Finally got my 2025+Lariat+Hybrid+AWD, first thoughts and impressions:

[gzebrick]

. But if you have to do an emergency maneuver and swerve around a girl named becky whose texting while blasting down the road at 120kph in her 5000lbs suburbinator,

That's very funny

I share your same initial concerns. Been looking at a Mav since 2 years ago to be my company car replacement / retirement vehicle. I held off waiting for the hybrid with AWD and 4K tow happy meal and glad I did. I now have a 25 Lariat on order hybrid 4K tow.

We went with desert sand since I think it nearly matches the truffle color in the interior. Not a fan of the navy blue but agree it clashes with the shiny eruption green. Really thought we'd go with green but decided against it (prefer less glossy olive green or better yet, British Racing Green with a tan leather interior).

We just sold off my wife's electric Bolt EUV. Great car but she's no longer driving and would have been redundant with the truck, seeing that the hybrid gets exceptional city MPG. Maybe in a few years we'll add a cheap EV back into the stable but I may just hold out for a next-gen eREV *(maybe trade in the 25' Mav one day for a 29' eREV variant? That way we'd have the best of both worlds - EV efficiency for local drives and gas for longer trips. DC fast charging isn't where it needs to be in the deep south so going pure EV for road trips isn't for me).

Thanks for the write up! Can't wait to pick up ours (from Granger) in March/April

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[JohnnyBravo]

I have a velocity blue lariat (hybrid) in production right now......what color is that blue(at least it looks blue)? I like that color.

 

[FreedomPenguin]

I have a velocity blue lariat (hybrid) in production right now......what color is that blue(at least it looks blue)? I like that color.

Azure
495 upcharge due to Tri coat

I love Johnny bravo.

 

[JohnnyBravo]

I have a velocity blue lariat (hybrid) in production right now......what color is that blue(at least it looks blue)? I like that color.

I see its actually azure gray

 

[commadorebob]

I've been amazed by increase in quality people have mentioned. The next generation Maverick in a few years might be enough for me to upgrade Bruce.

 

[FreedomPenguin]

I've been amazed by increase in quality people have mentioned. The next generation Maverick in a few years might be enough for me to upgrade Bruce.

As a first time will be owner I wouldn’t know the difference, it is interesting to read the comments from all gen 1 owners to 25 and losing $$$ but still being happy with the overall quality improvements.

 

[Klay]

"I went with the BAP and I'm glad I did because the interior feels much more cohesive and mature and less like a mcdonalds funhouse."

YES! My thoughts exactly, and the same reason I went with BAP even though I don't like the black stripes, roof, or wheels. Thank you for that excellent, detailed write-up. I have many of the same concerns, and it's great to see them addressed. Mine is supposedly being built right now!

 

[gzebrick]

DId you get the extended warranty from Ford? I'm pretty sure I'm going with the 10 yr / 100K / 0 deduct with the lighting option. Usually steer away from any extended warranties, but there's so much tech on the Lariat and freaking LED headlights can cost $1000 to replace!

 

[JacobEleventeen]

I see its actually azure gray

The azure gray is interesting it changes from shades of blue to grey depending on light. I think thats in part due to the multi coat. My original order had it but then I switched back to grey to save a little since i forked over a bunch for the BAP.

 

[Husker Mav]

I ordered almost the same vehicle, except without the BAP. Yesterday we saw a Bronco parked and my wife said, “I sure hope that’s Azure Gray, cuz I love that color”! It’s like having a pickup that changes colors. Gray on cloudy days and blue on sunny days.

 

[Onlysnapon]

Great to hear! I have a 21 Bronco Sport that I wasn't sure if I would like but it has been a great little vehicle. I am 6'3" and it is plenty comfortable and roomy (not great behind me) but people still fit. Pretty stoked about getting my Lariat AWD as well. Still waiting but I really enjoyed reading the positive review!! THANKS!

 

[Maverick2023]

I'm really glad I did as much reading on this thing as I did. There are so many polar opposite opinions around this truck and I was nervous I'd hate mine. From QC issues to poor fit/finish, cheap interior, recall this recall that, the AWD isn't good offroad, "it's a 20,000$ vehicle and you're paying 40k for it" etc etc. I went in expecting the worst. For preface I test drove a few 2024s, an XLT and a lariat ecoboost before ordering my 2025 so I wasn't going in completely blind, but a 10 minute test only says so much. And to be completely honest the test drives with the 2024 were fine, but I wasn't really blown away by it at all.

