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I’m going to start this review with some brief biographical information then move on to some initial impressions of the truck.
I spent about ½ my working career in aerospace as a Quality Assurance person. Aerospace QA involves a lot of computer-driven measurements (3-axis Coordinate Measuring Machines or CMMs) and I was also the geek that other QA folks came to for computer advice. The second half of my working career was at Microsoft, an easy transition for me since I was a computer geek since the earliest days of personal computing and had decades of experience programming CMMs. I’m also an audiophile with a huge and eclectic music collection and some high-performance audio gear. I include these biographical details not as a “get-to-know-ya” but rather to give forum readers some context to the comments on my new Maverick that follow. I’m optimizing this review on speed not editorial perfection. I want to capture my initial (“blink”) impressions as a new owner before my analytical geek brain has time to chew on those 1st impressions.
I picked up my AWD Lariat Hybrid in Azure Grey today at Evergreen Ford in Issaquah, WA and drove it into downtown Seattle in rush hour then onto a Washington State Ferry for the trip across Puget Sound to my home on the Olympic Peninsula. The drive downtown was bumper-to-bumper traffic and then about 25 miles of “ferry traffic” stop-n-go congestion after exiting the ferry on Bainbridge Island. The final 25 miles home was at 55-60 mph on US-101 following the coastline over rolling hills. That trip netted about 39.5 mpg according to the truck’s computer. (Sadly I shut off the truck before thinking about snapping a pic of that screen with the run time, percentage of electric miles etc.)
My very first impression of the truck was the fit-and finish was remarkably good for a vehicle at this price point. The gaps between doors and door sills and between various body panels were parallel and even throughout the truck. The doors closed with the sound more like a Lexus or Toyota than a cheap truck. The black and blue interior looked good with none of the carnival funhouse look I’ve seen in other Mavs without the Black Package. I found only one small blemish on the dashboard. My educated guess is that tiny cosmetic damage happened prior to installation of the dash panel in Hermosillo. I'd bet the average buyer without a QA inspector's eye would not have seen it.
The ride home was very comfortable and I had no trouble accommodating my 6 ft-2 inch frame in the cab with several inches of headroom to the sunroof. I was surprised to be able to run 60mph with the sunroof open since the sunroof wind deflector was remarkably well designed and executed. But I kicked the bottom of the drivers’ door with my size 14s and scuffed the door sill, see pics.
I was impressed with the handling, finding it secure and precise. I took many of the traffic circles on the route home at hooligan speeds, solely to assess the truck’s ability to handle harsh right-left-right transitions. (that’s my story and I am sticking to it) I found no noticeable body roll during the chicane-like maneuvers through the traffic circles. It’s definitely the best handling pickup I’ve owned, and I’ve owned a lot of pickups (Toyota, Ram, GMC, Chevy, Ford). That bodes well for the truck's ability to swerve abruptly and safely, for example to avoid an in-lane road hazard then returning quickly to centered in the lane. Those maneuvers are just what Consumer Reports uses to test rollover potential on vehicles since abrupt right-left-right steering inputs can lift a wheel if done at speed. My wife following in her Highlander was not so impressed with my driving claiming that I went through the traffic circles at “stupid speed”. All in the name of science dear!
Braking impressed me too. I experienced none of the “grabbiness” other forum members have mentioned. The brake pedal was easy to modulate for smooth stops. I was impressed with the “braking coach” feedback and my inner software geek was impressed with the software “nudges” towards braking techniques for maximizing regeneration. Each time I received the “100% regeneration” message I thought “Wow, I’m doing great, keep up the good work” which is exactly what software “nudges” are intended to do. Good on ya, you Ford software geeks!
During the ferry ride I measured the receiver hitch to ground distance so I can get the right ball mount to tow my new-to-me Airstream Bambi (16ft ball-to-bumper, ~450 pounds hitch wt, 3500 GVW). By the time I had measured and recorded the distance I had three unrelated people asking me questions on the truck. The Azure Grey is a chick magnet! I believe what I have read about Ford selling a lot of Mavs to women who have never owned truck before buying their Mav.
