Author Topic: 2017 Maserati Levante Review: A Luxury SUV That’s a BARGAIN?  (Read 15630 times)

Indexer

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Re: 2017 Maserati Levante Review: A Luxury SUV That’s a BARGAIN?
« Reply #50 on: December 10, 2016, 06:41:55 AM »
@Gimp:  You do have a point there. I didn't pay as much attention to the years the other cars were made. Some of them are older. The whole reason the GTI even came up was to prove if you really did need a fast car to haul your crap there are significantly cheaper options than a Maserati. This option just happens to have a record under its belt. :)

gimp

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Re: 2017 Maserati Levante Review: A Luxury SUV That’s a BARGAIN?
« Reply #51 on: December 10, 2016, 07:05:32 PM »
Plus, since it's stripped out, you have even more room to haul your stuff!

Kids complain? Just fucking floor it! Or, better yet, since it's basically a race car, make them wear a helmet. Can't hear shit with the visor down. Plus, what's safer than a racing helmet in a car?

(As much as I love older cars, they got _way_ faster recently. And I mean, my buick is faster than some older ferraris. My corvette is faster than almost every ferrari ever, with the exception of the best older ones and all the newest ones, but then, it is modified. And both of those are from the early 2000s - their equivalent models today are significantly faster still.)

GetItRight

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Re: 2017 Maserati Levante Review: A Luxury SUV That’s a BARGAIN?
« Reply #52 on: December 11, 2016, 06:58:39 AM »
I'm going to continue to drive my older car too, but to pretend it's nearly as safe as something new because it has seatbelts would be sticking my head in the sand.

If you feel that modern cars are unsafe because of increased blind spots, I would urge you to adjust your mirrors properly, both for your safety and the safety of others around you.
http://www.caranddriver.com/features/how-to-adjust-your-mirrors-to-avoid-blind-spots

There are two measures of safety. One is crash survivability, new cars are overwhelmingly safer in that regard than cars from 50 years ago. The other is crash avoidability, or likelihood of being involved in a wreck. In that regard new cars are overwhelmingly worse. Blind spots are huge, in many models there's far more area around the vehicle that cannot be seen by the drive than can be seen.

I prefer to avoid being involved in a wreck at all, and will not purchase a vehicle which has massive blind spots. I know how to adjust mirrors properly to maximize visibility. Thanks for EPA and DOT regulation blind spots are huge and mirrors, even properly adjusted, and virtually useless compared to mirrors on older vehicles as they now must be tiny and have glass that magnifies the reflected image instead of giving a broader view, except perhaps the now common tiny convex mirrors that take more than a quick glance to determine is there might be a vehicle in the massive blind spot. It takes more concentration, effort, and time to assess the space around a new car and honestly I find it exhausting and stressful. I will not pay the rich man's new car premium price for those and other mandates by government, I only buy vehicles made before these laws and am likely less safe on the road but that is what government does, removes choice. Car companies build the cars that government wants, not that customers want. At least I have good visibility and am less likely to be involved in a wreck.

Indexer

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Re: 2017 Maserati Levante Review: A Luxury SUV That’s a BARGAIN?
« Reply #53 on: December 11, 2016, 09:53:31 AM »
@GetitRight:  I'm not saying this applies to ALL new cars, but have you been in a Honda Fit?  The top half of the car is basically all glass. This is especially true on the 2008 models. I don't own one, but I use to drive one fairly regularly and was always impressed at  how much I could see around me. 

JLee

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Re: 2017 Maserati Levante Review: A Luxury SUV That’s a BARGAIN?
« Reply #54 on: December 11, 2016, 03:46:26 PM »
I'm going to continue to drive my older car too, but to pretend it's nearly as safe as something new because it has seatbelts would be sticking my head in the sand.

If you feel that modern cars are unsafe because of increased blind spots, I would urge you to adjust your mirrors properly, both for your safety and the safety of others around you.
http://www.caranddriver.com/features/how-to-adjust-your-mirrors-to-avoid-blind-spots

There are two measures of safety. One is crash survivability, new cars are overwhelmingly safer in that regard than cars from 50 years ago. The other is crash avoidability, or likelihood of being involved in a wreck. In that regard new cars are overwhelmingly worse. Blind spots are huge, in many models there's far more area around the vehicle that cannot be seen by the drive than can be seen.

