Off-roading with a hybrid

[Groo]

There is a path, not quite a road near my house.Its very steep and pretty sandy near the top. Its not hard core off-roading by any stretch, but even with aggressive tires, I would usually have to engage 4 wheel drive on every vehicle I've tried over the years, to make it up.

My AWD Hybrid Maverick made it up with by far the least fuss of anything, and not just because the AWD automatically engages.

Even my limited slip and larger mud tire equipped Wrangler did the hill less smoothly than the Maverick.

The low effective gear ratio on the eCVT seems to be a big part of why it did so well. The traction control felt like it was the other factor. It certainly isn't the street focused tires.

Anyone else try off-roading their hybrids? How did it go? I'm honestly thinking that the off-roading trim options should include the hybrid instead of the turbo at this point.

Sponsored

 

[Mavster Mechanic]

I took a 2005 Escape hybrid off road more than a few times. Did well then.

So why not now?

I'd have to look it up. But I feel those early Escapes had a bit more ground clearance.

 

[Cherokee]

My trail walk feature in my Tremor at
1 or 2 mph depending on how I set it, holds the tranny at 2,000 rpm. Above 1800 gets the turbo spinning a little.
I would think the Mavbrid’s electric motors would be great at low speed crawling.

Kinda like my Axial R/C truck.

 

[Hot Runr Guy]

Since you have a '26, it benefits from the revised AWD calibration that previous model years haven't received yet.
https://tfltruck.com/2026/05/video-...failed-the-tfl-slip-test-heres-what-they-did/

HRG

 

[lm126027]

I took a 2005 Escape hybrid off road more than a few times. Did well then.

So why not now?

I'd have to look it up. But I feel those early Escapes had a bit more ground clearance.

Not sure about the 2005 Escape, but before I bought Mav, checked my 2020 Escape vs the Mav and the Mav was .3" higher if my memory serves me correctly. lol

 

[Groo]

My trail walk feature in my Tremor at
1 or 2 mph depending on how I set it, holds the tranny at 2,000 rpm. Above 1800 gets the turbo spinning a little.
I would think the Mavbrid’s electric motors would be great at low speed crawling.

Kinda like my Axial R/C truck.

I think its more how the eCVT works.
My understanding is that the engine is permanently attached to the gears into the gearbox.
Those gears that the engine spins can freewheel or spin the output based on what the first electric motor does. That means the lowest possible gear ratio theoretically is infinite:1. The truck goes from stopped to moving with no slipping clutches or torque converter slip, like is going on in your tremor.

All that is without the secondary drive motor that assists the vehicle and can actually power the vehicle without the IC engine running.

Ford and Toyota have both been using this type of transmission for a very long time at this point. I'm suprized that neither has stepped it up in motor power and gear size to use this style of transmission in performance applications.

 

[BK007]

I love my 2.0L EB Turbo Tremor!!

 

[BK007]

There is a path, not quite a road near my house.Its very steep and pretty sandy near the top. Its not hard core off-roading by any stretch, but even with aggressive tires, I would usually have to engage 4 wheel drive on every vehicle I've tried over the years, to make it up.

My AWD Hybrid Maverick made it up with by far the least fuss of anything, and not just because the AWD automatically engages.

Even my limited slip and larger mud tire equipped Wrangler did the hill less smoothly than the Maverick.

The low effective gear ratio on the eCVT seems to be a big part of why it did so well. The traction control felt like it was the other factor. It certainly isn't the street focused tires.

Anyone else try off-roading their hybrids? How did it go? I'm honestly thinking that the off-roading trim options should include the hybrid instead of the turbo at this point.

What's with the Turbo hate? Replace my Tremor I don't think so! She is a Keeper

 

[Mavster Mechanic]

I would think the Mavbrid’s electric motors would be great at low speed crawling.

Sadly, no in this iteration.

The motors have the power.
They do not have the cooling and overheat in 1-2 minutes of low speed high torque output. (2022-2024) They are creating 100+ horsepower from something the size of a shoebox after all.

I have read 2025+ have improved the cooling. But this "problem" has not gone away entirely. If twice as good; you may expect overheating in 3-4 minutes of low speed high torque crawling.

In an "all purpose" economy vehicle it is not unexpected nor unusual they built it to handle average conditions, not extreme conditions.

On second read I see I mentally turned your "crawling" into rock crawling. Ops.

The Hybrid Maverick is perfect for crawling around parking lots, school zones, traffic jams, and RV parks.

 

[icegradner]

What's with the Turbo hate? Replace my Tremor I don't think so! She is a Keeper

 

[Mavster Mechanic]

Not sure about the 2005 Escape, but before I bought Mav, checked my 2020 Escape vs the Mav and the Mav was .3" higher if my memory serves me correctly. lol

Must be an illusion from the look/stance.

2005 Escape Hybrid 8.45"
2023 Maverick Hybrid 8.30"

I'll call that a tie.
But to me the Escape looked taller.

 

[lm126027]

Must be an illusion from the look/stance.

2005 Escape Hybrid 8.45"
2023 Maverick Hybrid 8.30"

I'll call that a tie.
But to me the Escape looked taller.

An AI search says the 2020 Escape had a ground clearance of 7.3.

 

[Mavster Mechanic]

An AI search says the 2020 Escape had a ground clearance of 7.3.

Ya, because it shift away from SUV and more to car.

 

[Groo]

What's with the Turbo hate? Replace my Tremor I don't think so! She is a Keeper

In all fairness, I wasn't hating on the turbo. I was just hating on the sluxhbox that comes attached to the turbo engine. Maybe they can put all those turbos that they pull off the 2.0 for the upgrade kit on to the 2.5 Atkinson engines!

Sponsored