I don’t usually think of the Ford Maverick as a truck. That’s not a slight; in fact, it’s a compliment, because what I do think of it as is a very capable and affordable do-anything sort of vehicle. The idea of the Maverick excites me the most when I think of it in its cheapest hybrid form ($25,315), because it is an inexpensive five-seater, four-door vehicle that gets 37 combined mpg and has out back what you could treat as, with a tonneau cover, a massive trunk or, open, a usable if short truck bed. It’s a Swiss Army knife sort of machine, something you could take into almost any unknown situation and find that you’re pretty well equipped to handle whatever happens. It’s a vehicle I happily recommend to people who want something inexpensive and useful for a huge variety of use cases. Deep down, though, I think it still is a truck, fundamentally, or at least wants to be, so I figured it was time to do a sort of review on the Maverick that’s a bit more focused. Specifically, how is it at doing, you know, truck stuff?
What do I mean by truck stuff? Great question, disembodied voice; help yourself to some canapés. I think for this test there are two basic defining truck things I want to focus on, two of the most utilitarian things that also tend to be the two things that people who don’t own trucks tend to ask people who do own trucks to loan them those trucks to do: move items that are not the sorts of things you’d want in the interior of your normal car and move huge items that simply won’t fit in your normal car.
These also happen to be the two categories of tasks that I tend to do when I use my own truck, the 1989 Ford F-150 David got for me a while ago, and it is very much A Truck, and it has a name, The Marshal:
I often use The Marshal to haul crap and tree limbs and other forgotten detritus to the dump, and I often use it to haul my advanced personal watercraft to the lake, the HMS Terror:
Yes, it’s my shitty canoe. It’s probably worth noting that I used to haul my shitty canoe to the lake on the roof of my Nissan Pao:
…so technically you don’t actually need a truck to do this, but the process of getting the canoe on the Pao’s roof and tying it down and then stashing all the lifejackets and other gear was all kind of a colossal ass-pain, and just shoving the thing in the bed of the F-150 has made life vastly easier.
I suppose I should mention that the Maverick that was kindly loaned to me was a Tremor edition one. Well, to be even more specific, the one loaned to me was the most expensive Lariat trim level, with the 2-liter Ecoboost engine making 250 horsepower/277 lb-ft of torque, bolted to an eight-speed automatic, and with the Tremor package that gives “advanced” AWD and a one-inch lift with slightly better breakover, departure, and approach angles, along with better tires and a bunch of decals, all for an extra $3,495.
I really don’t care about the Tremor package in the context of this review. The name never fails to make me picture old people with very shaky hands, or perhaps a mild earthquake, and, really, if intense off-roading was my goal, I don’t think this is the vehicle I’d choose, Tremor-ized or not. From what I’ve read, it does just fine for mild off-road use, but if you want a rock climber or a serious off-roader, this really isn’t it.
I do like the bits of orange trim the Tremor package adds, though, like in the grille bar that incorporates the turn indicators and the tow hooks:
Beyond that, though, for the purposes of what we’re discussing today, we can ignore all the Tremor stuff; this review is valid for any Maverick.
Okay, so let’s get to it, and see how it does with our two key truck tasks!
Task One: Hauling Crap You Don’t Really Want Inside Your Car
There’s two main categories of crap you don’t really want inside your car: crap that is filthy in some way, or crap that is destructive in some way. In the filthy category, this can include brush or tree limbs or gravel or mulch or 140 pounds of creamed sturgeon, unbagged, or trash or whatever. Anything that would normally require you to, if you had it in your trunk or SUV, spend too much time with a vacuum and some paper towels getting everything decent again.
The other category is stuff that, if shoved in the trunk or back of your SUV, would tear up headliners and seats and carpet. The stuff I decided to haul to test fits into this category.
I have a roughly 9-month old puppy who is almost as big a full-grown dog named Juno. Juno is half Husky and half Australian Shepherd, a pretty intimidating combination for someone like me who is more used to dogs that are sweetly and pleasingly stupid. Juno is both smart, and, because she is still a puppy, a dummy.
