Motortrend Maverick Vs. Santa Cruz review : "Who knew small trucks could be this exciting?"

[710-oil-614]

Yep, even better, a base model face off would be great.

I bet you'll see a base model comparison once the hybrids are more available. Maybe not from MT but one of the bigger publications will do it.

Also - don't be surprised to see a lower priced special edition from Santa Cruz if the Mav keeps killing it with the XL (although sales data tends to show people are not just buying XL).

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[EriktheBikeMan]

Yeah exactly. It's just a little weird. What tipped me off was the part about adding an aftermarket brake controller to the Mav to help out. If they had a Mav with the 4K tow package it comes with an integrated brake controller.

If their truck didn't have that then the official tow rating for the Mav is 2000 pounds so no wonder it got "Bossed around" by their trailer......they were trying to tow 1000 MORE pounds then what their truck was rated for. lol

Glad I wasn't the only one who noticed that haha

 

[TucsonFrontier82]

They clearly tried to tow 3000 lb with a vehicle rated at only 2000 lb. Embarrassing stuff. Automotive journalists are some of the worst.

 

[rlhdweman]

Don't know how they got a 0-60 time of 7.0 secs. I've seen video 0-60 of 6.3 secs for the XLT with tow package, another video of 6.4 secs and a video of 6.5 secs. But the last was done on 87 octane fuel. The Santa Cruz has more power but the heavier weight and bigger wheels and wider tires make them close in performance.

You never know how some of these magazines test a vehicle. 20 years ago I owned a car that M/T tested doing a 15.8-1/4, when I took mine to the track is ran 15.1-15.2 all day in stock form, every so often they also get one that doesn't run its best. They could have also ran it in ECO mode, that article doesn't really go into that detail.

 

[JASmith]

They clearly tried to tow 3000 lb with a vehicle rated at only 2000 lb. Embarrassing stuff. Automotive journalists are some of the worst.

Are we sure, it seemed fully loaded:

Our orange truck wasn't that cheap, being significantly pricier at $38,895

And in their 87 photos they took during the shoot, it looks like it has a trailer brake controller:

Oddly though you can't even see the hitch on the Maverick, it has a cover over it that I didn't realize existed:

But speaking of hitches, it is kind of embarrassing how the Maverick has a nice integrated normal height hitch, but the Santa Cruz its totally an afterthought with one that pokes out from underneath the truck and hurts departure angles and looks aftermarket:

That muffler is also an eyesore, and I'd either replace it with a straight pipe on the turbo (has two other mufflers), or on naturally aspirated pull it off and give it a flat black paint job before reinstalling.

 

[TucsonFrontier82]

Are we sure, it seemed fully loaded:

And in their 87 photos they took during the shoot, it looks like it has a trailer brake controller:

Oddly though you can't even see the hitch on the Maverick, it has a cover over it that I didn't realize existed:

But speaking of hitches, it is kind of embarrassing how the Maverick has a nice integrated normal height hitch, but the Santa Cruz its totally an afterthought with one that pokes out from underneath the truck and hurts departure angles and looks aftermarket:

That muffler is also an eyesore, and I'd either replace it with a straight pipe on the turbo (has two other mufflers), or on naturally aspirated pull it off and give it a flat black paint job before reinstalling.

Maybe the article was just poorly worded. They seemed to imply that the test vehicle lacked a brake controller.

 

[JASmith]

Maybe the article was just poorly worded. They seemed to imply that the test vehicle lacked a brake controller.

Yeah, they do straight up pretty much say it doesn't have one:

The Ford was less confident pulling the same 3,000 pound load, but it still managed fairly well. The trailer seemed to boss the truck around a little bit, but an aftermarket trailer brake controller might help prevent some of that sensation. We wouldn't hesitate to tow with the Ford again, although we might keep to smaller loads without a controller.

If one of the two lacked a controller, it should have been the Santa Cruz.

It looks like the new trend with youtube hiding dislikes and more journalists either highly censoring or removing the ability to even comment on their articles, that nobody can even point out the error on their platform.

