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Dr. Evil

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It's pushing 230AM here at the underground lair and I'm currently enjoying another "mojo", so forgive me if I inevitably overlook something. Obviously, I consider this a rough draft :p

So here's my story -- I "reserved" a Maverick on the Ford website back in early June. As part of that process I selected the Ford dealer I wanted to purchase the truck from. The "internet guy" at the dealer contacted me via email the next day. I called him and asked if there was anything else I needed to do. He told me no, that I was all set. Fast forward to early September, and I discovered this was not the case. I had not actually ordered a Maverick and to do so would require a refundable $500 deposit. By this time I was working with a salesperson who was incredibly competent and product knowledgeable so I had great confidence in him and we formally placed the order with my deposit on September 5. I wasn't too thrilled about the delay this would mean for my delivery, but it is what it is.

I ordered a Lariat hybrid with basically every factory-installed option except the moonroof and it priced out at around $32,500. Of course I wasn't totally ready to commit to something I had only seen on the Ford website without first seeing and driving the thing. A couple of weeks ago in early October, the dealer received their first Maverick and I couldn't get there fast enough to check it out. As I expected based on reporting on this forum I knew it would be a 2.0, not a hybrid, and it was. As luck would have it, it was a Lariat though, so I could see what the interior was all about.

I was able to spend considerable time with this Maverick over three different days. I am an extremely picky guy who checks out every little detail, so not much got past me. For example, it was equipped with Michelin tires, always the best in my book, and the treadwear rating was 500 which tells me I'll probably get 50,000 to 60,000 miles out of these tires, which ain't bad. Now, starting with an exterior walk around, let me give you my impressions. First and foremost, the fit and finish was superb -- easily the equal of what comes out of Japan and Germany. I was impressed. Crawling underneath, to verify issues not spelled out at that time on the website specs, I confirmed that it had independent rear suspension. I was also quite surprised to see that the factory trailer hitch was welded, not bolted on. I wasn't expecting that. The fuel tank is firmly nestled between the rear axle and the back of the cab for maximum safety. That's pretty much common these days, as all manufacturers have learned the lessons that Ford learned the hard way with the Pinto back in the early 70's. Continuing underneath, I observed that the inner fenders were not the typical hard molded plastic, but a thin, soft sort of felt material. I could easily move them out of their position and they just didn't seem very durable or long lasting. A hard plastic shield did cover the front drive train, protecting it from the elements.

Not withstanding the above, the general build quality throughout was impressive. Crawling out from underneath and regaining a foothold, as previously noted the body construction was not just excellent, but robust as well. The Maverick is built to last. Moving to the interior, the first surprise was the Lariat Desert Brown interior. Having studied the photos on the Ford website in some detail, I was expecting the brown seating surfaces to be accented with black. Boy was I wrong. The rest of the seating as well as all of the door panel and dashboard trim is not black at all (as I had thought from the website pictures) but a gorgeous deep navy blue, which enhanced the richness of the interior immensely. I will be curious to see if the XLT and XL share that blue on the dash and door panels, since that would presumably save Ford the cost of producing those parts in multiple colors. My overall impression of this Lariat interior was what I was expecting and hoping for -- pretty damn elegant. The one disappointment was the door panels. Ford chose a a kind weird design that just isn't very attractive. The Bronco Sport, which is really an SUV version of the same vehicle (more on that in a minute) has more conventional interior door panels which I find much more attractive, while still utilizing the same power windows, door lock and mirrors switching.

The seating comfort was good, at least until I sat in an Edge on the showroom. Going from an Edge to the Maverick was like going from first class to economy. To make matters worse, I'm a guy who needs to have the driver seat moved all the way back in most cars since most of my height is in my legs. This also requires the seat height to be raised so that I don't sit too low. That didn't work out optimally in the Maverick. Like many power seats I've experienced, for some reason when you raise them up, they also tilt forward raising the rear of the seat more than the front and resulting in an uncomfortable position. I had to compromise between seat height and the seat being all the way back to find a happy medium. This was alright but not ideal. I don't know how this would work out on a long drive. This was not the case with the Bronco Sport -- the seat went back further than I needed (unusual for me) while raising in a more straight up fashion. The result was much more comfortable and is inexplicable when you consider they're basically the same seats placed in the same vehicle.

Back to the Bronco Sport I said I'd get to in a minute -- one of the things I was able to do was park the Maverick right in between a Bronco Sport and an Escape. I wanted to do this to compare them because they're all built on the same platform. What I can report to you is that it becomes immediately evident they are all siblings. Under the hood things are almost identical. Examining the undercarriage -- ditto, and the interior clearly shares the same basic dash/center console setup, though Ford did give each a unique appearance. So why the Bronco Sport with essentially the same seats as the Maverick is easier to adjust into a comfortable position is beyond me. In fact as I said above, the Bronco seat actually went significantly further back than I needed, which is quite unusual for most cars I've driven.

I did drive the Bronco Sport pretty extensively as well, and the DNA is pretty much the same as the Maverick. However, the Bronco is more nimble and much more maneuverable in tight quarters due to the far shorter wheelbase. When you park the Bronco Sport next to the Maverick it's a good two feet shorter with a far shorter wheelbase. The Bronco downside is that the Maverick has a much better ride, smoothing out rough roads in a way the Bronco can't - it's not nearly as comfortable a ride in the Bronco Sport.

On the other hand, the handling of both is nearly identical so I'll just address the Maverick in this regard. Suffice to say it exceeded expectations. The steering is fairly fast - think Mazda "zoom zoom" and the cornering is flat, stable and very sports car like. Next, I was curious about the braking because trucks generally not only have a "bouncy" ride when the bed is empty (none of that with the Maverick) but also tend to have rear wheel lockup, engaging the anti-lock system with hard braking when there's no load in the bed. So I just had to hit the brakes hard in the Maverick to see how it would respond and I wasn't disappointed. Really no difference between the Maverick, the Bronco Sport or the Escape. Excellent braking with zero rear wheel misbehavior at all, owing I'd imagine to the unitized construction compared to the body on frame design found on the F-150 or Ranger, where I anticipate the rear wheels would have been much less firmly planted.

Since the Maverick I drove was the 2.0 Ecoboost I expected robust engine performance and I wasn't disappointed. It's a rocket. Ford has been refining that 2.0 engine for some time now and it has increased over time from 240 to 250 HP which is what the Maverick has. The Bronco Sport also shares this engine but only with the Badlands 'off road' version. The other Broncos are limited to the 1.5L 3 cylinder engine, all Bronco's including the obligatory AWD of course. Since the Outer Banks model is the more luxurious that appeals to me, that's the only engine available, presumably due to EPA gas mileage requirements. Nevertheless, the Bronco 1.5 is one highway MPG less (28 vs 29) than the much larger Edge 2.0 Ecoboost! I assumed the Bronco had the 1.5L because Ford hadn't adopted the hybrid for all wheel drive, which to me would be a much better choice for the Bronco Sport, at least fuel economy wise. But I was wrong when I discovered the Escape hybrid is available with AWD. So I have no idea what that's all about.

Overall, the Maverick drove beautifully and comfortably, feeling completely stable and in control at speeds exceeding 90MPH. While I couldn't drive the hybrid, I'm pretty confident in its performance based on driving the Escape hybrid which uses the same basic drive train with the same platform. The Escape hybrid has power to spare. While not quite the "rocket" the 2.0 ecoboost is, it's no dog and provides more than enough acceleration for all but the most taxing situations, like maybe racing a Porsche or something. The Maverick is reportedly the first to use a Ford in-house made electric motor where the Escape apparently has an electric motor sourced from an outside vendor. This may account for the Escape 2.5 hybrid being rated at 200 HP whereas the Maverick 2.5 hybrid loses 9 HP with a rating of 191 HP.

