First Time Snow Storm Performance Review (AWD Maverick in Wisconsin) 👍

[Paulyz]

I’ve owned my Maverick for a month, since December 8th. 1,200 miles, so far no regrets. Here in Wisconsin we’ve seen about 1/2” of snow since the middle of November.

Until today, when we were hammered with 8+ inches in my area. With temps hovering around 28-33 degrees, it was/is a slush-fest.

Prior to my Maverick I owned an ‘01 Silverado 4x4, ‘99 Civic “Si” with a B-Series engine, and a ‘17 VW GTI in that order. The Silverado was good in snow. Just needed common sense. The Civic was a summer car, but saw snow once and tried un-aliving me at 20mph. The GTI was good even with a stiff suspension but the car had a lot of torque so it was easy to break loose.

I got to drive the Maverick in the shitstorm we got this morning, and I was expecting it to be good, but not this good. I could not make the truck break free in the ice slush for the life of me. It just chugged right through and never broke a sweat. I tried “Slippery” mode and it was even better. Just for S&G, I tried Sport mode with Traction Control off and let Jesus take the wheel…

But it soldiered right through and I never once felt like I was in jeopardy of losing control.

to be fair, my test drive never saw speeds more than 45mph. But regardless, I am more than impressed. The tires are new, but they’re the Pirelli Scorpions. I’ve heard less than favorable things about them, but if the truck continues to perform like this I have 0 concerns about getting to where I need to be.

11/10, would drive in a storm for a good time. At this point I think I’m more worried about the road salt than I am about kissing a pole.

I have an Ecoboost XLT AWD & a few days ago I was with granddaughter teaching her to drive. We used a Hyundai Santa Fe & I had her do doughnuts, spin out, hit brakes hard etc. Great practice. Then I came back to this wide open parking lot with my Maverick. Did same thing, doughnuts etc. in Normal mode. Pretty good, but then I put it in slippery mode & was fantastic! Mode wouldn't barely let me do doughnuts as it corrected itself.
p. s. I had many trucks before & I was looking at midsize 4x4 trucks until the Maverick came along. What really sold me was a crew cab truck, capable with AWD! Plus great mpg & power. I also have the Towing Package so this truck is perfect for me.

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[Mojoh]

I’ve owned my Maverick for a month, since December 8th. 1,200 miles, so far no regrets. Here in Wisconsin we’ve seen about 1/2” of snow since the middle of November.

Until today, when we were hammered with 8+ inches in my area. With temps hovering around 28-33 degrees, it was/is a slush-fest.

Prior to my Maverick I owned an ‘01 Silverado 4x4, ‘99 Civic “Si” with a B-Series engine, and a ‘17 VW GTI in that order. The Silverado was good in snow. Just needed common sense. The Civic was a summer car, but saw snow once and tried un-aliving me at 20mph. The GTI was good even with a stiff suspension but the car had a lot of torque so it was easy to break loose.

I got to drive the Maverick in the shitstorm we got this morning, and I was expecting it to be good, but not this good. I could not make the truck break free in the ice slush for the life of me. It just chugged right through and never broke a sweat. I tried “Slippery” mode and it was even better. Just for S&G, I tried Sport mode with Traction Control off and let Jesus take the wheel…

But it soldiered right through and I never once felt like I was in jeopardy of losing control.

to be fair, my test drive never saw speeds more than 45mph. But regardless, I am more than impressed. The tires are new, but they’re the Pirelli Scorpions. I’ve heard less than favorable things about them, but if the truck continues to perform like this I have 0 concerns about getting to where I need to be.

11/10, would drive in a storm for a good time. At this point I think I’m more worried about the road salt than I am about kissing a pole.

Did the same first real snow test here. Hiway modest snow pack/light slush,. AWD XLT, Michelin Ice and snows. Like dry pavement. up to 60. Such a good thing!

 

[VicRattlehead]

Anyone with FWD had the snow test yet? Here in the Indianapolis area we have hovered in the mid 30's when the moisture was descending so rain but very little snow so far.
BTW, we did FWD because that is all we have had in the past in snow; 85 Cavalier in the Kansas City area, in the Minneapolis area and here a Jeep Patriot, then Honda CRV here, and always did fine, so now the Mav.

I did the other night. It was fine except previously mentioned headlight getting snow covered. I did catch a rut that wanted to pull the truck right when I was trying to go left but it eventually went how I wanted. Overall I didn’t have any issues.

 

[VicRattlehead]

Always wondered how LED headlights would handle a heavy snow. I guess i will look into the custom brackets and yellow halogen lights for fog.

how it looked when I got home.

 

[Turbo_LS_Ranger]

Fwd hybrid on contis. Also in Wisconsin

The tires are not good in the snow and that was expected. Driving in the city anytime I took off from a dead stop in electric mode it will instantly spin regardless of throttle input. Country roads at about 50mph 3-4 inches of kinda slushy snow it will pull from one set of tire tracks to another.


As expected the Maverick is no comparison for my 09 4wd Silverado. I still like the Mav but the tires are worse than anticipated and the bar was really low. Gotta order some snow tires and rims.

