My wife and I typically traded her car in when the warranty expired, and that happened in November. It was sitting in the driveway over the weekend and I realized that I should trade it in regardless. It isn’t her car any longer and I never would have bought it on my own.
Last night I drove home a 2024 Ford Maverick Lariat. It is the special edition hot pepper red and has the 2.5L hybrid engine. Some early observations:
I’ve drive 26 miles so far, most of that in the city, and it is reporting 36 mpg. It also says it has run on battery for 4.5 miles.
The start stop function on the engine is so smooth and quite that I didn’t realize it was doing it.
It was 28 degrees when I drove it home last night and 27 degrees when I drove it to work this morning. The engine has not reached NOT yet. Forums say that is normal in the winter.
It is heating the steering wheel and the seat automatically, and then turning it off when the cabin temp comes up. Like wise, the defroster and heater come on hot the moment you push the start button. They are apparently electric.
So far I’m happy. This weekend I will put the Miata in the garage until spring and this will be my daily driver.
We have a Ford Escape Hybrid. It’s pretty much the same chassis as the Maverick. We get around 45 mpg in the city. If you don’t drive with a lead foot, you may find you get better mileage. Driving the actual speed limit helps. I also use the cruise control extensively, even in city driving. It’s more efficient.
The tow package comes standard - 2000 lbs tow and 1500 lbs bed capacity. Car and trailer would be over the limit, but not because of the weight of the vehicle or the hitch, but because of the engine. I would imagine it would shorten the life of the truck. My son has a Toyota Tundra that we use and will continue to use.
If you’re going to drive a pickup it should be red. I drove red pickups from 1986 until this year except for on bonze Ranger that I got because I couldn’t get red, and I only kept that one for 3 years.
I would kill for your truck as an EV. It would be perfect for me. I test drove a Maverick but it was the bare-bones-basic one and it was just to basic. I’ll bet yours is great.
I’m interested in future updates. I am looking to get a new truck in a year or so, and the Maverick interests me. I currently drive a 2016 Tacoma, which I’ve grown to dislike. But I’m cheap and would drive it until the wheels fell off if it wasn’t for my back. The driver’s seat has zero support.
I am eyeballing a F-150 (Lariat or Platinum). I had an F-150 as a rental earlier this year and it was comfortable as hell. As it will probably be the last new truck I buy I will probably get as many bells and whistles as I can.
Newins Ford in Bayshore, and it was the only one they had left from 2024. The 2025’s are not in yet, and all they had left was the one I bought and bunch of XLT and XL models - the bare bones basic that you are not fond of. The red version that I got is even shorter in supply. They had the only one in the area.
I don’t think they make/order many Lariat packages. Most people that buy a Maverick are probably drawn to the $25,000 price tag. Mine was just north of $40,000, and that is a hard pill to swallow for most. Mine is really a nice passenger car with a 4.5 ft bed. Heated leather seats, heated leather steering wheel, power everything, spray in bed liner, locking bed cover, fancy wheels and upgraded tires, etc. It is not a farm or work truck.
I asked if they were going to make a plug in for 2025 and they said no. The interweb confirms the only new Maverick for 2025 is the Lobo and that isn’t even a real truck compared to mine.
excellent, that’s a nice truck… mine is the XLT bare-bones and I still love it. ha.
I was averaging 43mpg in the summer and fall, down to 39mpg now in the cold. Mostly suburban driving.
Didn’t expect that, thought it would run more on the electric at low speeds but the engine seems to run more in the cold.
Still 39mpg vs the 18mpg of my old truck, pretty good.
The CVT in this one is excellent, never even notice it, car just goes. Quick off the mark and climbs the CO mountains without problems.
nope. The hybrid is 2000 lbs. It has nothing to do with the vehicle, it is the drive train in the vehicle. The exact same truck with an ICE and 7 speed transmission is 4000 lbs. Even with the tow package, which I have, is limited to 2000 lbs because of the CVT transmission.
Different vehicle and different engine but certainly similar engineering as my F-150 hybrid. It was awesome until I had a problem between the hybrid motor and battery. It resulted in me not having my vehicle for almost four months while they were flummoxed figuring out how to fix it. Everything was still under warranty so it didn’t cost me a dime but I was told the repair was somewhere in the $15K range. I traded in the vehicle almost as soon as I got it back.
I’m not shitting on hybrids or EVs. I love the concept and when they’re working flawlessly they’re great. They’re very troublesome for dealerships to fix when something goes kablooey with the electric motors and batteries. The service departments generally don’t have the mechanics and techs proficient enough in electrical engineering to fix stuff without escalating to the corporate level.
I went back to an ICE vehicle (almost the polar opposite with a gas guzzling, high performance Raptor variant) while I wait out the tech for a few more years.
The Maverick is a great vehicle though. It kind of straddles that line between car and pickup. It’s so much smaller than the F-150 and Ranger but has some of the functionality. Good choice.
The Maverick is called a small truck but it’s probably the size of what a full-size F150 used to be a generation ago. Lots of modern trucks these days seem offensively obese.
Yet, I also find it funny/odd seeing trucks w/bikes (usually mtn bikes) mounted on a rear hitch - and an entire truck bed of empty space. They should make these things big enough to carry stuff
