Pickups immediately are so huge — that’s straightforward to verify in any car parking zone, the place these vehicles pressure the margins of a typical parking house. And “full-size” is greater than it was: At this time, a midsize Ford Ranger is concerning the dimension of an F-150 from a few many years in the past. Even the compact 2022 Ford Maverick is greater in some ways than the old-generation Ford Ranger. But it and the Hyundai Santa Cruz are the tiniest vehicles available on the market.
The arrival of slightly Maverick for a number of days of driving not too long ago was an opportunity to reply a giant query: Is the Maverick actually a lot of a truck?
Positive, it has a pickup mattress, form of. As a consequence of getting a four-door cab, the mattress’s tiny: a hair over 4.5 ft lengthy, and a hair underneath 4.5 ft vast. Once I stated the Maverick was greater than small vehicles of yesteryear, that did not embrace mattress dimension. The previous Ranger got here with 6- and 7-foot-long packing containers. I owned a few Chevy S10s again within the day, which had 7.5-foot packing containers, and so they might haul a number of cargo. One memorable load was a brand-new, crated-up, double-door, 7-foot-tall Sub-Zero fridge. That fancy icebox was so huge, it took 4 cursing males to maneuver it into the kitchen. However a compact pickup hauled it.
Such a load would most likely be too huge for a Maverick. Its 4 doorways make it a passenger automotive or compact SUV in a way, one which leaves your baggage out within the rain. It’s nice at hauling individuals, however does so by sacrificing a few of what really defines a truck.
Maverick isn’t alone in having a compromised mattress dimension, in fact. The smallest mattress on an F-150 is barely 5.5 ft lengthy. No less than Maverick edges out the Santa Cruz field, which is a mere 4-footer.
With a shell on it, I used to make use of a truck mattress as a … mattress mattress, sleeping off the bottom on backcountry outings. The one manner to do this in a Maverick is by dropping the tailgate — assuming it’s not a chilly night time, you’re not in bear nation, and also you’re underneath 6 ft tall so your ft don’t dangle.
However Ford’s received a tape measure. Its engineers know the mattress’s brief, and so they did loads to mitigate this with their Flexbed system (defined within the video on the backside of this put up). For instance, you may haul lumber by making use of the various tie-downs and cleats, and the tailgate might be angled partially open to help degree sheets of plywood. The mattress’s brief however intelligent.
So the utility check for this explicit Maverick would deal with quantity. Moreover, I wanted a load of backyard compost, so there’s that. The cargo capability is rated at 33.3 cubic ft. A cubic yard of fabric measures 27 cubic ft, so the maths says it ought to match — and flush with the highest of the field, even. So we have been off to the supplies yard to check that. Plus, it might be fascinating to see how a front-end loader would drop the compost into such a small goal. Would they possibly even refuse to attempt?
@autoblog How a lot can the 2022 Ford Maverick XLT haul? We load it as much as discover out
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Ready in line and watching the loader fill greater vehicles, I chickened out and paid for simply half a yard of fabric. What they have been calling a yard regarded like manner an excessive amount of. The loader operator solved the scale concern by positioning the bucket over the mattress at a corner-to-corner angle, with a little bit of spillage off the tailgate. The supposed half-yard load was piled larger than the facet rails, in a catty-corner ridge. Maybe the loader driver was being beneficiant, however the truck was fairly full. Hunkered down, we drove off.
Analyzing the load again at residence, double the quantity may need match — if raked into all 4 corners and piled actually excessive, like possibly cab-high. However there was additionally the matter of weight to contemplate. A Google search claimed a yard of compost weighs 1,250 kilos, and the Maverick’s payload score is 1,500. Nonetheless, this compost was moist. Soggy-Seattle-spring moist. A full yard would certainly have overloaded this trucklet.
On the very vibrant facet of issues, the Maverick was tremendous straightforward to unload. The final time I fetched bulk materials was in an F-150 Tremor, a truck so tall that shoveling it out required a stepladder. This little front-wheel-drive Maverick was the right peak — you’ll be able to simply attain over the facet rails, or attain clear to the entrance of the mattress with a shovel from the open tailgate. That was fairly candy.
Past the hauling capabilities, this Maverick EcoBoost XLT was nice and cute. The inside has an fascinating mixture of supplies and textures utilized to the seating, doorways and sprint. The fabric upholstery is especially good. The inside is easy and utilitarian, with a contemporary design sense. There are a great deal of cubbies within the sprint, console and doorways, and hidden storage bins underneath the again seat. Entrance legroom is simply sufficient for a 6-foot-tall driver to get by with, and rear legroom is sweet sufficient. The truck had a throwback characteristic — an ignition key; a begin button is reserved for the Lariat trim, however a key works simply high quality.
@autoblog 2022 Ford Maverick XLT inside tour
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The two.0 EcoBoost offers loads of energy. The transmission works nicely, although to my Neanderthal mind-set, a guide with a decrease first gear could be drastically preferable in a small pickup. And the unibody building made for a good, cohesive journey.
On high of all that, it’s a nice-looking little rig with a robust household resemblance. This FWD Maverick XLT EcoBoost in Sizzling Pepper Crimson Metallic, with a Luxurious Bundle that included trailering equipment, eight-way driver’s seat, spray-in bedliner and extra, carried an MSRP of $28,540 together with vacation spot cost.
Better of all, it matches nice in a parking house or in your storage — and possibly in your life. It might probably haul individuals, it may haul issues … a number of issues, possibly sufficient issues, although possibly you will need to make two journeys. The mattress’s small, however you’ll be able to work with it, and it’s far friendlier to unload than vehicles from the Ford vendor’s big-and-tall aisle. And with EPA scores of 23 mpg metropolis, 30 freeway, 26 mixed, this Maverick’s simpler in your pockets in nowadays of excessive gasoline costs. And this is not even the Maverick hybrid.
Round Autoblog, we all the time say that the equally unibody Honda Ridgeline is truck sufficient to do 90% of the issues a typical suburban house owner would really use a truck for. The Maverick can do possibly 75% of these issues. That’s truck sufficient for many of us.
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