Four-cylinder entry-grade SUV has premium appeal – but does it do enough to challenge the class best?
It’s the new entry-level Maserati Grecale, the recently launched Porsche Macan-baiting mid-sized SUV.We’ve already driven the flagship Trofeo model with its Maserati MC20 supercar-derived 523bhp V6, so now it’s the turn of the more modest GT model with its 2.0-litre four-cylinder petrol. Essentially this is the bread-and-butter version, the car that will likely to attract most of those younger, family-orientated buyers that previously wouldn’t have considered one of the Modense maker’s machines.So, a four-cylinder Maserati? Yep, you read that right. In the Italian brand’s push towards electrification it has adopted a down-sized 48V mild-hybrid four pot motor that delivers 296bhp as tested here, or 325bhp (both have the same 332lb ft torque figure) in the next rung up the Grecale ladder, the Modena. Purists will be even more alarmed to learn that this engine isn’t even an in-house design, but the same GME T4 unit that’s shared with the Alfa Romeo Stelvio and Jeep Wrangler.Yet while the thought of a fairly humble engine sitting behind the iconic, trident-emblazoned grille of a Maserati might seem at odds with the firm’s rich sports car heritage, the numbers certainly make encouraging reading. For instance, it claims the GT will dust the 0-62mph sprint in just 5.6 seconds, which isn’t too tardy for a machine that tips the scales at a portly 1870kg. What’s more, it contends that the extra mid-range muscle of that torque-filling mild hybrid motor gives the Grecale the feel of a bigger six-cylinder motor. Hmmmmm….
Source: Autocar