I prefer to avoid being involved in a wreck at all, and will not purchase a vehicle which has massive blind spots. I know how to adjust mirrors properly to maximize visibility. Thanks for EPA and DOT regulation blind spots are huge and mirrors, even properly adjusted, and virtually useless compared to mirrors on older vehicles as they now must be tiny and have glass that magnifies the reflected image instead of giving a broader view, except perhaps the now common tiny convex mirrors that take more than a quick glance to determine is there might be a vehicle in the massive blind spot. It takes more concentration, effort, and time to assess the space around a new car and honestly I find it exhausting and stressful. I will not pay the rich man's new car premium price for those and other mandates by government, I only buy vehicles made before these laws and am likely less safe on the road but that is what government does, removes choice. Car companies build the cars that government wants, not that customers want. At least I have good visibility and am less likely to be involved in a wreck.
I have no idea what sorts of newer cars you have driven and think are so terrible, but OK.

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Re: 2017 Maserati Levante Review: A Luxury SUV That’s a BARGAIN?
« Reply #55 on: December 12, 2016, 03:46:43 AM »
I think this link to auto crash rates show that cars are not becoming less safe from a survivability stand point... The odds of dying in a car crash have gone down over time, so the increase in safety has clearly outweighed the possible increase in crash likelihood.

Chris22

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Re: 2017 Maserati Levante Review: A Luxury SUV That’s a BARGAIN?
« Reply #56 on: December 12, 2016, 05:22:54 AM »
@GetitRight:  I'm not saying this applies to ALL new cars, but have you been in a Honda Fit?  The top half of the car is basically all glass. This is especially true on the 2008 models. I don't own one, but I use to drive one fairly regularly and was always impressed at  how much I could see around me.

The problem with the Fit is that even if you see a pending accident, it doesn't have enough power to do something like get out of the way. It is the very definition of "gutless". 

Papa Mustache

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Re: 2017 Maserati Levante Review: A Luxury SUV That’s a BARGAIN?
« Reply #57 on: December 12, 2016, 10:10:02 AM »
@GetitRight:  I'm not saying this applies to ALL new cars, but have you been in a Honda Fit?  The top half of the car is basically all glass. This is especially true on the 2008 models. I don't own one, but I use to drive one fairly regularly and was always impressed at  how much I could see around me.

I think there are some very sensible and safe cars out there but they aren't hulking p/u trucks with sides that require a step ladder to reach, and they aren't muscle cars.  I'm not a fan of the long three row vehicles with the dark tinted glass. Some of those are wholly reliant on the reverse camera and mirrors.

How about an import wagon? Reasonable sized vehicle, plenty of glass and the windows are a reasonable size. Can still carry boxes or passengers.

I question the need for 500 HP. ;)

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Re: 2017 Maserati Levante Review: A Luxury SUV That’s a BARGAIN?
« Reply #58 on: December 14, 2016, 09:01:53 AM »
@GetitRight:  I'm not saying this applies to ALL new cars, but have you been in a Honda Fit?  The top half of the car is basically all glass. This is especially true on the 2008 models. I don't own one, but I use to drive one fairly regularly and was always impressed at  how much I could see around me.

The problem with the Fit is that even if you see a pending accident, it doesn't have enough power to do something like get out of the way. It is the very definition of "gutless".

I call b***shit on the "get out of the way". It is highly unlikely that you will encounter any situation where sheer power will make a meaningful difference to your chances of avoiding an accident. The US version of the Honda Fit has more horsepower than the average european car and you don't see tons of "power-limited" accidents on our roads.

The limiting factor is human reaction time, not the cars performance.

What will keep you from having an accident is looking ahead, thinking ahead and slowing down a bit.

TheGrimSqueaker

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Re: 2017 Maserati Levante Review: A Luxury SUV That’s a BARGAIN?
« Reply #59 on: December 14, 2016, 09:59:21 AM »
@GetitRight:  I'm not saying this applies to ALL new cars, but have you been in a Honda Fit?  The top half of the car is basically all glass. This is especially true on the 2008 models. I don't own one, but I use to drive one fairly regularly and was always impressed at  how much I could see around me.

The problem with the Fit is that even if you see a pending accident, it doesn't have enough power to do something like get out of the way. It is the very definition of "gutless".

I call b***shit on the "get out of the way". It is highly unlikely that you will encounter any situation where sheer power will make a meaningful difference to your chances of avoiding an accident. The US version of the Honda Fit has more horsepower than the average european car and you don't see tons of "power-limited" accidents on our roads.