She’s very sweet, but she makes some really terrible decisions, and because she’s surprisingly clever, can usually make those terrible decisions happen. The most common of these is figuring out ways to escape the house and yard. I’m pretty sure I saw her working a combination lock at one point.
Anyway, I needed to shore up some fencing in her backyard romp-about area, so I went to Tractor Supply Company (who should just become a damn sponsor for us by now) to get a big roll of fencing and metal fence posts. These are heavy, bulky things with sharp, scrapey edges that would turn upholstery and carpet into a shredded mess that looked like a few cats got drunk and started to discuss politics, and things ended in pawticuffs and clawticuffs.
In this context, the Maverick did just fine, despite the short bed, because even if the bed is short, it’s still well-designed, and the bedliner material is rugged and effective at taking abuse. Those posts had to go in diagonally, which was fine, and the plastic edging on the lip of the bedsides proved useful as well, doing a good job of protecting the paint.
The bed has a number of considerations taken to help maximize the available space. The humps over the wheels are both squared-off to allow things to be placed on top of them easily, and there’s notches in there to accommodate a 2×4 laid side-to-side to act as a sort of shelf. If you’re hauling long sheets of plywood, the tailgate is designed to be propped at an angle to keep the sheets nicely level.
So, yes, it’s a short bed, but it’s thoughtfully designed and has a nice, tough liner, which makes it generally quite good at the basic truck function of hauling sloppy or destructive things. The bed also has a couple nice convenience features like a panel with a light and a standard 120V wall-type power outlet connected to a DC-to-AV inverter, and another cubbyhole that can store things and has a 12V power pigtail right next to it so you could use it for something that needs power, like a compressor or margarita maker.
Here’s the compartment, and the 12V leads are in that little panel to the right:
The Maverick works pretty well as a truck for the hauling messy/damaging things function, and that’s a very common truck use. You may not be able to get the volume you’d get with a full-sized bed, but for many people’s demands for this kind of thing, the Maverick can pull it off just fine.
Before I get into the second Truck Use, there’s two interior details I want to point out. First, these door handles:
I don’t mind them at all, but a number of people who got in the truck were baffled by or just uncomfortable with their use. I think the open-endedness is just not what many people expect out of an interior doorhandle/armrest? Again, it didn’t bother me, but some passengers were really off-put by them.
This next one, though, did bother me:
This rotary shifter is dumb. It just wastes space. If there was ever a good context for putting a column shifter on a car, this is it. Stick the PRNDL on the column, and free up all that space for another cubbyhole or something, anything. It’s just silly.
Okay, back to Truck Things!
Task Two: Hauling Really Big Things
Alright, now we get to the tricky part, hauling the HMS Terror. The Terror is not a particularly long canoe, I think it’s about 12 feet long, but a 12-foot long object is still a very long object to move around. I mean, it’s two six-foot party subs, just less tasty but more water-tight. The Maverick’s five-foot-something long bed is less than half the length of the canoe, so it’s not exactly ideal.
Normally, in my old F-150, the canoe fits mostly in the bed and rests propped up against the tailgate, sticking out maybe a foot or so, not much at all. I don’t need to tie it down, because there’s no way it’s just going to fly out of the bed, since 90% of it is fully within the bed as it is. With the Maverick, it’s a very different story.
Even set in as diagonally as possible, at least half of that canoe is outside the bed, and while the folded-down tailgate adds about a foot and a half more useful length, it’s still by no means something I’d feel comfortable hauling around without tying it down.
There are good tie-down points, though, both in the floor of the bed and sliding ones along those two side rails. With the canoe secured with a heavy duty cargo strap, I felt comfortable driving the thing all the way to the lake, even though it extended the length of the truck by a solid five or six feet or so.
You had to be especially aware of your long tail while driving, and I can’t say it’s ideal, but I can say it did work. I got there just fine, nothing flew out of the bed, and the Maverick did perform its truckly functions. I think this would essentially be the same situation for any really large object you might try to haul in a Maverick.