I spent the rest of the ferry ride contemplating the “racing stripe” decals on the hood. Initially ambivalent about removing them, I had just come to the decision to lose them ASAP when my wife (who drove onboard in another car) found me. She gently fondled the decals and said “I just love these stripes”. So the racing stripe decals will stay. Happy wife, Happy life!
Said 5ft-7 inch wife did a “test sit” in the seat behind the driver when I had the driver’s seat adjusted to my liking. Her Royal Highness reported adequate legroom and headroom and a very comfortable seating position. While I don’t anticipate regular rear seat occupants, people of my wife’s stature should be fine in the back should the need arise.
I’ve never owned a hybrid before but have driven quite a few as rentals. I was delighted at how smooth the ICE-electric and electric-ICE transitions were. Much smoother than a new Toyota RAV4 Hybrid I test drove, much smoother than the Prius shuttles I used to ride in on Microsoft campuses and way smoother than any rental hybrids I’d driven.
The B&O stereo that comes with the Lariat is the best sounding factory stereo I’ve ever tested. Sound was crystal-clear and undistorted even when driven at unhealthy volumes. I have the upgraded B&O stereo in my ’24 F250 Lariat as well and I think the Mav might even sound a bit better than the purported same stereo in the larger F-250. Maybe the acoustics in the smaller truck are better? Maybe the engine-sound-deadening kit in the big diesel dampens some of the stereo’s sound?
I was listening to Sturgill Simpson’s track “Life Ain’t Fair and the World is Mean”, a demanding track to reproduce since it includes super-low string bass notes, crashing high-hat cymbal notes, snarling guitar and great deal of dynamic range between the quiet notes and loud notes. I was particularly impressed with the gradual decay of the low bass notes since their decay from quite loud to inaudible is very hard for a stereo to reproduce accurately. I also played Wilco’s “Impossible Germany” since the twin lead guitar harmonies are also a challenge to reproduce properly. The passage beginning at about 2:45 and running to the end at 5:58 is astonishingly demanding on stereo gear making it one of my standard test tracks. I was so impressed I just had to hear it again!
To those who read this far, my sincere thanks for staying with its randomness. And those that we lost were casualties of my high speed, low drag approach to getting this posted rather than perfect!
I spent about ½ my working career in aerospace as a Quality Assurance person. Aerospace QA involves a lot of computer-driven measurements (3-axis Coordinate Measuring Machines or CMMs) and I was also the geek that other QA folks came to for computer advice. The second half of my working career was at Microsoft, an easy transition for me since I was a computer geek since the earliest days of personal computing and had decades of experience programming CMMs. I’m also an audiophile with a huge and eclectic music collection and some high-performance audio gear. I include these biographical details not as a “get-to-know-ya” but rather to give forum readers some context to the comments on my new Maverick that follow. I’m optimizing this review on speed not editorial perfection. I want to capture my initial (“blink”) impressions as a new owner before my analytical geek brain has time to chew on those 1st impressions.
I picked up my AWD Lariat Hybrid in Azure Grey today at Evergreen Ford in Issaquah, WA and drove it into downtown Seattle in rush hour then onto a Washington State Ferry for the trip across Puget Sound to my home on the Olympic Peninsula. The drive downtown was bumper-to-bumper traffic and then about 25 miles of “ferry traffic” stop-n-go congestion after exiting the ferry on Bainbridge Island. The final 25 miles home was at 55-60 mph on US-101 following the coastline over rolling hills. That trip netted about 39.5 mpg according to the truck’s computer. (Sadly I shut off the truck before thinking about snapping a pic of that screen with the run time, percentage of electric miles etc.)
My very first impression of the truck was the fit-and finish was remarkably good for a vehicle at this price point. The gaps between doors and door sills and between various body panels were parallel and even throughout the truck. The doors closed with the sound more like a Lexus or Toyota than a cheap truck. The black and blue interior looked good with none of the carnival funhouse look I’ve seen in other Mavs without the Black Package. I found only one small blemish on the dashboard. My educated guess is that tiny cosmetic damage happened prior to installation of the dash panel in Hermosillo. I'd bet the average buyer without a QA inspector's eye would not have seen it.
