Car&Driver - January 22 Maverick Review Summary

[WesM]

I'm going out on a limb and am going to say that the difference in ride is going to be negligable between AWD and FWD... if it is tuned for off road I think it would make more of a difference. Just AWD vs FWD should be pretty darn close. Handling would be different.. in just normal driving I think you would be hard pressed to tell apart if you did not know which version you were in. ( I guess normal driving may vary from person to person... I drive much different in my Maverick than the WRX I had that hit 60 in under 5 seconds and cornered like a scalded cat on rails. )

It could be any combination of things thats making the ride quality difference in AWD vs FWD models. I wonder if the shocks are tuned stiffer on the AWD models to handle the higher load (additional 200-300ish lbs total over the 2wd models) in the back. Obviously the AWD setup has a completely different rear from the FWD Mavericks, so I'm guessing that is playing a role in this too.

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[JASmith]

Just AWD vs FWD should be pretty darn close.

If we were just talking about the tires getting power, but remember FWD and AWD Maverick's get a totally different rear suspension, not a single part is shared.

FWD is a twist beam rear axle, whereas AWD is a fully independent double-wishbone. In theory the latter should be the better smoother one, but the twist beam one with its fancy force vectoring springs may be sprung rather softly if they figure that's the on-road only non-sporty option where they lean more to the comfort side.

Wish I had contacts to get into car reviews, I think I'd do a more thorough job, but then again I'd probably immediately get black listed for being too honest and no manufacturers would ever put me on the list for press vehicles, lol!