Avoidable Contact #135: I drove the most important car in years, and it's great, but you can't buy one

[Hagerty]

WARNING: If you failed the marshmallow test, you're going to hate this column. Best to click "back" on the browser and check out the great work being done by the Hagerty digital staff. I don't want you to be miserable over something you can't have. What? You're still here?
https://www.hagerty.com/media/opinion/avoidable-contact/avoidable-contact-ford-maverick-most-importa...

[hyperv6]

It is not a truck. It is a CUV with no top. 

Under the skin it is an Escape.  Is an Escape a truck? 

[Tinkerah]

I'll say again: It's not a truck if it has carpeting. These things are just tall sedans with no trunk lid.

[hyperv6]

I would not go that far as most trucks anymore have carpet. 

But what a vehicle is under the skin is a sigh. Of what it really is. 

I never considered my El Camino a truck item but with RWD it was closer to one. 

[drhino]

Yes. No manual is a dealbreaker for me.

[MATTMERICA]

I am slightly confused by the Sport Trac part. Isn't this truck basically a sport trac? It has roughly the same dimensions, four doors, and what else am I missing? My only input is that the name "Maverick" reminds me of two things, both of which I detest: the ugly ass car they made in the 70s and the new wokeness of re-naming any school mascot with a name like "Rebels" and sanitizing it to "Mavericks". Lame.

[hyperv6]

Matt the Sport track was a RWD based truck like most real truck buyers like. It was based on a Ranger. The Maverick is based on an Escape C2 platform. FEW based. 

[Tim]

"To carry a bike means not to hang it over a thin skinned tailgate and in the bed properly."

So anyone who wants to carry a bike needs to buy an 8' pickup truck? No thanks.

"Carry a 8 foot 2x4 better have a saw."

No saw needed. The Maverick can carry 8' sheets of plywood uncut. Flat-loaded. Look into it.

"Yes you can buy a 4x4 Colorado for about the same price."

Every single vehicle in production overlaps some other vehicle in price. But that doesn't mean the two are equal. A fully-loaded model of one vehicle is not the same as a stripper of another. If you're OK with a stripper Colorado, why not be OK with a stripper Maverick? Apples vs. cucumbers.

"The back seat is a compromise as much as the bed."

Now I know your experience of the Maverick is vicariously through online photos and reviews. If you'd actually been in the back of the Maverick (I have), you'd have been surprised at just how much room is available back there. At 6', I'd have no issue with long-distance drives. It's not SuperCrew sized (more like SuperCab), but then the whole point of this truck is that there are people that don't want to drive a 7'+ long, 20'+ long, 6'+ tall truck around all of the time.

[Tinkerah]

No you don't need an 8' bed to carry a bike. I pop the front wheel off my bike in 30 seconds and slide it into my hatchback. A big plus is it can be locked inside.

[JeepCJ5]

Did I read this right, that you stated an 8' 2x4 can't be carried in a Maverick bed?

[kyree-williams]

I wouldn't be surprised if, once Ford is able to better equalize capacity with demand, they end up offering a hybrid + AWD powertrain. After all, they have one sitting on the shelf, and it would be in-demand. At that point, they may even do away with the gas-only engine entirely.

As for the marshmallow test, what I don't see anyone exploring is that perhaps the children who weren't able to wait for the second marshmallow were dealing with food scarcity. There was nothing in their lives to guarantee that promises of later resources would actually manifest, so why would they risk having nothing at all when they can definitely get something now? That test probably spoke more to economic status and stability than someone's ability to be successful. And the same is true for budgeting. If you're used to money being scarce and sporadic in your household, then you get while the getting's good...even if it's an overpriced Nissan Altima S that you know will get repossessed in six months. It can be very hard to reprogram your mentality, especially if you grew up that way.

[fueledbymetal]

No cruise control on the base model is baffling to me, but otherwise I fully applaud the effort.🍺

[58_Plastic_Tub]

It's baffling to me as well. The fact that power windows are de rigueur on almost every new vehicle, and cruise control is not is baffling in the extreme - cruise actually makes people seem like better drivers than they actually are. In the age of drive by wire, it's a few extra lines of code and 3 buttons.