The limiting factor is human reaction time, not the cars performance.

What will keep you from having an accident is looking ahead, thinking ahead and slowing down a bit.

I've been driving more than 25 years, and have to admit that the vast majority of accidents I've avoided have been by doing exactly as you say: looking ahead, thinking ahead, and slowing down. There have only been a few incidents I've had to stunt-drive or stunt-ride my way out of. However, at no point was I driving a high performance vehicle.

The outside slingshot turn to thread the needle between the wall and the 10-car pileup on a banked freeway overpass covered in ice was something I pulled off in a Scion. When I saw the line of cars ahead of me hydroplane into each other on the banked right turn despite having their brake lights on, I knew there was no traction and nowhere to go unless I wanted to either plow into someone or get hit by the people behind me. So instead of braking, I goosed the motor to build up all the speed I could, lane changed left to maximize lateral drift space and use what was left of the slipstream from the dumbass ahead of me who were trying to brake, and drove as hard as I could the wall in front of me knowing I was going to be pulled sideways anyway due to gravity and the slick surface. When the inevitable skid started I stayed off my brakes, kept the wheels going fast, and cleared the wreckage by a few feet. From there I let the car coast into a turn, steered in the direction of the skid to keep the car from fishtailing, and accelerated out of the turn. No brakes at all; you can't do that on a slick surface. I couldn't have done it if I hadn't flipped burgers for years at a racetrack and listened to the professional drivers talk. Of course there are no right turns or ice driving in CASCAR. Some of the drivers and crew would be talking shop, and sometimes there were conversations about how so-and-so did this or that in a big NASCAR or Formula 1 race. I don't know whether any of them actually drove or crewed there. Some of the older ones probably did.

In the same toaster, I also managed to avoid a sedan driver on a Texas freeway who approached from behind and then proceeded to lane change into us. There was a bit of a half-lane shoulder between us and the cement retaining wall, so to keep my daughter and her grandmother from being crushed I edged into the shoulder, downshifted, and hit the gas. The Scion had more than enough power to get us three-quarters of a car length ahead at highway speed before the other car was in our lane where we used to be. It didn't turn into us getting PIT'ed, crushed, or sideswiped at highway speeds.

Dodging a wrong-way semi driver who was passing in my lane on a 2-lane Saskatchewan highway with no shoulder was something I managed on a 500-cc Honda Shadow 500 during a not-quite-TransCanada solo ride that I refer to as my "Bat Out Of Halifax tour". One big rig was passing another at night and he messed up his distance calculation which is easy to do out in the middle of nowhere. Both drivers realized the problem. The driver being passed hit his brakes as hard as he could without jackknifing, and the driver doing the passing accelerated into the lane change. I took the throttle off to bleed off speed using the engine, hit the line and balanced the bike's wheels on it, on the line, ducked to avoid the window, and just barely felt the rear part of the trailer whip by me less than a hand's span away. I don't know if I'd have made it if the other drivers hadn't done their part, but again, a 500-cc cruiser isn't an overpowered vehicle.

The point I'm trying to make is that when it comes to driving out of a bad situation I don't think people are buying much with the overpowered vehicles. Unless you're a Formula 1 driver who needs the extra power to compete against other overpowered vehicles, extra horsepower isn't going to keep you out of trouble. What I have is obscenely fast reaction time, because my body responds differently to adrenalin: it relaxes, so I don't lose my fine motor control and I'm not working against my own body if I have to move. It also allows me to regularly make decisions like: "save your eye by turning your head in exactly this direction", "get your face out of the way of that large fireball", or "no, the cutter is slipping but DO NOT grab the oscillating blades with your fingers". In my opinion, compared to buying extra horsepower for the car, a better value for the dollar would be for the driver to spend a few years learning to physically relax under pressure. That's what I'm conditioning my daughter to do in the car: remain relaxed under pressure.

RWD

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Re: 2017 Maserati Levante Review: A Luxury SUV That’s a BARGAIN?
« Reply #60 on: December 14, 2016, 10:02:13 AM »
@GetitRight:  I'm not saying this applies to ALL new cars, but have you been in a Honda Fit?  The top half of the car is basically all glass. This is especially true on the 2008 models. I don't own one, but I use to drive one fairly regularly and was always impressed at  how much I could see around me.

