In 2021, Ford captured lightning in a bottle with the Maverick pickup. The brilliance of the Maverick is that it does so much for so little. It’s a tiny truck that’s remarkably practical, extremely affordable, and when equipped with a hybrid powertrain, delightfully frugal. Now, Ford has given the Maverick a new trick. The folks at the Blue Oval reached into their parts bin, pulled out the turbo from a Mustang, and now the Maverick is a quick 300 HP mini truck. You can even get it on a base model XL.
One of the greatest parts about American truck culture is that there’s a ride for everyone. If you want to haul the Empire State Building, there’s an array of heavy-duty pickups that can do it without breaking a sweat. Want to do burnouts or skip through the desert at warp speed? There are so many trucks for that, too! Ford has found something special with the Maverick. It’s a truck that drives like a car, gets awesome fuel economy, and still has enough capability to do real truck stuff. It might just be the best pickup on the market for folks who want a truck in a friendly package.
To Ford’s credit, it has been continually improving on the concept, too. The Ford Maverick Tremor is a scaled-down off-roader, while the Maverick Lobo is a mean street truck. Now, Ford has figured out how to soup up the Maverick, just like it has with the F-Series. Meet the Maverick 300T, which Ford just debuted at SEMA. But unlike many SEMA builds, you’re going to be able to buy this one. Can I get a “yee haw?”
Maverick Hot Rod
First, let me lay the groundwork. As of right now, you have two powertrain choices for a factory-built Maverick. The base engine, and it’s a popular option, is a 2.5-liter four with an eCVT assisted by an electric motor for a combined system output of 191 HP and 173 lb-ft of torque. Not bad for a little pickup! At first, this mill was available in only front-wheel-drive, but now you can get it in AWD, which is sweet. Car and Driver says that the hybrid AWD also hits 60 mph in 6.7 seconds, which is decent for this type of vehicle.
If that’s not spicy enough, Ford also sells the Maverick with a 2.0-liter turbo good for 250 HP and 277 lb-ft of twist, which comes backed by an eight-speed auto. That dispatches 60 mph in 5.8 seconds, which is nearly sports car fast! Another sweet trick in Ford’s tool belt is that the AWD hybrid model can now be equipped with the 4K Tow Package, so now you can have the Maverick’s amped up tow rating and hybrid power at the same time. Ford says the hybrid AWD model gets 37 mpg combined, which is just awesome.
But what if 250 horses in your stable just aren’t enough? Well, Ford went rummaging around its Ford Performance parts bin for a way to boost the Maverick, and found just the thing, the turbocharger from the 2.3-liter EcoBoost Mustang engine.
This one part makes a huge difference. The ‘Stang’s snail has a 59mm compressor wheel, a good improvement over the 53mm turbo in the 2.0-liter Maverick. To make sure that the fatter turbo works well, Ford then mounted the Maverick 300T with a Mishimoto intercooler that’s 58.8 percent larger than the stock one. Apparently, bringing in the big cooling guns results in a 39.6 percent increase in temperature reduction and a 20.1 percent reduction in pressure drop. Ford says the lower temps will allow the hotter Maverick to do pull after pull with consistent power.
ProCal 4 tuning and a Borla exhaust round out the changes under the skin. The result is 300 HP and 317 lb-ft of torque, healthy gains across the board. For those of you counting, the Boostang gets 315 HP and 350 lb-ft of torque, so the fast Maverick isn’t far behind.
Of course, it’s a SEMA build, so the Maverick 300T couldn’t just be faster; it also has to look the part! Ford gave the Maverick 300T 20-inch Mach-E GT wheels shod in 245-series Michelin Pilot Sport 4S for looks. The version of the 300T kit you’ll be able to buy will have Pirelli P ZERO ELECT tires. Ford then adds a 0.4-inch suspension lower front and a 1.18-inch suspension drop in the rear. Further platform upgrades include a thicker anti-roll bar and upgraded shocks.
The rest of the changes are minor, including some black or bronze graphics, special 300T badging, special floor mats, and an Air Design front spoiler.