Plus and minus -- The Maverick does lack a few features I've become spoiled with on my Edge, such as no option whatsoever for the Homelink garage door opener with buttons on the sunvisor. On the other hand, my Edge has adaptive cruise control, which I love despite the occasional glitch when it puts on the brakes for no reason at all, but the Maverick ups the ante with adaptive cruise control with stop and go, allowing you to take maximum advantage of it even in rush hour traffic situations. The Lariat does feature Ford's "Sound Screen" noise suppressing windshield, which is really good, but that feature is almost completely defeated by the excessive road noise. That "tires on the road" racket is annoying as hell and quite amplified in the Maverick. Perhaps some of that can be attributed to those cheap-ass inner fenders, I don't know, but it has a lot of road noise which could become very annoying on an extended drive.

One final note -- it has been difficult to determine whether or not the Maverick has certain safety features - for example Ford doesn't even mention anti-lock brakes which of course it has. There's also no mention of whether it has dynamic stability control, an important anti-rollover feature. I did get ahold of the owners manual and while it's not entirely clear, it gives me the impression it does include this feature. According to the Ford website, the Lariat also has a power rear window (it does and it's kind of a waste) AND a rear window defroster - it doesn't unless they're using some magic new defrost technology I've never seen.

So my overall impression, including a built-in bias based on my having ordered one (apparently I was impressed) and my very favorable impression of Ford products in general, emphasized by my complete satisfaction with my Edge, are as follows --

Quality 10
Performance 10
Ride and handling 10
Interior comfort 7
Economy (hybrid) 11
Features 9
Creative and innovative engineering 10


When I finally got to check out and drive the Maverick in person, months after ordering one, my initial enthusiasm was not disappointing. It's an excellent machine at an amazing price (hybrid) with a slew of creative innovations. The most impressive thing of all is probably that it is priced - even with a bunch of options - hyper competitively. Nevertheless, this truck does not look at all like some cheap, entry level vehicle. It looks exactly like a Ford truck, only smaller - you know, like the Ranger used to be. I eagerly await my Maverick Lariat -- no one will ever mistake it for a "cheapie", and I've spent enough time with one to know I'm gonna love it!
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Last edited:

olderbudwiser

2.5L Hybrid
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It's pushing 230AM here at the underground lair and I'm currently enjoying another "mojo", so forgive me if I inevitably overlook something. Obviously, I consider this a rough draft :p

So here's my story -- I "reserved" a Maverick on the Ford website back in early June. As part of that process I selected the Ford dealer I wanted to purchase the truck from. The "internet guy" at the dealer contacted me via email the next day. I called him and asked if there was anything else I needed to do. He told me no, that I was all set. Fast forward to early September, and I discovered this was not the case. I had not actually ordered a Maverick and to do so would require a refundable $500 deposit. By this time I was working with a salesperson who was incredibly competent and product knowledgeable so I had great confidence in him and we formally placed the order with my deposit on September 5. I wasn't too thrilled about the delay this would mean for my delivery, but it is what it is.

I ordered a Lariat hybrid with basically every factory-installed option except the moonroof and it priced out at around $32,500. Of course I wasn't totally ready to commit to something I had only seen on the Ford website without first seeing and driving the thing. A couple of weeks ago in early October, the dealer received their first Maverick and I couldn't get there fast enough to check it out. As I expected based on reporting on this forum I knew it would be a 2.0, not a hybrid, and it was. As luck would have it, it was a Lariat though, so I could see what the interior was all about.

I was able to spend considerable time with this Maverick over three different days. I am an extremely picky guy who checks out every little detail, so not much got past me. For example, it was equipped with Michelin tires, always the best in my book, and the treadwear rating was 500 which tells me I'll probably get 50,000 to 60,000 miles out of these tires, which ain't bad. Now, starting with an exterior walk around, let me give you my impressions. First and foremost, the fit and finish was superb -- easily the equal of of what comes out of Japan and Germany. I was impressed. Crawling underneath, to verify issues not spelled out at that time on the website specs, I confirmed that it had independent rear suspension. I was also quite surprised to see that the factory trailer hitch was welded, not bolted on. I wasn't expecting that. The fuel tank is firmly nestled between the rear axle and the back of the cab for maximum safety. That's pretty much common these days, as all manufacturers have learned the lessons that Ford learned the hard way with the Pinto back in the early 70's. Continuing underneath, I observed that the inner fenders were not the typical hard molded plastic, but a thin, soft sort of felt material. I could easily move them out of their position and they just didn't seem very durable or long lasting. A hard plastic shield did cover the front drive train, protecting it from the elements.

Not withstanding the above, the general build quality throughout was impressive. Crawling out from underneath and regaining a foothold, as previously noted the body construction was not just excellent, but robust as well. The Maverick is built to last. Moving to the interior, the first surprise was the Lariat Desert Brown interior. Having studied the photos on the Ford website in some detail, I was expecting the brown seating surfaces to be accented with black. Boy was I wrong. The rest of the seating as well as all of the door panel and dashboard trim is not black at all (as I had thought from the website pictures) but a gorgeous deep navy blue, which enhanced the richness of the interior immensely. I will be curious to see if the XLT and XL share that blue on the dash and door panels, since that would presumably save Ford the cost of producing those parts in multiple colors. My overall impression of this Lariat interior was what I was expecting and hoping for -- pretty damn elegant. The one disappointment was the door panels. Ford chose a a kind weird design that just isn't very attractive. The Bronco Sport, which is really an SUV version of the same vehicle (more on that in a minute) has more conventional interior door panels which I find much more attractive, while still utilizing the same power windows, door lock and mirrors switching.

The seating comfort was good, at least until I sat in an Edge on the showroom. Going from an Edge to the Maverick was like going from first class to economy. To make matters worse, I'm a guy who needs to have the driver seat moved all the way back in most cars since most of my height is in my legs. This also requires the seat height to be raised so that I don't sit too low. That didn't work out optimally in the Maverick. Like many power seats I've experienced, for some reason when you raise them up, they also tilt forward raising the rear of the seat more than the front and resulting in an uncomfortable position. I had to compromise between seat height and the seat being all the way back to find a happy medium. This was alright but not ideal. I don't know how this would work out on a long drive. This was not the case with the Bronco Sport -- the seat went back further than I needed (unusual for me) while raising in a more straight up fashion. The result was much more comfortable and is inexplicable when you consider they're basically the same seats placed in the same vehicle.

Back to the Bronco Sport I said I'd get to in a minute -- one of the things I was able to do was park the Maverick right in between a Bronco Sport and an Escape. I wanted to do this to compare them because they're all built on the same platform. What I can report to you is that it becomes immediately evident they are all siblings. Under the hood things are almost identical. Examining the undercarriage -- ditto, and the interior clearly shares the same basic dash/center console setup, though Ford did give each a unique appearance. So why the Bronco Sport with essentially the same seats as the Maverick is easier to adjust into a comfortable position is beyond me. In fact the Bronco seat actually went significantly further back than I needed, which is quite unusual for most cars I've driven.

I did drive the Bronco pretty extensively as well, and the DNA is pretty much the same as the Maverick. However, the Bronco is more nimble and much more maneuverable in tight quarters due to the far shorter wheelbase. When you park the Bronco Sport next to the Maverick it's a good two feet shorter with a far shorter wheelbase. The Bronco downside is that the Maverick has a much better ride, smoothing out rough roads in a way the Bronco can't - it's not nearly as comfortable a ride.

On the other hand, the handling of both is nearly identical so I'll just address the Maverick in this regard. Suffice to say it exceeded expectations. The steering is fairly fast - think Mazda "zoom zoom" and the cornering is flat, stable and very sports car like. Next I was curious about the braking because trucks generally not only have a "bouncy" ride when the bed is empty (none of that with the Maverick) but also tend to have rear wheel lockup, engaging the anti-lock system when there's no load in the bed. So I just had to hit the brakes hard in the Maverick to see how it would respond and I wasn't disappointed. Really no difference between the Maverick, the Bronco Sport or the Escape. Excellent braking with zero rear wheel misbehavior at all, owing I'd imagine to the unitized construction compared to the body on frame design found on the F-150 or Ranger, where I anticipate the rear wheels would have been much less firmly planted.