Well I got my 2025 in a few days ago and finally did my first long-ish drive in it (Over 3 hours), and call it a honeymoon phase but man I'm loving this thing more and more each time I drive it. It's like the opposite of buyers remorse. The ride quality is way better than I expected, the new larger screen looks amazing, I'm geeking out over all the tech in it. For reference, I'm coming from driving a 2016 Hyundai with 200,000 kms on it, and a 2015 scion with 100k on it, so it's not exactly an apples to apples comparison, but it just feels really solid and well put together. Much more than I was expecting especially from what I was reading online. I wouldn't call it luxurious by any means but it does exactly what I need it to do. It really is the vehicle for the practically minded. I went with the BAP and I'm glad I did because the interior feels much more cohesive and mature and less like a mcdonalds funhouse. Obviously the materials are exactly the same but it gives off a more premium vibe than the "$20,000msrp" the truck was originally built for. This is completely subjective but the azure grey paint really blends well with the navy/black interior. I've seen a few photos/videos of the emerald green, and as much as I love that color, I kind of wish they did something for the interior because it clashes pretty bad with the navy IMO.

Regarding the tech, I get more and more nervous about companies relying heavily on electronics and software, because it feels like as it gets more complicated, it gets more problematic. But so far I haven't encountered a single issue with it. Wireless car play and wireless android auto work flawlessly, the fordpass app has never had a problem, I even put the fordpass app on my smartwatch and even that works great. The backup cam doesn't freeze on me. The adaptive cruise works perfectly; although when coming to a complete stop it's a bit too aggressive on the brakes and makes me nervous. I think I'll just leave it for cruising on backroads and highways. I'm in Ontario canada, and the roads are caked with salt right now which makes the lines almost impossible to see in some spots. Despite that the lane keep assist did a fantastic job keeping me centered even with the poor conditions. The 360 camera has already saved my bacon parking in between lines, especially when learning the size of a new vehicle.

I'm not sure what they changed with the B&O system if at all, but man does it sound incredible. I was not expecting that from A: what I was reading online, and B: what I heard in the 2024 lariat that I test drove. Maybe the dealership was just in a bad area for the radio to work, but the first thing I noticed when I turned my 2025 on for the first time was how good it sounds.

When talking MPGs, take this with a grain of salt because I'm still learning how to optimize it and my conditions are currently rated as piss poor. As the title states, I have the AWD hybrid. I mostly drive back roads, which switches into Toronto driving about 3/4 of the way through. I have EV coach on, and I'm generally pretty good about optimizing fuel efficiency on my vehicles. The temperature has been pretty cold, -10c, I'm on winter tires with steelies, and the psi is set to 38-39. I have the heated seats on, I'm remote starting it for about 10 mins before driving off. Basically how a normal person would use it without trying to hypermile it. Despite that, I'm getting about 6.3l/100km or 37mpg combined on my first trip. To be honest I wasn't expecting it to be that good right off the bat, especially with the cold weather, and when I'm still learning how to feather the throttle and stay in EV mode as much as possible. I'm sure with more practice, better weather and not using steelies with winter tires, I'd see that improve quite a bit.

Driving Dynamics: One downside to driving small vehicles for my entire life is that cargo storage is abysmal. On the flip side, they tend to handle pretty well. I have a scion frs I take to the track, and it's kitted out with high end coilovers, wide sticky tires, aggressive brakes, and one of the lowest COG from a production car in recent years. I have a very narrow and skewed idea in my head of what makes a vehicle "fun" to drive. But despite that the mav impressed me quite a bit, and way more than what I was expecting. I've driven f150s in the past for work, and one of the many reasons I didn't opt for a ranger or f150 is because I hate the way they drive. You just feel like it never stops moving with the body on frame. The suspension combined with the massive sidewalls feels like it never stops jiggling. The back end feels like there's no response at all, and the front wheels feel like they're gonna roll over if you take a corner too fast. The maverick doesn't do any of that. The multilink rear suspension makes the back end stick to the ground like glue, and even with winter tires, the front end was plenty communicative. with the unibody chassis, it deals with bumps immediately with no drama or "jiggling" afterwards, and very little to no body roll.