Power And A Warranty
This package will work a lot like how the FP700 package works for the F-150. The Ford Performance parts will enhance existing trucks, and since it has Ford’s blessing, you won’t nuke your warranty if you have it installed by a dealer. Ford says the 300T package will be available for 2025 Maverick XL, XLT, and Lariat trims with the 2.0-liter EcoBoost engine and AWD. Yep, that means you could get this hot kit on a base model work truck!
Ford recommends equipping the 300T kit on pickups with the 4K Tow Package to take advantage of that model’s enhanced transmission cooling, but the kit can be applied to models with the standard 2,000-pound towing package, too.
Sadly, Ford has not announced pricing or acceleration times. But Ford does say that it will be available in 2026 and fully emissions compliant, so even our California friends will be able to enjoy their Maverick sport truck. Your hopped-up truck will also get a three-year/36,000-mile warranty, so it’s guilt-free fun until the warranty runs out.
Update: Readers with Maverick experience warn that the 2.0’s transmission can be somewhat delicate without extra power going through it. So, be careful!
Overall, this is a lot like the fabled Ford F-150 FP700. The Maverick 300T kit turns an already great truck into a better truck, and you can even do it to a work truck-spec XL model. The sweetener is being able to keep your warranty.
I just love how Ford has been drunk with horsepower lately. Ford’s solution to everything seems to be “more power,” and I love it. Sure, a 50 HP upgrade isn’t as silly as what Ford has done with other trucks, but I am certain that sporting Maverick owners will start to scoop these up the moment they’re available. So, good on Ford for finding yet another way to make America’s almost perfect little pickup even cooler.
Why not just roll this into the Lobo package and make a nice little spicy street truck? Weird choice.
This is just ridiculous. Who needs this?
Hmm, “ It’s a truck that drives like a car, gets awesome fuel economy, and still has enough capability to do real truck stuff.” seems like America has finally accepted a UTE.
Another day, another special edition. Anything to jack the price and distract you from the never ending procession of recalls.
“At Ford, quality is job.. Hey! Check out this new appearance package!!!”
Have you driven your RECALLED Ford lately?
Embarrassing, to say the least.
Recalls are obviously a cash cow for the dealerships service departments that can’t keep any technicians on their payrolls
Actually, I drove my recalled Ford yesterday. Technically there are no open recalls on it (at the moment). The recalls are annoying, but none of the issues have actually occurred on my vehicle, so I just have them taken care of when I need an oil change.
The fact that “Lightning in a Bottle” is just building a reasonably sized and priced pickup truck shows how fucked up the American car industry is.
This is not brain surgery, carmakers. Pull those $65,000 F150’s out of our asses, please.
That’s going to hurt.
I’d rather have the base hybrid version. From what I’ve heard and read, that is the most durable and reliable option.
I have said a lot of things about my Maverick, but never, “This would be better with 300 horsepower.” It’s not meant to be a sports car and the stock power is just fine with me. I don’t have any trouble getting on the highway or getting up the mountains. This just seems silly to me. Adding a package like this just serves to increase the price and (likely) reduce the longevity.
Some people just have to always have the best/fastest version no matter the $$, bragging rights keep their ego pumped up.
I’ve seen people claim that the perfect amount of horsepower is 300. I don’t agree at all. When do you, in everyday driving, need 300 hp? I guess if you also want to race your car, it’s a plus, but normally, it is unnecessary.
Exactly right. I would say that for normal driving, not towing or for particularly heavy vehicles, 150 to 200 hp is perfectly fine.
Me and my brother joked about this a bit back, both of us owning 100hp cars, that 150 would likely be plenty for basically anyone in a car sized as ours, going from 22# per horse to 14# per horse power, but 200 would be more than enough.
I feel as if under 6k#, about 15# per horse is perfect.