The feds have declared I need a backup camera and traction control, but not cruise?

"Baffling" is a great word for it.

[DaveA]

A few lines of code, plus three buttons adds up when you build hundred of thousands of vehicles per year. Besides, you hint at one of the reasons why it’s not on the base model: it’s not required by the government.

[DaveA]

You have to cut corners somewhere if you’re going to keep the price down. Besides, I see this as more of a “city” truck, where cruise control won’t be very handy.

[JDHilton]

That's possible, but it sure looks to me like an omission designed to force people into (much) higher price points.

[Porterhousestk]

Golden Age of Hard plastic? No way, I'd rather not feel like I was sitting in an amusement park bumper car. The interior design does look fantastic, but after seeing it in person the hard plastic kills it for me.

[Brash]

I've often quipped that if a modern Subaru Brat or (Proton Jumbuck) were available I would buy it at almost any price. This is the car that I **need** - to carry most things and tow little things. I have neither the requirement nor the desire for anything resembling a legit pick up truck, be it a RAM 1500 or a Toyota Hilux.
But again, being in Australia means this isn't even a consideration. Ford will sell me an escape or a ranger and nothing in between. Oh well.

[McG-]

You had me at "Proton Jumbuck"! Best. Name. Ever!

Oh, and I agree: It's time to bring back the Brat... with the suicide jump seats!

[MarveH]

Coincidently, I'm driving my Honda ridgeline 1600 miles to drag a 1984 BRAT (Brumby) back home next week. Can't wait to drive and wrench on it.

[DaveA]

The Subaru Baja was a modern BRAT. 

[9lbhammer]

I really hope they don't make a fast maverick. It would be great for my use case. I don't like putting dead deer/ducks/geese in a car and I want to tow a motorcycle trailer. If I need to tow anything heavy my old boss has got a 1 ton dodge he'll let me borrow.

[PRScott]

Funny how some people just can't see the writing on the wall. The U.S. government isn't going to subsidize your love affair with oil forever. Like it or not for the average driver electric is the future, and it keeps getting closer.

[MarveH]

But the love affair continues non the less. Electric cars are soulless transportation tombs and I'm not looking forward to suffering under them.
I'll enjoy the wonderful ICE every minute I can.
Spoiler alert: once EVs hit a substantial market penetration, stay tuned for rolling blackouts and power rationing.

[Jack_Hagerty]

"The U.S. government isn't going to subsidize your love affair with oil forever."

Authentic LOL. It's the other way 'round, my friend. How do you think the criminals in DC get away with endless deficit spending for all their favorite entitlements and vote-buying programs? Because SIXTY PERCENT of all American paper money, and more than eighty percent of 100-dollar bills, leave this country immediately and never come back to turn our dollar into the Weimar mark.

Why is the dollar valuable overseas? Because it's the only permissible currency for major purchases of oil and illicit drugs. End the oil industry, stop trading in dollars, and this country will have to enact viciously austere measures immediately.

Oh, and all the raw materials for the batteries of the future are controlled by China. Care to guess what the world's new reserve currency will be?

For the "average driver", the future isn't electric -- it's simply not driving at all, and having no authority over one's own movements. That's the only conclusion a sane person could come to after seeing actual engineering predictions for battery supply, battery life, and battery disposal procedures.

Sure, they'll let you have a Government Motors Bolt with a 200-mile range and an overnight charge time, after you agree to tie your social media accounts to it.

[DAY]

You nailed it!

[limoguy]

Subsidize our love affair with petroleum forever?

Tell us more.

[Djarum]

I think people don't understand what a subsidy is. Now everyone considers any tax break a subsidy. Close to 70 percent of the tax breaks oil companies get ANY company can get. The other 15 percent are tax breaks that any ENERGY company can get. So yeah, there is about 15 percent of the tax breaks (which really aren't subsidies in the strictest of sense) are oil related subsidies.

[limoguy]

Subsidize what?

[Smokefoot55]

Maybe they offer "no interest". That would describe me-I have no interest.

[richard2]

All this rhapsodizing for a pretend truck. Even with the 4-banger motor, it's still a pretend truck.

[Jack_Hagerty]

What's pretend about it?

