2023 FORD MAVERICK TREMOR OUTSHINES ITS ENORMOUS KIN
Pickups have grown all out of proportion. Full-sized trucks are the size of small tanks. Their supposedly mid-sized siblings — Ford's Ranger, Toyota's Tacoma, et al — occupy the same footprint their full-sized brethren did but a decade ago. Simply put, they take up too much space, waste too much gas, and cost wa-a-ay too much money.
But none of the above applies to Ford's new(-ish) Maverick. Instead, this modern pick-me-up is truly compact, almost frugal, and, best of all, cheaper than the proverbial borscht. It is, for better or (occasionally) worse, everything its bigger brothers are not.
First off, a base Maverick barely tops $30,000, the bare-bones XL Hybrid FWD model but $30,100 in its completely stripped base version. Even my fairly loaded version, an XLT with the Tremor off-road package and “Hot Red” paint, was a smidgen under 40-large ($39,585) without PDI and taxes. If you know anything about pickup pricing these days, you'll know that's more than just a bargain.
It is also — and this is the thing I like best about it — truly compact. It is genuinely parkable even in ungenerous spaces, doesn't feel outsized at your local car wash, and can easily make its way down into tight underground parking without the need of a Sherpa guide, radar guidance or three parking spaces.
As for gas mileage, the Maverick gets by with a turbocharged Ecoboost 2.3-litre four-cylinder. No, it's not the torque monster its 3.5-litre twice-turbocharged V-6 siblings are, but it is rated for 250 horsepower and 277 pound-feet of torque, which is hardly pitiful. Transport Canada also rates the combination at 11.0 litres per 100 kilometres overall, and I averaged a smidgen under 12 L/100 klicks. That's not Prius Prime economy, but neither do you hear the sucking sound of the Exxon Valdez emptying every time you start it up.
The Hybrid version is even more frugal, the combination of Atkinson-cycled 2.5L four and electric motor averaging about seven litres every 100 klicks, which is not far off what a Toyota RAV4 manages. It also has, because the trucking crowd seems to put a lot of emphasis on this, at least a sliver of street cred in this latest Tremor guise.
More serious still is the new all-wheel-drive system, with twin clutch packs replacing the rear differential. Not only do they allow torque-vectoring along the rear axle (which helps on-road handling) but they can also be locked, which greatly encourages off-road traction, especially when, say, one of the rear wheels is dangling in the air.
Does this make the smallest Ford a Jeep Wrangler competitor? No. But enthusiasts are always complaining that small trucks lack truck-y bona fides. The Tremor addresses more than a few of those issues.
On the down side, no good off-road suspension ever goes unpunished. On the plus side, the Maverick's unibody frame resists twisting and bending better than a ladder frame, eliminating — or, at least, greatly reducing — the side-to-side hopping so typical of larger body-on-frame pickups subjected to “firmer” dampers. On the other hand, the Maverick is still tall, short and poorly weight-distributed, so the Tremor's stiffer suspenders do render the ride more jittery than the base version. The bottom line: If you don't really need the beefier bits, the fuel-sipping hybrid version is a better bet.
Unfortunately, a hybrid would mean you'd have to make do without Ford's most-excellent 250-horsepower 2.0-litre turbo four. Its 250 hp and 277 poundfeet of torque don't sound like much when compared to the torque numbers bandied about for full-sized pickups, but it's enough to move the 1,727-kilogram Maverick around with alacrity.
The price to be paid for the Maverick's comparatively bargain-basement MSRPS becomes apparent as soon as you step inside. As basic as trucks of yore — and by “yore,” I mean 30 or 40 years ago — the dashboard is one giant expanse of hard plastic, the multimedia screen is tiny and unadorned, and the audio system would have a tough time out-decibel-ling a particularly ardent squirrel.
The seats are comfy enough, but you'll never mistake their side bolstering for a Porsche's. And seriously, Ford, a little more sound-deadening, please, even if this is the entry to your truck world. On the other hand, well, it doesn't cost very much, does it? As I said, this is what all trucks used to be, and what lots of people think they should be again.
I'm not sure I'd swap out the aforementioned cheap and cheerful interior for something more luxurious. There's absolutely no doubt its level of fit and finish has a lot to do with the Maverick's aggressive pricing, which seriously undercuts the similarly sized Hyundai Santa Cruz's. Yes, the Hyundai has a little more power and a decidedly more upscale interior, but the Santa Cruz starts at $38,499, and its Ultimate version will set you back $44,799. And, of course, there is no Tremor version.
As for the Hybrid version of the Maverick, it's definitely an acquired taste; it's only available in front-wheel-drive guise, pretty much knocking it out of the serious-truck department.