It’s not great, and definitely takes more prep to make it actually work, but it did basically work.
But it could be better. A lot better. And I think I know how.
The Maverick Needs A Midgate
Of all the vehicles currently on the market today, I can’t think of any that would be as drastically improved with the addition of a midgate than the Ford Maverick. You remember what a midgate is, right? Of course you do. But, in case someone is reading over your shoulder, I’ll remind you. A midgate is an opening panel on the back part of a truck or truck-like vehicle’s cab that extends the bed space into the cab. The Chevy Avalanche is a well-known truck with a midgate; here’s a picture of what it looks like from inside an Avalanche with the midgate open:
For the Maverick, I think the rear window can stay intact and just a lower midgate would be fine, which could be accessed by folding the rear seatbacks forward, much like you do when folding a back seat down to gain access to a car’s trunk.
With a midgate, the Maverick’s bed could be extended by several very useful feet, at the temporary cost of the rear seat passenger accommodation, but since most long-bed pickups don’t have back seats anyway, this hardly seems like a big drawback. The extra flexibility offered would be considerable, as the short bed could be easily transformed into a longer bed with the simple act of folding down the rear seat.
This is hardly rocket science; remember, the Subaru Baja had one of these, along with the Japan-only Toyota Bb Open Deck, the pickup truck version of the Scion xB. And these were both similar unibody sorts of designs, there’s no reason this type of midgate couldn’t be incorporated into the Maverick.
So, to recap, if you’re looking at the Ford Maverick in terms of its abilities as a truck, I’d say for common truck-requiring duties, it can perform reasonably, but it is hampered in its ability to haul really large, especially long, things easily and comfortably. If the Maverick had a midgate, its utility could be improved quite dramatically, though.
And, regardless, the Maverick is still an excellent and inexpensive do-whatever sort of vehicle, the kind of thing that should be considered if you’re just looking for decent, cheap, basic transportation, not even necessarily a truck.
Ford, if you’d like me to Sawzall a midgate into the next press Maverick you send my way, just shoot me a DM, okay? Great!
[Ed note: I feel like there’s a much simpler solution to this:
Ford sells this Yakima Rack that seems like it would entirely get the job done… Just saying! – MH]
The Ford Maverick Hybrid’s Price Has Jumped Almost 25 Percent But It Still Isn’t A Bad Deal
I Took A Close Look At The 2023 Ford Maverick Tremor’s Off-Road Hardware. Here’s What I Learned
If There Was Only One Car Allowed To Be Built And Sold In America, It Should Be The Ford Maverick
In lieu of a midgate a rear window that opens is helpful for hauling longer items like 2X4s or pipe.
I’ve gone that route with my Ranger many times.
I’ve occasionally stacked a kayak or two on the roof of the cab, running down to the closed tailgate.
I think a simple feature to add lengthy item carrying utility without the need for a roof rack would be to add plastic edging to the roof at the rear of the cab (that antenna would need to be resituated).
Then you could easily carry more lengthy items.
Need to haul a 14’ 2×4?
No problem.
Just watch out for power lines, trees and bridges.
The Maverick does have an openable rear window. It even has power assist on the Lariat and maybe the XLT (although probably optionally if that’s the case.)
I know. But it’s such a tiny little window.
It’s a gimmick.
it only works for a few boards, and isn’t really safe imo putting them through the window, I’ve done it on a taco a few times. Always worry about it smashing through the windshield on a fast stop, or smacking me in the head.
This confuses me. You’d rather stick boards into your cab than fold down the tailgate?
if they are on the floor of the truck, the are imo much safer and easier with the tailgate up and locking them in the back. I’ve driven with stuff way out the tailgate plenty of times.
Depends on the scenario.
Yeah, in city driving when I’ve just gotta pick up a few 10’ long whatsits I’d prefer the additional 4’ or so of said whatsit to be safely nestled in the cab than protruding out the ass end of the truck.
It’s circumstantial of course.
If I’m planning on hauling a multitude of 10’ whatsits I’ll probably just rent a truck or bring a trailer.
