Ford offers an optional EcoBoost turbo gas engine as well buyers can configure it with front- or available all-wheel drive (AWD). The twist is that the base powertrain with each trim is a full hybrid with front-wheel drive (FWD). Trim levels include the base XL, more generously equipped XLT, and range-topping Lariat. Good luck with that.Īs with all other things Maverick, Ford keeps the lineup simple. Or maybe they are just looking for an affordable new vehicle, but with entry-level models such as the excellent Fiesta and Focus gone from the Ford lineup, they are relegated to perusing used-vehicle lots.

Is Ford crazy or maybe crazy like a fox? With the Maverick, the company offers a product to buyers who would like a pickup for dirty jobs around the house or runs to the local home improvement or garden store but can't afford a larger pickup.

But why launch a smaller, less-expensive pickup with thin profit margins when buyers are lining up to buy the larger ones that make investor's stock portfolios swell and can help fund the transition to electrification? Ford is looking to court underserved buyers with a model that starts around $20,000 in a market where the average vehicle transaction price is nearing $45,000. As former compact pickups like the Chevrolet Colorado, Ford Ranger, and GMC Canyon grew to nearly full-size proportions in recent years-and full-size pickups outgrew their garages and nudged into luxury-car price territory-an obvious opportunity to reclaim entry-level buyers with modest, around-the-house pickup-truck needs surfaced.Ĭar companies love discovering fresh white space.

Channeling the no-nonsense spirit of compact Japanese pickups of the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, the Ford Maverick is the first offering in the entry-level pickup space in decades.

Ford maverick review