Blue Maserati Levante Rental in Los Angeles

Deep metallic blue is the colour Maserati has used on its best cars for decades, and it suits the Levante better than black does — it picks out the long curve down the flank and the shoulder over the rear wheel that a dark car simply loses. Against the silver multi-spoke wheels it reads as expensive rather than as loud.

Blue this deep is close to black in low light and unmistakably blue the moment the sun catches it, which makes it an unusually versatile choice: discreet enough for a client drive in Century City, and genuinely beautiful in the last hour of light on the coast road. It is the SUV to take when you want something nobody else at the hotel is driving without the car announcing itself before you have parked it.

The Levante is what Maserati does when it builds an SUV: the same Ferrari-built engine family as the saloons, air suspension instead of a firm sports setup, and a body that is unmistakably Italian rather than another tall German box. It rides higher than the Ghibli and it is more comfortable for it — the air springs take the edge off Los Angeles's patched surfaces and drop the car at speed so it does not feel tall on the freeway.

Inside it is a genuinely large car. Five seats, a deep boot, and a cabin that is quieter than the exhaust note suggests. All-wheel drive means it is unbothered by a wet morning on the PCH or a gravel turnout above Malibu, and the raised ride height makes hotel ramps and steep driveways non-events.

Honest hook: it is a big SUV that drives like a big SUV. It is more comfortable than the Porsche Cayenne in the fleet and less sharp than it — pick the Levante for the ride and the badge, the Cayenne for the corners.