That’s why you strap them down. I’m not just hauling them loose like that.
But yeah… rare occasions only for sure.
Great idea, but there’s already an incredibly common accessory for that purpose:
https://www.backrack.com/original-rack/2022/ford/maverick
Now that’s what I’m talking about.
I just wish the manufacturers of so called trucks truly understood the myriad of ways a truck owner actually hauls crap.
Build it into the thing from the get go. Make it part of the design.
Don’t leave it up to me to buy a bunch of accessories so my truck can do simple truck stuff.
I don’t know why manufacturers think rotary shifters are premium. Sometimes the base model of trucks has a column shifter.
The 1″ lift of the tremor seems nice but I wonder if it can be done cheaper diy? (easily)
Since shifter are electronic now, there is no reason for a column shifter. However, I like the placement on the dash of my Ram 1500.
Dash is certainly better than center console.
A slight advantage of a column shifter is you can put other functions on the stalk, tow modes gear selection..
The bottom row of buttons under the shifter dial are, I assume, center diff lock, rear locker, hand brake’. Top middle; traction control, top right; low range, but the leaf with the race flag and snowflake puzzles me. Can someone clue me in?
It’s the mode for sporty driving in the grass during a snow storm.
It toggles between drive modes. Normal, “Sport”, Eco, low traction, & towing.
That it is actually several different modes makes sense.
thank you
Isn’t the Pao’s interior mostly metal, hard plastic and rubber?
Seems silly that the Maverick has a more delicate interior than a Pao.
Maybe it’s the Pao that needs a midgate.
Or a trailer hitch.
Ancient hard plastic and rubber that are impossible to replace in America
Sure, but you don’t need to put your metal stakes in the back seat of the Maverick.
The midgate would mean putting a wet, possibly muddy canoe partially in your interior, negating the benefits of a bed being, you know, exterior. Matt’s photo of the Yakima rack is exactly the type of solution had in mind as I was reading the previous paragraphs. However, I’m all for vehicles that cleverly shape-shift for different tasks, so fuck practically, bring it on!
Some of us don’t distinguish between interior and exterior when coating surfaces in dirt.
My wife and I pulled into the parking lot at Aldis and across from us was a Maverick. She is not a car person at all. She looks at it and says with some disgust, “What is that?”. I explain that it’s a Maverick and how it’s a unibody, car based truck, right sized, excellent economy, hybrid, blah blah. By the end of my description she was like, “I want one.”
If the maverick had a midgate, I would have bought one yesterday.
“Ford sells this Yakima Rack that seems like it would entirely get the job done… Just saying!”
That just turns the Maverick into a bigger Pao.
See, that’s what I was telling Matt!
https://www.harborfreight.com/truck-bed-extender-69650.html
a hitch mount kayak/canoe rack is like $50
But why bother when there’s already Pao?
Didn’t think of it that way. You still have to lift it quite high, which I suppose for the Torch, might be an issue. At least you have a truck bed to stand it while you lift it onto the roof though!
But Pao!
I had no idea the Baja had a mid-gate! That takes it from what I would consider a neat outback novelty, to a fairly useful thing!
It really doesn’t, it has a cargo passthrough.
But Matt! That rack would cut into fuel economy even when it’s not being used!
Speaking as an owner of a Maverick in almost the exact same configuration as the one in the article, I’d love a midgate as well. However… you might want to go and fold down the back seat to see why they didn’t go that route. They mounted a metric butt-ton of electronics and other stuff on the rear cab wall behind the seat. Including the jack and emergency kits. All that would have to find a home somewhere else, and I’d rather not give up the huge underseat storage bins.
This ‘mid gate’ thing reminds me of one of the reasons I really liked my Subaru Outback; I could put an 8′ 2×4 inside and still close the back hatch. The end would be on the front seat arm rest, but I could still shift fine (manual trans, as God intended). It was more capable than a short bed in some uses.
