{"id":28071,"date":"2021-10-05T15:27:27","date_gmt":"2021-10-05T19:27:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/?p=28071"},"modified":"2021-10-05T15:27:27","modified_gmt":"2021-10-05T19:27:27","slug":"payne-affordable-ford-maverick-pickup-is-a-40-mpg-swiss-army-knife","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/2021\/10\/payne-affordable-ford-maverick-pickup-is-a-40-mpg-swiss-army-knife","title":{"rendered":"Payne: Affordable Ford Maverick pickup is a 40 mpg Swiss Army knife"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nashville, Tenn.<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 We auto journalists love to prattle on about how capable the ripped Ford F-150 Raptor supertruck is with its terrain-chewing tires, high-tech Fox shocks and powerful, twin-turbo V-6. But at $70K,\u00a0the Raptor tool can only be afforded by a few.<\/p>\n

Everyone else is left coveting the stud with their noses pressed against the window.<\/p>\n

Until now. For a Ford Truck Nation that has always dreamed of an affordable Swiss Army knife, your ship has come in. The entry-level Maverick pickup is here and it is really, really good.<\/p>\n

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Yes, the base\u00a0$21,490 Maverick XL. You want a truck with 500 miles of range? 191 horsepower? A hybrid drivetrain, Google maps smartphone connectivity, and more storage options than the Queen Mary? Write your check for $21,490.<\/p>\n

This stud doesn\u2019t require two parking spaces to park. Downtown Nashville is overrun these days with music acts, IndyCar races, tourists. Want to park an F-150 in the cramped parking lot of Carter Vintage Guitars on 8th Avenue? Ain\u2019t happening, ya\u2019ll.<\/p>\n

With Maverick, it\u2019s a cinch. Exit downtown and load 1,000 pounds of mulch and rock from Home Depot for your home lawn project.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n
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Pickup capability used to mean you had to ride a rough ladder-frame chassis or pay big bucks for magnetic shocks to smooth things out. Maverick, on the other hand, is a joy to drive. Fast. With mulch loaded behind me, I drove Mav hard like it was a unibody, compact SUV.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s because it is a unibody, compact SUV.<\/p>\n

Maverick is now the entry-level vehicle for Ford\u2019s lineup. Not just the truck lineup, the entire vehicle lineup. If you\u2019re thinking Maverick sounds like an Escape or a Bronco Sport with a bed, it is. The Mav\u2019s secret sauce is it brings truck capability to the market\u2019s biggest volume class, compact SUVs.<\/p>\n

As I drove the baby F-series, I realized it wasn\u2019t so much a truck as a bed option in a segment my wife and I have occupied all our lives. Me in VW Golfs and Honda Civics. My wife in her beloved\u00a0$28K\u00a0Subaru Impreza with all-wheel drive, adaptive cruise, sippy fuel economy\u00a0and park-anywhere maneuverability.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n
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Maverick checks the same boxes for the same price. Substitute bed for hatch. The pickup completes the trifecta of three compact SUVs \u2014 Escape, Bronco Sport\u00a0and Maverick \u2014 built on the same chassis but with three distinct personalities.<\/p>\n

For that reason alone, the new littlest Ford (India-made Ecosport has been axed) deserves its rebel name. Maverick demonstrates the transformation of a 20th-century car company to a 21st-century truck ‘n\u2019 SUV company. Want a Focus or Fiesta hatchback? Move to Europe.<\/p>\n

For all its segment-busting swagger, the Maverick is conservatively styled. This is no Hyundai Santa Cruz \u2014 the other unibody pickup introduced this year and Hyundai\u2019s first pickup \u2014 which screams for attention with its angular bod, sliding tonneau cover, and sub-bed trunk.<\/p>\n

Maverick is part of a larger truck family. The brand knows it has market cred \u2014 Mav takes design cues from big brother F-150 with its C-clamp grille and squared-off bed design. There\u2019s no sub-bed to carry coolers (Ford says it compromises the steel box\u2019s strength), no sliding bed covers (Ford says it compromises bed width), no angular c-pillar (compromises access). Hyundai dares to question the ol\u2019 formula.<\/p>\n

Maverick\u00a0saves its innovation for under the skin. This is no plasticky Ranger \u2014 which felt rushed when Ford realized it was late to the midsize truck party in 2018.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n
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Maverick\u2019s interior has the confidence of a segment buster \u2014 tastefully done with clever use of materials (recycled carbon fiber dust here, orange\/bronze trim pieces for XLT\/Lariat trims there). Doors are scalloped for oversized bottle storage \u2014 the handles floating in space. Take a bow, interior design team.<\/p>\n

Accessories are numerous. My favorite? A $50 five-pack of interchangeable gadgets for the rear seat console: trash bin, cupholder, cord wrap, grocery bag holder, sub-seat organizer.<\/p>\n

