1 week 1st impressions - 2025 Hybrid Maverick

phoneguyinpgh said:

Picked up my 2025 Lariat AWD Hybrid w/ 4K package 1 week ago. Here's how things are going so far. First some back story on what I have been driving. I am coming off a Jeep GC 4xe, which I loved being able to drive all week on electric. But being body on frame it's ride was very stiff and the drive systems need to have their software tweeked, kinda wonky on the braking and the throttle lag was pretty bad. Before that I had a Ridgeline which is a nice truck, but the 3.5 v6 gave less than stellar economy in the city and the infotainment system was a huge letdown. Before that was a little Cherokee with the horrid ZF 9-speed, I couldn't get rid of it fast enough. And before that was a Ram 1500. The 4xe convinced me that hybrids do work but it also made me realize that I still need to do some truck stuff every now & then. I wanted a truck that would fit in my garage. So that leaves me with either the Ridgeline, Santa Cruze or the Maverick. So how's my Mav thus far....

1. It came 2 weeks earlier than anticipated. Ordered 2/18, In production 4/12, built 4/14, shipped 4/15, picked up from dealer 5/5.
2. It's not a speed demon, but then it's not supposed to be. The regenerative breaking is going take some getting used to. If I crest a hill at 30mph the truck will slow down below 20mph going down the hill with no foot on the throttle and the hill I speak of has a pretty decent grade.
3. After getting claustrophobia in the little Cherokee I am surprised how big the cabin feels. Not like the Ram or even the Ridgeline but not stifling.
4. Also surprised at how decent the B&O sound system is. Just to let you know I am very picky about the sound of my music. The Bass is there and has decent punch and amazingly the high end isn't completely crushed like it was in the Ridgeline. But something is lacking. Even with the punch the bass has it seems to lack some fullness, The midrange is also a bit week and the upper mids/lower treble seems to be a bit shrill and the 3 band EQ can't quite seem to compensate for those. The rear pillars are frankly a joke. In-so-far-as the speakers go, the dash, front doors and rear pillars are on order and will be replaced to see if this smooths things out. The head unit read up my thumb drive pretty quickly and it even recognizes my playlists, something the Ridgeline couldn't do. The GC 4xe had a McIntosh branded system that was not as decent sounding as my Mav, but since it was a lease I wasn't going to waste money on it. With the little Cherokee all I had to do was replace the dash and rear doors & it came alive. I am hoping for the same in the Mav.
5. I have already changed out all the bulbs I can get to. A top trim shouldn't have any incandescent bulbs IMO.
6. The lack of a feel of shifting is neat, the throttle is more responsive than the 4xe and has enough guts to climb hills when asked. When I read the hybrid had a CVT in it I thought of the pully & belt ones and said 'oh geeze'. But after watching that college professor's youtube video about 10-15 times to get my brain around how the eCVT actually worked and reading that it has 1/3 the parts of a typical automatic I decided to test drive it and was impressed. That convinced me to go with the hybrid AWD. Thus far I am not regretting it.
7. When I picked up my Mav the lane keep assist was enabled and the steering felt numb and completely disconnected. Disabling the assist and leaving it to just indicate you're getting close to the line fixed that issue and now it feels rather smooth if still a bit disconnected.
8. A bit disappointed that the Lariat doesn't have an auto dimming rear view mirror, a home link garage remote or fog lights.
9. For a vehicle that is built on the same platform as the Escape you do feel like you're sitting UP in the truck even though you're not.
10. Also being like the Escape the ride is much smoother than the 4xe which felt every crack in the road. There also is not much body roll or nose plowing like the Ridgeline had.

I did check & verify that my Mav has an AGM battery and my booster pack, tie downs and tools fit nicely in the rest of the storage compartment.
I haven't had time to play with everything but I will.

And here she is......