Since the Maverick I drove was the 2.0 Ecoboost I expected robust engine performance and I wasn't disappointed. It's a rocket. Ford has been refining that 2.0 engine for some time now and it has increased over time from 240 to 250 HP which is what the Maverick has. The Bronco Sport also shares this engine but only with the Badlands off road version. The other Broncos are limited to the 1.5L 3 cylinder engine, all Bronco's including the obligatory AWD of course. Since the Outer Banks model is the more luxurious that appeals to me, that's the only engine available, presumably owing to EPA gas mileage requirements. Nevertheless, the Bronco 1.5 is one MPG less (28 vs 29) than the much larger Edge 2.0 Ecoboost highway mileage! I assumed the Bronco had the 1.5L because Ford hadn't adopted the hybrid for all wheel drive, which to me would be a much better choice for the Bronco, at least fuel economy wise. But I was wrong when I discovered the Escape hybrid is available with AWD. So I have no idea what that's all about.

Overall, the Maverick drove beautifully and comfortably, feeling completely stable and in control at speeds exceeding 90MPH. While I couldn't drive the hybrid, I'm pretty confident in its performance based on driving the Escape hybrid which uses the same basic drive train with the same platform. The Escape hybrid has power to spare. While not quite the "rocket" the 2.0 ecoboost is, it's no dog and provides more than enough acceleration for all but the most taxing situations, like maybe racing a Porsche or something. The Maverick is reportedly the first to use a Ford in-house made electric motor where the Escape apparently has an electric motor sourced from an outside vendor. This may account for the Escape 2.5 hybrid being rated at 200 HP whereas the Maverick 2.5 hybrid loses 9 HP with a rating of 191 HP.

Plus and minus -- The Maverick does lack a few features I've become spoiled with on my Edge, such as no option whatsoever for the Homelink garage door opener with buttons on the sunvisor. On the other hand, my Edge has adaptive cruise control, which I love despite the occasional glitch when it puts on the brakes for no reason at all, but the Maverick ups the ante with adaptive cruise control with stop and go, allowing you to take maximum advantage of it even in rush hour traffic situations. The Lariat does feature Ford's "Sound Screen" noise suppressing windshield, which is really good, but that feature is almost completely defeated by the excessive road noise. That "tires on the road" racket is annoying as hell and quite amplified in the Maverick. Perhaps some of that can be attributed to those cheap-ass inner fenders, I don't know, but it has a lot of road noise which could become very annoying on an extended drive.

One final note -- it has been difficult to determine whether or not the Maverick has certain safety features - for example Ford doesn't even mention anti-lock brakes which of course it has. There's also no mention of whether it has dynamic stability control, an important anti-rollover feature. I did get ahold of the owners manual and while it's not entirely clear, it gives me the impression it does include this feature. According to the Ford website, the Lariat also has a power rear window (it does and it's kind of a waste) AND a rear window defroster - it doesn't unless they're using some magic new defrost technology I've never seen.

So my overall impression, including a built-in bias based on my having ordered one (apparently I was impressed) and my very favorable impression of Ford products in general, emphasized by my complete satisfaction with my Edge, are as follows --

Quality 10
Performance 10
Ride and handling 10
Interior comfort 7
Economy (hybrid) 11
Features 9
Creative and innovative engineering 10


When I finally got to check out and drive the Maverick in person, months after ordering one, my enthusiasm was not disappointed. It's an excellent machine at an amazing price (hybrid) with a slew of creative innovations. The most impressive thing of all is probably that it is priced - even with a bunch of options - hyper competitively. Nevertheless, this does not look at all like some cheap, entry level vehicle. It looks exactly like a Ford truck, only smaller - you know, like the Ranger used to be. I eagerly await my Maverick Lariat -- no one will ever mistake it for a "cheapie", and I've spent enough time with one to know I'm gonna love it!
Well done(y)

Side note, having read some of F150 forums. The homeink can be purchased separately. Numerous owners of F150 installed it themselves.
 

JKinPA

2.0L EcoBoost
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Clubs
 
Thanks for the input. My wife has an Edge Titanium, awesome vehicle. I had tapered expectations when I drove the Maverick but I was impressed, very impressed. It's not the Edge but it's exactly what I wanted. She has the fancy family vehicle while I have the practical, efficient vehicle that looks and performs great. For me, the Maverick fits my wants and needs perfectly and hopefully in less than a month it will be in my driveway. (y):)
 

jcsan18

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JC
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I really appreciate this review and your honest opinion. My main concern has always been road noise, so I'll definitely have to go drive it and make sure I compare that to my Jeep. You reviewing the Lariat is key for me, since that's what I ordered.
 

mavhopefull

2.0L EcoBoost
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Sam
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1984 Mercedes Benz 300D Turbo
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It's pushing 230AM here at the underground lair and I'm currently enjoying another "mojo", so forgive me if I inevitably overlook something. Obviously, I consider this a rough draft :p

So here's my story -- I "reserved" a Maverick on the Ford website back in early June. As part of that process I selected the Ford dealer I wanted to purchase the truck from. The "internet guy" at the dealer contacted me via email the next day. I called him and asked if there was anything else I needed to do. He told me no, that I was all set. Fast forward to early September, and I discovered this was not the case. I had not actually ordered a Maverick and to do so would require a refundable $500 deposit. By this time I was working with a salesperson who was incredibly competent and product knowledgeable so I had great confidence in him and we formally placed the order with my deposit on September 5. I wasn't too thrilled about the delay this would mean for my delivery, but it is what it is.

I ordered a Lariat hybrid with basically every factory-installed option except the moonroof and it priced out at around $32,500. Of course I wasn't totally ready to commit to something I had only seen on the Ford website without first seeing and driving the thing. A couple of weeks ago in early October, the dealer received their first Maverick and I couldn't get there fast enough to check it out. As I expected based on reporting on this forum I knew it would be a 2.0, not a hybrid, and it was. As luck would have it, it was a Lariat though, so I could see what the interior was all about.

I was able to spend considerable time with this Maverick over three different days. I am an extremely picky guy who checks out every little detail, so not much got past me. For example, it was equipped with Michelin tires, always the best in my book, and the treadwear rating was 500 which tells me I'll probably get 50,000 to 60,000 miles out of these tires, which ain't bad. Now, starting with an exterior walk around, let me give you my impressions. First and foremost, the fit and finish was superb -- easily the equal of of what comes out of Japan and Germany. I was impressed. Crawling underneath, to verify issues not spelled out at that time on the website specs, I confirmed that it had independent rear suspension. I was also quite surprised to see that the factory trailer hitch was welded, not bolted on. I wasn't expecting that. The fuel tank is firmly nestled between the rear axle and the back of the cab for maximum safety. That's pretty much common these days, as all manufacturers have learned the lessons that Ford learned the hard way with the Pinto back in the early 70's. Continuing underneath, I observed that the inner fenders were not the typical hard molded plastic, but a thin, soft sort of felt material. I could easily move them out of their position and they just didn't seem very durable or long lasting. A hard plastic shield did cover the front drive train, protecting it from the elements.

Not withstanding the above, the general build quality throughout was impressive. Crawling out from underneath and regaining a foothold, as previously noted the body construction was not just excellent, but robust as well. The Maverick is built to last. Moving to the interior, the first surprise was the Lariat Desert Brown interior. Having studied the photos on the Ford website in some detail, I was expecting the brown seating surfaces to be accented with black. Boy was I wrong. The rest of the seating as well as all of the door panel and dashboard trim is not black at all (as I had thought from the website pictures) but a gorgeous deep navy blue, which enhanced the richness of the interior immensely. I will be curious to see if the XLT and XL share that blue on the dash and door panels, since that would presumably save Ford the cost of producing those parts in multiple colors. My overall impression of this Lariat interior was what I was expecting and hoping for -- pretty damn elegant. The one disappointment was the door panels. Ford chose a a kind weird design that just isn't very attractive. The Bronco Sport, which is really an SUV version of the same vehicle (more on that in a minute) has more conventional interior door panels which I find much more attractive, while still utilizing the same power windows, door lock and mirrors switching.

