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Ford Maverick Truck!!

Dunno -- I'm just not convinced any of the vehicles made today are good for much outside of grocery getting.

I'm "done with" the former "big 3" - Its a crying shame. I think they have all sold their souls and are bleeding people dry.

Regulation plays a big part too. Government can't even run itself well. I wish they would stop trying to manage and start to encourage...

What I mean is there are two ways to solve the "problem" of energy.

1] The stick --- thou shalt ... our current paradigm.
2] The Carrot --- "if you invest in solving x, y, z problems....here's your incentive."

The first approach has produced a bunch of cars that are underpowered, incapable of work (towing 2500 lbs shouldn't be a worry), fragile, and expensive --- and with all that STILl don't solve the problem, only creating new ones.

The second approach would produce a better result, and once the better result is found --- cheaper, abundant, etc. --- if it were truly a good idea --- people would flock to it, naturally, and happily.
 
grasshopper said:
First time I've read that term: "conquests".

The underlying design is the same: unibody with small turbo engines and CVT. Which is plenty to pull our rigs to the 90% of places out there to camp with a trailer.

I think I'd stick with a proven reliable CRV, Pilot, or RAV4 or Outback, which have all mastered that tech for years, with proven reliability, lots of servicing availability at deaers or independent shops and parts availability...

Or a BoF compact truck with true 4x4 and low-low gearing, if you need peace of mind off pavement.

Nice looking little suburban grocery getters and Home Depot stuff haulers. You do have to get signed up while the order book is open, then wait for your "build".

Or pay dealer markup on MSRP.
Click to expand...
Agreed. They are nice looking trucks, and very sought-after right now. Wonder how it may affect sales of the Ridgeline or Tacoma...
 
grasshopper said:
Also interested.
The Ridgeline is a unibody/turbo ICE/CVT with a quarter chopped out for a truck looking vehicle.

I think I'd choose the Honda reliability and parts availability.

Ford used the old bait and switch on base model pricing to draw interest but when you look at what most people need, ie XLT - its in same range $$$ ad the rest.

The US market is all about fickle ego preference, "what does muh vehicle SAY about me"...
as opposed to form follows function, imho.

So it will do well as a second car to the EV Commuter Appliance.
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I think you are right.

And then there's the Santa Cruz...
Which, at first glance anyhow, reminded me of the old Subaru Baja
 
Hi guys… We finally got our tiny truck for our tiny camper!
We put in our order last September 15th and received it at the end of March this year.
Lucky stars for sure, they are hard to get. Especially the hybrids.
So far, so good. We love it so far. Somebody gets to be the guinea pigs.
I can’t wait to get it on a road trip! A few pictures below…
 

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Jim & Selma said:
Hi guys… We finally got our tiny truck for our tiny camper!
We put in our order last September 15th and received it at the end of March this year.
Lucky stars for sure, they are hard to get. Especially the hybrids.
So far, so good. We love it so far. Somebody gets to be the guinea pigs.
I can’t wait to get it on a road trip! A few pictures below…
Click to expand...
Lookin' good!
 
Jim & Selma said:
Hi guys… We finally got our tiny truck for our tiny camper!
We put in our order last September 15th and received it at the end of March this year.
Lucky stars for sure, they are hard to get. Especially the hybrids.
So far, so good. We love it so far. Somebody gets to be the guinea pigs.
I can’t wait to get it on a road trip! A few pictures below…
Click to expand...
Thanks Jim!
Oooh thats nice!

Cool topper, perfect match to the CI, and a great complement to the truck color.
Looks like easy access from the toppers side opening windows too.

What is that bike rack, and hitch extension?
Best solution yet, IMHO.

I gotta say I really really like the Mavericks and especially interested to hear how the hybrid version of awd holds up in soft roading/"off roading" use in general, and real world mpg towing fully loaded.

Looks like the Maverick rear end suspension holds up with no sag at all, too.

And the price is right, vs full size pickups.
No wonder they are so hard to get!

Please share as you go, as much as you can.
 
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Sure… the bike rack with the double hitch was a two week trial and error process. The double hitch was on Amazon and the Saris bike rack on Craigslist. I picked the KAIRAY double hitch because it was tall enough to clear the bumper and it had an anti-rattle bolt in each receiver.
I had to keep working everything back towards the truck and away from the LP tank.
-I inserted the hitch farther into the truck receiver and drilled a new hole for the hitch pin.
-I was able to install the bike rack backwards to gain more space. (I cut 9” off the that tube and drilled a new hole for that hitch pin too)
-Finally, I cut 10” out of the vertical tube on the bike rack and spun it 180 from original and had it welded.
Sorry for the long answer, but all of this should keep the bikes down below the airflow and improve MPG.
Truck has 2500 miles @ 42 MPG so far. I did take a few 20 mile trial runs pulling the camper at 30+ MPG.
It pulled just fine up some pretty steep grades. Time will tell.
It sounds like Ford is bumping up production of Maverick Hybrids, but still can’t keep up with the big demand.
***I read that the 2024 orders are opening on July 17th this year instead of September.
Last year they closed the ordering in just five days, so start talking with a Ford dealer soon if you are interested!
Bike rack pictures below, hope they come through okay:
 

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Jim & Selma said:
Grasshopper… the bike rack with the double hitch was a two week trial and error ordeal. The double hitch was on Amazon and the Saris bike rack on Craigslist. I picked the KAIRAY double hitch because it was tall enough to clear the bumper and it had an anti-rattle bolt in each receiver.
I had to keep working everything back towards the truck and away from the LP tank.
-I inserted the hitch farther into the truck receiver and drilled a new hole for the hitch pin.
-I was able to install the bike rack backwards to gain more space. (I cut 9” off the that tube and drilled a new hole for that hitch pin too)
-Finally, I cut 10” out of the vertical tube on the bike rack and spun it 180 from original and had it welded.
Sorry for the long answer, but all of this should keep the bikes down below the airflow and improve MPG.
Truck has 2500 miles @ 42 MPG so far. I did take a few 20 mile trial runs pulling the camper at 30+ MPG.
It pulled just fine up some pretty steep grades. Time will tell.
It sounds like Ford is bumping up production of Maverick Hybrids, but still can’t keep up with the big demand.
***I read that the 2024 orders are opening on July 17th this year instead of September.
Last year they closed the ordering in just five days, so start talking with a Ford dealer soon if you are interested!
Bike rack pictures below, hope they come through okay:
Click to expand...
Ingenious!
 
