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This Drag Race Between The Mercedes-AMG GLE 63 S And The Maserati Levante GTS Has Left Us Befuddled!
The AMG GLE 63 S and the Maserati Levante GTS are evenly matched on paper, but the races say otherwise
by Sidd Dhimaan, onIt’s a new day and time for another drag race. This time, it’s the Maserati Levante GTS taking on the Mercedes-AMG GLE 63 S and it’s come from ‘Sam CarLegion’. When you read the specs, both the SUVs are evenly matched. The German is more powerful, but it is also much heavier, thus nullifying the power advantage. However, once they hit the drag strip, it seemed like a lopsided race. Which SUV do you think won the races?
How Much Power Do The SUVs Make?
The Mercedes-AMG GLE 63 S is powered by a 4.0-liter, twin-turbo V-8 that puts out 603 horses and 627 pound-feet of torque.
Power is routed to all four wheels via a nine-speed SpeedShift automatic gearbox.
The Maserati Levante GTS, on the other hand, comes with a 3.8-liter, twin-turbo V-8. It produces 550 ponies and 538 pound-feet of oomph.
The same engine is also seen in the Ferraris. This engine is mated to an eight-speed automatic transmission and an all-wheel-drive system.
The German SUV weighs 5,456 pounds, whereas the Levante stands in at 5,070 pounds, nearly 400 pounds less than the GLE 63 S. Since the Mercedes makes 53 horses and 89 pound-feet of torque more, it nullifies the 400-pound disadvantage and still returns a slightly better power-to-weight ratio on paper. The ratio is 0.111 hp/lb for the Mercedes-AMG SUV, and 0.108 hp/lb for the Maserati.
How Did The Races Go?
In the first standing drag race, both the SUVs were locked into their respective sport modes. The AMG GLE 63 S just flew off the line leaving behind the Levante GTS in the dust. Interestingly, the gap between the two kept increasing till they completed the quarter-mile race. Mind you, the Maserati is no slouch, but it’s the Mercedes that’s mighty quick.
They gave it another shot, but it didn’t make any difference. In fact, Sam in the Levante even jumped the start here, but it still couldn’t beat the GLE 63 S. The third run was a rolling race from 31 mph (50 kph) in the Sport mode. At kickdown, the AMG GLE 63 S destroyed the Levante yet again to score a clean sweep over the Levante GTS.
Conclusion
It was quite surprising to see how Maserati failed so miserably despite being almost on par with the Mercedes-AMG SUV on paper. Definitely not as one-sided as we expected. You can watch the video below that includes a detailed review of the SUVs as well as the drag race.