The back end didn't have nearly as much "floatyness" as I was expecting from a "truck" while considering the lack of weight over the rear wheels. Maybe the battery helps with the weight distribution, I'm not sure. Would I take it on a track? absolutely not. But if you have to do an emergency maneuver and swerve around a girl named becky whose texting while blasting down the road at 120kph in her 5000lbs suburbinator, you can be sure it's going to do so really well. Or if you come into some fun roads on a road trip you can actually enjoy them a little bit without worrying about understeering off a cliff. As for the ride quality, the dampers and spring rates are a touch harsher than I was expecting, but if that's the tradeoff for being able to tow 4k lbs I'm all for it. It's not unreasonable by any means and soaks up bumps really well. I think most new vehicles go for this "overdampened" feel because it feels "new" but sacrifices ride quality. I imagine when the dampers are worn out a bit and toned down it'll ride really well.

A few negative topics I see floating around are the price increase, the touchscreen hvac controls and the front end refresh. These three issues specifically were a bit concerning for me, because they were very valid criticisms. And not to sound like a ford shill here, but I honestly think the price hikes were fair. They've added a ton of extra things into the baseline mavs, they fixed and improved some significant things like the transmission in the hybrids, and for better or worse they brough more tech to the lower trim levels. People keep harping on the original $20,000 msrp, but realistically nobody was getting them for 20k. That was just a marketing stunt to get people in the door so the dealer could slap them with a 7k upcharge. As for the HVAC controls on the screen, at first I hated the idea. I'm a button guy through and through. After living with it for a couple days, I actually don't mind it and here's why: Both my car and my wife's are old. we plan on keeping the mav until it's old as well. The oil in our fingers has eroded the buttons in our car to the point where it looks like ass. Especially things you touch often like the volume control and climate control.

And I get mechanical switches are easier to fix, but your modern mechanical switches just send an electric signal to the motors anyways. My opinion now is that putting the controls on the screen just makes it easier to keep looking new, and takes away a point of failure. and because they're visible at all times and not buried under software menus, it's much less of an issue than I was originally thinking. Regarding the front end refresh, It's definitely grown on me. At first it almost made me keep my 2024 order, but now it's to the point where I don't mind it. This is subjective but the led strip around the edge of the headlight in the lariat model is what I imagine the designers had in mind for the refresh. There's still a few angles I think are weird when looking at it, but it's definitely grown on me.

All in all, the new maverick truly feels like this is a passion project from ford rather than another generic appliance thrown on the line. It seems like they genuinely took the criticism from the previous models, and while bringing it to a higher price point, they also included a ton of cool features that put it more in line with what other manufactures are offering from crossover-esque vehicles.

got mine for below invoice and under 19k when it was originally advertised. So yeah some of us early birds got that sweet unicorn deal some years ago.

 

[rmacbeth]

Great writeup! Velocity Blue/BAP Hybrid/AWD Lariat with Moonroof (job2). I was debating on the Azure Grey, but the dealer didn't have a car with that color, just a color sheet, and it didn't look like your photo; it was more gray than blue. The reason the sound is better is that the Lariats have a subwoofer behind the middle of the back seat. You can see it by pulling back the back seat. Mine will be built starting Feb 17. Can't wait to get mine. I have been driving a 2015 Ford Fusion Hybrid it has 245K so far and still gets 36-38MPG. Love driving it.

 

[Area51FM]

Thanks for the detailed review. I wasn’t sure how I’d like my 2025 Maverick XLT hybrid AWD after owning F150 4x4’s for decades. I picked up my Maverick 31 Dec 2024. Overall, so far I’m happy. Of course it’s way, way to new to see what’s to come. So far my one complaint is the very noisy cab. I find the road noise quite loud. Of course it rides lower than my F150’s with a smaller wheelbase, but I was not expecting this. If anyone else is experiencing this please let us know. Again, overall I am happy.Very good MPG so far too.

I'm not sure what you are driving, but I drove a 25 Lariat Maverick today and I couldn't believe how comfortable and quiet it was. It was an ecoboost. I owned a 22 Mav XLT with the FX4 and tow package and the new 25 has improved over it quite a bit. I'll be ordering mine soon

 

[Area51FM]

1

DId you get the extended warranty from Ford? I'm pretty sure I'm going with the 10 yr / 100K / 0 deduct with the lighting option. Usually steer away from any extended warranties, but there's so much tech on the Lariat and freaking LED headlights can cost $1000 to replace!

How much extra is that warranty?

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