The problem with the Fit is that even if you see a pending accident, it doesn't have enough power to do something like get out of the way. It is the very definition of "gutless".

I call b***shit on the "get out of the way". It is highly unlikely that you will encounter any situation where sheer power will make a meaningful difference to your chances of avoiding an accident. The US version of the Honda Fit has more horsepower than the average european car and you don't see tons of "power-limited" accidents on our roads.

The limiting factor is human reaction time, not the cars performance.

What will keep you from having an accident is looking ahead, thinking ahead and slowing down a bit.

Well, there was this crash avoidance using acceleration last month: http://jalopnik.com/this-tesla-driver-saved-himself-from-a-crash-using-his-1789138667

But I agree that it's rare. I'd be more concerned with merging safely onto the highway with short on-ramps.

JLee

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Re: 2017 Maserati Levante Review: A Luxury SUV That’s a BARGAIN?
« Reply #61 on: December 14, 2016, 10:21:10 AM »
@GetitRight:  I'm not saying this applies to ALL new cars, but have you been in a Honda Fit?  The top half of the car is basically all glass. This is especially true on the 2008 models. I don't own one, but I use to drive one fairly regularly and was always impressed at  how much I could see around me.

The problem with the Fit is that even if you see a pending accident, it doesn't have enough power to do something like get out of the way. It is the very definition of "gutless".

I call b***shit on the "get out of the way". It is highly unlikely that you will encounter any situation where sheer power will make a meaningful difference to your chances of avoiding an accident. The US version of the Honda Fit has more horsepower than the average european car and you don't see tons of "power-limited" accidents on our roads.

The limiting factor is human reaction time, not the cars performance.

What will keep you from having an accident is looking ahead, thinking ahead and slowing down a bit.

Well, there was this crash avoidance using acceleration last month: http://jalopnik.com/this-tesla-driver-saved-himself-from-a-crash-using-his-1789138667

But I agree that it's rare. I'd be more concerned with merging safely onto the highway with short on-ramps.

I  never fully appreciated that until I moved to northern NJ. Stop signs right at the edge of 60mph traffic are a little unnerving if you don't have any power.

RWD

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Re: 2017 Maserati Levante Review: A Luxury SUV That’s a BARGAIN?
« Reply #62 on: December 14, 2016, 10:49:29 AM »
@GetitRight:  I'm not saying this applies to ALL new cars, but have you been in a Honda Fit?  The top half of the car is basically all glass. This is especially true on the 2008 models. I don't own one, but I use to drive one fairly regularly and was always impressed at  how much I could see around me.

The problem with the Fit is that even if you see a pending accident, it doesn't have enough power to do something like get out of the way. It is the very definition of "gutless".

I call b***shit on the "get out of the way". It is highly unlikely that you will encounter any situation where sheer power will make a meaningful difference to your chances of avoiding an accident. The US version of the Honda Fit has more horsepower than the average european car and you don't see tons of "power-limited" accidents on our roads.

The limiting factor is human reaction time, not the cars performance.

What will keep you from having an accident is looking ahead, thinking ahead and slowing down a bit.

Well, there was this crash avoidance using acceleration last month: http://jalopnik.com/this-tesla-driver-saved-himself-from-a-crash-using-his-1789138667

But I agree that it's rare. I'd be more concerned with merging safely onto the highway with short on-ramps.

I  never fully appreciated that until I moved to northern NJ. Stop signs right at the edge of 60mph traffic are a little unnerving if you don't have any power.

This stupid on-ramp.... Judging by the map scale you get about 100 ft from the tightest part of the loop (~25 mph?) to the point where you're side-by-side with traffic. Speed limit is 65 mph here. Meanwhile some of the traffic is trying to get off the highway at the same time, so you actually have to be worried about being rear-ended before you've even merged over. Our 250 horsepower Subaru Legacy GT was only just barely adequate to feel safe.

JLee

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Re: 2017 Maserati Levante Review: A Luxury SUV That’s a BARGAIN?
« Reply #63 on: December 14, 2016, 11:06:43 AM »
This stupid on-ramp.... Judging by the map scale you get about 100 ft from the tightest part of the loop (~25 mph?) to the point where you're side-by-side with traffic. Speed limit is 65 mph here. Meanwhile some of the traffic is trying to get off the highway at the same time, so you actually have to be worried about being rear-ended before you've even merged over. Our 250 horsepower Subaru Legacy GT was only just barely adequate to feel safe.

