When you think of Italian flair, you imagine the works of the Renaissance masters, or admiring the architecture from within the walls of Lucca, or sipping on an Aperol spritz while staring out across the Tyrrhenian Sea from the Amalfi coast.
It is very unlikely that you picture the wet, cold, and extremely muddy reality of Christmas in Great Britain, specifically, a local pub in Devon, England with a handful of local ciders and ales on tap and a pack of muddy dogs warming up in front of the fire. Well, that’s where I was, and it was safe to say I had the only Maserati in the village, let alone the parking lot of the pub.
Conspicuously positioned between Range Rovers and Land Rover Defenders was a Maserati Grecale Modena with inherent Italian flair and exceptional style inside and out. Maserati’s newest SUV is only the second to brand the legendary trident next to the Levante, which was first produced in 2016 to compete with the growing market of performance-oriented SUVs.
Once again, the new model bears the name of a wind. The gregale (grecale in Italian) is a northeasterly Mediterranean wind and now a new compact SUV that is taking the reins from the Levante. This tradition began in 1963 with the legendary Maserati Mistral followed by the Ghibli, Bora, and Khamsin in turn.
The Maserati Grecale is available in a GT version equipped with a four-cylinder mild hybrid engine capable of 300 horsepower, in the Modena with a four-cylinder 330-horsepower mild hybrid engine, and in the high-performance Trofeo with a 530-horsepower V6, capable of 0-60 mph in 3.8 seconds. 2025 also brings the first-ever full-electric Maserati SUV with the Grecale Folgore. The Modena spec I was driving had a base price of £67,740 (approximately $83,300 USD), configured to £87,905 (approximately $108,050 USD), making it one of the pricier SUVs in the class.
It is difficult to really stand out in the saturated luxury SUV segment, but the Maserati does a brilliant job with distinctive Italian design and extremely luxurious interior furnishings that make it a very comfortable and luxurious place to be. The Modena version, according to Maserati, is for those with an innate, timeless elegance, for fans of sport in the great outdoors. It is intended as a means to make the very best of your time and the surroundings—well said, it does.
The overall functionality is exceptional as it finds the right balance between sportiness and practicality with a generous 2,901 mm wheelbase, giving it remarkable roominess in the rear, plus proper space in the boot with a flat loading platform and a cargo box to hide your valuables under the platform. The Grecale comfortably seats four 6-foot-tall adults over long journeys and can easily accommodate five adults utilizing the rear middle seat.
During my extended time with the Grecale, I trekked all over Devon as well as across England up to Harrogate with a stop in Bath, which is one of my favorite cities and a must-visit if you have not been. The amount of driving meant I was able to test the Maserati on muddy single lane country roads covered in potholes, A and B roads, the United Kingdom’s motorway network, and the cobbled streets of Bath as you’d see in the television series Bridgerton.
It did take me a little while to perfect the usage of the five drive modes: COMFORT, GT, SPORT and OFF-ROAD (the Trofeo specification has an additional “CORSA” mode). You can really feel Maserati’s performance and racing pedigree in the Grecale; consequently, it rides relatively hard in GT and SPORT.
GT mode enables structured acceleration without compromising efficiency, with regular gear change and normal engine boost.
SPORT mode sets the pedal sensitivity and gear change to peak performance, provides maximum engine boost, and opens the active exhaust valves. Noticeably, it also lowers the driving position by 15 mm in “Aero Mode,” causing the steering wheel to be more rigid and responsive. The grip around corners, even on a wet and muddy surface, is very impressive and really feels like a performance sports car in SPORT mode.
COMFORT mode is definitely the drive mode for everyday use, especially on lesser manicured roads, as the suspension is reduced in rigidity and the electric power steering is set to ensure maximum, effortless driving pleasure.
I did not take the Grecale across the waterlogged fields of Exmoor as it is equipped to do. The OFF-ROAD mode utilizes the air suspension to increase the ride height by 20 mm and active all-terrain driving controls with gradual gear change and a rev limiter.
Maserati have really excelled with the Grecale in a segment competing with heavy hitters like Porsche, Mercedes, BMW, Audi, and Volvo, to name a few. Not only did it turn heads wherever I took it, with the exceptional styling details of the exterior and interior that every passenger mentioned without a miss, but the all-around sound experience from the cold-start growl, active exhaust valves, and the Sonus faber sound system were equally memorable.
The Italian artisans of sound at Sonus faber have really engineered something special with the 21 speakers and genuine 3D sound with an output of 1,285 watts. I have been lucky enough to drive a number of luxury cars with some of the most cutting-edge sound systems available, and this one is industry-leading.
My take is that the Maserati Grecale is the obvious choice in the mid-size performance SUV category for those looking for something a little bit special and rarer. While on the more expensive side of other comparable options, there really isn’t another car that does all that this can with the same conversation-starting, Italian flair. I loved my time with this car, and so did the cockapoos.