FORD MAVERICK 3000 MILE REVIEW

What's going on xsr Detroit guys here? A few months ago I bought my Ford Maverick. I was very excited. I've been waiting a year to finally get this truck and I've put about 3,000

mile

s on it, so I think it's time for an inspection. Uh, is this a $40,000 truck? Let's get into it, starting with the exterior of the truck. I think it looks great, it's a nice little truck. uh, I find myself looking at it when I walk into work or just go. Anywhere, I'm really glad I chose this red hot pepper, it's like it appeared under the sun.

It depends on you knowing what type of lighting it is in. It may change the colors a little. Sometimes it looks more orange than red, but overall. I'm so glad I chose this color, especially with the black appearance package. I think it really highlights it. I see a lot of Mavericks like Cactus gray and Area 51 and I like those colors, but I see so many Mavericks. that's that color that's become synonymous with Mavericks, you know, having this really nice bright red, uh, I think it looks cool, it gives it a sportier look, without a doubt, the main attraction of the Maverick is of course , the bed, is 4T 4 with the tailgate up and 6ft with the tailgate down, I found it quite useful.

I can fit two 10 ton kayaks in the back. I've been able to load my bikes up there. It fits my bike although I haven't done it. put it in there yet, it will definitely fit any of my motorcycles, which is like 80% of the reason I brought this truck. I got the Linex box when it had the original paint on the box, I put one of my I get into kayak just to see how it fit and scratched the outside of the bed like the paint on the bed was very thin and I always planned on getting it Linx, so it didn't really bother me, but that's something to consider when I'm buying these trucks, the paint is an issue.

The Linex I felt was a better option than a straight liner. I guess it really depends on what you want to do with your truck. I mainly bought it to charge my dirt bike. around so there will be rocks and just dirt in the bed quite often so I thought I might as well spray it and not have to worry about it in the future. I think there are 10 ties on the bed with the bow package, which is amazing, very, very useful, anything I've had to tie on the bed. I've had countless options as to how I want to tie them, so it makes transporting things very easy.

I already have friends who ask me. to do favors for the truck, moved some grills, picked up some wood, uh, it feels great to be able to help someone like that with the truck, it's really nice to have the utility of that, especially for me coming from a All my life driving cars. One thing I find very useful is this little cubby here. I use it to store my kayak straps, but there is plenty of room in here. I could put many more things, but I see people making like energy panels. There is a lot of flexibility when it comes to this cubicle.

I'm only going to use it for storage. I guess since I have the inverter on the other side of the truck, I don't really need a power supply or anything at the moment. That might change in the future depending on what you do with it, but it's very useful. I like it a lot. Another advantage of the Lariat package is that you get a full-size rear-facing 400-watt home plug-in inverter. I have not used it. Still, but I think this will come in handy next year for camping. It's really cool to have it. We also have some lights here that you can turn on and off and they also turn on the third brake light on top of the truck, so that's pretty cool.

I feel the lighting is adequate. I see a lot of people adding LED strips and everything to the truck and that's something I might consider in the future. I think it's okay, it's bright enough for the most part. I decided to add the towing package to the Maverick and I think no matter what your use is even if you don't tow anything I think you should add this to your Maverick if you are ordering one or if you are buying one it is a no brainer for $750 you get the trailer hitch you get a seven pin connector and a four pin connector uh upgraded cooling system I think it has a lower final drive than the standard all wheel drive Mavericks and it doubles the towing capacity so your standard towing capacity It will be around 2000 lbs and with the tip package it doubles to 4000 so for me this is perfect.

My wife and I have been researching ultralight camping trailers and everything, so weight is definitely a factor. 4,000 lbs is a good amount, especially for a truck this size, it won't be strong, but for someone like my wife and I it's the perfect setup, probably a little more than we really need, but I think it doesn't matter what you should . get this because for 750 bucks it's a bargain and if you really can't add it after the fact you can't add better cooling to all of this in the final unit and even if you could it wouldn't cost $750 so even if you're not going to use, I think you should get it because when it comes time to sell the truck, it's a very attractive option for people, it's a nice thing that you can say, hey, it has the towing package that you don't have. work to go to U-Haul or you know, make an aftermarket hitch, it's already ready to go, it's kind of a bargain when it comes to these Mavericks, a package I added to my Maverick that you definitely don't need, but it looks really cool is the black appearance package, which gives you the blacked out headlights and grille part on the front, some black wheels, black door handles, blacked out interior parts which we'll look at a little later, and the emblems of Fords blacked out and simply seen.