Check this one out:

Street view

Overhead

RWD

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Re: 2017 Maserati Levante Review: A Luxury SUV That’s a BARGAIN?
« Reply #64 on: December 14, 2016, 11:22:15 AM »
This stupid on-ramp.... Judging by the map scale you get about 100 ft from the tightest part of the loop (~25 mph?) to the point where you're side-by-side with traffic. Speed limit is 65 mph here. Meanwhile some of the traffic is trying to get off the highway at the same time, so you actually have to be worried about being rear-ended before you've even merged over. Our 250 horsepower Subaru Legacy GT was only just barely adequate to feel safe.

Check this one out:

Street view

Overhead

Oh gosh, that's nuts!

gimp

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Re: 2017 Maserati Levante Review: A Luxury SUV That’s a BARGAIN?
« Reply #65 on: December 14, 2016, 06:56:49 PM »
I've been driving more than 25 years, and have to admit that the vast majority of accidents I've avoided have been by doing exactly as you say: looking ahead, thinking ahead, and slowing down. There have only been a few incidents I've had to stunt-drive or stunt-ride my way out of. However, at no point was I driving a high performance vehicle.

The outside slingshot turn to thread the needle between the wall and the 10-car pileup on a banked freeway overpass covered in ice was something I pulled off in a Scion. When I saw the line of cars ahead of me hydroplane into each other on the banked right turn despite having their brake lights on, I knew there was no traction and nowhere to go unless I wanted to either plow into someone or get hit by the people behind me. So instead of braking, I goosed the motor to build up all the speed I could, lane changed left to maximize lateral drift space and use what was left of the slipstream from the dumbass ahead of me who were trying to brake, and drove as hard as I could the wall in front of me knowing I was going to be pulled sideways anyway due to gravity and the slick surface. When the inevitable skid started I stayed off my brakes, kept the wheels going fast, and cleared the wreckage by a few feet. From there I let the car coast into a turn, steered in the direction of the skid to keep the car from fishtailing, and accelerated out of the turn. No brakes at all; you can't do that on a slick surface. I couldn't have done it if I hadn't flipped burgers for years at a racetrack and listened to the professional drivers talk. Of course there are no right turns or ice driving in CASCAR. Some of the drivers and crew would be talking shop, and sometimes there were conversations about how so-and-so did this or that in a big NASCAR or Formula 1 race. I don't know whether any of them actually drove or crewed there. Some of the older ones probably did.

In the same toaster, I also managed to avoid a sedan driver on a Texas freeway who approached from behind and then proceeded to lane change into us. There was a bit of a half-lane shoulder between us and the cement retaining wall, so to keep my daughter and her grandmother from being crushed I edged into the shoulder, downshifted, and hit the gas. The Scion had more than enough power to get us three-quarters of a car length ahead at highway speed before the other car was in our lane where we used to be. It didn't turn into us getting PIT'ed, crushed, or sideswiped at highway speeds.

Dodging a wrong-way semi driver who was passing in my lane on a 2-lane Saskatchewan highway with no shoulder was something I managed on a 500-cc Honda Shadow 500 during a not-quite-TransCanada solo ride that I refer to as my "Bat Out Of Halifax tour". One big rig was passing another at night and he messed up his distance calculation which is easy to do out in the middle of nowhere. Both drivers realized the problem. The driver being passed hit his brakes as hard as he could without jackknifing, and the driver doing the passing accelerated into the lane change. I took the throttle off to bleed off speed using the engine, hit the line and balanced the bike's wheels on it, on the line, ducked to avoid the window, and just barely felt the rear part of the trailer whip by me less than a hand's span away. I don't know if I'd have made it if the other drivers hadn't done their part, but again, a 500-cc cruiser isn't an overpowered vehicle.

The point I'm trying to make is that when it comes to driving out of a bad situation I don't think people are buying much with the overpowered vehicles. Unless you're a Formula 1 driver who needs the extra power to compete against other overpowered vehicles, extra horsepower isn't going to keep you out of trouble. What I have is obscenely fast reaction time, because my body responds differently to adrenalin: it relaxes, so I don't lose my fine motor control and I'm not working against my own body if I have to move. It also allows me to regularly make decisions like: "save your eye by turning your head in exactly this direction", "get your face out of the way of that large fireball", or "no, the cutter is slipping but DO NOT grab the oscillating blades with your fingers". In my opinion, compared to buying extra horsepower for the car, a better value for the dollar would be for the driver to spend a few years learning to physically relax under pressure. That's what I'm conditioning my daughter to do in the car: remain relaxed under pressure.