I mostly put bikes in the bed of my current truck (Frontier) and a Maverick would work fine for that. But we have no kids and I have no need for a real back seat. I’d rather have an ‘xtra cab’ (back jump seats) and a longer bed. It’d be nice if they could offer one in that form, but that’s a lot more complicated when it isn’t body-on-frame.
I am glad the Maverick is selling so well. I wish more companies would follow suit and bring back the small trucks. I don’t need it to tow my house off its foundation. I just want something nice to drive that I can throw muddy gear in the back of, and isn’t a nightmare in a parking lot.
The Ram 700 is a small unibody truck that comes in 2-door and 4-door configurations, so it can be done. So far, Stellantis has ignored requests to bring it to the US.
Probably due to the footprint rule. It almost certainly would have to get better MPG than the Maverick Hybrid, and Stellantis’ hybrid drivetrains are meh at best and craptastic at worst.
Wouldn’t another important “truck thing” be towing? How is the Maverick at that?
It’s not bad. 2K on the base, 4K with the right options. Also hauls a thousand pounds of gravel in the bed without breaking a sweat.
Thanks!
I hauled a 6×12 U-Haul trailer with 1600 of trash to the dump. It worked really well. Maverick is a great option for suburban warriors who secretly want a full size truck, but when they look at the prices, say “Maverick will do”. Plus it drives really nice, the only con is that the engine sounds little puny… I have the 2.0 XLT with some extras.
I wonder if anyone has done a muffler delete on a Maverick yet.
That would be ridiculous on a hybrid.
Exactly!
Good to know, thanks!
Now that I think about it, with all the tricks this truck does, it’s a surprise they didn’t put a mid-gate in it.
But the big question is, did you put the Changli in the back?
You don’t even need the Yakima. Regular cheapo racks will do just fine. Source: going canoeing a million times in my dad’s Ranger
I feel like you need to do the test of getting a load (or 10) of gravel dumped in the back, since the other tests could be done with a hatchback. We’ve done dump runs in the Bolt, hauled lumber in an A3, moved all sorts of furniture in all sorts of wagons/hatches/jeeps/etc (vans are the best, way better than trucks), but the one thing an open bed pickup can truly make a lot easier is dumping large amounts of gravel or similar in the bed from a loader.
Years ago in my first house, I got a reputation at the local landscaping supply place as the crazy fool who shoveled upwards of 20000 lbs of gravel into the back of a Jeep Cherokee. They kept telling me they could deliver, and I’d have to explain that the Jeep barely weaseled into the back yard where the gravel was going (luckily I never rolled it into the neighbor’s front yard side hilling around my garage), and that if they delivered it would be even more work to move it in a wheelbarrow instead of dumping it straight where it would go. That was the one time a truck bed would have really helped me out, but only if it was in a very small, maneuverable truck no bigger than the Jeep but with at least as much clearance so it would fit through the obstacle course into the backyard.
You mean like a Comanche?
If only finding one that’s not a pile wasn’t so hard…
Good thing pickups no larger than a Jeep Cherokee are plentiful.
A 4×4 version of the 2 door Nissan hardbody a friend used to have would have been the right size, I hear Datsun is bringing those back? lol
I move back and forth between the Maverick and the Santa Cruz.
Having had opportunities to drive both, I definitely prefer the Santa Cruz as a daily vehicle. I also think it’s more attractive, especially with the ‘25 facelift. But the Ford’s not really that far behind in handling and comfort and it is literally several thousands cheaper. Nor is it unattractive.
The Hyundai has the better warranty, stronger engine, greater payload and towing. The Maverick offers a hybrid, though not with AWD.
Both have very flexible beds with the Ford netting about two inches more length and the Santa Cruz being slightly wider.
If I bought one, neither vehicle would see anything more rugged than fire roads, two track trails, or the occasional field. I’ve driven FWD cars for more than 40 years in all weather conditions on all of these kinds of surfaces and never gotten stuck, so do I really need AWD or is it just nice to have.
The Maverick has more color choices, but the Hyundai is catching up there.