The sub-seat organizer provides\u00a0ample storage space under the rear bench seats \u2014 an inherent benefit of unibody construction. Bronco Sport sports similar space, but Maverick goes even deeper. Store footballs, muddy cleats, bottles \u2014 not to mention the rest of the accessory five-pack.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n
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Though just 4.5 feet long by\u00a04 feet wide (the same as, ahem, a $70,000\u00a0Rivian EV), the pickup\u2019s rear bed can store a bicycle \u2014 or two if you take the front wheels off. Like competitors, Ford knows customers (especially younger buyers in this segment) expect their vehicles to talk with their phones. Mav depends on your smartphone for its navigation \u2014 and sticks a QR code on the rear bed so you can access a variety of online Ford help videos to configure lights, bike rack, etc.<\/p>\n

Hyundai knows the bed is key, too, and its sliding tonneau cover, sub-bed storage and soft-drop tailgate will challenge Maverick.<\/p>\n

Santa Cruz will also create buzz with its greater towing capacity, standard wireless smartphone connectivity\/blind spot-assist\u00a0and premium interior (including a hoodless, LED instrument display that is one of my favorite new 2021 items) when pitted against the Maverick\u2019s XLT and Lariat trims for a comparable $25,000 (where Maverick gains all-wheel-drive with a more powerful, 250-horse \u00a02.0-liter turbo-4).<\/p>\n

But that base $21,490 Maverick XL bargain stands alone.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a whopping four grand below the Hyundai, a real number for entry-level buyers. Not long ago, I asked a Golf engineer why V-dub didn\u2019t hybrid-ize its compact hatch for superior fuel economy. His answer: battery cost made compact-class hybrids unrealistic.<\/p>\n

Cue Ford, which has managed a rockin\u2019, 191-horsepower hybrid with 40 mpg city \u2014 in a $22K compact pickup. Chew on that for a moment.\u00a0This is an accomplishment right there with racing a Raptor across sand dunes at 100 mph. And it\u2019s something you\u2019ll appreciate every day.<\/p>\n

\"Dolly<\/p>\n
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With a Maverick dressed in Area 51 Blue and steely wheels, I strutted around the Music City in style. I parked in front of Nashville\u2019s Dolly Parton street mural, the queen of country smiling down on my ride.<\/p>\n

A huge, full-size Toyota Tundra parked (very carefully) nearby. \u201cCool color,\u201d the owner commented, looking over my Mav. When I told her the price, her jaw dropped.<\/p>\n

My Ford truck buddies covet a big, bad F-150. My wife loves her compact hatch. I get it. But for those who want the two combined, Ford has worked a miracle: an affordable truck with personality.<\/p>\n

2022 Ford Maverick<\/strong><\/p>\n

Vehicle type: Front engine, front- and four-wheel-drive, five-passenger compact pickup<\/p>\n

Price: $21,490, including $1,495 destination fee ($21,490 FWD XL Hybrid and $37,360 FWD Lariat turbo-4 as tested)<\/p>\n

Powerplant: Hybrid 2.5-liter 4-cylinder mated to electric motor; 2.0-liter turbocharged 4-cylinder<\/p>\n

Power: 191 horsepower, 155 pound-feet torque (hybrid); 250 horsepower, 277 pound-feet torque (turbo-4)<\/p>\n

Transmission: Continuously variable transmission (hybrid); 8-speed automatic (turbo-4)<\/p>\n

\u00a0Payload: 1,500 pounds; Towing capacity:\u00a02,000-4,000 pounds<\/p>\n

Weight: 3,674 pounds (hybrid as tested); 3,731 pounds (AWD turbo-4 as tested)<\/p>\n

Fuel economy: 36\u00a0mpg (hybrid combined, observed on test drive); EPA est. mpg 23 city\/30 highway\/26 combined (turbo-4 FWD); 22 city\/29 highway\/25 combined (turbo-4 AWD)<\/p>\n

Report card<\/p>\n

Highs: Hybrid price is right; nifty interior<\/p>\n

Lows: No sub-bed option like Hyundai Santa Cruz; wireless Apple CarPlay, please<\/p>\n

Overall: 4 stars<\/p>\n

Henry Payne is auto critic for The Detroit News. Find him at hpayne@detroitnews.com or Twitter @HenryEPayne.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nashville, Tenn.\u00a0\u2014 We auto journalists love to prattle on about how capable the ripped Ford F-150 Raptor supertruck is with its terrain-chewing tires, high-tech Fox shocks and powerful, twin-turbo V-6. But at $70K,\u00a0the Raptor tool can only be afforded by a few. Everyone else is left coveting the stud with their noses pressed against the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,87],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28071"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28071"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28071\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28072,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28071\/revisions\/28072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/henrypayne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}