Click to expand...

phoneguyinpgh said:

Picked up my 2025 Lariat AWD Hybrid w/ 4K package 1 week ago. Here's how things are going so far. First some back story on what I have been driving. I am coming off a Jeep GC 4xe, which I loved being able to drive all week on electric. But being body on frame it's ride was very stiff

Click to expand...

phoneguyinpgh said:

Picked up my 2025 Lariat AWD Hybrid w/ 4K package 1 week ago. Here's how things are going so far. First some back story on what I have been driving. I am coming off a Jeep GC 4xe, which I loved being able to drive all week on electric. But being body on frame it's ride was very stiff and the drive systems need to have their software tweeked, kinda wonky on the braking and the throttle lag was pretty bad. Before that I had a Ridgeline which is a nice truck, but the 3.5 v6 gave less than stellar economy in the city and the infotainment system was a huge letdown. Before that was a little Cherokee with the horrid ZF 9-speed, I couldn't get rid of it fast enough. And before that was a Ram 1500. The 4xe convinced me that hybrids do work but it also made me realize that I still need to do some truck stuff every now & then. I wanted a truck that would fit in my garage. So that leaves me with either the Ridgeline, Santa Cruze or the Maverick. So how's my Mav thus far....

1. It came 2 weeks earlier than anticipated. Ordered 2/18, In production 4/12, built 4/14, shipped 4/15, picked up from dealer 5/5.
2. It's not a speed demon, but then it's not supposed to be. The regenerative breaking is going take some getting used to. If I crest a hill at 30mph the truck will slow down below 20mph going down the hill with no foot on the throttle and the hill I speak of has a pretty decent grade.
3. After getting claustrophobia in the little Cherokee I am surprised how big the cabin feels. Not like the Ram or even the Ridgeline but not stifling.
4. Also surprised at how decent the B&O sound system is. Just to let you know I am very picky about the sound of my music. The Bass is there and has decent punch and amazingly the high end isn't completely crushed like it was in the Ridgeline. But something is lacking. Even with the punch the bass has it seems to lack some fullness, The midrange is also a bit week and the upper mids/lower treble seems to be a bit shrill and the 3 band EQ can't quite seem to compensate for those. The rear pillars are frankly a joke. In-so-far-as the speakers go, the dash, front doors and rear pillars are on order and will be replaced to see if this smooths things out. The head unit read up my thumb drive pretty quickly and it even recognizes my playlists, something the Ridgeline couldn't do. The GC 4xe had a McIntosh branded system that was not as decent sounding as my Mav, but since it was a lease I wasn't going to waste money on it. With the little Cherokee all I had to do was replace the dash and rear doors & it came alive. I am hoping for the same in the Mav.
5. I have already changed out all the bulbs I can get to. A top trim shouldn't have any incandescent bulbs IMO.
6. The lack of a feel of shifting is neat, the throttle is more responsive than the 4xe and has enough guts to climb hills when asked. When I read the hybrid had a CVT in it I thought of the pully & belt ones and said 'oh geeze'. But after watching that college professor's youtube video about 10-15 times to get my brain around how the eCVT actually worked and reading that it has 1/3 the parts of a typical automatic I decided to test drive it and was impressed. That convinced me to go with the hybrid AWD. Thus far I am not regretting it.
7. When I picked up my Mav the lane keep assist was enabled and the steering felt numb and completely disconnected. Disabling the assist and leaving it to just indicate you're getting close to the line fixed that issue and now it feels rather smooth if still a bit disconnected.
8. A bit disappointed that the Lariat doesn't have an auto dimming rear view mirror, a home link garage remote or fog lights.
9. For a vehicle that is built on the same platform as the Escape you do feel like you're sitting UP in the truck even though you're not.
10. Also being like the Escape the ride is much smoother than the 4xe which felt every crack in the road. There also is not much body roll or nose plowing like the Ridgeline had.

I did check & verify that my Mav has an AGM battery and my booster pack, tie downs and tools fit nicely in the rest of the storage compartment.
I haven't had time to play with everything but I will.

And here she is......

Click to expand...

Mark’s Mav said:

If you want less regenerative braking going down hills, switch to normal mode instead of eco. Not much difference in mpg. Slippery mode has even less.

