Rival Santa Cruz to be cancelled

[Cherokee]

I actually liked the Transit Connect, especially the 2nd gen. But I honestly NEVER saw an advertisement for them. But the passenger version reminded me of the original minivan with the ability to haul 7-8 people in a small package. But I don't think people were even aware they existed. I'd buy one tomorrow if I remotely needed something that could haul 7 people.

Yep I stumbled on mine. In the back lot at Brandon Ford. It was a year old, 21,000 miles XLT long wheelbase with the 2.5 Liter 4 banger. No turbo, same 4 cylinder that was in the old Rangers for years, only bored out a bit.

Something like 175 HP but wouldn’t get out of its own way, 22 mpg city, 26 hwy. I swore off naturally aspirated 4 bangers after that.
It was my mountain bike hauler. I gutted the seats out, I could sleep in it with my bike and my dog.
Trouble free.

I got hit by lightening at 80 mph on the Florida turn pike.
It reminded me of the Mr. Potato head toy.
Gauges went everywhere, wipers died, everything died. I went dead stick at 80 mph,
Hurt like hell. Only thing that survived was the marker lights and the dome lights.
$8,000 in repairs. Insurance gave me a choice of total out or repair. I kept it. Drove it to 125,000 when the tranny hick up’ed. Traded it on my 2021 BS.

FWIW the rubber tires do not save you in a car. It’s the metal skin of the vehicle that routs/shunts the strike around you.

4 inches of rubber ha! With steel belts inside hahaha. I cannot understand why so many think that.

It takes 25,000 volts at 1 amp to jump across One Inch of free space.
Bolts start on the ground or tree or horse or car and go how high up ? Think about that.

I had a BB size exit hole in the paint on the rear left top corner of the roof and the rear left shock was blown to pieces with an entrance burn mark on the bottom of the shock bolt. It looked hand polished.

The van, It was lighter handling than most mini cans. :’P

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[Art Vandelay]

Last year I was busy painting. My wife was going up to the grocery store. It was hot out, my truck was in the garage, her Escape was sitting outside in 98°. I asked my wife, if she wanted to take my truck. She said, no.
When I asked her why she didn't like driving it. She said it wasn't because she didn't like driving it. Her reply was, she didn't like lifting the "heavy" tailgate.
She said, the lift hatch on her Escape was easier to pull down and close then it was trying to lift and close the tailgate on the Maverick.

Couldn't she have just put the groceries in the back seat of the Maverick? Sorry, that's all I could think of as I was reading that.

 

[babytruk]

Couldn't she have just put the groceries in the back seat of the Maverick? Sorry, that's all I could think of as I was reading that.

My wife is short. The heavier groceries go on the floor when she does the groceries, light bags on the seat. She also understands ice cream melts in the bed when it’s hot outside. I just don’t think your lady appreciates the Maverick and all it’s awesomeness. 🛻

 

[Glen Baker LLC]

My wife is short. The heavier groceries go on the floor when she does the groceries, light bags on the seat. She also understands ice cream melts in the bed when it’s hot outside. I just don’t think your lady appreciates the Maverick and all it’s awesomeness. 🛻

Convenience
My 65-year-old wife isn't exactly short she's 5'5". The 28.1" bed height of her Escape suits better than the Mavericks 32-in High bed along with Not having to lean over the tailgate.
The SUV is about convenience.

These pictures were we're taken with me standing in the loading position for each vehicle as you can see the Escape is much lower than the bed of the Maverick.
For me being 6 ft you can see the height difference from the two vehicles it makes a difference if you're only 5 and 1/2 ft tall.
We're talking convenience.
My 65-year-old wife finds that with the aid of gravity closing the liftgate on her Escape is a lot easier than trying to lift the tailgate on the Maverick with gravity working against it.

John, We live in the Mojave Desert
My wife is not a dummy, she also understands that ice cream melts in the bed of the truck.
Her Escape has air conditioning throughout the whole enclosed area. No need to worry about what bags go where.

 

[Glen Baker LLC]

Couldn't she have just put the groceries in the back seat of the Maverick? Sorry, that's all I could think of as I was reading that.

Remember the name of the game is convenience
Because of the dog bed, the available room in the cab of my truck is limited, especially the backseat.
Who in the hell wants to run around opening car doors in order to get stuff out of different areas of the cab. With an SUV you open the LIFTGATE and it's all right there.
This is what I could fit in the back of her Escape. Width is 41.5 in

Same amount of bags and my wife's 2016 Ford Escape and no tailgate to have lean over.

Only 12 lb to pull the liftgate down.
For some reason it's easier to pull down 12 lbs. with gravity. Than lifting 15 lbs. against gravity. I guess it's physics.

This would be the amount in the backseat. Remember convenience we're talking about one door or hatch to open to remove your items.

 

[Manollo3]

My wife has her own Maverick so at least one woman likes it. LOL

After major issues with my wife's XT4 Cadillac she was driving my 25'XL Hybrid for about three weeks and fell in love with it. So here we go a week later, and we have two Mav's at home.

 

[babytruk]

John, We live in the Mojave Desert
My wife is not a dummy, she also understands that ice cream melts in the bed of the truck.
Her Escape has air conditioning throughout the whole enclosed area. No need to worry about what bags go where.

Your wife is definitely no dummy. After all She has great taste in men
I wish my wife gave “me” more time with the Mav. We keep her old Prius in FL and the back hatch area has no
ductwork and a lot of glass. I’d much rather have an Escape parked there.