Awesome, it's $1,600, you don't really need this. I like it, it looks great. The only criticism I had of the Maverick was that the regular headlights, the ones that weren't tinted, were just a little bright and I wasn't crazy about it. that, um, the daytime running lights are a little smoky and during certain parts they are not completely off. I think they look pretty good, they're a darker color than the traditional Maverick taillights, but I think this looks so nice you don't need it. I bought this just because I thought it was cool and I think I'm going to regret it if I don't have the headlights off because it looks really cool especially with the LED loop lighting, for me it's what you don't You don't need this $1,600 you won't get no value for this, it adds nothing, you get black painted wheels which honestly don't look good, they look good.

I wish they were bright, but they're not that bright, um, yeah. You don't need this package. I just think it's really cute. One thing I really like about the Maverick is that they come with factory tint. The rear doors and rear glass are about 20%, which is quite dark. In fact, I like it a lot. I had the tint done on the front windows. My sheet recommended that I go up 15% just because of the light coming through the windshield and I decided to use that and it looks perfect. Looks great. I don't know about dye laws. you're from I mean, I live outside of Detroit.

I have had tinted windows for over a decade. I've only been pulled over like twice for it, that's what happens if it happens because I'm not driving without a window tent. One of the features I use all the time on my Maverick is this locking numeric keypad. It is so amazing. You know, I'm very active. Outdoor. You know, biking, kayaking, camping, backpacking. It's so convenient that I can keep my keys in my car. Come back later, enter a code and log in. These are places I go, places where if I lose my keys, they disappear, so I don't want to take them with me on these adventures and I have to say I use this.

It's illuminated all the time which is nice at night and these are hard buttons rather than the capacitive touch ones which are kind of like physical touch buttons which feel great. This is one of my favorite features of the Maverick. You also have this. Electric window that I use all the time. It's really nice to open it up and let the air circulate through the truck even on cold days just to get a little breeze. I really like it in the XL and XLT models. a manual window that you'll have to open, so the fact that I can sit in the driver's seat and open it without you knowing that you have to open it before driving is pretty nice, let's take a look inside the Maverick, uh, it's very spacious here, uh, a lot of my friends are over 6 years old and they've all mentioned how spacious it is for them, which is great.

I went on a road trip with a couple of friends and we were all getting out of the back seat and there was room for everyone, that's something I definitely appreciate. The Maverick actually has more interior space than the Ranger, so it's something to consider if you're a larger person or have a family. It's quite spacious here. but uh, yeah, so the seats, uh, the seats are good, they're comfortable enough, I don't find them anything special, they're okay, they're okay, I'll say that, um, I don't want to say it. Leather, it's not leather, it's a synthetic material, but these seats don't breathe well in summer.

I noticed my back was sweating a little. I just feel like I can't breathe in the seats. That's probably not a problem. fabric models, but this material just doesn't have perforations or anything to really give you room to breathe, so I found that even when I had the air conditioning on, I had to lean forward and disconnect from the uh, the seat a little but other than that the seats are comfortable and of course with the Lariat package they are heated and get very hot especially now that the temperatures are dropping. I use them every day and really appreciate them.

The center console is deep. uh this thing is a cavern, you can put a lot of things in this thing, uh what I did was I bought this kind of space as a spacer that allows me to organize myself a little better because I don't really have anything, this thing is kind. It's a pain to get out, but I don't really have anything big enough to justify the space of this center console, so I thought it would be more useful to divide the space, you know, I have a little area for coins. Keep my phone keys here.

