First Drive: Maserati Grecale 2022 Review

Maserati is building a small SUV, the Grecale. But why is Maserati building a family lugger just after bringing out one of its all-time great sportscars in the MC20? For a simple explanation we turn to Maserati’s rivals in Germany: Porsche. The brand from Stuttgart sells nearly four times as many Porsche Macans as Maserati sells cars in total. While Maserati has spent years steadfastly trying to keep making just GTs and saloons, the end of the road for that purity of range is here.

The Grecale represents the first proper part of that line-up realignment. It’s time to say goodbye to the quirky alternative family saloon Ghibli, hello family lifted load lugger. While the MC20 will stay as the halo in the range the SUV is the future of volume sales for Maserati, it hopes.

The instant problem Maserati has is that the Grecale is just not. That. Interesting. It is almost the definition of a small SUV: a sort-of family hatchback shape that really doesn’t do anything for advancing the segment’s design. At the front there is the grille from the MC20, pushed much higher up to sit on this family blob. The lights, Maserati argues, are also from the MC20, but you don’t have to squint to see Jaguar E-Pace. Behind that the Alfa Romeo Stelvio crops up quickly. That’s no surprise as the two cars share the “Georgio” platform, although it’s been lengthened for the Grecale with a longer wheelbase, to increase interior room by around 7cm.

The back is the Grecale’s best angle for, rejoice, the boomerang has returned! Sort of. The 3200 GT’s famous rear lights are the inspiration for the new setup in the Grecale’s rear cluster, but trapped inside a single unit the effect is not quite as breath-taking. Below there is a very fake diffuser and, on this mild-hybrid inline-four, a set of also fake quad exhausts.

Overall it is the definition of a mid-size SUV, with very little to set it apart from the pack. The fact that it arrives into the market pretty much last while looking just “fine” could be an issue – how does Maserati pull people away from their Macans, Q5s and X3s?

There are three versions of the Grecale at launch. Two had a mild-hybrid 2.0-litre inline four-cylinder engine. Both of these produce 450Nm (333lb ft) but the “GT” is available with 300PS (220kW) and the Modena 330PS (239kW). The final option is the Trofeo, with 530PS (390kW) and 620Nm (459lb ft) from a turbocharged V6 engine. While the extra power comes with a little weight penalty, around 130kg, it also means the Grecale Trofeo will hit 62mph in 3.8 seconds, easily undercutting the Macan GTS.

We’ve driven the mild-hybrid in the roads around Milan and Lake Maggiore in Italy. To begin with we must address the Maserati engineers’ insistence that the engine’s note has been tuned to ‘sound more like the traditional Maserati V8’. It doesn’t. There’s a definitely exaggerated burble from little inline-four, but a V8 it is not. The mild-hybrid is the rapidly spreading 48v style of suck in power and boost it out to fill in a torque gap low down. There’s a total of 9kW on offer and 5kW of it is sent into action from just 1,000rpm. When you floor it you can just about feel that fill, there’s no real delay from throttle drop to movement, and the Grecale is sprightly in and out of traffic. The numbers aren’t sluggish either, the GT hits 62mph in 5.6 seconds while the Modena cuts that to 5.3. Every car in the range is blessed with full all-wheel-drive, a bit of a novelty among a litany of two-wheel-drive SUVs.

The steering is rapid although feel is pretty much non-existent.  We didn’t get much time on any exciting roads, but the rack did little to suggest it would come alive, however in town it’s speedy and nippy, perfect for Milanese drivers. The suspension is extremely good at handling the chasms of Milan’s nearly destroyed roads and provides much comfort on a motorway cruise. There are three drive modes, Comfort, GT and Sport, and a firmer setting for the dampers, but very little changes within these three other than a slightly more sprightly (read quite aggressive) throttle map in Sport. Considering the Modena comes with a limited-slip differential as standard (the GT has an open diff and the Trofeo a self-locking electronic diff) you would hope that on a good road there might be something to light the imagination, but we can’t really tell you. The Trofeo, as well as having extra power, comes with a different suspension set up to the GT and Modena, so would also, we hope, inspire a little more interest.

The gearbox on all is an eight-speed automatic, with some rather nice metal paddles, very similar to those in the Stelvio. It works rather well for most functions, especially cruising around town, but can be sluggish when you call upon all of the engine’s might to change lanes.

This is where the Grecale does have a leg up over many of its rivals. While the insides of a Porsche Macan and Audi Q5 may be slightly better nailed together, the design of the Grecale’s innards is spot on. All functions have been cleared away to be controlled by a pair of touchscreens that sit in the centre of the dash. That unit is curved to allow the lower screen – which works as the controls for things like climate and ambient lighting, to be more easily used.

The rest of the dash is dominated by a single running line along the top, which houses the vents for the air con and climate control, and runs from door to door. The traditional Maserati clock remains, but has entered the digital age. The old analogue timepiece is no more, replaced by a tiny screen that can display multiple functions and acts as the centrepiece for the connected voice controls.

The wheel is perhaps one of the few let downs in the cabin, as well as a slightly tinny feel to the door cards. It has a huge array of buttons that feel like they came from a Fiat in 2007, completely out of step with the higher quality of the rest of the cabin. As well as ditching most button controls, the Grecale also does without door handles or a gearstick. The stick has been replaced with the other disappointing feature of the interior – a line of four, very plastic buttons to control the gears. The handles are replaced with buttons, like the electric Fiat 500. They work... fine, but it’s very easy to forget they exist and spend a minute scrabbling on the door for a handle.

The Grecale is an attempt to not only find a way into a huge market, but also bring Maserati interiors into the 2020s. The showpiece is the new infotainment system, housed within the central 8.8-inch screen and the clock.

The clock can display as a clock or show a g-meter, compass or even the pressure on the pedals. But its main non-horological function is to show a representation of the “Hey Maserati” voice controls. These can do everything from changing the temperature on the climate control to asking Alexa to turn your heating on at home. It is a decent system, not quite up to the standards of Polestar’s Google integration, but as it is built on an Android base still much better than the efforts from the likes of Volkswagen. Whether the talking clock seems cool or just reminds you of HAL in 2001: A Space Oddyssey is up to you.

The 12.3-inch digital dash and 8.8-inch central touchscreen are standard on all specs of Grecale, from GT to Trofeo. Also standard is the connectivity and Alexa integration. UK price and specifications have not yet been revealed, but our Modena spec car featured heated seats, three-zone climate control, a head-up display, sat-nav, Bluetooth and wireless charging.

I would dearly love to tell you to buy the Maserati Grecale; the brand is historic and its survival is good for the industry. But perhaps being late to the mid-sized SUV party has left Maserati trying to play too much catch up. The result is a car that is fine – there isn’t much to be angry about but there is also little to lift it above the crowd. With a generic design not allowing it to stand proud of a hatch-filled field it is just the interior that might tempt you into a Grecale.

The Grecale, certainly in mild-hybrid guise, is comfortable around town and easy going on the motorway. The connected driving and infotainment show Volkswagen where it’s gone wrong and the space – with that 7cm rise over the Stelvio – is decent. The issue is just that though, the Grecale is decent. It struggles provide a reason for purchase, and with buying costs likely to be higher than its Alfa Romeo sister, you do wonder just who will shell out for one instead of a Macan.