The seating comfort was good, at least until I sat in an Edge on the showroom. Going from an Edge to the Maverick was like going from first class to economy. To make matters worse, I'm a guy who needs to have the driver seat moved all the way back in most cars since most of my height is in my legs. This also requires the seat height to be raised so that I don't sit too low. That didn't work out optimally in the Maverick. Like many power seats I've experienced, for some reason when you raise them up, they also tilt forward raising the rear of the seat more than the front and resulting in an uncomfortable position. I had to compromise between seat height and the seat being all the way back to find a happy medium. This was alright but not ideal. I don't know how this would work out on a long drive. This was not the case with the Bronco Sport -- the seat went back further than I needed (unusual for me) while raising in a more straight up fashion. The result was much more comfortable and is inexplicable when you consider they're basically the same seats placed in the same vehicle.

Back to the Bronco Sport I said I'd get to in a minute -- one of the things I was able to do was park the Maverick right in between a Bronco Sport and an Escape. I wanted to do this to compare them because they're all built on the same platform. What I can report to you is that it becomes immediately evident they are all siblings. Under the hood things are almost identical. Examining the undercarriage -- ditto, and the interior clearly shares the same basic dash/center console setup, though Ford did give each a unique appearance. So why the Bronco Sport with essentially the same seats as the Maverick is easier to adjust into a comfortable position is beyond me. In fact the Bronco seat actually went significantly further back than I needed, which is quite unusual for most cars I've driven.

I did drive the Bronco pretty extensively as well, and the DNA is pretty much the same as the Maverick. However, the Bronco is more nimble and much more maneuverable in tight quarters due to the far shorter wheelbase. When you park the Bronco Sport next to the Maverick it's a good two feet shorter with a far shorter wheelbase. The Bronco downside is that the Maverick has a much better ride, smoothing out rough roads in a way the Bronco can't - it's not nearly as comfortable a ride.

On the other hand, the handling of both is nearly identical so I'll just address the Maverick in this regard. Suffice to say it exceeded expectations. The steering is fairly fast - think Mazda "zoom zoom" and the cornering is flat, stable and very sports car like. Next I was curious about the braking because trucks generally not only have a "bouncy" ride when the bed is empty (none of that with the Maverick) but also tend to have rear wheel lockup, engaging the anti-lock system when there's no load in the bed. So I just had to hit the brakes hard in the Maverick to see how it would respond and I wasn't disappointed. Really no difference between the Maverick, the Bronco Sport or the Escape. Excellent braking with zero rear wheel misbehavior at all, owing I'd imagine to the unitized construction compared to the body on frame design found on the F-150 or Ranger, where I anticipate the rear wheels would have been much less firmly planted.

Since the Maverick I drove was the 2.0 Ecoboost I expected robust engine performance and I wasn't disappointed. It's a rocket. Ford has been refining that 2.0 engine for some time now and it has increased over time from 240 to 250 HP which is what the Maverick has. The Bronco Sport also shares this engine but only with the Badlands off road version. The other Broncos are limited to the 1.5L 3 cylinder engine, all Bronco's including the obligatory AWD of course. Since the Outer Banks model is the more luxurious that appeals to me, that's the only engine available, presumably owing to EPA gas mileage requirements. Nevertheless, the Bronco 1.5 is one MPG less (28 vs 29) than the much larger Edge 2.0 Ecoboost highway mileage! I assumed the Bronco had the 1.5L because Ford hadn't adopted the hybrid for all wheel drive, which to me would be a much better choice for the Bronco, at least fuel economy wise. But I was wrong when I discovered the Escape hybrid is available with AWD. So I have no idea what that's all about.

Overall, the Maverick drove beautifully and comfortably, feeling completely stable and in control at speeds exceeding 90MPH. While I couldn't drive the hybrid, I'm pretty confident in its performance based on driving the Escape hybrid which uses the same basic drive train with the same platform. The Escape hybrid has power to spare. While not quite the "rocket" the 2.0 ecoboost is, it's no dog and provides more than enough acceleration for all but the most taxing situations, like maybe racing a Porsche or something. The Maverick is reportedly the first to use a Ford in-house made electric motor where the Escape apparently has an electric motor sourced from an outside vendor. This may account for the Escape 2.5 hybrid being rated at 200 HP whereas the Maverick 2.5 hybrid loses 9 HP with a rating of 191 HP.

Plus and minus -- The Maverick does lack a few features I've become spoiled with on my Edge, such as no option whatsoever for the Homelink garage door opener with buttons on the sunvisor. On the other hand, my Edge has adaptive cruise control, which I love despite the occasional glitch when it puts on the brakes for no reason at all, but the Maverick ups the ante with adaptive cruise control with stop and go, allowing you to take maximum advantage of it even in rush hour traffic situations. The Lariat does feature Ford's "Sound Screen" noise suppressing windshield, which is really good, but that feature is almost completely defeated by the excessive road noise. That "tires on the road" racket is annoying as hell and quite amplified in the Maverick. Perhaps some of that can be attributed to those cheap-ass inner fenders, I don't know, but it has a lot of road noise which could become very annoying on an extended drive.

One final note -- it has been difficult to determine whether or not the Maverick has certain safety features - for example Ford doesn't even mention anti-lock brakes which of course it has. There's also no mention of whether it has dynamic stability control, an important anti-rollover feature. I did get ahold of the owners manual and while it's not entirely clear, it gives me the impression it does include this feature. According to the Ford website, the Lariat also has a power rear window (it does and it's kind of a waste) AND a rear window defroster - it doesn't unless they're using some magic new defrost technology I've never seen.

So my overall impression, including a built-in bias based on my having ordered one (apparently I was impressed) and my very favorable impression of Ford products in general, emphasized by my complete satisfaction with my Edge, are as follows --

Quality 10
Performance 10
Ride and handling 10
Interior comfort 7
Economy (hybrid) 11
Features 9
Creative and innovative engineering 10


When I finally got to check out and drive the Maverick in person, months after ordering one, my enthusiasm was not disappointed. It's an excellent machine at an amazing price (hybrid) with a slew of creative innovations. The most impressive thing of all is probably that it is priced - even with a bunch of options - hyper competitively. Nevertheless, this does not look at all like some cheap, entry level vehicle. It looks exactly like a Ford truck, only smaller - you know, like the Ranger used to be. I eagerly await my Maverick Lariat -- no one will ever mistake it for a "cheapie", and I've spent enough time with one to know I'm gonna love it!
Nice review. You should be a book writer. :)
 

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Vitamin G

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I really appreciate this review and your honest opinion. My main concern has always been road noise, so I'll definitely have to go drive it and make sure I compare that to my Jeep. You reviewing the Lariat is key for me, since that's what I ordered.
I could see the road noise being worst than some other cars for sure. I think road noise is all relative to what you are accustomed to. I'll probably think it's great but someone else jumping in a Maverick from a newer more luxurious vehicle might not think the same.
 

mrjspence

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It's pushing 230AM here at the underground lair and I'm currently enjoying another "mojo", so forgive me if I inevitably overlook something. Obviously, I consider this a rough draft :p

So here's my story -- I "reserved" a Maverick on the Ford website back in early June. As part of that process I selected the Ford dealer I wanted to purchase the truck from. The "internet guy" at the dealer contacted me via email the next day. I called him and asked if there was anything else I needed to do. He told me no, that I was all set. Fast forward to early September, and I discovered this was not the case. I had not actually ordered a Maverick and to do so would require a refundable $500 deposit. By this time I was working with a salesperson who was incredibly competent and product knowledgeable so I had great confidence in him and we formally placed the order with my deposit on September 5. I wasn't too thrilled about the delay this would mean for my delivery, but it is what it is.

I ordered a Lariat hybrid with basically every factory-installed option except the moonroof and it priced out at around $32,500. Of course I wasn't totally ready to commit to something I had only seen on the Ford website without first seeing and driving the thing. A couple of weeks ago in early October, the dealer received their first Maverick and I couldn't get there fast enough to check it out. As I expected based on reporting on this forum I knew it would be a 2.0, not a hybrid, and it was. As luck would have it, it was a Lariat though, so I could see what the interior was all about.