The ride home was very comfortable and I had no trouble accommodating my 6 ft-2 inch frame in the cab with several inches of headroom to the sunroof. I was surprised to be able to run 60mph with the sunroof open since the sunroof wind deflector was remarkably well designed and executed. But I kicked the bottom of the drivers’ door with my size 14s and scuffed the door sill, see pics.
I was impressed with the handling, finding it secure and precise. I took many of the traffic circles on the route home at hooligan speeds, solely to assess the truck’s ability to handle harsh right-left-right transitions. (that’s my story and I am sticking to it) I found no noticeable body roll during the chicane-like maneuvers through the traffic circles. It’s definitely the best handling pickup I’ve owned, and I’ve owned a lot of pickups (Toyota, Ram, GMC, Chevy, Ford). That bodes well for the truck's ability to swerve abruptly and safely, for example to avoid an in-lane road hazard then returning quickly to centered in the lane. Those maneuvers are just what Consumer Reports uses to test rollover potential on vehicles since abrupt right-left-right steering inputs can lift a wheel if done at speed. My wife following in her Highlander was not so impressed with my driving claiming that I went through the traffic circles at “stupid speed”. All in the name of science dear!
Braking impressed me too. I experienced none of the “grabbiness” other forum members have mentioned. The brake pedal was easy to modulate for smooth stops. I was impressed with the “braking coach” feedback and my inner software geek was impressed with the software “nudges” towards braking techniques for maximizing regeneration. Each time I received the “100% regeneration” message I thought “Wow, I’m doing great, keep up the good work” which is exactly what software “nudges” are intended to do. Good on ya, you Ford software geeks!
During the ferry ride I measured the receiver hitch to ground distance so I can get the right ball mount to tow my new-to-me Airstream Bambi (16ft ball-to-bumper, ~450 pounds hitch wt, 3500 GVW). By the time I had measured and recorded the distance I had three unrelated people asking me questions on the truck. The Azure Grey is a chick magnet! I believe what I have read about Ford selling a lot of Mavs to women who have never owned truck before buying their Mav.
I spent the rest of the ferry ride contemplating the “racing stripe” decals on the hood. Initially ambivalent about removing them, I had just come to the decision to lose them ASAP when my wife (who drove onboard in another car) found me. She gently fondled the decals and said “I just love these stripes”. So the racing stripe decals will stay. Happy wife, Happy life!
Said 5ft-7 inch wife did a “test sit” in the seat behind the driver when I had the driver’s seat adjusted to my liking. Her Royal Highness reported adequate legroom and headroom and a very comfortable seating position. While I don’t anticipate regular rear seat occupants, people of my wife’s stature should be fine in the back should the need arise.
I’ve never owned a hybrid before but have driven quite a few as rentals. I was delighted at how smooth the ICE-electric and electric-ICE transitions were. Much smoother than a new Toyota RAV4 Hybrid I test drove, much smoother than the Prius shuttles I used to ride in on Microsoft campuses and way smoother than any rental hybrids I’d driven.
The B&O stereo that comes with the Lariat is the best sounding factory stereo I’ve ever tested. Sound was crystal-clear and undistorted even when driven at unhealthy volumes. I have the upgraded B&O stereo in my ’24 F250 Lariat as well and I think the Mav might even sound a bit better than the purported same stereo in the larger F-250. Maybe the acoustics in the smaller truck are better? Maybe the engine-sound-deadening kit in the big diesel dampens some of the stereo’s sound?
I was listening to Sturgill Simpson’s track “Life Ain’t Fair and the World is Mean”, a demanding track to reproduce since it includes super-low string bass notes, crashing high-hat cymbal notes, snarling guitar and great deal of dynamic range between the quiet notes and loud notes. I was particularly impressed with the gradual decay of the low bass notes since their decay from quite loud to inaudible is very hard for a stereo to reproduce accurately. I also played Wilco’s “Impossible Germany” since the twin lead guitar harmonies are also a challenge to reproduce properly. The passage beginning at about 2:45 and running to the end at 5:58 is astonishingly demanding on stereo gear making it one of my standard test tracks. I was so impressed I just had to hear it again!
To those who read this far, my sincere thanks for staying with its randomness. And those that we lost were casualties of my high speed, low drag approach to getting this posted rather than perfect!
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