New Maserati Grecale Folgore 2024 review: plenty of flair with a few flaws

Verdict

Perhaps appropriately for a Maserati, the Grecale Folgore is at its best when it’s travelling fast. In lots of other areas; dynamics, range and charging speeds, it’s outclassed by the Porsche Macan. There’s a trait of Italian flair here that will appeal to some, we’ve no doubt – but goodness, they’ll be paying for it.

On paper, Maserati could face big challenges when it comes to electrification – a marque known for characterful engines that suddenly has to deliver zero-emissions silence, while retaining emotional appeal. And yet the Italians are pushing ahead with an all-electric Maserati Grecale, the company's rival for the Porsche Macan. 

We were intrigued by the Grecale Folgore (as the EV is known) when we drove it on the continent in the spring, but now we’ve tried it in the UK, albeit in left-hand-drive guise.

The task is made harder because Porsche has fleshed out the Macan Electric range with new models. The base single-motor version costs £67,200, while the Grecale-matching 510bhp Macan 4S comes in at a fraction over £75k. Even the 630bhp Turbo will give you change from £100,000.

But here’s the thing, the Grecale Folgore costs a whopping £109,950. Porsche is famed for having a crippling options lists, but you can add £15k’s worth of kit to the Turbo and still match the Maserati. The firm is clearly hoping that a sniff of Italian brio will create the sort of emotional connection that justifies the Folgore's elevated pricing.

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From the outside, it has a chance. There’s a whiff of Ford Puma about the headlights, otherwise the Grecale looks about as sensuous as you can expect a 4.8 metre-long SUV to be. There's significant muscle in the rear haunches, and the 21-inch wheels look fabulous. Our car’s Intenso Blue paintjob sparkled wonderfully in sunlight, too.

Things don’t fall apart inside, either. There’s an abundance of tech, and while not all of it is brilliantly integrated, there’s a plush feel in the areas that matter – certainly enough to make you realise you’re in a luxury car, rather than a mere premium one.

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The dash is dominated by two touchscreens – the upper display is for the infotainment and nav, while the lower one controls the air-con and heated seats. There’s a lot going on in both interfaces, but in general they work fine, while space for four is decent and the boot is larger than the Macan's at 535 litres, but there's no under-floor storage. 

The Folgore is based on a combustion-engined model, and it’s clear within a few yards that Maserati's engineers have had to tighten up the suspension considerably to cope with the increased 2.5-tonne mass. The low-speed ride is fussy, with too many bumps transmitted to the cabin.

This is the main giveaway, though, because the control weights are light, which is pretty much par for the course in a modern Maserati. If anything, the steering feels slightly over-assisted, and you’ll be rewarded by a smooth approach on either pedal. It’s brisk rather than genuinely fast, but the dual-motor set-up does feel comfortable enough with a car of this size and weight. It’s refined, too, with only a little whine under really heavy acceleration.

The Folgore becomes less leaden over bumps the faster you go, and there’s no denying that the car's front end is keen to turn in. There’s no trick torque vectoring, and the power split moves away from a rearward bias if you push on, so the emphasis has been on making the car an accomplished luxury tool.

Flicking a small rotary controller on the steering wheel to Sport mode tightens up the dampers, and while you’d never say the Grecale Folgore skips between corners, it does strike a good balance between body control, agility and composure. You can also play with brake-energy recovery using the steering wheel paddles when approaching a corner. It’s a car that likes to travel quickly, in other words.

The electric tech beneath it all might struggle with this character, though, because the 105kWh battery delivers around 310 miles of range (on paper), and around 20 miles less than that in our experience. That’s decent enough, but the Grecale’s charging speeds could be better. A Macan can muster 270kW, whereas you’re limited to 150kW in the Grecale.