Santa Cruz owner, looking over the fence

[Tom's Truck]

As far as between SC and Maverick's I looked at both, The Maverick offered more for Thousands less!
I got my Maverick in Dec 2021 and never looked back! Now 50,000 miles later I'm loving it even more.
and I still get right at 30 MPG with a Ecoboost powerplant.

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[Tom's Truck]

P.S. Gald your ok, sorry to see your truck got crunched.

 

[TNFurb]

I looked at teh SC as well and really liked it. but I wanted a hybrid for the gas mileage so obviously teh Mav was my only choice. I have a 24 Lariat Hybrid and absolutely love it. No problems so far. I bought mine off the lot. So the one I ordered should be arriving at another dealer in the Nashville area within the next couple of weeks I think.

 

[MiddleEarthOrc]

I would have STRONGLY considered the Santa Cruz if it had a hybrid. Kia is just going to be late to the game on this one.

 

[JokingJ]

Also a lurker, as I gave up on Ford getting me a hybrid Maverick last summer after two years of waiting/pre-ordering, then sending me "an update about your order" that was just a how-to for ordering a '24. No dealer could even tell me how much said '24 would cost at that point, so I moved on, but I do still very much like the idea of a small, hybrid truck, so here I am lurking away, mostly just to keep tabs on how people's experience with the Maverick Hybrids is like and whether I'd consider trading in.

While the options have certainly changed over the past several years, not to mention the flip-flop on the hybrid and base XL pricing, the big things I'd ponder (and I often do...) are the various recalls and unaddressed issues people experience, especially with the 2.5L Hybrids -- everything from completely dead trucks due to electrical system and BCM faults to CV joints wearing out within 30K miles are perfectly routine, not to mention very recent software updates to address tail late problems that then create yet more problems. And that's to say nothing of the hybrid engine block breach issues for select '22-23 trucks, for which Ford hasn't yet figured out a fix (spoiler: it's to replace the long block, which basically means free new engines and the labor to swap them for all affected customers, and Ford execs really don't want to do that, so they're stalling).

And to be clear: it's not to say that any of those things will necessarily happen to you; indeed, the odds are probably in your favor not to experience these problems, as forums are notorious for venting from unlucky-albeit-justifiably-angry customers. But if you're also unlucky (and you did just have a teenager roll a Land Rover onto your Santa Cruz...), it's worth knowing how/what Ford both as a company and at the dealer level does about these issues, and for most people it's been a bit of a nightmare. I also attached the Consumer Reports reliability scores for the Maverick Hybrid; the OG '22 seems to reflect a fair bit of what owners grip about here in that it has a pretty abysmal reliability record, but '23 trucks appear to have improved. Anecdotally on this forum though, issues still abound, so make of that what you will.

Meanwhile, as an external point of reference, I've had a Kia Niro sitting in the garage for a year now that's had not a single recall and zero issues whatsoever after multiple OTA updates (they've actually added features/improved little niggles I've had with the infotainment, if you can believe it). Interior quality is also definitely a cut above the Maverick, but that's honestly pretty minor in my book. Likewise, my Hyundai and Mazda hatches before it were also basically problem-free aside from minor issues (fuel injector cleaning, etc.). Conversely, the decades of Fords my family and I have owned prior to my switching to Japanese/Asian cars were much more like what I've read about here: fine until they're not, often right around 30-40K miles (i.e. right around when the warranty expires, it's truly uncanny), and "big stuff" that does occur under warranty is often a pain to get fixed (though I think most OEMs these days question everything/avoid settling up if they can).

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