If you’re in the mood to splurge on this luxury SUV, the pricing for the base GT trim starts at ₹1.31 crore (ex-showroom). The top-spec Trofeo which sports a 3-litre Nettuno V6 engine is built for the proper enthusiast and comes in at ₹1.53 crore (ex-showroom). Maserati claims the Grecale makes ‘Everyday Exceptional’ and we find out how much of that is true by testing the SUV for about 170 km and pushing its Modena variant to our heart’s content.
A car like the Grecale is quite an experience. Watch our review video to see the Maserati Grecale in action:
Maserati Grecale: Design and dimensions
Now the Italians have never fallen behind in designing some of the most beautiful-looking cars and the Grecale follows through that claim with a subtle emphasis. The Grecale’s silhouette looks just like its competitors. However, it stands out with sophisticated and subtle styling. The fascia of the car features small headlamps with a trapezoidal shape and between them is the iconic and traditionally large Maserati grille. The grille, which seems large on other Maseratis with its trident badge, aligns perfectly with the size of this car. Flanking the grille on both sides are air vents placed lower down. The hood of the car gets a slightly raised central hump and the fenders feature a soft contour. The traditional triple vents are placed on the fenders, and the variant badge is placed right above them.
Looking at the profile of the car, one can see that it features a sloping roofline and a soft shoulder line. The car’s door handles sit flush with the body and feature a button for releasing the locks. At the rear quarter of the car is placed the Maserati logo on the C-pillar. At the back, the car features posh and sleek taillamps that wrap around the side. Connecting both of these is a chrome bit which also acts as a visual underline to the Maserati lettering at the rear. Look lower and you spot the quad exhausts which sound the raspy Maserati note and a rear diffuser which helps manage dirty air.
The Grecale is made to be larger than the Levante, the Modena variant measures 4847mm in length, 2163 mm in width (including the mirrors) and 1667mm in height. It features a wheelbase of 2901mm and weighs 1895 kg.
Maserati Grecale: Interior
The interior of the Grecale has been paid phenomenal attention to. The choice of materials used is well suited and carries the luxury finish you would expect from a car such as this. These however, can also be customised to suit one’s taste. Everywhere you touch feels soft, whether it is the roof liner, the door cards or the dashboard, making the cabin an addictive place for someone who values the minute details.
The steering wheel is the same one that’s used on the Maserati GranTurismo, it is small and feels confident to hold. It gets buttons for functions like cruise control on the right and buttons to control menus on the driver’s display on the left side of the steering wheel. What’s different here are the steering-mounted audio controls which are cleverly hidden away from plain sight behind the wheel. On the left side are three buttons, the up increases volume and the down decreases it, while a middle press mutes sound. On the left are similar buttons which change to the previous and next tracks and the middle button is used to pause.
Get into the driving seat, turn the car on and you’re greeted with a gesture of the seats and the steering which adjusts to the exact position you determined earlier. The screen in front of you displays all of the crucial information and the head-up display brings the map and speed up on the windshield at your eye level.
The centre console is the most important, holding a dual-screen setup for infotainment and the comfort control for front passengers. The two displays, sized 12.3 inches and 8.8 inches respectively, are separated by a set of four buttons placed next to each other. While it is not the best idea Maserati ever had, they are commissioned as the gear selectors. While driving, you do not want to look down and these selectors don’t help the case. Selecting between manual and drive is done with the same button, but it is not the most convenient to use.
Where the manufacturer lacks in gear selectors, it makes up for it with the paddle shifters. They are large in size and feel robust to use. Another shifter is placed right under the accelerator pedal in the form of a clicky button, squeeze the throttle and the button and the car downshifts to help you get a move on.
Moving to the rear seats, there is ample space for two and seating three is a bit of a snug fit. The headroom is adequate, keeping in mind the sloping roof and the leg space is good enough as well.
Maserati Grecale: Drive review
Even with its almost 2-ton weight, the Grecale doesn’t let you feel all the weight that you are lugging around. The Modena trim, which we’d driven, gets the same 1995cc, inline-4 mild hybrid powertrain that is seen on the base GT trim, but this one is tuned to be more potent. It makes about 29.5 bhp more than the GT bringing its maximum power output to 325 bhp and the torque figures remain the same at 450 Nm. The engine comes mated to an automatic transmission, which is quick to react to inputs in manual mode.
The Grecale Modena featured three driving modes, including Comfort, GT and Sport, but missed out on the fourth Corsa mode, along with launch control functionality, which is only offered on the Trofeo trim. The Modena, however, did not feel like it needed more power to weave through traffic or even pull through in the larger gears. The engine is tuned well to provide low-end torque and the power delivery feels very linear throughout the rev range. A 0-100 sprint takes just about 5.3 seconds and the AWD system works well to launch you forward like a slingshot.
Braking duties are fulfilled by all four discs, which, along with the car’s wide section tyres, bring the car to a halt in the blink of an eye. The car also gets anti-collision braking, which works well to stop the car when it detects an object. The car even recognised our camera, which was kept to shoot the car braking near it and stopped the car automatically right before hitting the object.
The handling of the car depends on the mode you’re in, Comfort allows for a more relaxed response from the throttle transmission, along with the suspension, making the car more floaty. Whereas in GT and Sport modes, the responses are stiff up accordingly. Keeping the car in Sport mode makes it possessed and eager to lunge forward like a demon. Overall, the SUV feels very planted and stable even when doing triple-digit speeds and doesn’t feel anything for its size.
Maserati Grecale: Verdict
The Maserati Grecale isn’t just for those who are looking for a luxury SUV, it is for those who do not mind spending that slight extra to stand out. With its uniquely Italian styling, the Grecale always turns heads whether it be bystanders or other luxury car owners.
The Modena was exciting to drive, but we can only imagine the wonders its top-of-the-line Trofeo trim is capable of. Even though some currently optional features like ventilated seats and heads-up display ought to be standard on the SUV, the Grecal is still a car you can take out for a drive daily and still not be bored of, even without the full kit.
First Published Date: 06 Mar 2025, 12:55 PM IST