I was able to spend considerable time with this Maverick over three different days. I am an extremely picky guy who checks out every little detail, so not much got past me. For example, it was equipped with Michelin tires, always the best in my book, and the treadwear rating was 500 which tells me I'll probably get 50,000 to 60,000 miles out of these tires, which ain't bad. Now, starting with an exterior walk around, let me give you my impressions. First and foremost, the fit and finish was superb -- easily the equal of of what comes out of Japan and Germany. I was impressed. Crawling underneath, to verify issues not spelled out at that time on the website specs, I confirmed that it had independent rear suspension. I was also quite surprised to see that the factory trailer hitch was welded, not bolted on. I wasn't expecting that. The fuel tank is firmly nestled between the rear axle and the back of the cab for maximum safety. That's pretty much common these days, as all manufacturers have learned the lessons that Ford learned the hard way with the Pinto back in the early 70's. Continuing underneath, I observed that the inner fenders were not the typical hard molded plastic, but a thin, soft sort of felt material. I could easily move them out of their position and they just didn't seem very durable or long lasting. A hard plastic shield did cover the front drive train, protecting it from the elements.

Not withstanding the above, the general build quality throughout was impressive. Crawling out from underneath and regaining a foothold, as previously noted the body construction was not just excellent, but robust as well. The Maverick is built to last. Moving to the interior, the first surprise was the Lariat Desert Brown interior. Having studied the photos on the Ford website in some detail, I was expecting the brown seating surfaces to be accented with black. Boy was I wrong. The rest of the seating as well as all of the door panel and dashboard trim is not black at all (as I had thought from the website pictures) but a gorgeous deep navy blue, which enhanced the richness of the interior immensely. I will be curious to see if the XLT and XL share that blue on the dash and door panels, since that would presumably save Ford the cost of producing those parts in multiple colors. My overall impression of this Lariat interior was what I was expecting and hoping for -- pretty damn elegant. The one disappointment was the door panels. Ford chose a a kind weird design that just isn't very attractive. The Bronco Sport, which is really an SUV version of the same vehicle (more on that in a minute) has more conventional interior door panels which I find much more attractive, while still utilizing the same power windows, door lock and mirrors switching.

The seating comfort was good, at least until I sat in an Edge on the showroom. Going from an Edge to the Maverick was like going from first class to economy. To make matters worse, I'm a guy who needs to have the driver seat moved all the way back in most cars since most of my height is in my legs. This also requires the seat height to be raised so that I don't sit too low. That didn't work out optimally in the Maverick. Like many power seats I've experienced, for some reason when you raise them up, they also tilt forward raising the rear of the seat more than the front and resulting in an uncomfortable position. I had to compromise between seat height and the seat being all the way back to find a happy medium. This was alright but not ideal. I don't know how this would work out on a long drive. This was not the case with the Bronco Sport -- the seat went back further than I needed (unusual for me) while raising in a more straight up fashion. The result was much more comfortable and is inexplicable when you consider they're basically the same seats placed in the same vehicle.

Back to the Bronco Sport I said I'd get to in a minute -- one of the things I was able to do was park the Maverick right in between a Bronco Sport and an Escape. I wanted to do this to compare them because they're all built on the same platform. What I can report to you is that it becomes immediately evident they are all siblings. Under the hood things are almost identical. Examining the undercarriage -- ditto, and the interior clearly shares the same basic dash/center console setup, though Ford did give each a unique appearance. So why the Bronco Sport with essentially the same seats as the Maverick is easier to adjust into a comfortable position is beyond me. In fact the Bronco seat actually went significantly further back than I needed, which is quite unusual for most cars I've driven.

I did drive the Bronco pretty extensively as well, and the DNA is pretty much the same as the Maverick. However, the Bronco is more nimble and much more maneuverable in tight quarters due to the far shorter wheelbase. When you park the Bronco Sport next to the Maverick it's a good two feet shorter with a far shorter wheelbase. The Bronco downside is that the Maverick has a much better ride, smoothing out rough roads in a way the Bronco can't - it's not nearly as comfortable a ride.

On the other hand, the handling of both is nearly identical so I'll just address the Maverick in this regard. Suffice to say it exceeded expectations. The steering is fairly fast - think Mazda "zoom zoom" and the cornering is flat, stable and very sports car like. Next I was curious about the braking because trucks generally not only have a "bouncy" ride when the bed is empty (none of that with the Maverick) but also tend to have rear wheel lockup, engaging the anti-lock system when there's no load in the bed. So I just had to hit the brakes hard in the Maverick to see how it would respond and I wasn't disappointed. Really no difference between the Maverick, the Bronco Sport or the Escape. Excellent braking with zero rear wheel misbehavior at all, owing I'd imagine to the unitized construction compared to the body on frame design found on the F-150 or Ranger, where I anticipate the rear wheels would have been much less firmly planted.

Since the Maverick I drove was the 2.0 Ecoboost I expected robust engine performance and I wasn't disappointed. It's a rocket. Ford has been refining that 2.0 engine for some time now and it has increased over time from 240 to 250 HP which is what the Maverick has. The Bronco Sport also shares this engine but only with the Badlands off road version. The other Broncos are limited to the 1.5L 3 cylinder engine, all Bronco's including the obligatory AWD of course. Since the Outer Banks model is the more luxurious that appeals to me, that's the only engine available, presumably owing to EPA gas mileage requirements. Nevertheless, the Bronco 1.5 is one MPG less (28 vs 29) than the much larger Edge 2.0 Ecoboost highway mileage! I assumed the Bronco had the 1.5L because Ford hadn't adopted the hybrid for all wheel drive, which to me would be a much better choice for the Bronco, at least fuel economy wise. But I was wrong when I discovered the Escape hybrid is available with AWD. So I have no idea what that's all about.

Overall, the Maverick drove beautifully and comfortably, feeling completely stable and in control at speeds exceeding 90MPH. While I couldn't drive the hybrid, I'm pretty confident in its performance based on driving the Escape hybrid which uses the same basic drive train with the same platform. The Escape hybrid has power to spare. While not quite the "rocket" the 2.0 ecoboost is, it's no dog and provides more than enough acceleration for all but the most taxing situations, like maybe racing a Porsche or something. The Maverick is reportedly the first to use a Ford in-house made electric motor where the Escape apparently has an electric motor sourced from an outside vendor. This may account for the Escape 2.5 hybrid being rated at 200 HP whereas the Maverick 2.5 hybrid loses 9 HP with a rating of 191 HP.

Plus and minus -- The Maverick does lack a few features I've become spoiled with on my Edge, such as no option whatsoever for the Homelink garage door opener with buttons on the sunvisor. On the other hand, my Edge has adaptive cruise control, which I love despite the occasional glitch when it puts on the brakes for no reason at all, but the Maverick ups the ante with adaptive cruise control with stop and go, allowing you to take maximum advantage of it even in rush hour traffic situations. The Lariat does feature Ford's "Sound Screen" noise suppressing windshield, which is really good, but that feature is almost completely defeated by the excessive road noise. That "tires on the road" racket is annoying as hell and quite amplified in the Maverick. Perhaps some of that can be attributed to those cheap-ass inner fenders, I don't know, but it has a lot of road noise which could become very annoying on an extended drive.

One final note -- it has been difficult to determine whether or not the Maverick has certain safety features - for example Ford doesn't even mention anti-lock brakes which of course it has. There's also no mention of whether it has dynamic stability control, an important anti-rollover feature. I did get ahold of the owners manual and while it's not entirely clear, it gives me the impression it does include this feature. According to the Ford website, the Lariat also has a power rear window (it does and it's kind of a waste) AND a rear window defroster - it doesn't unless they're using some magic new defrost technology I've never seen.