 

[ryde4ever]

Anyone with FWD had the snow test yet? Here in the Indianapolis area we have hovered in the mid 30's when the moisture was descending so rain but very little snow so far.
BTW, we did FWD because that is all we have had in the past in snow; 85 Cavalier in the Kansas City area, in the Minneapolis area and here a Jeep Patriot, then Honda CRV here, and always did fine, so now the Mav.

I am in the Indy area too. My FWD XLT is scheduled for the week of 1/15. I am also curious about how the FWD will handle snow.

 

[Ozarkbeard]

I have a Hyundai with crazy bright lights. I found what helps the most, at least during the day, is donning my polarized sunglasses. It helps to cut though that.

Get you a pair of yellow polarized sunglasses for night driving. They really help cut headlight glare from your headlights during rain, fog & snow. They also significantly reduce glare from other vehicles' LED lamps, in all kinds of night time weather.

Walmart sporting goods has them - usually in the fishing equipment. Also at Amazon & eBay.

 

[Ozarkbeard]

FWD hybrid on contis. Also in Wisconsin

The tires are not good in the snow and that was expected. Driving in the city anytime I took off from a dead stop in electric mode it will instantly spin regardless of throttle input. Country roads at about 50mph 3-4 inches of kinda slushy snow it will pull from one set of tire tracks to another.

Did you use Slippery Mode? That seems to help a lot on takeoff. Of course, nothing will make up for not having proper tires.

 

[LSchicago]

We had like an inch or two of Heavy wet snow in Chicago, but it was slippery. Truck didn't really spin the tires much, but felt the ABS kick in a few times. Hybrid is doing good with snows. Real snow coming Friday.

 

[Johnny maverick]

We got 14" in spots here on Monday. I installed new 245 65 17 All terrains on my xlt fx4. I've had mine for 20 months 2 winters. The pirelli tires it had sucked. Stopping it was all anti lock. Now it plows snow with the bumper.

 

[Johnny maverick]

Thing goes great in the snow

 

[Andrew Wood]

Anyone with FWD had the snow test yet? Here in the Indianapolis area we have hovered in the mid 30's when the moisture was descending so rain but very little snow so far.
BTW, we did FWD because that is all we have had in the past in snow; 85 Cavalier in the Kansas City area, in the Minneapolis area and here a Jeep Patriot, then Honda CRV here, and always did fine, so now the Mav.

On Monday I drove from KC to St. Louis in driving snow. 2023 XLT hybrid, original tires. The highway was slushy, speeds about 50. I felt the snow ridges on the road. There were many cars off the road. I felt confident all the way.

 

[tom_tucker]

On Monday I drove from KC to St. Louis in driving snow. 2023 XLT hybrid, original tires. The highway was slushy, speeds about 50. I felt the snow ridges on the road. There were many cars off the road. I felt confident all the way.

Sounds pretty good. I've only tried with snow tires. Maybe it gains 10 mph. At 60 mph, I was easily passing all cars. Doesn't track as well as AWD drive though. Gotta remember slippery mode and keep 2 hands on the wheel for tracking corrections. Less active beer drinking too.

 

[bdaniel230]

I’ve owned my Maverick for a month, since December 8th. 1,200 miles, so far no regrets. Here in Wisconsin we’ve seen about 1/2” of snow since the middle of November.

Until today, when we were hammered with 8+ inches in my area. With temps hovering around 28-33 degrees, it was/is a slush-fest.

Prior to my Maverick I owned an ‘01 Silverado 4x4, ‘99 Civic “Si” with a B-Series engine, and a ‘17 VW GTI in that order. The Silverado was good in snow. Just needed common sense. The Civic was a summer car, but saw snow once and tried un-aliving me at 20mph. The GTI was good even with a stiff suspension but the car had a lot of torque so it was easy to break loose.

I got to drive the Maverick in the shitstorm we got this morning, and I was expecting it to be good, but not this good. I could not make the truck break free in the ice slush for the life of me. It just chugged right through and never broke a sweat. I tried “Slippery” mode and it was even better. Just for S&G, I tried Sport mode with Traction Control off and let Jesus take the wheel…

But it soldiered right through and I never once felt like I was in jeopardy of losing control.

to be fair, my test drive never saw speeds more than 45mph. But regardless, I am more than impressed. The tires are new, but they’re the Pirelli Scorpions. I’ve heard less than favorable things about them, but if the truck continues to perform like this I have 0 concerns about getting to where I need to be.

11/10, would drive in a storm for a good time. At this point I think I’m more worried about the road salt than I am about kissing a pole.

I drove from Madison to Boise in May and hit a blizzard in Wyoming, dumped a foot, and I had my Continental ProContacts on. Never broke loose with or without traction control on the freeway at 75. I was as impressed as you with the way the Maverick took the snow and slush. Only problem I had was when the slush between lanes was more than 8" deep at highway speeds it wanted to balk and jump the slush. Other than that is was tremendous.

 

[stoptothink]

We got DUMPED on last night here in Utah. Visited the in-laws for like 2hrs, went to leave and our car was covered in 2ft. of fresh powder. In-laws begged us to spend the night (really). We decided to drive home and made it fine, cruising at like 20mph the entire 40 miles home. Good thing we were in our VW jetta (with blizzaks), we have a FWD hybrid and the stock Continentals are not great in the snow. The Maverick is our summer car.

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