I have cables here. I bought this on Amazon for about 20 dollars. That's all well and good, but even if you don't understand this is huge and for some people that space will be great. uh for me, I don't really use it, but it's big. I mean, it's better to have more and not use it than to need more and not have it, so it's not bad. The center console is covered with the same synthetic leather as the seats. I bought this cover just because I have a tendency to lean a little over my center console and I want to keep it looking good over the years, so I bought this cheap and even Faker leather cover. here, I mean, she's black, she's pretty.

Lots of matches and I don't have to worry about messing up my center console, so that's another inexpensive modification you can make to keep your interior nice. Let's talk about the infotainment very quickly in the Maverick, so with the Lariat package you get SYNC 3. and SYNC 3 is so far in my experience, okay, some people say it's buggy and I have to agree with them, which It's definitely annoying, especially for the cost of this vehicle and this is the luxury trim package and I just don't know. sometimes it's buggy, it's not that bad, it's like a daily annoyance, it's only happened a few times, but sometimes the bluetooth just cuts out, it can be a little annoying, but it has android auto, it's not wireless, it's wired, you have to plug it in.

Here you have a USBC and a traditional USB port to connect. I like to use C because of course USBC is generally better when it comes to Android Auto. When I plug it in, it pretty much works, so I prefer Android Auto. sync 3 uh I've tried using sync 3 navigation a few times and it's okay, it's not as good as Google Maps or forms so I don't really use it, but on a day to day basis I'm just using the audio part of Bluetooth . I don't even plug my phone into the truck, I put a fast charger in the cigarette lighter down here so I can have a better charge and you know, if I'm just going to work, I don't need navigation, I just want to listen to a podcast or some music that you know on a day to day basis, I don't even use Android Auto, uh, this cubby, so the thing about the cubby is they were supposed to put a bigger screen in here, which makes sense, but doesn't it?

Now you have all this space and I can't find a use for it. I've seen people attach 3D printed grilles so they can be mounted as cell phone holders. I'm probably not going to do that. I don't know what to do with that. I tried putting cables in but they just fall out. I don't know, maybe I'll find a use for it later. I don't care that it has a t on the screen. I just wish they had centered it, just moving it around a little bit and centering it a little better. I put an anti-glare screen protector on the screen which definitely seems to help and that's a cheap mod you can make that is definitely nice.

Regarding the use ofinfotainment, it's okay, it handles well, the touchscreen is very responsive, it looks very sharp, I have to say they've come a long way in the last few years, so it's definitely, definitely nice, I definitely like that. I also like the way the vents are. configured because you can blow air back so the passengers in the back actually get the heat or air conditioning. You know it doesn't have any climate control on the center console, but it's nice that the rear passengers can still get the air circulating very, very well. As for the climate controls, I love that they are real buttons.

It's trendy to make climate controls via touchscreen and I think it's ridiculous and I think it's actually a little unsafe. because a touch screen will never have the tactile sensation of pressing a button, you know, I don't know if I'm driving, you know, and I want to turn up the heat. I have to go through a menu. Upload this. Not like that on the Maverick, you have real buttons and knobs, which I appreciate. I think it's amazing. Another interesting thing I want to mention before we continue is that you can turn off the infotainment screen completely, so if you are driving at night and maybe it is bothering you or maybe you would like to go back to a time when not all vehicles had a giant touch screen, you can just turn it off and it's nice.

I like its atmosphere. He is friendly. It's cool, but yeah, everything down here is very easy to reach. I already have the muscle memory, so I don't have to look away when I'm driving to do what I want in terms of the Lariat features you have. I have the heated seats, the heated mirrors, the heated steering wheel, uh, the passenger in the front also has heated seats, as I mentioned before, the heated seats are warm, very, very nice, uh, the heated steering wheel heating again, something I thought I didn't need and now I can't live without.

I use it every morning, which is amazing. The heated mirrors are a nice touch. It hasn't cooled down enough yet that I would really need them, but I noticed it when I started my truck remotely. They turn on automatically which is a really nice touch. In general, I like it. The air conditioning is freezing, the heat is very hot, but I have one complaint, so it has an automatic function and I found it to be a little inconsistent. Sometimes when I got off work I would turn it on and it would automatically go to the air conditioning and this is in the summer so yes I want the air conditioning but it wouldn't turn the temperature down as much as if the temperature went higher. than the temperature outside, so I would have to adjust the air conditioning anyway, so it's a little annoying sometimes, I don't know, in the heat it seems to react a little better, and sometimes it works perfectly fine, but I would say.