Either would be a decent choice for me, I suppose, so it basically comes down to paying for refinement with the Santa Cruz, or paying a lot less, especially if I forego AWD, for the Ford. Also watching for recalls on these as that might tip the balance.
Reading your article has added grist to the mill, so thanks for your impressions. Every little bit helps.
Personally I prefer the pre-25 facelift Santa Cruz. I’d buy a damn Santa Cruz if I could get one with a manual, or an e-CVT Hybrid variant.
Not to be That Guy but I feel as though you hauled that canoe in a Not Super Legal way, but I also don’t live where you do so I don’t know the laws.
Here you need reflective orange flags when something exceeds the length of the car to that degree.
Red or orange flags work here in WI. Something needed to be on the end of that canoe.
I believe, in NC, an object punching through your windshield is considered sufficient legal warning for oversized loads. Or maybe that’s SC.
That would be SC. As a NC resident, I was going to point out that a red flag is required for a load that extends that far back from your vehicle. Lowes, for instance, provides flags and nails to attach them to the boards your buy there for vehicles leaving the store with a load that is over legal length.
SC requires a red flag as well….i got a ticket once for not having one….SC resident here.
I was about to ask about that. Both in the North Carolina of my early elementary and, after an interval, my adolescence, and in the Not Carolina of my birth, said interval and years after moving the hell out (FYI – I wasn’t in Chapel Hill) after my junior year of high school, such a flag was required for loads that overhung the truck bed far less that the hull of the HMS Terror. My dad always tied a red shop rag to the board or whatever it was that so hung.
Jason– pertaining to Juno… We’ve had an Aussie and 3 Golden Retrievers– the current retriever being a 6 month old from the hunting bloodlines, and he’s so far been the smartest of all- we’re doomed. Smart dogs are delightful until you realize they’ve been playing you all along. The first thing Juno will do when you put up that fence is dig a great-escape style tunnel under it that you’ll never know is there until she’s disappeared into the woods.
Had an Aussie that kept escaping and I couldn’t guess how until I saw her climbing the six foot fence one day.
Saw my old neighbor’s Jack Russel terrier jump over a 6 foot fence. He jumped as high as he could (about 5 feet, straight up) then hooked his hind paws into the chain link and launched himself well over the fence. It was hilarious!
My Chihuahua mix (at a whopping 11″ tall) used to do that on a 5 ft brick wall. I don’t know how he could get his paws to grab the bricks but he did. We recently moved and now he does that on the backyard’s door which is a piece of cake as it’s made of wood and his paws hook up quite easy.
Same, but the dog was a Husky.
She also figured out how to operate the fork latch on the gate.
My girlfriend and I kept arguing about who left the gate open till one day I happened to glance out the window and catch the dog in the act. Standing on her hind legs, pushing the latch up with her nose.
No more smart dogs for me,
the dumber the better.
I have an aussie mix that just had leg surgery and has to be restricted and secluded in a room of her own for several months. I went through 4 different iterations of “that’s not going anywhere” room barricade construction before I built something she couldn’t overcome.
Have 2 dogs that liked to go on “adventures” to a empty lot next door to hunt mice, and one of them definitely has Aussie in them. However they wouldn’t come when called so we got them some of the Garmin GPS collars (without the built in shock collars) to track their whereabouts.
If they wouldn’t come when called I’d go to the lot to where they were and when they realized they couldn’t hide they got in the car.
If they crossed the highway at any point they’d get put in the car and be on inside timeout for a few days.
After the third timeout they stopped crossing the highway, and they stayed on the Rancho as there is plenty of room to run around there.
Would highly recommend the Garmin GPS collars.
Also the best behaved dog I ever had was a Short Haired Aussie Runt we got as a rescue, she grew up with a big backyard in the city next to a big park and most days she just wanted to hang out, go on car rides, etc. Very very relaxed. She never tried to escape once. She was such a sweet dog my Father who previously only ever let dogs sleep outside let her sleep in his bedroom, and she’d sleep at the foot of the bed on the floor because in the morning the duvet would end up on top of her. Now every dog my parents have gets to sleep inside in their bedroom.