So my overall impression, including a built-in bias based on my having ordered one (apparently I was impressed) and my very favorable impression of Ford products in general, emphasized by my complete satisfaction with my Edge, are as follows --

Quality 10
Performance 10
Ride and handling 10
Interior comfort 7
Economy (hybrid) 11
Features 9
Creative and innovative engineering 10


When I finally got to check out and drive the Maverick in person, months after ordering one, my enthusiasm was not disappointed. It's an excellent machine at an amazing price (hybrid) with a slew of creative innovations. The most impressive thing of all is probably that it is priced - even with a bunch of options - hyper competitively. Nevertheless, this does not look at all like some cheap, entry level vehicle. It looks exactly like a Ford truck, only smaller - you know, like the Ranger used to be. I eagerly await my Maverick Lariat -- no one will ever mistake it for a "cheapie", and I've spent enough time with one to know I'm gonna love it!
We had a 2020 Escape AWD Hybrid Titanium in Rapid Red. Loaded to the max. Man was it a fantastic ride. Aside from the engine noise which drove me insane, and the HUD reflection so horrible I filed formal safety complaints, it was sooooo comfortable, practical, and always above 40mpg and mid-high 30s highway. Such a great build quality. I actually miss it sometimes even over our…
We ultimately gave it up for our Tesla we had been awaiting (Model Y). Our secondary car is now a Hot Red Pepper EcoBoost Maverick, XLT w/ FX4 + Sunroof + sliding rear window + Lux Pkg. Its replacing our older 5.4L V8 F150 tank. I REALLY wanted the hybrid, but we’re in CO and as a secondary recreation vehicle, that AWD and light off road capability is very important to our needs.
If Ford adapts an AWD system for the Maverick &/or options a Lightening EV version later…. Watch out… it will be the most important truck America has ever seen.
 

bill67

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I really appreciate this review and your honest opinion. My main concern has always been road noise, so I'll definitely have to go drive it and make sure I compare that to my Jeep. You reviewing the Lariat is key for me, since that's what I ordered.
Went to dealership to drive maverick 2.0
Drove my 2021 Toyota Avalon hybrid. Down loaded an app to measure decibel.In Toyota
got 78 to 80 same exact reading in maverick
 

MLowe05

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Apparently the "rear defrost" never materialized in any trim at any cost. I don't think it would be necessary.

Also things like curtain airbags, stability control, rear camera, TPMS, ABS - all of these are federally mandated and are on all new cars. That's why it's hardly worth mentioning.
 

Vitamin G

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Apparently the "rear defrost" never materialized in any trim at any cost. I don't think it would be necessary.

Also things like curtain airbags, stability control, rear camera, TPMS, ABS - all of these are federally mandated and are on all new cars. That's why it's hardly worth mentioning.
Yeah I agree rear defrost on rear window not really needed. 👍 I see where it is needed on hatchbacks and similar cars because of the angle of the rear window. You needed some way for built up ice and snow to sluff off but with rear window of the Maverick I don't forsee it as being an issue.
 
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Captain

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It's pushing 230AM here at the underground lair and I'm currently enjoying another "mojo", so forgive me if I inevitably overlook something. Obviously, I consider this a rough draft :p

So here's my story -- I "reserved" a Maverick on the Ford website back in early June. As part of that process I selected the Ford dealer I wanted to purchase the truck from. The "internet guy" at the dealer contacted me via email the next day. I called him and asked if there was anything else I needed to do. He told me no, that I was all set. Fast forward to early September, and I discovered this was not the case. I had not actually ordered a Maverick and to do so would require a refundable $500 deposit. By this time I was working with a salesperson who was incredibly competent and product knowledgeable so I had great confidence in him and we formally placed the order with my deposit on September 5. I wasn't too thrilled about the delay this would mean for my delivery, but it is what it is.

I ordered a Lariat hybrid with basically every factory-installed option except the moonroof and it priced out at around $32,500. Of course I wasn't totally ready to commit to something I had only seen on the Ford website without first seeing and driving the thing. A couple of weeks ago in early October, the dealer received their first Maverick and I couldn't get there fast enough to check it out. As I expected based on reporting on this forum I knew it would be a 2.0, not a hybrid, and it was. As luck would have it, it was a Lariat though, so I could see what the interior was all about.

I was able to spend considerable time with this Maverick over three different days. I am an extremely picky guy who checks out every little detail, so not much got past me. For example, it was equipped with Michelin tires, always the best in my book, and the treadwear rating was 500 which tells me I'll probably get 50,000 to 60,000 miles out of these tires, which ain't bad. Now, starting with an exterior walk around, let me give you my impressions. First and foremost, the fit and finish was superb -- easily the equal of of what comes out of Japan and Germany. I was impressed. Crawling underneath, to verify issues not spelled out at that time on the website specs, I confirmed that it had independent rear suspension. I was also quite surprised to see that the factory trailer hitch was welded, not bolted on. I wasn't expecting that. The fuel tank is firmly nestled between the rear axle and the back of the cab for maximum safety. That's pretty much common these days, as all manufacturers have learned the lessons that Ford learned the hard way with the Pinto back in the early 70's. Continuing underneath, I observed that the inner fenders were not the typical hard molded plastic, but a thin, soft sort of felt material. I could easily move them out of their position and they just didn't seem very durable or long lasting. A hard plastic shield did cover the front drive train, protecting it from the elements.

Not withstanding the above, the general build quality throughout was impressive. Crawling out from underneath and regaining a foothold, as previously noted the body construction was not just excellent, but robust as well. The Maverick is built to last. Moving to the interior, the first surprise was the Lariat Desert Brown interior. Having studied the photos on the Ford website in some detail, I was expecting the brown seating surfaces to be accented with black. Boy was I wrong. The rest of the seating as well as all of the door panel and dashboard trim is not black at all (as I had thought from the website pictures) but a gorgeous deep navy blue, which enhanced the richness of the interior immensely. I will be curious to see if the XLT and XL share that blue on the dash and door panels, since that would presumably save Ford the cost of producing those parts in multiple colors. My overall impression of this Lariat interior was what I was expecting and hoping for -- pretty damn elegant. The one disappointment was the door panels. Ford chose a a kind weird design that just isn't very attractive. The Bronco Sport, which is really an SUV version of the same vehicle (more on that in a minute) has more conventional interior door panels which I find much more attractive, while still utilizing the same power windows, door lock and mirrors switching.

The seating comfort was good, at least until I sat in an Edge on the showroom. Going from an Edge to the Maverick was like going from first class to economy. To make matters worse, I'm a guy who needs to have the driver seat moved all the way back in most cars since most of my height is in my legs. This also requires the seat height to be raised so that I don't sit too low. That didn't work out optimally in the Maverick. Like many power seats I've experienced, for some reason when you raise them up, they also tilt forward raising the rear of the seat more than the front and resulting in an uncomfortable position. I had to compromise between seat height and the seat being all the way back to find a happy medium. This was alright but not ideal. I don't know how this would work out on a long drive. This was not the case with the Bronco Sport -- the seat went back further than I needed (unusual for me) while raising in a more straight up fashion. The result was much more comfortable and is inexplicable when you consider they're basically the same seats placed in the same vehicle.

Back to the Bronco Sport I said I'd get to in a minute -- one of the things I was able to do was park the Maverick right in between a Bronco Sport and an Escape. I wanted to do this to compare them because they're all built on the same platform. What I can report to you is that it becomes immediately evident they are all siblings. Under the hood things are almost identical. Examining the undercarriage -- ditto, and the interior clearly shares the same basic dash/center console setup, though Ford did give each a unique appearance. So why the Bronco Sport with essentially the same seats as the Maverick is easier to adjust into a comfortable position is beyond me. In fact the Bronco seat actually went significantly further back than I needed, which is quite unusual for most cars I've driven.

I did drive the Bronco pretty extensively as well, and the DNA is pretty much the same as the Maverick. However, the Bronco is more nimble and much more maneuverable in tight quarters due to the far shorter wheelbase. When you park the Bronco Sport next to the Maverick it's a good two feet shorter with a far shorter wheelbase. The Bronco downside is that the Maverick has a much better ride, smoothing out rough roads in a way the Bronco can't - it's not nearly as comfortable a ride.

On the other hand, the handling of both is nearly identical so I'll just address the Maverick in this regard. Suffice to say it exceeded expectations. The steering is fairly fast - think Mazda "zoom zoom" and the cornering is flat, stable and very sports car like. Next I was curious about the braking because trucks generally not only have a "bouncy" ride when the bed is empty (none of that with the Maverick) but also tend to have rear wheel lockup, engaging the anti-lock system when there's no load in the bed. So I just had to hit the brakes hard in the Maverick to see how it would respond and I wasn't disappointed. Really no difference between the Maverick, the Bronco Sport or the Escape. Excellent braking with zero rear wheel misbehavior at all, owing I'd imagine to the unitized construction compared to the body on frame design found on the F-150 or Ranger, where I anticipate the rear wheels would have been much less firmly planted.