It's a little inconsistent and that's a bit of a complaint, but man, the fan motor, as far as airflow goes on this thing, is strong. Actually, I usually don't go above the middle mark because I usually don't have to, but it's One very, very strong thing that I don't want to forget to mention is the sound system. The sound system is from BNO and I think it's great. Personally, I'm not like a huge audio file or anything. People say the original sound. The on system like the xl's and the XL te Mavericks is pretty bad, uh, the bno system.

I enjoy it, it sounds good to me, most of the things I listen to are like podcasts or just people talking so I'm not really looking for HiFi Audio, but when I listen to music it sounds great to me, it's the best sound system I've ever had I have had. If you know more about sound setups, you may want to add an amp or sub. I've seen a couple of people add 10 inch subwoofers and the whole thing probably won't bother me. I am completely satisfied with the sound system, as it is, it sounds good to me, which seems to be a point of contention for many.

People, it's this shifter now. I've seen them appear more on cars, particularly Ford, in recent years and personally it hasn't been a big adjustment. My last car was a manual transmission, so the fact that it doesn't even have a clutch anymore is kind of crazy, but I personally don't have any problems. I got used to this pretty quickly. I really can't complain. Cup holders can hold. really big cups, like big shots and things that I appreciate and they're actually spaced out enough that things aren't touching each other which I think is cool, we have a cubby down here, I'm not sure what I would put in that . uh sometimes I put my phone in there uh cubby here I don't know it's space it's extra space there's tons of space in this truck is what I'm trying to say down here you have your mode selector your traction control your auto start stop and I don't remember what this one does, but the modes are very, very useful.

I haven't turned off the traction control yet. That will be more for the snow season, maybe you will get some drifting snow in the auto start stop. It took me a while to get used to it, sometimes it's annoying, especially in the summer when you just start the truck and the A/C hasn't been running yet and you're in traffic and all of a sudden the A/C isn't cold for very long. one second uh you can't turn it off I mean I wish there was a way to turn it off permanently uh there are some methods uh am I going to do them or not I'm not entirely sure uh it's not that annoying Every once in a while I have to tell myself it's okay , I have to turn it off, so it's just a button, no big deal, you have a place in here to put your phone, which is where I normally put it when I plug it in.

Android auto or if I plug it in to charge, there's a wireless charger here that I don't use, it feels like a gimmick, wireless charging is great if you're charging like something overnight in your bed, but during the day. -day use just isn't fast enough the glove box is a pretty good size, you can fit a decent amount of stuff in here. I try to keep my car or truck pretty tidy, so I don't like to put a lot of junk in the glove box, so I kept it down to the essentials, my wife's charging cable, a Bluetooth speaker that I use on my adventures and stuff, but There's a good amount of room here, let's talk about the back seat for a minute, right?

Now I have my seat positioned where I normally sit and my knees are not touching the seat. I'm about 5'8 so your

mile

age may vary. The only thing I grabbed right away was a cheap seat cover. I bought this. from Amazon for $30. It's more designed for pets and stuff, but the thing is, I mainly use my back seat as a trunk, so I didn't want to ruin the seats by just throwing things in here, so a cheap seat cover. It's not the most, it's not the most attractive, but hey, for 30 dollars, it's not bad, but yes, it is very spacious.

Back here, in the doors, there is space to store water bottles. I keep my umbrella back here, we have a full size one. Home inverter like the bed, which is super nice and we have a standard USB A and USBC charging port which is really very useful. This 3D printed mounting system, something that Ford implemented, I think is really cool, I think what I'm going to do. A garbage container or something like that is placed back here. I think it would be nice to have, but it just fits in here, but the options for this little thing are practically endless.

There's a lot of stuff you can slide in here, which I think. I think it's a really cool thing to have on a truck. It's very modern to look at something like 3D printing that has exploded in the last few years and say "hey, this is something people add things to your truck." It was kind of a forward-thinking move on Ford's part, but overall it's great, there's storage in the seat backs which is nice. I don't really use it, but it's great to have, certainly something I've found very useful. under seat storage there is a lot of space underneath here it is a very good way to utilize this space.