I would put it right there too. Depends on the weight of the car too of course, but for example a Mazda CX3 with 120 hp is perfectly fine, and can maintain speeds above the limit too, should you wish to. Do I wish my own car had more, and an extra gear? Sure. Do I wish anything over 200? No. Not in something I drive to work.
Living in SE TX, I HATED driving Houston, where so many dudes (I imagine) drove F-150s and 250s like they were NASCAR drivers.10 feet off the back of my wife’s X5 or my Accord.
I’m happy to be back in WA where people drive somewhat sanely.
Reading stories like this, I’m so grateful to be living where I do. Apart from the odd 20-year-old who floors it from every light, and people who just won’t use blinkers, people drive pretty nice here.
Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t like the idea of a dealer installed package like this. If it could be ordered from the factory with the 300T package, then it might be interesting.
Otherwise, I think it looks cool, and the idea of stuffing 300hp into a little truck is fun, even though it might grenade your gearbox.
I like options, especially when it involves adding power. But it’s goes underreported that Ford has raised the base asking price by some $9K I think it was in a very few short years. The initial sub-$20K starting price was clearly a marketing tactic. It appears to have worked – people still generally associate them with a very low price.
While the price has gone up (what didn’t in the past few years?), the Maverick is still probably the cheapest truck, definitely the only 40mpg truck, and one of the less expensive hybrid vehicles in any segment out there. They’re selling like chocolate chip pancakes. I won’t blame Ford for wanting to print a little money.
I dont blame them either. Just pointing it out. An almost 50% increase in 4 or 5 years far outpaced any other vehicle price increase I’m aware of.
Nope. Buy the hybrid version and use the money you save to buy a Miata (or Solstice) and enjoy.
Right??
It’s a tiny truck? The 2000 Ford Ranger weighed 600 pounds less. Mind you I’m glad they’re a success and that they’re vying for the pickup truck market buyers around me, but tiny it ain’t
Now to RTFA, but I suspect I’ll find this latest horsepower-brag news to be mildly nauseating.
mildly nauseating?!
From doing donuts, obviously.
Touché, sir! Not bad
Agreed. But in case you’re hoping for an explanation, as an American I have this bizarre hope that our national fleet will not only go on some kind of diet and lose a LOT of excess pounds, but also stop normalizing the horsepower wars. By any means necessary.
They should be offering aftermarket transmission parts under warranty too like they did the arp head studs on the 6.0 ps. People building the supercharged f150s are in for the same problem. Apparently there are aftermarket value bodies and parts kits that fix a lot of the Ford and gm 10 speed issues.
The wrong wheels turn with this engine, unless maybe there is an AWD variant with the 300 HP, then this is more of a Focus ST than a mustang, nobody buys the mustang for the turbo 4 anyway, that is just a bait and switch option for those lusting for a v8 mustang.
I would be pretty concerned with longevity of course, the mav has some pretty simple parts that don’t always stay together when pushed. And this definitely lacks the optional manual trans, but as long as the head does not spew coolant into the #2 or #3 piston because of steam passage piss poor design, I could probably endorse an AWD 300 plus HP manual Maverick.
The package is available only in the AWD variant! 🙂
They fixed the coolant ‘slot’ issue with the 2020 2.0 EBs.
Those wheels do not go with a pickup. Like a lace doily on a wooden picnic table.
I share Rippstik’s concerns. In vintage Ford fashion the crappy 8 speeds in these are overstressed from the factory with the regular Ecoboost, so adding more power on top of that seems like a recipe for trouble. But hey, this is the car industry as we know it, and at this advanced stage of enshitification as long as it makes it through the warranty it’s good enough.
After that? Ford couldn’t care less and they’ll happily let their service departments charge you $5,000 for a new transmission. This idea is neat on paper, but in practice it seems very half assed, as the Lobo was. Hell you don’t even get any braking upgrades with this package…
Try over double that for an OEM replacement though Ford (per my neighbor who’s just grenaded at less than 50k miles. 12K was the quote for the warranty work).
Ford uhhhh…finds a way. The interior of these is too small for my needs but I’d go straight for the hybrid if I was in the market…and I say that as someone who’s owned multiple hot hatches.