Click to expand...

phoneguyinpgh said:

Picked up my 2025 Lariat AWD Hybrid w/ 4K package 1 week ago. Here's how things are going so far. First some back story on what I have been driving. I am coming off a Jeep GC 4xe, which I loved being able to drive all week on electric. But being body on frame it's ride was very stiff and the drive systems need to have their software tweeked, kinda wonky on the braking and the throttle lag was pretty bad. Before that I had a Ridgeline which is a nice truck, but the 3.5 v6 gave less than stellar economy in the city and the infotainment system was a huge letdown. Before that was a little Cherokee with the horrid ZF 9-speed, I couldn't get rid of it fast enough. And before that was a Ram 1500. The 4xe convinced me that hybrids do work but it also made me realize that I still need to do some truck stuff every now & then. I wanted a truck that would fit in my garage. So that leaves me with either the Ridgeline, Santa Cruze or the Maverick. So how's my Mav thus far....

1. It came 2 weeks earlier than anticipated. Ordered 2/18, In production 4/12, built 4/14, shipped 4/15, picked up from dealer 5/5.
2. It's not a speed demon, but then it's not supposed to be. The regenerative breaking is going take some getting used to. If I crest a hill at 30mph the truck will slow down below 20mph going down the hill with no foot on the throttle and the hill I speak of has a pretty decent grade.
3. After getting claustrophobia in the little Cherokee I am surprised how big the cabin feels. Not like the Ram or even the Ridgeline but not stifling.
4. Also surprised at how decent the B&O sound system is. Just to let you know I am very picky about the sound of my music. The Bass is there and has decent punch and amazingly the high end isn't completely crushed like it was in the Ridgeline. But something is lacking. Even with the punch the bass has it seems to lack some fullness, The midrange is also a bit week and the upper mids/lower treble seems to be a bit shrill and the 3 band EQ can't quite seem to compensate for those. The rear pillars are frankly a joke. In-so-far-as the speakers go, the dash, front doors and rear pillars are on order and will be replaced to see if this smooths things out. The head unit read up my thumb drive pretty quickly and it even recognizes my playlists, something the Ridgeline couldn't do. The GC 4xe had a McIntosh branded system that was not as decent sounding as my Mav, but since it was a lease I wasn't going to waste money on it. With the little Cherokee all I had to do was replace the dash and rear doors & it came alive. I am hoping for the same in the Mav.
5. I have already changed out all the bulbs I can get to. A top trim shouldn't have any incandescent bulbs IMO.
6. The lack of a feel of shifting is neat, the throttle is more responsive than the 4xe and has enough guts to climb hills when asked. When I read the hybrid had a CVT in it I thought of the pully & belt ones and said 'oh geeze'. But after watching that college professor's youtube video about 10-15 times to get my brain around how the eCVT actually worked and reading that it has 1/3 the parts of a typical automatic I decided to test drive it and was impressed. That convinced me to go with the hybrid AWD. Thus far I am not regretting it.
7. When I picked up my Mav the lane keep assist was enabled and the steering felt numb and completely disconnected. Disabling the assist and leaving it to just indicate you're getting close to the line fixed that issue and now it feels rather smooth if still a bit disconnected.
8. A bit disappointed that the Lariat doesn't have an auto dimming rear view mirror, a home link garage remote or fog lights.
9. For a vehicle that is built on the same platform as the Escape you do feel like you're sitting UP in the truck even though you're not.
10. Also being like the Escape the ride is much smoother than the 4xe which felt every crack in the road. There also is not much body roll or nose plowing like the Ridgeline had.

I did check & verify that my Mav has an AGM battery and my booster pack, tie downs and tools fit nicely in the rest of the storage compartment.
I haven't had time to play with everything but I will.

And here she is......

Click to expand...

MavStangVa said:

I am not generally a fan of the 25MY front end. But your pictures for some reason it looks really good.

Click to expand...

MavStangVa said:

I am not generally a fan of the 25MY front end. But your pictures for some reason it looks really good.

Click to expand...