[TacoSueno]

its a cute ute- too small to be useful or practical too weak to be strong

[JGeske]

Funny, it has more towing and payload than the "old" Ranger, which topped out at 3200lbs of towing, and could be as low as 1600lbs, and had a hair over 1200lbs of payload to the 1500lbs of the Maverick. The just over 8.5 inches of ground clearance in the Maverick is comparable to the 9 inches of the old Ranger. Add the fact that the old Ranger did not come with a front, center, or rear locker and only a rear axle LSD option (which few took), then the AWD of the Maverick is probably a better performer off-road.

[elldorado2000]

This is why companies go out of business. They don't sell customers what they want. The company wants to tell YOU what you want. Pretty soon you will be paying a monthly subscription for heated seats.

[Ajakeski]

This is a 100% useless vehicle.

[Jack_Hagerty]

For you, maybe. I could put 30k miles a year on it. I have a lot of use for it. Doubt I'm the only one.

[limoguy]

Yet 2022 production is spoken for.

[Utopia1]

The interior that looks like it's made from recycled cardboard kills it for me. I understand its all built to a price, but this is to the extreme. And at $19,000 it may be tolerable but at $30,000 with options many people will want it's unacceptable. I don't want a daily reminder of where Ford pinched every penny. For those in the pretend pickup market, the Hyundai Santa Cruz is equally as useless as a truck but offers a nicer interior.

[acooper529]

Wow... imagine HYPE from a major manufacturer? Absolutely SHOCKING!
Everybody just calm down! (and eventually everyone will anyway).
Who dictates what sells and what doesn't? What is popular and what is not?

The BUYERS... GEN-POP... and the people who DRIVE them!
Advertising and hyping a vehicle that is basically N/A seems pretty stupid, right?
Look around, talk to Americans, turn on the tube... We are living in "VERY STUPID" times.

[Thrillseeker]

That's not a Maverick. Mavericks were cool. LOL

[OHCOddball]

?!? My brother had a Maverick in 1973. It was two years old when he got it. Rusty p.o.s. already. ABSOLUTE TURD!

[miata93]

When I was in college I envied people with Mavericks. I could only afford a beater '65 AMC Rambler.

[JDHilton]

My family had you bracketed, as my ex-field-artillery father would have said: '63', '64', and '66 Ramblers of various varieties. Dad loved the '66 Ambassador for its V8 and power brakes, supposedly so sensitive you could put an egg on the pedal and stop without breaking it.

[miata93]

Whenever I mentioned the Rambler to other people that have owned one they got this glassy eyed look on their face and said, "Oh yeah, the fold down seats...." LOL

[Jack_Hagerty]

The nuns at my school shared a puke green automatic straight-six Maverick.

That's what I remember... that, and the infamous "100k car", about which more later.

[miata93]

I'm laughing already.

[Truax]

Do road bike bicyclists just chuck their bikes over the tailgate? and instead of impressing me with $$$ of empty plastic tubs impress me with cubic feet of cargo space!
I think a grown man could sleep back there too. If he curled up in the fetal position or hung his legs over the tailgate!
Looks like a fine vehicle for the right people, just give me the specs.

[Jack_Hagerty]

Roadies won't use, and don't need, something like this. Their bikes are 18 pounds, instead of 45, they don't get dirty, and they are much more physically manageable. The rear hitch rack is the best road cycling device yet invented IMO.

The specs are available for you on the Ford website; the purpose of this was to provide more information than you could get there.

[mfp4073]

Like it or not, a trend has started where ordering or waiting for a vehicle is now standard procedure. Vehicles are sold before they are unloaded making dealerships a "no negotiations" zone. If you ask them, they want to keep it that way. Don't be fooled thinking that dealer lots will be full again so we can shop every size and color like before. Those days are gone! Lower production, lower inventory, higher profits! The production numbers from our distant memories are just that. Even when they regain capacity potential, it will be throttled to keep the waiting lists alive and well. A new business approach that will change the industry? hopefully not.

[Truax]

I have heard the same thing from “friends” at the dealerships. Tesla has been the king of this model. I hoping competition brings us somewhat back to the norm over time.