"I Bought The Wrong Truck – Ford Maverick EcoBoost vs Hybrid" (by Engineering Explained)

[808Goose!]

I have used Jason Fenske's Engineering Explained videos for the transmission and electronics courses I taught before retiring a few years ago. I found them to be quite accurate for operational theory and easy to understand for my students with information and details not present in the newest of textbooks so I was quite happy when he bought his Mav last year. Smart guys make smart purchases. Unlike the so many, no, too many totally dumbass internet and television broke-chanic type unskilled personalities helping novices break their cars by showing how to do assumptive repairs the wrong way leading to future parts failures or worse, Jason teaches how vehicle systems really work which is step 1 to understanding what may actually be wrong with it instead of relying on a best guess, most frequently changed parts list on the internet and using a 5 lb sledgehammer as a handy dandy do everything removal tool. Now, this video is a mike drop moment for us with his expression of satisfaction and love for his and our real McCoy, bonafide truck.

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[ice445]

I think the ecoboost is a nice powertrain package. The hybrid makes more sense for most though

 

[gsglassm]

I love my LOBO wouldn't change a thing.

 

[Suzukiridr14]

Highway driving isn't that different. But city and suburban driving is soooo much better that it only takes a relatively small amount to make the hybrid worth it if fuel economy is the priority.

You are right about how much gas you save by driving a hybrid locally. No one realizes how much local driving they do, compared to highway driving. It's the short trips with the eCVT never starts the gas engine, and my mpg goes into the 50's.

 

[Ryom]

You are right about how much gas you save by driving a hybrid locally. No one realizes how much local driving they do, compared to highway driving. It's the short trips with the eCVT never starts the gas engine, and my mpg goes into the 50's.

People that drive on congested freeways also benefit greatly from the Hybrid. Stop and go traffic kills EB fuel economy, especially if the A-S/S is disabled.

 

[Dave O]

I love getting back home from short trips and find I have more miles left to empty than before I left lol

 

[zorki1c]

Description:

"My name is Jason Fenske, and I have a problem. I buy the wrong cars! I bought a Tesla Model 3 Midrange, a '24 GR Corolla, and a Lucid Air that’s had… many problems. But my Ford Maverick takes the cake, because here’s what I said when I bought it, just a few months before Ford made a major announcement: “Now this is not the hybrid, I waited a couple of years before buying a Maverick because I was desperately hoping for either an AWD hybrid, or a plug-in variant, but it doesn’t seem we’ll get either.”

Yeah... I published a video about buying my Ford Maverick in May 2024, and in July 2024, two months later, they announced the Hybrid AWD variant. Incredible. For basically the past two years, I thought... dang, I bought the wrong truck. Here's the story of how things played out, after finally getting my hands on the new Hybrid AWD Maverick."

Got the EB and glad of it

 

[imboden013]

I’ve been following MTC for some time and reading the eco vs hybrid. So I decided to compare my former 22 ecoboost AWD to my 25 hybrid AWD. 22 eco AWD 33mpg. 25 hybrid AWD 40mpg and I’ve concluded that I’ll never save enough in fuel costs at $3 a gallon to pay for the extra cost of the 25 just being a hybrid. Hybrid is $1500 + $50 year extra per year for car tags. I would have to drive the hybrid close to 150,000 miles. And more likely closer to 200,000 miles as gas is usually around $2.50 a gallon.

 

[HeyBales]

I’ve been following MTC for some time and reading the eco vs hybrid. So I decided to compare my former 22 ecoboost AWD to my 25 hybrid AWD. 22 eco AWD 33mpg. 25 hybrid AWD 40mpg and I’ve concluded that I’ll never save enough in fuel costs at $3 a gallon to pay for the extra cost of the 25 just being a hybrid. Hybrid is $1500 + $50 year extra per year for car tags. I would have to drive the hybrid close to 150,000 miles. And more likely closer to 200,000 miles as gas is usually around $2.50 a gallon.

Yep - I'm glad he threw that comment in there.
Would have been nice if he expanded the costs like you just did - because some have an even higher tag/registration charge for EV's.

My math at time of purchase was just over 3 yrs breakeven for my avg annual mileage.
But I didn't include the better highway I get than prior Rav4, the eCVT allows.
Also couldn't include worse than estimated city due to lack of hills. Just by a midge though.
Or if tax on EV increases, which it hasn't yet.
Or if gas goes down. Ha!

 

[imboden013]

Yep - I'm glad he threw that comment in there.
Would have been nice if he expanded the costs like you just did - because some have an even higher tag/registration charge for EV's.

My math at time of purchase was just over 3 yrs breakeven for my avg annual mileage.
But I didn't include the better highway I get than prior Rav4, the eCVT allows.
Also couldn't include worse than estimated city due to lack of hills. Just by a midge though.
Or if tax on EV increases, which it hasn't yet.
Or if gas goes down. Ha!

I included the $50 a year extra for tags as Arkansas charges extra for hybrid, even more for plug in hybrid and more yet for EV autos. I started to include the extra $45 per oil change my local dealer charges for hybrids full synthetic oil change on hybrid. But decided not as ford recommends the same full synthetic oil change, however my local dealer does blend oil change on the ecoboost. Plus on my eco I changed oil every 5,000 miles compared to 7,500 on my hybrid so that cost is a wash. You probably drive more than I do(15,000- 20,000 miles)as I’m retired so no more work miles.