The rack is the way to go. Thank you for pointing that out.
Years back my BIL and I borrowed two tin boats for a fishing thing we had organized.
We went to pick them up. Me with my GTI and roof rack and him with an older F150 from work. The boat was borderline at the limit for weight on my roof. For him it was a puzzle to make the right short bed decisions. The boat owner helped teach us the correct strategy. In the end, loading me up went quicker and easier. Also, he ended up with some new dents in the tailgate after some bumps on the road. Since we dismounted the leaky smelling old two stokes on both anyway, that was a wash. I could have put mine in the hatch, but yuck. They both went in his bed.
I have to note, the boat owner offered his trailer that could take both stacked, but did say it was a bit of a PIA to load as well and we were going pretty deep woods and didn’t want to deal with a trailer in the tight spaces.
So since I do this
everyday,every week,every month,once a year,once in a blue moon, I’m not a truck guy.Wait to order a 25′ Lariat Hybrid once the books open. Expect an updated interior with Sync-4 and wireless CarPlay/AA.
Too bad they’re not dropping in a PHEV drivetrain. I figure there’s enough room somewhere to squeeze in a battery that would -could- give the truck at least 50 miles all-battery range. To me, that’s the sweet spot.. a PHEV that has more than enough range for the average commute (30-40 miles isn’t going to be enough when you’re running a heater in the dead of winter). 50+ miles would really make sense and would encourage nightly recharging. Ideally a PHEV would have a larger electric motor than the mild hybrid they now offer – and if done right (EV one the rear axle, ICE on the front) – would be capable of AWD and have the HP and torque to get the tow rating up from the 2000 on the hybrid up to the 4000 or more on the straight ICE. I know I’m dreaming – and I can live with 2000 lbs towing on the hybrid, so that’s what we’ll order.
Yeah a PHEV would be great, even if it is only FWD. In fact we probably would have purchased one instead of the Escape PHEV. However if they were going to do it they almost certainly would stick with the same battery as used in the Escape PHEV and Corsair Grand touring. That is only rated for 37mi in the FWD Escape while only 32 on the AWD Corsair. The Maverick does have a longer wheelbase so they could probably get a larger battery in, but probably not an extra 25%.
The bigger battery pack would give a boost to ~210hp like the Escape PHEV while adding the rear motor on top of that should be good for ~266hp as in the Corsair or more that the Turbo so I do think that it should be able to do that 4k tow rating.
The big problem is that a PHEV AWD option would be pretty pricey, I’m thinking at least $7500 more than the Hybrid by my estimation. The vast majority of the parts are on the shelf and ready to go so they just need to decide to do it already.
An AWD PHEV Maverick would be a contender to dethrone the Miata as the always-answer.
Speaking from experience, you can also run your canoe from the top of the tailgate to the top/back edge of the roof. Bonus is it still leaves the bed free and accessible! Penalty is your truck may now be surprisingly tall. But I agree, any truck with 6′ of bed or less should have a midgate, IMO.
This is all the truck a person like me would realistically ever need. Seeing how well these things take mods, it would be tempting if I ever get tired of having two 7 year old German cars. A 12 second Maverick seems like a solid AF DD.
Wouldn’t a sealing frunk or one of those built in cooler-things be better for creamed sturgeon? Seems like having it out in the open would just attract seagulls and their resultant ass-gack. Maybe those cool side boxes Dodge\Ram sells.
Creamed sturgeon usually comes in a sealed barrel with a spigot. Not like an open wheelbarrow of shrimp.
Jason referenced “creamed sturgeon, unbagged” so he must be getting his unpasteurized from the Carolina’s version of the Amish.
The frunk will do in a pinch for transporting shower spaghetti though.
No, the name should make you picture Fred Ward! I’ll also accept Kevin Bacon, but ideally Fred Ward.
Dammit! I’ve been convincing my wife this is all the truck she needs… good argument. Wait… the tremor package is on all ford trucks… might backfire
It makes me picture Michael J. Fox.
Boo!
This is the correct answer. You obviously planned ahead.