The EB was the move for me due to having awd. Now that the hybrid has that, it seems to be the move. My wife and I are short, so it barely can fit our backwards facing car seat. Still more rear seat room than the Ranger, Tacoma, etc.
Don’t forget: that backwards-facing car seat is temporary. Plan accordingly.
I can’t wait for more room when we flip those puppies around to forward facing!
well and those Powerhift DCT’s were notoriously terrible yet cost almost 8 k to replace pre-covid. I would have hoped the actual auto trans would have been better.
And were pretty much impossible to get replaced during covid or I’d probably still have my Fiesta.
I feel like maybe a few years ago it would have been an inventive guys market to purchase 40-50k mile Focus/Fiesta vehicles for pennies on the dolor and then do a manual swap on all of them. though I imagine that might be cost prohibitive as well.
Yeah, I think it’s a bit too late for that. They were genuinely great cars (transmission aside) and I think too many people are aware of that now to get them cheap. I told this story before but the dealer who I traded mine in to held onto it for a year and a half until parts came in because an employee wanted it as the first car for their kid.
Love it.
also not really keen on bronze accents returning(?). I guess it is better than 90s gold.
OK Ford, thats how you do things. Now fix the recall issues.
What’s next a mini power stroke? Would love to see this truck get the diesel treatment.
A mid-gate would also be an excellent addition!
It’s 2025, nearly 2026. Passenger diesel is all but dead. You can still get yourself a mini duramax..
As a Maverick EB owner, I have some thoughts:
1) I caution against this. The stock transmissions are proving relatively fragile with the stock powertrain. The 8F35 is rated for 258 lb-ft of torque and the stock engine has 277 lb-ft. I’ve heard of plenty of transmissions on these things ending themselves, along with PTU’s, RDU’s, and CV axles (though, the Tremor axles seem to fix the CV axle issues). I truly hope the aftermarket comes up with a solution that is beefier. I would move heaven and earth for a manual swap kit from the Focus RS.
2) Forget spending the money on this; the Lincoln Corsair 2.3 Turbo bolts right on! With a downpipe, intercooler, intake, and tune, you’re probably sitting between 300-350 whp, which is spicy.
3) C’mon Ford! Where’s a mid-gate option?!
The fact that these things are sold with transmissions that are over stressed from the factory would surprise me if it was literally any manufacturer other than Ford. But yeah, it does seem risky to push them even further, but I guess Ford is banking on that comparatively short 3 year/36,000 mile running out before these inevitably shit out their transmissions.
They’re also doing this with the factory superchargers for the S650 Mustang. They push the Coyote to something like 800 horsepower but the manual on offer is still the over stressed Getrag unit that has a long history of grenading itself with stock power. What could possibly go wrong?
Ford’s powertrain warranty is 5/60 and the transmission would be covered under that. 3/36 is the “bumper to bumper” warranty.
Fair, although Rippstik seems to know someone who was quoted $12,000 for a new transmission under warranty….
***That’s what the invoice is. It’s covered under warranty.
That’s what Ford Corporate pays the dealership.
Edit: Oops Rippstik already clarified that.
Ugh, of course, there’s gotta be a catch! It’s also unfortunate to hear that these things are somewhat fragile when completely untouched. I wonder if that’s why Ford gently recommends the 4K Tow Package when equipping the 300T kit.
Definitely. Keeping it cool will absolutely help with longevity.
Yeah ticking the box for the 4k package on my 22 seemed like cheap insurance
Even the 4k trucks are losing transmissions.
I’m not surprised, seems like they are pushing the limits on the drive train. Just meant I would rather have the additional cooling than not.
This is what the Lobo should have been.
It was asinine to me that they didn’t upgrade the HP on the Lobos.
Savagegeese kept calling it the Hobo and that’s all I can think about in regards to it
I love that the Maverick is kind of just a modern day Ute. I stand by that comment, they don’t have the classic Ute look, but they do have all the functionality of one.