 

[shark978]

with gas prices this low the hybrid is completely unjustifiable imo given its less reliable and less performance, not even to mention higher registration costs i didnt know about, and thousands to replace that battery which is a matter of when, not if, if you keep the car anyway (for compare i drive a 08 ice)

people dont make any sense, like the people that recycle even though the fact is recycling is typically a waste of resources. it gets sent to china and increasingly they dont want it. but karens just insist on recycling because it feels good. not acceptable.

so yes the hybrid does not make sense, but many will choose it anyway. i knew a guy who would drive all out of his way to save a couple cents a gallon on gas i told him dude, youre saving 2 bucks a fillup, it's not worth your time and hassle. he said "every little bit helps" lmao

 

[Darryl]

People that drive on congested freeways also benefit greatly from the Hybrid. Stop and go traffic kills EB fuel economy, especially if the A-S/S is disabled.

I hadn't even thought of that. But you're correct. For example. If you took a trip along I-75 from Tampa Florida to Chattanooga Tennessee, You'd spend enough time in Atlanta traffic to significantly benefit from the improved fuel economy of the hybrid in that situation especially if caught in rush hour traffic in Atlanta.

 

[Ryom]

...given its less reliable and less performance...

Facts not in evidence.

The most prevalent issue hybrid owners have is with 12v battery drain, which is annoying but very simple to fix (replace battery with AGM... ideally under warranty) or mitigate (use a battery tender). The hybrid powerplant has been noted as a simpler and more robust overall design than the 2.0L turbo with standard automatic transmission. The eCVT is a pretty bullet-proof transmission, the 2.5L Duratec is pretty bulletproof with years of real world use backing that up, the hybrid battery is warrantied for 10 years and we've seen other actively cooled hybrid vehicles have their batteries last 15-20 years before replacement.

Performance is relative... we can talk fuel economy performance and the hybrid wins... there are a LOT of fleet vehicles that do nothing but in-town runs that benefit greatly here. 0-60 performance is nice, but If I had a desperate need for incredible 0-60 times, I'd probably not get ANY Maverick. The hybrid is no slouch when you want it to move, not really a lot to complain about when it comes to peformance... it'll merge and climb just fine, better than most even. Both power-plants are rated for similar payload and tow performance.

If a hybrid doesn't suit you, nobody is going to force one on you. They make A LOT of sense for A LOT of people however. Making dramatic proclamations about how unreliable and unperformant they are is a disservice to a great vehicle.

Spoiler: Just for shark978

 

[Darryl]

Facts not in evidence.

The most prevalent issue hybrid owners have is with 12v battery drain, which is annoying but very simple to fix (replace battery with AGM... ideally under warranty) or mitigate (use a battery tender). The hybrid powerplant has been noted as a simpler and more robust overall design than the 2.0L turbo with standard automatic transmission. The eCVT is a pretty bullet-proof transmission, the 2.5L Duratec is pretty bulletproof with years of real world use backing that up, the hybrid battery is warrantied for 10 years and we've seen other actively cooled hybrid vehicles have their batteries last 15-20 years before replacement.

Performance is relative... we can talk fuel economy performance and the hybrid wins... there are a LOT of fleet vehicles that do nothing but in-town runs that benefit greatly here. 0-60 performance is nice, but If I had a desperate need for incredible 0-60 times, I'd probably not get ANY Maverick. The hybrid is no slouch when you want it to move, not really a lot to complain about when it comes to peformance... it'll merge and climb just fine, better than most even. Both power-plants are rated for similar payload and tow performance.

If a hybrid doesn't suit you, nobody is going to force on on you. They make A LOT of sense for A LOT of people however. Making dramatic proclamations about how unreliable and unperformant they are is a disservice to a great vehicle.

Spoiler: Just for shark978

Well stated. Not to mention the fact that even with the somewhat common battery drain issues, the best majority of hybrid Mavericks have no issue at all. And most that do are either corrected by the air condition control module update or made to where it never shows up once a proper AGM battery is installed.. if the battery drain issues is taken care of, the hybrid then becomes actually the more reliable of the two powertrains. And that's saying a lot given the fact that the EcoBoost Maverick with its 8-speed automatic is very reliable in itself.

 

[ice445]

Facts not in evidence.

The most prevalent issue hybrid owners have is with 12v battery drain, which is annoying but very simple to fix (replace battery with AGM... ideally under warranty) or mitigate (use a battery tender). The hybrid powerplant has been noted as a simpler and more robust overall design than the 2.0L turbo with standard automatic transmission. The eCVT is a pretty bullet-proof transmission, the 2.5L Duratec is pretty bulletproof with years of real world use backing that up, the hybrid battery is warrantied for 10 years and we've seen other actively cooled hybrid vehicles have their batteries last 15-20 years before replacement.

Performance is relative... we can talk fuel economy performance and the hybrid wins... there are a LOT of fleet vehicles that do nothing but in-town runs that benefit greatly here. 0-60 performance is nice, but If I had a desperate need for incredible 0-60 times, I'd probably not get ANY Maverick. The hybrid is no slouch when you want it to move, not really a lot to complain about when it comes to peformance... it'll merge and climb just fine, better than most even. Both power-plants are rated for similar payload and tow performance.

If a hybrid doesn't suit you, nobody is going to force on on you. They make A LOT of sense for A LOT of people however. Making dramatic proclamations about how unreliable and unperformant they are is a disservice to a great vehicle.

Spoiler: Just for shark978

People are oddly focused on the rather useless 0-60 metric on a commuter vehicle, IMO. With both EB models there's a lot of torque management that goes on off the line that really reduces the potential advantage there. The hybrid can just ask for the best gear ratio and sit the engine at high RPM until you're done accelerating which really closes the gap in that metric.

Where the EB's power advantage is noticeable is in passing power. Any sort of rolling start and it won't be close. I miss my 6 speed coyote when it comes to actual performance, but the EB never really leaves me disappointed either. Always feels like it has enough or a little bit more than needed power for any normal situation.

Again though, I really wanted the Tremor which doesn't have any other option. For the majority of people the hybrid will make more sense. It really maximizes the small truck benefits to the extreme.

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