Since the Maverick I drove was the 2.0 Ecoboost I expected robust engine performance and I wasn't disappointed. It's a rocket. Ford has been refining that 2.0 engine for some time now and it has increased over time from 240 to 250 HP which is what the Maverick has. The Bronco Sport also shares this engine but only with the Badlands off road version. The other Broncos are limited to the 1.5L 3 cylinder engine, all Bronco's including the obligatory AWD of course. Since the Outer Banks model is the more luxurious that appeals to me, that's the only engine available, presumably owing to EPA gas mileage requirements. Nevertheless, the Bronco 1.5 is one MPG less (28 vs 29) than the much larger Edge 2.0 Ecoboost highway mileage! I assumed the Bronco had the 1.5L because Ford hadn't adopted the hybrid for all wheel drive, which to me would be a much better choice for the Bronco, at least fuel economy wise. But I was wrong when I discovered the Escape hybrid is available with AWD. So I have no idea what that's all about.

Overall, the Maverick drove beautifully and comfortably, feeling completely stable and in control at speeds exceeding 90MPH. While I couldn't drive the hybrid, I'm pretty confident in its performance based on driving the Escape hybrid which uses the same basic drive train with the same platform. The Escape hybrid has power to spare. While not quite the "rocket" the 2.0 ecoboost is, it's no dog and provides more than enough acceleration for all but the most taxing situations, like maybe racing a Porsche or something. The Maverick is reportedly the first to use a Ford in-house made electric motor where the Escape apparently has an electric motor sourced from an outside vendor. This may account for the Escape 2.5 hybrid being rated at 200 HP whereas the Maverick 2.5 hybrid loses 9 HP with a rating of 191 HP.

Plus and minus -- The Maverick does lack a few features I've become spoiled with on my Edge, such as no option whatsoever for the Homelink garage door opener with buttons on the sunvisor. On the other hand, my Edge has adaptive cruise control, which I love despite the occasional glitch when it puts on the brakes for no reason at all, but the Maverick ups the ante with adaptive cruise control with stop and go, allowing you to take maximum advantage of it even in rush hour traffic situations. The Lariat does feature Ford's "Sound Screen" noise suppressing windshield, which is really good, but that feature is almost completely defeated by the excessive road noise. That "tires on the road" racket is annoying as hell and quite amplified in the Maverick. Perhaps some of that can be attributed to those cheap-ass inner fenders, I don't know, but it has a lot of road noise which could become very annoying on an extended drive.

One final note -- it has been difficult to determine whether or not the Maverick has certain safety features - for example Ford doesn't even mention anti-lock brakes which of course it has. There's also no mention of whether it has dynamic stability control, an important anti-rollover feature. I did get ahold of the owners manual and while it's not entirely clear, it gives me the impression it does include this feature. According to the Ford website, the Lariat also has a power rear window (it does and it's kind of a waste) AND a rear window defroster - it doesn't unless they're using some magic new defrost technology I've never seen.

So my overall impression, including a built-in bias based on my having ordered one (apparently I was impressed) and my very favorable impression of Ford products in general, emphasized by my complete satisfaction with my Edge, are as follows --

Quality 10
Performance 10
Ride and handling 10
Interior comfort 7
Economy (hybrid) 11
Features 9
Creative and innovative engineering 10


When I finally got to check out and drive the Maverick in person, months after ordering one, my enthusiasm was not disappointed. It's an excellent machine at an amazing price (hybrid) with a slew of creative innovations. The most impressive thing of all is probably that it is priced - even with a bunch of options - hyper competitively. Nevertheless, this does not look at all like some cheap, entry level vehicle. It looks exactly like a Ford truck, only smaller - you know, like the Ranger used to be. I eagerly await my Maverick Lariat -- no one will ever mistake it for a "cheapie", and I've spent enough time with one to know I'm gonna love it!
Long but interesting read…. Thanks
 

ZZbuggs

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Clubs
 
It's pushing 230AM here at the underground lair and I'm currently enjoying another "mojo", so forgive me if I inevitably overlook something. Obviously, I consider this a rough draft :p

So here's my story -- I "reserved" a Maverick on the Ford website back in early June. As part of that process I selected the Ford dealer I wanted to purchase the truck from. The "internet guy" at the dealer contacted me via email the next day. I called him and asked if there was anything else I needed to do. He told me no, that I was all set. Fast forward to early September, and I discovered this was not the case. I had not actually ordered a Maverick and to do so would require a refundable $500 deposit. By this time I was working with a salesperson who was incredibly competent and product knowledgeable so I had great confidence in him and we formally placed the order with my deposit on September 5. I wasn't too thrilled about the delay this would mean for my delivery, but it is what it is.

I ordered a Lariat hybrid with basically every factory-installed option except the moonroof and it priced out at around $32,500. Of course I wasn't totally ready to commit to something I had only seen on the Ford website without first seeing and driving the thing. A couple of weeks ago in early October, the dealer received their first Maverick and I couldn't get there fast enough to check it out. As I expected based on reporting on this forum I knew it would be a 2.0, not a hybrid, and it was. As luck would have it, it was a Lariat though, so I could see what the interior was all about.

I was able to spend considerable time with this Maverick over three different days. I am an extremely picky guy who checks out every little detail, so not much got past me. For example, it was equipped with Michelin tires, always the best in my book, and the treadwear rating was 500 which tells me I'll probably get 50,000 to 60,000 miles out of these tires, which ain't bad. Now, starting with an exterior walk around, let me give you my impressions. First and foremost, the fit and finish was superb -- easily the equal of of what comes out of Japan and Germany. I was impressed. Crawling underneath, to verify issues not spelled out at that time on the website specs, I confirmed that it had independent rear suspension. I was also quite surprised to see that the factory trailer hitch was welded, not bolted on. I wasn't expecting that. The fuel tank is firmly nestled between the rear axle and the back of the cab for maximum safety. That's pretty much common these days, as all manufacturers have learned the lessons that Ford learned the hard way with the Pinto back in the early 70's. Continuing underneath, I observed that the inner fenders were not the typical hard molded plastic, but a thin, soft sort of felt material. I could easily move them out of their position and they just didn't seem very durable or long lasting. A hard plastic shield did cover the front drive train, protecting it from the elements.

Not withstanding the above, the general build quality throughout was impressive. Crawling out from underneath and regaining a foothold, as previously noted the body construction was not just excellent, but robust as well. The Maverick is built to last. Moving to the interior, the first surprise was the Lariat Desert Brown interior. Having studied the photos on the Ford website in some detail, I was expecting the brown seating surfaces to be accented with black. Boy was I wrong. The rest of the seating as well as all of the door panel and dashboard trim is not black at all (as I had thought from the website pictures) but a gorgeous deep navy blue, which enhanced the richness of the interior immensely. I will be curious to see if the XLT and XL share that blue on the dash and door panels, since that would presumably save Ford the cost of producing those parts in multiple colors. My overall impression of this Lariat interior was what I was expecting and hoping for -- pretty damn elegant. The one disappointment was the door panels. Ford chose a a kind weird design that just isn't very attractive. The Bronco Sport, which is really an SUV version of the same vehicle (more on that in a minute) has more conventional interior door panels which I find much more attractive, while still utilizing the same power windows, door lock and mirrors switching.

The seating comfort was good, at least until I sat in an Edge on the showroom. Going from an Edge to the Maverick was like going from first class to economy. To make matters worse, I'm a guy who needs to have the driver seat moved all the way back in most cars since most of my height is in my legs. This also requires the seat height to be raised so that I don't sit too low. That didn't work out optimally in the Maverick. Like many power seats I've experienced, for some reason when you raise them up, they also tilt forward raising the rear of the seat more than the front and resulting in an uncomfortable position. I had to compromise between seat height and the seat being all the way back to find a happy medium. This was alright but not ideal. I don't know how this would work out on a long drive. This was not the case with the Bronco Sport -- the seat went back further than I needed (unusual for me) while raising in a more straight up fashion. The result was much more comfortable and is inexplicable when you consider they're basically the same seats placed in the same vehicle.

