Road test: The Maserati Grecale Trofeo is a triumphant return to form

Friday, 20 October 2023

The Maserati Grecale is headed by the Trofeo edition, powered by a supercar engine.

Maserati re-entered the market earlier this year with the Grecale mid-size SUV. Not that it really left, it just hasn’t had a new mass-produced model in a while. It’s a pretty big vehicle for the brand too, designed to compete in a hot segment filled with the likes of the Porsche Macan, Mercedes-Benz GLC, Audi Q5 and BMW X3. While the bulk of sales will comprise the two mild hybrid models – the GT and Modena – the one you really want is the Trofeo.

This is the one powered by the mighty Nettuno V6, a 3.0-litre twin-turbo beast pulled almost wholesale from the MC20 supercar. It’s detuned a bit to a mere 389kW/620Nm and goes without racey bits like the dry sump, but keeps the fancy F1-derived pre-chamber ignition.

There isn’t much to tell the models apart, save for the badge on the front fender.

All Grecales get an eight-speed automatic and all-wheel drive, which means that the Trofeo absolutely rockets off the line. Hitting 100kph takes 3.8 seconds, which is probably an underestimation, and will keep pulling well beyond legal limits.

Maserati's Head of Design Klaus Busse walks us around the Maserati Grecale Trofeo.

The transmission – the ZF-sourced eight-speeder found in many other performance vehicle – bangs through the gears with almost alarming ferocity in the spiciest Corsa mode, which also tunes the exhaust to maximum loudness. And boy does it sound good – not quite as raucous as a V8 but pretty incredible for a boosted six.

Despite the Grecale weighing just shy of 1900kg, the Trofeo manages to retain a decent degree of handling prowess. The standard air suspension system and fully active chassis keep everything as level as possible, particularly when set to Corsa, and the steering is fast and communicative. That AWD system becomes more rear-biased in the Trofeo’s raciest drive mode as well.

Better than the competition? I’d say so. It’s been a minute since we’ve had a Macan in the office but compared to the other German offerings I’d go with the Maserati, at least in this area. The Trofeo is seriously impressive.

The cabin is extremely premium with four digital screens, including the clock.

But dial things back to Comfort or GT and the hottest Grecale settles right back. It still hauls tushy but gives you a second to think about things before rocking back on its haunches and pointing its nose toward the sky. Like it says in the name, things are much more comfy here than in Sport or Corsa, making urban driving a doddle. Quiet, too.

The interior is a big improvement over Maseratis of old, with four screens (including the digital clock) providing an upmarket feel to the cabin. I’d always prefer physical controls for the air-conditioning and a knob for the volume (the Grecale has a haptic slider for that last one) but the secondary screen works about as well as this sort of thing can.

How does 389kW from a 3.0-litre twin-turbo V6 sound? Good. It sounds good.

Four buttons select the gears which I don’t really like, but you can use the paddles to shift between reverse and drive which helps.

Standard sports seats offer good support without being uncomfortable – this is an SUV at the end of the day – and there’s plenty of leather around to up the comfort factor. Also included is a tasty Sonus Faber audio system, carbon fibre accents, and 570 litres of boot space.

The Grecale is a superb SUV, and the Trofeo is simply epic. It does command a price though...

I thought the styling really worked at the launch back a few months ago, and I still do now, particularly the nose with that massive concave grille split by the trident logo and vertically oriented MC20-inspired headlights above large corner intakes. The rear is a little more vanilla but it still works – the boomerang rear lights are similar to those found on the 3200 GT, which you may have picked up on if you’re a bit of a Maserati anorak.

What else? Well, despite the three-litre displacement seeming relatively low in the world of high-performance vehicles, the Trofeo likes a drink. Maserati claim 11.2L/100km, whereas I was sitting in the mid-14s after a week of driving. Although, to be fair, quite a bit of this was in Corsa mode making the engine do naughty things…

If that is something of a dealbreaker for you but the rest of the Grecale is ticking the right boxes, the lesser GT ($124,000) and Modena ($145,000) are mild-hybrid four-cylinders that offer 220kW/450Nm and 242kW/450Nm respectively, along with single-digit fuel consumption.

The Modena in particular is a worthy option, gaining adaptive dampers and slightly more power over the entry GT. Both options go well though, and you save a heap of dosh going without that admittedly brilliant Nettuno engine.

Or, you can hold fire for a little while longer and wait for Maserati to unleash the Grecale Folgore, an all-electric version of the SUV coming with 410kW/820Nm and a 105kWh battery with more than 500km of range. Just don’t expect it to come cheap.

I said it was better than the competition in terms of driving dynamics, but is it a better buy? Not having sampled the new Mercedes-AMG GLC 63, which the Trofeo goes up against, it’s hard to tell. The top-spec Porsche Macan GTS is a hard one to beat, coming in under the Trofeo in price ($172,900) but with less power and a slightly older package. BMW’s X3 M40i undercuts them both at $145,300 but isn’t in this league of performance.

Honestly, I think the Maserati takes it.