Hello again… We finally got out on the road with our Hybrid Ford Maverick, pulling our 2012 CI 550. Fantastic fit!
Definitely our best tow vehicle. Roughly 9-10 MPG better than our two Ford Escapes. It pulled like a champ. Temperature gauge needle was always at halfway. Our three week road trip was over 3,000 miles from Wisconsin to Colorado, New Mexico, and very western Oklahoma, and back. MPG was 29.1. We love it!
 

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Hello again… Thanks for the MotorTrend article Kevin. Good read.
We continue to average about 42 mpg over 5000 miles (not pulling our camper).
We live in the country, so mostly highway driving.
City driving or slower speeds (30-40 mph) we usually get better.
Some trips show up at 50-60 mpg.
One time, just driving a few miles through town (without thinking about it), it said 75 mpg when I got to the hardware store. Wow
Towing our 550 didn’t overwork the truck at all. Yes, pulling our CampInn and getting 29-30 mpg is nice.
The Maverick Hybrid only comes with Front Wheel Drive, for now anyways.
AWD only comes with the 2.0 Turbo gas engine, which drops the mpg considerably. Sensible driving goes a long way.
Years ago, I saw a Four Wheel Drive Truck get stuck on the same dirt road I just drove with a 63 Chevy station wagon.
We’ll have to see how our Maverick gets along with winter in Wisconsin.
We’re both retired, so we don’t have to go out driving in a blizzard very often.
We did maybe 50-75 miles on gravel roads on our trip, which is dusty but no problems really.
I do have a dust control kit put together for our next gravel road. The two vertical gaps on the tailgate and the two corners where the topper meets the tail gate are the dust culprits. Just need to pack stuff into those gaps.
I really should remove the question mark on the title of this thread !!
*Ken, how do I change a ? into a !! ?
 
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"AWD only comes with the 2.0 Turbo gas engine, which drops the mpg considerably. Sensible driving goes a long way.
Years ago, I saw a Four Wheel Drive Truck get stuck on the same dirt road I just drove with a 63 Chevy station wagon."
Concur 100%.
Most of those tracks in baja from Mex1 to the beach where made by 2wd pickups, some as far back as Model T's.

I always remind myself: "Self, you can get further back and twice as stuck in 4wd".

To some extent, its the same using AWD.
"Man's gotta know his limitations"...the famous movie quote.

Newer cars and the trucklets using AWD are geared for fuel economy for fleet averages. My Alltrack has 3 "overspeeds" in 6mt, gears 4, 5, 6 when equipped with plus 2 tire size vs OEM. 1st is at 3-4 mph which is too fast to really crawl when picking a line in rocky rutted and sandy washes so I gotta get out and scope it out some down unfamilar roads...ask me how I know...;)

Fords "Tremor" lifted and big wheeled soft-roading/overlandish version of the Maverick is interesting as it advertises a "slow crawl speed" which is what you need and get in a typical "true" 4x4 with low low. Like the Tacoma...but the Taco's typical 17 mpg all the time is a painful price to pay for a all-in-one daily driver with "sometimes in the dirt" as a CI tow vehicle,
When at the pump vs 30 mpg (my Alltracks hwy when slick on street tires, then it goes down to high teens towing max gear loaded)

And, at todays gas prices for example in CA...$6.50/gal last month...
so I'm following your early adopter success closely on the so far best example of towing on unibody trucklets.

Plus cant forget the cost to upgrade on CI gear- Even at $40k for a basic Tremor its a screaming deal vs full size 4x4 new at 60k plus...for basic 4x4 models in full size trucks.

It will be even more interesting to see how Ford engineers integrate the mechanical FWD with electrical motors in rear for the hybrid AWD...

Pls keep us posted. Thats such a great rig!
Really like the match up with CI as best towed small glamping luxury and quality and the Mavericks extra capability with 30mpg, towing. Its proving out even better than expected in the long term reviews, like Motor Trends, for all around and you are the first reliable towing example, so I appreciate you!
 
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Hi guys……. one year later.
We still love the Maverick-550 setup and have had two great trips this year.
From Wisconsin down to the Total Solar Eclipse in southern Illinois. We went a week early and explored the Shawnee National Forest. Totality is an awesome experience.
From there we went to New Orleans for French Quarter Fest (4 days of free music on the banks of the Mississippi)
We camped at Bayou Segnette State Park and drove to the ferry to get to the city.
Our second trip was out west on back roads to the Black Hills for a week and up into North Dakota for another week.
In the Hills, we drove into Castle Creek Campground and back out. 10-12 miles of rough, rocky, rutted roads.
We took it slow and our front wheel drive was fine. Beautiful camping on the creek.
Anyways, the Maverick is working as expected.
** Bonus: I figured out a use for the AC plug in the truck bed….I can charge our extra deep cycle battery while we drive !!
That way we have two charged batteries ready when we don’t have plug in power.
The Dometic runs separately from the camper system with the extra battery on the ground off of an alligator clips adapter.
Definitely doubling up on beating the system !!
 

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