Back to the Bronco Sport I said I'd get to in a minute -- one of the things I was able to do was park the Maverick right in between a Bronco Sport and an Escape. I wanted to do this to compare them because they're all built on the same platform. What I can report to you is that it becomes immediately evident they are all siblings. Under the hood things are almost identical. Examining the undercarriage -- ditto, and the interior clearly shares the same basic dash/center console setup, though Ford did give each a unique appearance. So why the Bronco Sport with essentially the same seats as the Maverick is easier to adjust into a comfortable position is beyond me. In fact the Bronco seat actually went significantly further back than I needed, which is quite unusual for most cars I've driven.

I did drive the Bronco pretty extensively as well, and the DNA is pretty much the same as the Maverick. However, the Bronco is more nimble and much more maneuverable in tight quarters due to the far shorter wheelbase. When you park the Bronco Sport next to the Maverick it's a good two feet shorter with a far shorter wheelbase. The Bronco downside is that the Maverick has a much better ride, smoothing out rough roads in a way the Bronco can't - it's not nearly as comfortable a ride.

On the other hand, the handling of both is nearly identical so I'll just address the Maverick in this regard. Suffice to say it exceeded expectations. The steering is fairly fast - think Mazda "zoom zoom" and the cornering is flat, stable and very sports car like. Next I was curious about the braking because trucks generally not only have a "bouncy" ride when the bed is empty (none of that with the Maverick) but also tend to have rear wheel lockup, engaging the anti-lock system when there's no load in the bed. So I just had to hit the brakes hard in the Maverick to see how it would respond and I wasn't disappointed. Really no difference between the Maverick, the Bronco Sport or the Escape. Excellent braking with zero rear wheel misbehavior at all, owing I'd imagine to the unitized construction compared to the body on frame design found on the F-150 or Ranger, where I anticipate the rear wheels would have been much less firmly planted.

Since the Maverick I drove was the 2.0 Ecoboost I expected robust engine performance and I wasn't disappointed. It's a rocket. Ford has been refining that 2.0 engine for some time now and it has increased over time from 240 to 250 HP which is what the Maverick has. The Bronco Sport also shares this engine but only with the Badlands off road version. The other Broncos are limited to the 1.5L 3 cylinder engine, all Bronco's including the obligatory AWD of course. Since the Outer Banks model is the more luxurious that appeals to me, that's the only engine available, presumably owing to EPA gas mileage requirements. Nevertheless, the Bronco 1.5 is one MPG less (28 vs 29) than the much larger Edge 2.0 Ecoboost highway mileage! I assumed the Bronco had the 1.5L because Ford hadn't adopted the hybrid for all wheel drive, which to me would be a much better choice for the Bronco, at least fuel economy wise. But I was wrong when I discovered the Escape hybrid is available with AWD. So I have no idea what that's all about.

Overall, the Maverick drove beautifully and comfortably, feeling completely stable and in control at speeds exceeding 90MPH. While I couldn't drive the hybrid, I'm pretty confident in its performance based on driving the Escape hybrid which uses the same basic drive train with the same platform. The Escape hybrid has power to spare. While not quite the "rocket" the 2.0 ecoboost is, it's no dog and provides more than enough acceleration for all but the most taxing situations, like maybe racing a Porsche or something. The Maverick is reportedly the first to use a Ford in-house made electric motor where the Escape apparently has an electric motor sourced from an outside vendor. This may account for the Escape 2.5 hybrid being rated at 200 HP whereas the Maverick 2.5 hybrid loses 9 HP with a rating of 191 HP.

Plus and minus -- The Maverick does lack a few features I've become spoiled with on my Edge, such as no option whatsoever for the Homelink garage door opener with buttons on the sunvisor. On the other hand, my Edge has adaptive cruise control, which I love despite the occasional glitch when it puts on the brakes for no reason at all, but the Maverick ups the ante with adaptive cruise control with stop and go, allowing you to take maximum advantage of it even in rush hour traffic situations. The Lariat does feature Ford's "Sound Screen" noise suppressing windshield, which is really good, but that feature is almost completely defeated by the excessive road noise. That "tires on the road" racket is annoying as hell and quite amplified in the Maverick. Perhaps some of that can be attributed to those cheap-ass inner fenders, I don't know, but it has a lot of road noise which could become very annoying on an extended drive.

One final note -- it has been difficult to determine whether or not the Maverick has certain safety features - for example Ford doesn't even mention anti-lock brakes which of course it has. There's also no mention of whether it has dynamic stability control, an important anti-rollover feature. I did get ahold of the owners manual and while it's not entirely clear, it gives me the impression it does include this feature. According to the Ford website, the Lariat also has a power rear window (it does and it's kind of a waste) AND a rear window defroster - it doesn't unless they're using some magic new defrost technology I've never seen.

So my overall impression, including a built-in bias based on my having ordered one (apparently I was impressed) and my very favorable impression of Ford products in general, emphasized by my complete satisfaction with my Edge, are as follows --

Quality 10
Performance 10
Ride and handling 10
Interior comfort 7
Economy (hybrid) 11
Features 9
Creative and innovative engineering 10


When I finally got to check out and drive the Maverick in person, months after ordering one, my enthusiasm was not disappointed. It's an excellent machine at an amazing price (hybrid) with a slew of creative innovations. The most impressive thing of all is probably that it is priced - even with a bunch of options - hyper competitively. Nevertheless, this does not look at all like some cheap, entry level vehicle. It looks exactly like a Ford truck, only smaller - you know, like the Ranger used to be. I eagerly await my Maverick Lariat -- no one will ever mistake it for a "cheapie", and I've spent enough time with one to know I'm gonna love it!
Yeah, but what did you really think !
-- Great Review --
 

Mabcim

2.0L EcoBoost
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Clubs
 
Thanks for sharing your impressions. I too am someone that spends a ton time looking at vehicles, prior to purchase. I sit in them MANY times, as seat comfort is our #1 thing. And to pick at everything else, of course.
When I got my 2017 Fusion, I went with SE Luxury because I couldn’t stand the Titanium seats. Been having a similar struggle with the Edge. My wife has a 2020 Escape SEL, she does not like the seats for long trips, but they are ok for me. We are also split on the Edge. So finding something we both like is interesting.
For reference, we both like the MachE Premium seats.

So while we’re trying to decide, the Maverick comes along. So then on hold waiting to find out more about that. Wouldn’t it be nice to get something new, versus the Edge that been around so long? Of course. That is why the MachE is also on the list, but price tag and range anxiety have preventing me from pulling the trigger.

Finally sat in Lariat Lux, when they did dealer training, and I liked those seats. My dealer finally got a Mav the other day, thought XLT, and my wife like that seat. Unlike the Edge, the Mav seats look to have the same bolstering. So we may have found my next vehicle.

The one thing stopping, for now, is no rear defroster. Of course I wish it had the 10” display and Sync 4, but the chip shortage killed that. I have read many pickup threads were people say they never use rear defrost, but those threads also have people that say they use it. Need for data on that one. The sliding window I feel is nice, but I could live without. They make aftermarket rear defroster, but for non-split windows.
 

jcsan18

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Went to dealership to drive maverick 2.0
Drove my 2021 Toyota Avalon hybrid. Down loaded an app to measure decibel.In Toyota
got 78 to 80 same exact reading in maverick
I was about to post a question asking if he had access to a decibel reading app. It is all relative, based on our individual comfort level and I guess road/tire quality has something to do with it, as well. I downloaded a sound level app, and it registered at 68-72 on my Grand Cherokee, so I"m curious to see what it reads in the Mav. I think it is a different app than what you mentioned, though.

Thank you for the input.
 

bill67

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I was about to post a question asking if he had access to a decibel reading app. It is all relative, based on our individual comfort level and I guess road/tire quality has something to do with it, as well. I downloaded a sound level app, and it registered at 68-72 on my Grand Cherokee, so I"m curious to see what it reads in the Mav. I think it is a different app than what you mentioned, though.

Thank you for the input.
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