 

[Glen Baker LLC]

Your wife is definitely no dummy. After all She has great taste in men
I wish my wife gave “me” more time with the Mav. We keep her old Prius in FL and the back hatch area has no
ductwork and a lot of glass. I’d much rather have an Escape parked there.

Here is a video of the reasons my wife does not like a pickup truck versus an SUV
Number one is closing the tailgate and the weight.
Number two is having to load grocery bags across the open tailgate and dragging them out across the tailgate Gap.

No such inconveniences with her Escape.
Even I find grocery shopping much more convenient with her Escape.
The video below
is uncut, unedited and is NOT *AI produced.
Because the scale did not show in the light I took a separate picture of it on the tailgate.
*as some have accused me of doing.

 

[Darryl]

Yep I stumbled on mine. In the back lot at Brandon Ford. It was a year old, 21,000 miles XLT long wheelbase with the 2.5 Liter 4 banger. No turbo, same 4 cylinder that was in the old Rangers for years, only bored out a bit.

Something like 175 HP but wouldn’t get out of its own way, 22 mpg city, 26 hwy. I swore off naturally aspirated 4 bangers after that.
It was my mountain bike hauler. I gutted the seats out, I could sleep in it with my bike and my dog.
Trouble free.

I got hit by lightening at 80 mph on the Florida turn pike.
It reminded me of the Mr. Potato head toy.
Gauges went everywhere, wipers died, everything died. I went dead stick at 80 mph,
Hurt like hell. Only thing that survived was the marker lights and the dome lights.
$8,000 in repairs. Insurance gave me a choice of total out or repair. I kept it. Drove it to 125,000 when the tranny hick up’ed. Traded it on my 2021 BS.

FWIW the rubber tires do not save you in a car. It’s the metal skin of the vehicle that routs/shunts the strike around you.

4 inches of rubber ha! With steel belts inside hahaha. I cannot understand why so many think that.

It takes 25,000 volts at 1 amp to jump across One Inch of free space.
Bolts start on the ground or tree or horse or car and go how high up ? Think about that.

I had a BB size exit hole in the paint on the rear left top corner of the roof and the rear left shock was blown to pieces with an entrance burn mark on the bottom of the shock bolt. It looked hand polished.

The van, It was lighter handling than most mini cans. :’P

Yeah . The fact that the car is a better conductor of electricity than you is what saves you. Imagine if you were the path the lightning used to arc to ground.
I also wonder if people realize that tires are steel belted?
Interesting note. We had a customer with a 1988 Tempo that was struck by lightning. Fortunately the main electronics were the PCM and radio. As for the tire, one of them was used as the path to ground. The lighting blew out one tire.

 

[Ecorydr]

Just a quick testimonial from a (new-to-this-forum user) recent Hyundai owner to a '26 Mav Lariat Hybrid (on order).

Drove a '23 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid SEL for 3yrs. Never a mechanical problem, great loaded features for the price point, comfortable stylish and sporty... which is all the good news. Now for the not so good.. the proclaimed 10yr warranty is a good selling tool, but, not always honored even when using Hyundai service for life of vehicle. Another issue is when they do honor it, qualified dealer mechanics are hit and mostly miss. Lots of replace one thing at a time process of elimination theory while the customer chocks up lots of out of service time. Not to mention, regional Hyundai tech reps also struggle with diagnosing issues. And from the many testimonials (mind it the ones who have beefs of course, but hey information is gold) doesnt pertain to only HEV owners. The ICE only customers also mentioned lots of mechanical/warranty issues too. Anything from coolant leaking into the exhaust, clogged injectors, failed ICE and ICE/EV GDI motors, and various unsolved electrical demons (perasitic drain, lost settings, app issues, etc).

Lots of those with issues kept meticulous maint and records, followed the severe svc maint rules regardless of use, and still... Infact, there was a belief that ROK made vehicles were perferred due to most claiming their USA mades were having problems. BTW, mine was a ROK import.

So, why I would trade a great Hyundai vehicle experience for a new (unkown) Mav Hybrid, even with all the known Mav growing pains.... well its simple. It might be made in Mexico, but, its in this hemisphere with a majority of owners being Americans, and a company owned and headquartered in the USA. Beyond a few testimonials by Ford customers that dealers only wanting to work on their own customers sales, a lesser warranty period, and a few flys in the model developement ointment, my money is now on a domestic producer of hybrids thats needing a reputation more than a promised warranty to continue to sell cars. Plus, Ive owned 12 different new Fords since early 80's and none, with proper maint, havent let me down.... yet.

 

[kevink]

Just found out today that my sister and BiL bought their first new truck. Went with the Santa Cruz Limited. So I guess I'll get to see how it rides compared to my Maverick. Due to lack of interest by the staff at the local dealership 15 months ago, I never got around to test driving the SC.

I'll have to find out what pushed them toward spending the extra money for the SC. The more premium interior? The higher performance?

 

[babytruk]

Just found out today that my sister and BiL bought their first new truck. Went with the Santa Cruz Limited. So I guess I'll get to see how it rides compared to my Maverick. Due to lack of interest by the staff at the local dealership 15 months ago, I never got around to test driving the SC.

I'll have to find out what pushed them toward spending the extra money for the SC. The more premium interior? The higher performance?

Maybe the prices for a discontinued vehicle have come down?

 

[kevink]

I'll have to grill them. I suspect they wanted the less truck like look, an a more premium interior.

If I could have bought my old F-150 back, it would have been good enough for occasional use. So it wasn't as important to get a premium interior for me at this time.

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