I keep things like jumper cables, some ratchet straps, my ice scraper, it's just a really good use of space. I mean, a lot of things could fit in. I really can't wait to go camping and load all this stuff up with gear and equipment that I would normally have to. Store somewhere else on the truck. In fact, you can use the space under the truck. This is one of my favorites. features um like I said, I really keep my daily stuff in here, but I've loaded it up for road trips and stuff, it's awesome. I really love this feature.

My Maverick Lariat also has the luxury package and this is where we are. We're getting into this truck that's worth 40 Grand territory so let's talk about all these features that come with this truck at the top level so you get the leather wrapped steering wheel that feels really nice and it's also heated of course which it's fantastic. I mentioned earlier in the

review

it's definitely nice to have the Luxury package which also gives you heated seats, heated wipers, and heated mirrors, so there are plenty of features that if you live in a colder climate like me half the year .

It's very, very nice to have, so I think the deluxe package is at least worth it. With the Lariat package you also get the larger screen on the dash, which I like, it's very clear. It feels very modern, more luxurious than the other one. Mavericks that have a smaller screen so I appreciate that you get sync 3 instead of whatever else Ford uses in the Mavs XL and serious satellite. I like it, okay, nothing crazy, you get the sound system, the bno sound system, which as I mentioned is pretty good. I like it. I also have adaptive cruise control and lane keeping, and this is a feature that bothers me because they kept it in the loop. trim because the that if I set my cruise control for 80 mph on the highway but the car in front of me is only going 55, the truck won't go 80 mph, it will stop on its own and it's also adjustable so you can adjust how close you are.

I want to get to the vehicles and stuff and between that and the lane continue to help the truck. I don't want to say it drives itself because it doesn't, but I don't do this, but I took my hands off the wheel. Entering a curve once and the truck steered itself into the curve perfectly fine, if you take your hands off the wheel for a moment it will warn you to put your hands back on the wheel, I've seen it. People whose names I won't mention override this by putting an ankle weight on the steering wheel, allowing the truck to drive itself.

I didn't do that, but I know someone who did and it works. I think it's very funny. that you can overlook everything uh like that, you really shouldn't do that, don't do it, by the way, um uh, but it's cool, it's one of those features that's the only thing, so could I live without it? Am I really happy to have it? Yeah, and I think lane keeping and adjustable cruise control like that is probably the most important thing to consider if you're going from an XLT to a Lariat because you can't get that. in the I love the design.

I think it's very modern, very cool, all the exposed bolt heads and stuff very industrial. I really like its appearance. I think it's a lot better than the Ranger, um, but does this feel luxurious here like it doesn't? really dude, it's not like that, it's hard plastic, it is what it is, I don't care, it's cool, it's utilitarian, I like it, but you know you can put leather seats in a truck and call it luxurious, I don't know. which you know, luxury comes with radar cruise control and heated seats and heating, that makes sense, it feels luxurious, I feel like I'm in a luxury vehicle right now, not really, but it is okay, let's talk about drivability for a little bit, so the Maverick is basically an escape, a Ford Escape, a small SUV that is part of the C2 platform, which shares a platform with the Ford Focus.

My last car was a Focus ST and one thing I was really excited about was staying in it. that I like that ecosystem because my Focus ST overall was very reliable, it was fun to drive, you know the 2L EcoBoost is the same engine that's in this Maverick, so I knew it would be enough power for me for one day, you know , no I really don't need a fast car or truck. You know, I have a sportbike that goes faster than most things on the road, so I'm not really looking for speed. I was looking for utility, but when it came to driving the Maverick, no.

It doesn't really feel like a traditional truck and that's because it's not, it's an SUV, it's basically a front-end Escape, so it's not going to handle like a truck,it's very smooth, particularly the towing package um, all-wheel drive. The Mavericks have an independent rear. suspension, that's what it has and it feels very smooth, the body roll is not as much as I expected so I really like that it feels very direct, the 2L EcoBoost, it moves, it's a Pepe engine that really I wouldn't call this a fast truck because it's not, but it's fast, it's good enough to surprise you.