I used to get more useful and unbiased info from the comment section of an article than the actual article, lol! And remember this is their jobs, they get paid for this, just goes to show its not what you know but who you know to get a platform.

 

[vezpa]

All these outlets are acting like the wheel was just invented. Many of us have known how great and useful small trucks have been all along. we just didn't really have any to choose from over the last few years.

.

 

[JASmith]

All these outlets are acting like the wheel was just invented. Many of us have known how great and useful small trucks have been all along. we just didn't really have any to choose from over the last few years.

Ford offered a pretty reasonable excuse in the past for why they cancelled the Ranger.

Economy of scale means that if they just make a whole bunch of one type of truck, they can reduce costs, and the American consumer traditionally would pay more for a larger truck than a smaller one.

So if you have two trucks that are otherwise identical (same gauge cluster and seats and powertrain), but one truck is say 25% bigger than the other, Americans wouldn't pay the same amount for the smaller truck and mentally calculate that smaller equals less and if you get less you should pay less.

Problem is, making a smaller truck doesn't really cost that much less, as crash safety means that often the smaller vehicle still uses a good amount of material just packaged more compactly, and the little bit less material the shrunken down version uses isn't that expensive compared to most of the money that goes into R&D and assembly and marketing and what not.

So a truck 70% the size of an F-150 has to cost about 90% of what the F-150 does, and that calculation wasn't a huge hit with consumers at the time, who would rather just take a base model of the bigger truck if they wanted it 10% cheaper.

I think part of the renewed interest in smaller trucks again has to do with the fact that gas prices have increased approximately 50% from this time last year. So a 15mpg fullsize pickup is looking less attractive to a lot of people. People are a lot like frogs and water temperature fable when it comes to gas prices IMO. If the change is very slow, just like the frog they don't really notice much, but if you change the price or water temp very quickly you get a shock factor and response.

 

[Mav2Scamp]

I'm not sure how you get a non-FE Lariat MSRP at nearly $39K without the 4K tow package?

Something is fishy here....

That’s is so true, my Maverick came in a $1000 cheaper and has the Lariat Lux, 4K towing and a hard roll up tonneau cover

 

[Nw_adventure]

Yeah exactly. It's just a little weird. What tipped me off was the part about adding an aftermarket brake controller to the Mav to help out. If they had a Mav with the 4K tow package it comes with an integrated brake controller.

If their truck didn't have that then the official tow rating for the Mav is 2000 pounds so no wonder it got "Bossed around" by their trailer......they were trying to tow 1000 MORE pounds then what their truck was rated for. lol

I get the bossed around reference for a truck with a small 4 cylinder engine towing 3k - wondering which specific feature of the 4k package would help the Mav from getting bossed around ? Final drive and TB controller would make a little difference just not sure that would be a night/day kind of change -

 

[dalola]

I get the bossed around reference for a truck with a small 4 cylinder engine towing 3k - wondering which specific feature of the 4k package would help the Mav from getting bossed around ? Final drive and TB controller would make a little difference just not sure that would be a night/day kind of change -

I think it's just the typical poor journalism that is MT. Most of their reviews are factually challenged & full of inconsistencies.

 

[Goose..you there?]

At this point in history, it's safe to assume a lot of journalists either a) don't know WTF they are talking about or b) simply make stuff up for convenience's sake.

Say it louder for the people in the back!!

 

[mamboman777]

Maverick, FTW.

"We really do like the Santa Cruz, but the Maverick offers everything the Hyundai does, only at a substantially lower price. That, and it fizzes with enough character to brim the hold of an oil tanker. The Maverick is more fun, more truckish, more thoroughly conceived, and truly a revelation in packaging. We all want one. No, not another loaner—we want one to own. There's a Maverick for everyone, and if there isn't the perfect configuration available yet, stick around—there's no doubt a whole heap of variants headed down the pipe. Maverick Mania is here, and we couldn't be happier about it."

 

[es7129]

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