Depending on your perspective, Tyler Hoover of Hoovies Garage on YouTube is either one of auto-vlogging greatest savants or one of its biggest clowns. With his trusty team of mechanic buddy's help, he's come up with some wacky ideas for the fleet of cars he films for his channel.
But turning a Maserati Levante SUV optimized for continent-crushing highway cruising into an off-roading overland vehicle? Now that has to be the nuttiest idea yet. It's so bizarre that we can't help but root for Hoovie to succeed with his project, especially considering the remarkably colorful history behind this particular Maserati's past.
Before its days in the ownership of YouTube's patron saint of Hoopties, this Maserati Levante had a life more like the early days of American bootleggers than as a well-to-do suburban runabout. Although instead of illegal hooch, its owner's intoxicant of choice was methamphetamine. Hoovie remarked that the interior smelled of cat urine when he first acquired it. Only later did he learn this was a tell-tale sign of meth distribution. Oh, and the oil wasn't changed for 60,000 miles (96,560 km).
After a thorough cleaning and some modifications to the Levante's wheel wells to fit chunky off-brand Chinese tires with an unfortunate English translation, we'd be inclined to say this bougie family SUV might not be all that useless on an overlanding trip. You can't help but appreciate the newly found level or articulation in the suspension with the inclusion of the new rubber.
However, that may be a trick of the eye. Frankly, without off-roading must-haves like locking differentials and a low-range gearbox, this Levante's traction control system's going to take all the hell it can handle in any scenario with a prevalence of rocks, mud, deep water, or snow. Even chunky off-road tires won't solve that. But everything is just hype and speculation until you get out there and start climbing some rocks. Safe to say, we can't wait to see what's next.
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