I think for the average person, especially like this, it's a great truck. It has multiple driving modes. The slippery mode was very useful in the rain. We had a lot of flooding this way. I really like that the sport mode is surprisingly good. I feel like it mainly changes the throttle response. I'd say it feels a little more irritable when you press the pedal. It's more reactive. I like it feels good and surprisingly the transmission actually locks up on revs so you know normally when you're driving this and I'm sure this has to do with similar emissions and maintaining good fuel mileage.

He always wants to change immediately. It has an 8-speed automatic transmission. It has a lot of gears to go through, however in sport mode I noticed it stalled in the revs so you were still making power while driving which I thought was really cool, especially coming from a manual transmission that you're into. used to. full control I appreciate the fact that sport mode actually feels quite sporty. Eco mode. I haven't really done that well with a full tank in eco mode. It seems to give me better mileage, but I generally don't drive. It doesn't lead to good mileage is the easiest way to put it, so mileage is fine.

I get about 25 miles per gallon. The brakes feel fantastic. Part of the Lariat package are electronically driven brakes and, man, the brakes feel so good. This car feels or the truck did it again. It feels amazing basically. It feels very, very good. I think this is a really accessible vehicle to drive. It has a low floor, so when you walk into it, there is plenty of room to. your feet, something a little weird that I noticed and other people have mentioned is that it felt like my foot was slipping off the gas pedal and I had to get used to where I was putting my foot on the pedal, uh, kind of weird. but I heard other people complain about that too.

It took me about a week to get used to it, but it's something I noticed, but overall the ride is a fun truck to drive every day, it doesn't feel like a truck. Parking is amazing on this, it's just not big you know, it's actually not much bigger than your average SUV so parking is extremely easy, overall a very nice truck to drive, it's fun to drive as well than when the Maverick debuted. It came out at $20,000 for the most basic model and this is a $40,000 Maverick, so is it really worth adding $20,000 to the truck? It's hard for me to say.

I think it's the last car I've owned for a decade so I don't really buy and sell cars that often and when I identified this Maverick I was thinking I wanted to future-proof it because I intended to keep it for a long time and I think I did. I will do, so I wanted to make sure I had it. all the features I really wanted in terms of moving up to the Lariat package. I think adaptive cruise control is the bigger game. Cher, as far as that goes, having the inverters is nice, but that's something you can add after you have the I know the power window is definitely a perk of the Lariat package, but the adaptive cruise control is the main attraction.

I think the perfect middle ground is the I think the XLT Lux is the way to go, of course you don't need to spend $1,600 on the blackout package like I did. but it looks nice and I don't regret anything, so yeah, for me, I'm very happy with this truck. It has been a pleasure to drive it. You know, I've taken it on a couple of road trips with some friends. I have one coming soon. a couple of days and it was a really nice truck to drive, it's easy to drive, it's easy to park. I really like being in the van.

I love driving it too. You know, the Pepe 2 L EcoBoost. You know it's fun. I like and. It's just nice to sit in a truck where you have these seats that are not real leather but leather, it feels good, you know, every morning when I get in I turn the truck on remote control and everything is hot, my heated steering wheel is on, my heated seats are on. and I feel comfortable, it just makes going to work a little bit easier, you know, little luxuries for everyday life. I really appreciate it, overall I'm very happy with it.

I can't wait to do more. also go on adventures, that was the goal of buying this truck. There is a lot of fun to be had in the future with this and I can't wait to rack up the miles and make memories with it. You know what it's going to be. It's going to be a lot of fun so overall I'm very happy with it, you probably shouldn't get the lasso just because the XLT Lux is the way to go. I'm being honest, I think that's the way to go. I did not do it. I did that and I don't regret it.

I got extra features and they are actually very nice to have, so whether this truck is worth $40,000 really depends on the person who is going to buy it, so I can say that for myself. I'm very happy, but thanks for watching as always. There's a lot of Maverick content coming out soon, so stay tuned and I'll see you next time.