2022 Ford Maverick

When Ford set out to create its new compact pickup, it took what would seem a contrarian approach to vehicle design in the modern era: keep it as affordable as possible, while offering tech where it counts and the versatility to accommodate a plethora of uses. The result is nothing short of game-changing: a fuel-sipping but hardworking, radically simplified but endlessly customizable miniature trucklet. Best of all, the Maverick is a truck that can be had for less than the price of a compact sedan. 

With its unibody construction, standard hybrid powertrain, and front-drive configuration, the Maverick is in many ways the antithesis of “truck”—yet it’s possibly the one best positioned to win more buyers to the pickup cause than the most opulent luxo-rig. 

Entirely new for 2022, the Ford Maverick is the second-smallest truck on the US market (after the Hyundai Santa Cruz, also new this year). All Mavericks come as a four-door crew cab with a 4.5-foot bed. The powertrain offers more options: a 2.5L four-cylinder gas-electric hybrid is standard and comes in front-wheel drive only; a 2.0L gas EcoBoost four-cylinder is available as an upgrade and can be optioned with all-wheel drive. The Maverick is available in base XL, mid XLT, and luxury-lite Lariat trims, each discussed in our first-drive review.

While the Maverick’s closest competitor is the Santa Cruz, as a carlike unibody pickup it can also be cross-shopped against the midsize Honda Ridgeline. As a cheap truck, it may also have shoppers comparing it with base versions of the Toyota Tacoma, Chevy Colorado, and Ford Ranger. With its frugal price point and hybrid fuel economy, it may even tempt buyers away from compact cars and small crossovers, considering that it hauls more and is more fuel-efficient than many in these segments while also offering a decently roomy backseat.

At any trim and with either powertrain, the Maverick offers decent power, pleasant road manners, and just-enough tech and feature content for a hardworking bargain pickup. Its stubby bed can contain a surprising amount of stuff and is optimized for configurability—and the array of active-lifestyle accessories Ford offers for it is predictably dizzying. 

With its straightforward cabin, thoughtful storage, and ability to be equipped to tow a small trailer, the Maverick works hard and plays hard. But some might find it a little light on infotainment, and be chagrinned to find much of Ford’s excellent safety tech and now-customary frills reserved for top Lariat trim, or unavailable altogether. Thus at its budget price-point, the Maverick can be outclassed by its pricier and more opulent competition.    

Performance: 12/15

The Maverick’s standard hybrid powertrain is good for 191 horsepower and 155 pound-feet of torque and is mated to a continuously-variable transmission. For those seeking more oomph, a turbocharged 2.0L EcoBoost four-cylinder promises 250 horsepower and 277 pound-feet of torque channeled through an 8-speed automatic. 

Currently, only the 2.0 can be optioned all-wheel drive (AWD), which adds access to packages like FX4 Off-Road (skidplates, all-terrain tires, and some loose-surface drive modes) and 4K Tow (enhanced cooling, steeper gears, integrated trailer-brake controller, and the ability to lug up to 4,000 pounds). In the absence of the latter, a Maverick will tow a maximum of 2,000 pounds with either the hybrid or the gas engine, and the standard maximum payload is 1,500 pounds.

With the EcoBoost, the Maverick is decently quick but not blistering—acceleration is adequate but it’s not a kick in the pants like the bigger-brother 2.3L in the larger Ranger. The 2.0L’s main downside is its unpleasant engine note, a papery rasp overlaid by an odd electronic twinge. The hybrid, despite its lower power numbers, surprisingly doesn’t represent much of a performance hit versus the EcoBoost. 

The Maverick is tuned for comfort, with slightly soggy handling but a beautifully compliant ride and nicely weighted steering, soaking up road roughness surprisingly well for a small vehicle. It’s much smoother on the road than any of its full-frame midsize competitors. There’s a surprising amount of road noise in the lower trims, though the top-spec Lariat gets a noise-reducing windshield. 

Fuel Economy: 15/15

While the EcoBoost Maverick is rated for 23 mpg in the city, 30 on the highway and 26 mpg combined, with AWD models losing 1 mpg in each measure, observed fuel economy on a front-wheel drive XLT hovered at just 20 mpg during a week of mostly-city driving, putting it closer to the thirstier Santa Cruz than its EPA estimates would suggest. For efficiency, the real champ is of course the hybrid Maverick, which delivers an EPA-estimated 42 mpg in the city and a highway figure of 33 mpg.

Not only is the hybrid Maverick thriftier than anything in the current pickup market, it also edges out non-hybrid versions of the Honda Civic and Toyota Corolla and handily beats most gas-powered compact crossovers. The little truck even gives hybrid crossovers like the Honda CR-V a run for their gas money. 

Safety and Driver Assistance Tech: 7/15

The Maverick doesn’t come standard with a full suite of active-safety tech as is becoming customary in many crossovers, but automatic high beams, pre-collision warning, and forward automatic emergency braking come standard on all trims. Lane-keeping (departure alert and assist) and blind spot monitors with cross-traffic alert can be added to any trim for $650. Lane centering, adaptive cruise with stop and go, and evasive steering assist are only available on the Lariat, and only as part of the $3,750 Luxury Package.

Though the Maverick hasn’t yet been tested by either of the major safety agencies, platform-mates Ford Escape and Bronco Sport each received an overall five-star crash rating from NHTSA, along with a Top Safety Pick and a Top Safety Pick +, respectively, from the IIHS. The Maverick isn’t expected to deviate much from these scores, and our rating may rise when test data becomes available.