In summary:

Driver mods, not car mods.

HPDE days and car control clinics are vastly more useful than 100 extra horsepower.

Just Joe

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Re: 2017 Maserati Levante Review: A Luxury SUV That’s a BARGAIN?
« Reply #66 on: December 15, 2016, 07:36:43 AM »

I've been driving more than 25 years, and have to admit that the vast majority of accidents I've avoided have been by doing exactly as you say: looking ahead, thinking ahead, and slowing down. There have only been a few incidents I've had to stunt-drive or stunt-ride my way out of. However, at no point was I driving a high performance vehicle.


It also helps to be in a lighter vehicle that doesn't have three tons of mass to try to change the direction of.

My driving success stories were all four cylinders with good brakes, suspension and 3000 lbs or less.

Its good to "test" (learn) the car's abilities in a parking lot or lonely rural road. How hard can you stop from 60 mph in the wet? What does the ABS feel like? What does it's stopping capabilities LOOK like aka what does 150 ft look like. How hard can you turn at a certain speed in the wet or snow?

A driving school might be better but maybe its not in the budget yet or its a plane ride away aka too far.

The scariest people to ride with are the people who have always driven carefully and never tested the limits of any vehicle - and then something happens and they don't know what to do.
« Last Edit: December 15, 2016, 07:38:39 AM by Tasty Pinecones »

TheGrimSqueaker

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Re: 2017 Maserati Levante Review: A Luxury SUV That’s a BARGAIN?
« Reply #67 on: December 15, 2016, 12:07:57 PM »

I've been driving more than 25 years, and have to admit that the vast majority of accidents I've avoided have been by doing exactly as you say: looking ahead, thinking ahead, and slowing down. There have only been a few incidents I've had to stunt-drive or stunt-ride my way out of. However, at no point was I driving a high performance vehicle.


It also helps to be in a lighter vehicle that doesn't have three tons of mass to try to change the direction of.

My driving success stories were all four cylinders with good brakes, suspension and 3000 lbs or less.

Its good to "test" (learn) the car's abilities in a parking lot or lonely rural road. How hard can you stop from 60 mph in the wet? What does the ABS feel like? What does it's stopping capabilities LOOK like aka what does 150 ft look like. How hard can you turn at a certain speed in the wet or snow?

A driving school might be better but maybe its not in the budget yet or its a plane ride away aka too far.

The scariest people to ride with are the people who have always driven carefully and never tested the limits of any vehicle - and then something happens and they don't know what to do.

This may sound bad but I switch off my ABS. I try to get as close as possible to the "real" car response even though a lot is electronic at this point.

++ with regard to the light vehicle, except for one thing: crosswind effect. I got slapped all over the place on that 500 cc bike and the air currents were like something out of one of those sword and sorcery movies. To me, a ride that size is fine for tooling around town since it's so easy to pick up and move around, but I'd prefer 700-750 for highway driving. I tried a 1200 and although I can pick it up, put it on its kickstand to raise the wheel, etc., the 1200 is bigger and clumsier than I prefer.

Just Joe

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Re: 2017 Maserati Levante Review: A Luxury SUV That’s a BARGAIN?
« Reply #68 on: December 15, 2016, 12:23:40 PM »
I agree. if I was towing or frequently driving long distances then I'd be looking at heavier vehicles. I don't want to be towing a caravan (UK) with a light car.

mustachepungoeshere

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Re: 2017 Maserati Levante Review: A Luxury SUV That’s a BARGAIN?
« Reply #69 on: December 15, 2016, 12:32:26 PM »
The Maserati is a steal at less than half the price of the Bentley Bentayga! ($229k)

And that's without the optional Breitling Mulliner Tourbillon watch for an additional $USD160,000.

But Bentley launched its financing arm in Sydney last week, making them eminently more affordable.

Attachment shows lease pricing for Continental GT V8 (in Aussie dollars).

