White Maserati Levante Rental in Los Angeles

White is the finish that shows the Levante is Italian. The car has a long bonnet, a shoulder that rises over the rear wheel and a roofline that drops toward the tail — three curves that a dark car flattens into a single mass and that white presents clearly. Against the deep vertical-slatted grille it is also the strongest contrast the car comes in.

It is the daytime Levante. White photographs cleanly against the ocean on a coast run and against pale stone at a hotel, keeps the cabin cool through an afternoon in the sun, and hides the dust a canyon road leaves. The fleet's deep blue Levante is the quieter, more formal one for an evening; this is the car for a bright day where you would rather be seen arriving.

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.