Comfort and Room: 14/15

The Maverick’s boxy cab and great use of interior space make it feel roomier than its size suggests. Inside, the horizontal lines of the dash stretch the cabin visually. Right-sized seating puts you at a comfortable distance from passengers, though the seats themselves may feel a touch constrictive to larger occupants. The driving position is upright and trucklike, which enhances the sense of spaciousness. The roomy backseat is a nice additional surprise, with more legroom than the Santa Cruz as well as the larger Ranger and Tacoma.

The Maverick’s utilitarian approach to its feature set gives you everything you need while keeping frills to a minimum. The driver’s seat is available 8-way powered, while the passenger gets manual controls. Heated seats are available, but ventilated ones aren’t. Ford foregoes leather on Lariat for a rugged “ActiveX” synthetic fabric—a boon for active lifestyles and the dirt and water they may track into the cab. 

Infotainment: 11/15

Ford scrimped on Infotainment to keep the price low: the Maverick gets a single, standard 8.0-inch infotainment screen, which at lower trims runs a basic interface that predates Ford’s SYNC operating system. Nav is entirely absent, but thankfully at least an internet hotspot and (wired) Android Auto and Apple CarPlay are standard.

The Maverick also offers plenty of connectivity, including both USBs and USB-Cs as well as available dual 120V plugs (one in the bed, another on the back of the center console). The bed is further wired with what Ford calls “e-DIY” connectors, 12v pigtails for various electrical accessories. 

Finally, there are a few begrudging frills that can only be had with the Lariat’s Luxury Package, including pushbutton start, wireless charging pad and 8-speaker B&O audio system. The upside of all this simplicity is the straightforwardness of operation: the Maverick is controlled by logically laid-out and easy-to-use controls, with a good smattering of physical buttons and knobs.

Cargo Space and Storage: 13/15

Ford’s innovative bed makes good use of its small footprint, with a plethora of features and opportunities for customization. At 54 inches, the bed is smaller than any midsize truck but longer and more useful than Santa Cruz. It packs standard tie-downs, available sliding cleats, LED bed lighting, dual bottle openers, and a bedwall cubby with a removable floor to accommodate larger items like an onboard compressor. The bed is additionally festooned with slots and threaded holes for easy configurability with DIY dividers and screw-in loops or hooks.  

The low load floor maximizes bed cargo volume, but there isn’t any clever underfloor “trunk.” The tailgate crashes down when opened due to the lack of damping, but its cable stays mean it can be locked to a half-raised position to support items like 4 x 8 sheets of plywood atop the wheel wells. Storage is sensible within the cabin as well. The big center console is a nod to Ford’s larger trucks. Creative open-cubby storage in the console and dash, plus differently-sized bottle- and cupholders, ensure there’s a place for everything. There’s a generous storage corral beneath the flip-up rear seats, plus slots throughout to plug in Ford-supplied or custom 3D-printed hooks, brackets, and accessory holders.

Style and Design: 8/10

Despite its crossover underpinnings, the Maverick is unabashedly a truck, and unlike Hyundai with its “sport adventure vehicle” marketing, Ford leans into truckishness. The Maverick’s face is a little too much like a 2000s Escape’s to be convincingly tough—but its blocky pickup profile and square-jawed looks keep it from being cutesy. The base XL’s work-truck steelies, and the relatively tall tires on all trims (the biggest wheels are 18-inchers) complete the chunky retro-truck look.  

Inside, the dash is brawny and square. The honest analog gauges recreate the feel of other Ford trucks, just shrunk to a Lilliputian scale. With this interior’s utilitarian vibe, you half-expect a wee column shifter, but instead, the Maverick gets a dial, its most untrucklike touch.  

However, this interior is hardly austere and gets some stylish flourishes like orange accents on the XLT and saddle-brown two-tone upholstery on the Lariat. Even the recycled plastic inserts in the doors and dash are unobjectionable in person, and contribute to a sturdy, well-executed cabin.

Is the 2022 Ford Maverick Worth It? Which Maverick is the Best Value?

With its starting price of just $21,490 including a $1,495 destination charge, the Maverick is the most economical way into a truck, and offers a lot of truck for the price. Sticking with the standard hybrid powertrain will also save at the pump, offsetting the purchase price in a way that most competitors won’t.  

Though the Lariat tops out at under $38,000 with all the boxes checked—less than the cost of a base Ridgeline, by the way—the sweet spot of the Maverick lineup is the XLT, which provides much of the top-trim content as long as you can live without goodies like adaptive cruise. 

Sticking with the hybrid, we’d option it with the XLT Luxury Package (120v outlets, a power driver’s seat, heated seats and more) and the CoPilot360 package that provides blind spot monitoring, and still ring in at just $27,005. If greater utility is called for, the 2.0L and AWD can be bundled together for an additional $3,305. This in turn unlocks the optional FX4 Off-Road ($800) and 4K Tow packages ($745), which in addition to the previously optioned kit would bring the Maverick XLT to $31,055.

How Much Does it Cost to Insure the 2022 Ford Maverick?

Since the Ford Maverick is an all-new model data may vary, but its insurance costs seem to be lower than its competitors. According to our research, a typical 30-year-old female driver with a clean record can expect an average annual premium of approximately $1,344, though this averages all 50 states. That compares to $1,512 for the Hyundai Santa Cruz, $1,719 for the Ford Ranger and $1,882 for the Honda Ridgeline. To get a more accurate picture of your potential insurance expenses, visit our car insurance calculator.