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Re: 2017 Maserati Levante Review: A Luxury SUV That’s a BARGAIN?
« Reply #70 on: December 15, 2016, 12:38:31 PM »
I simply can't imagine trying to merge onto a freeway in anything less than a Maserati. It would be so unsafe. And as we have established what a frugal bargain this one is, one can feel good about it as well. Nice.

gimp

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Re: 2017 Maserati Levante Review: A Luxury SUV That’s a BARGAIN?
« Reply #71 on: December 15, 2016, 02:35:25 PM »
This may sound bad but I switch off my ABS. I try to get as close as possible to the "real" car response even though a lot is electronic at this point.

bruh

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Re: 2017 Maserati Levante Review: A Luxury SUV That’s a BARGAIN?
« Reply #72 on: December 17, 2016, 07:03:32 AM »
This may sound bad but I switch off my ABS. I try to get as close as possible to the "real" car response even though a lot is electronic at this point.

++ with regard to the light vehicle, except for one thing: crosswind effect. I got slapped all over the place on that 500 cc bike and the air currents were like something out of one of those sword and sorcery movies. To me, a ride that size is fine for tooling around town since it's so easy to pick up and move around, but I'd prefer 700-750 for highway driving. I tried a 1200 and although I can pick it up, put it on its kickstand to raise the wheel, etc., the 1200 is bigger and clumsier than I prefer.

I catch shit all the time for riding 'small' bikes.  Um... it's a 950 that weighs over 500 pounds... it's a fuckin' monster.

gimp

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Re: 2017 Maserati Levante Review: A Luxury SUV That’s a BARGAIN?
« Reply #73 on: December 19, 2016, 02:19:34 PM »
Hold up, who the hell is calling a 950 motorcycle "small?"

It's 50cc under what many people call a "superbike" or liter bike, no?

That's like calling the 6L V8 small because it's not a 6.2L V8. Most are a third of the size...

GetItRight

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Re: 2017 Maserati Levante Review: A Luxury SUV That’s a BARGAIN?
« Reply #74 on: December 19, 2016, 08:02:57 PM »
There are two measures of safety. One is crash survivability, new cars are overwhelmingly safer in that regard than cars from 50 years ago. The other is crash avoidability, or likelihood of being involved in a wreck. In that regard new cars are overwhelmingly worse. Blind spots are huge, in many models there's far more area around the vehicle that cannot be seen by the drive than can be seen.

I prefer to avoid being involved in a wreck at all, and will not purchase a vehicle which has massive blind spots. I know how to adjust mirrors properly to maximize visibility. Thanks for EPA and DOT regulation blind spots are huge and mirrors, even properly adjusted, and virtually useless compared to mirrors on older vehicles as they now must be tiny and have glass that magnifies the reflected image instead of giving a broader view, except perhaps the now common tiny convex mirrors that take more than a quick glance to determine is there might be a vehicle in the massive blind spot. It takes more concentration, effort, and time to assess the space around a new car and honestly I find it exhausting and stressful. I will not pay the rich man's new car premium price for those and other mandates by government, I only buy vehicles made before these laws and am likely less safe on the road but that is what government does, removes choice. Car companies build the cars that government wants, not that customers want. At least I have good visibility and am less likely to be involved in a wreck.
I have no idea what sorts of newer cars you have driven and think are so terrible, but OK.

Off the top of my head that I've driven and found are extremely unsafe with minimal visibility, all 2000 or newer model year:
Toyota Camry
Ford Focus
Misubishi *something*
Dodge Caravan
Ford Explorer
Ford Expedition
Mazda 3
Ford Mustang
Toyota Prius
Kia *small SUV*
Chevy *minivan*
BMW *something*
Chevy *compact car*

Visibility is many times better in:
80s Ford or Chevy pickup
90s Ford pickup
80s K car
60s anything
Just about anything mid 90s or older
Heck even 60s fastbacks with no passenger mirror, be it Mustang, Fairlane, or Galaxie are a lot better with visibility.

ender

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Re: 2017 Maserati Levante Review: A Luxury SUV That’s a BARGAIN?
« Reply #75 on: December 19, 2016, 09:25:39 PM »
Ford Focus

Hey now, my mid 2000s Focus station wagon has insanely good visibility...

Metric Mouse

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Re: 2017 Maserati Levante Review: A Luxury SUV That’s a BARGAIN?
« Reply #76 on: December 21, 2016, 08:26:09 AM »
Hold up, who the hell is calling a 950 motorcycle "small?"

It's 50cc under what many people call a "superbike" or liter bike, no?

That's like calling the 6L V8 small because it's not a 6.2L V8. Most are a third of the size...

People who ride these: