In fact, it’s hard to imagine anyone dismissing the Maserati because the cabin is too small. The same goes for the boot, which is 535 litres large and can apparently carry two golf bags diagonally.
The other surprise was how much I liked the user interface. The dashboard has a main touchscreen, with a second screen below it for the climate system and other controls, such as the one that lets you alter the face of the car’s clock or turn it into a stopwatch.
Digital controls for a car’s air-con generally seem like a bad idea to me, but the Grecale’s are dead simple to use: swipe up or down anywhere on the screen to change the temperature, swipe left or right to adjust the fan speed.
The cabin itself isn’t overtly plush, and it’s not as modern-looking as a Mercedes, but most of the surfaces you touch just about pass muster for a contemporary luxury car.
In a sense, the same holds true of the Grecale itself. It ticks every box on the list of things you want from a medium SUV – namely roominess, comfort and practicality – but comes with a touch of speed and glamour.
It would have been nice if it were a bit more Italian, meaning to say it should have a more voluptuous form and a shoutier engine, but the Grecale is at least something you don’t see every day. There are SUVs everywhere you look, but few are Maseratis.
Maserati Grecale GT Engine 1,995cc, turbocharged in-line four Power 296 hp at 5,750 rpm Torque 450 Nm at 2,000 rpm Gearbox Eight-speed automatic 0-100 km/h 5.8 seconds Top speed 240 km/h Fuel efficiency 9.4 L/100 km Agent Tridente Automobili Price S$279,800 without COE Available Now
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