The Gladiator

Confession time: The exasperating, tight-belted bureaucracy shackled to Maserati’s insurance means that up until this moment I’d never driven a Maserati. Not the Ghibli, Quattroporte, GranTurismo or Levante, and as a rule-of-thumb we usually turn down the corporate hobnobbing aimed more at wooing clients than giving hands-on demos to the media. So it is with a fair amount of emailing and strict ‘no racetrack’ caveat that we’re in the Levante S – currently the sportiest Levante on sale.

The problem when you’ve never driven a particular brand is that one forms a prejudicial web of ideas which may or may not be accurate.