Ford has resurrected a moniker from its largely forgotten 1970s compact car for its newest pickup truck: the 2022 Maverick. Based on the Ford Escape small SUV (which additionally supplies the architecture for the Bronco Sport), the Maverick is a small pickup truck that slots below the Ranger and the F-150 in Ford's lineup.
Its unibody construction differs from the Ranger's and F-150's classic body-on-frame construction, but the Ford Maverick pickup still delivers some impressive tow ratings. It also has lower pricing and a more nimble size than its larger siblings. This makes the Maverick a solid choice if you want the versatility of a pickup but don't need all of the capability offered by a midsize or full-size truck.
Also of note: The Ford Maverick can be a hybrid. It comes standard with a 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine paired with an electric motor to produce a combined 191 horsepower. The EPA estimates this Maverick will get 37 mpg combined (42 city/33 highway), which is considerably better than other pickups. If you're looking for more power and a more traditional driving experience, there's an optional turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine that produces 250 hp.
And what about doing pickup-type stuff? Well, there's a 1,500-pound payload across the lineup regardless of engine. That's respectable even by midsize-pickup-truck standards. Tow ratings are impressive too, at least when you consider the Maverick's small size. Maximum towing capacity is up to 2,000 pounds with the hybrid powertrain and as much as 4,000 pounds with the turbo 2.0-liter engine and optional towing package.
The Ford Maverick may be small, but it's no city runabout. From the way it drives to its few-frills interior, the Maverick feels like a truck first and foremost. This is a compact pickup for towing and hauling with confidence — just at a smaller size and lower price point than other trucks on the market. Check out our test team's Expert Rating to get our full evaluation of the new Maverick's performance, capabilities and more.
Edmunds Expert Rating
Our VerdictThe Edmunds Vehicle Testing Team evaluates a fresh batch of vehicles every week, pairing objective assessments at our test track with real-world driving on city streets, freeways and winding roads. The data we gather results in our Expert Ratings. They’re based on 30-plus scores that cover every aspect of the automotive experience.
If you want a compact truck that looks like a truck, drives like a truck, and feels like a truck — congratulations! You've found it! The 2022 Ford Maverick is priced competitively, fuel economy is very impressive, and interior storage is masterful. The Maverick may not be very exciting to drive, or even to look at, but it's certainly utilitarian.
Rated for you by America's best test team.How does the Maverick drive? We tested both Maverick engines: the base engine 2.5-liter hybrid as well as the optional turbocharged 2.0-liter engine. Our test truck, equipped with the latter, zipped from zero to 60 mph in just 6.4 seconds. That's quicker than any midsize pickup truck and just a smidge quicker than the Hyundai Santa Cruz. The automatic transmission shifts quickly when you're accelerating, and it doesn't hunt around for gears on long uphill grades thanks to abundant power from under the hood. The Maverick with the base hybrid powertrain is a bit slower to 60 at 8.4 seconds, but it's a trade-off we'd make given the improved fuel efficiency.
Steering and handling aren't as satisfying, however. The Maverick feels more like a traditional truck in this sense. You don't get much feel for the road through the steering wheel, and there's a significant amount of body roll when going around turns. The Maverick is a bit stiffly sprung so midcorner bumps will upset its handling a bit too.
Off-roading isn't a strong suit for the Lariat trim level, which is what we tested, but there's a decent 8.3 inches of ground clearance and all-wheel drive to be had. Plus, you can get the optional FX4 package if you want to go even farther off the beaten path.
How comfortable is the Maverick? When it comes to comfort, the Maverick embraces more of the truck vibe than its Hyundai Santa Cruz rival. Over broken or bumpy roads, it has a choppy ride quality that never seems to go away. The seats are firmly padded but supportive, and they hold up over long trips. But there are hard plastic door panels right next to your knees, and they're uncomfortable to brace against when navigating down curvy roads.
There isn't much noise from the engine on the highway, but it's a bit unrefined at idle and under full-throttle acceleration. We also noticed a strikingly loud drivetrain noise coming from beneath the rear floor that we couldn't identify. These traits are a bit of a harder pill to swallow on the top-trim Lariat.
How’s the interior? You'll love the Maverick if you like your truck interiors simple. There aren't a lot of frills or buttons, but finding the controls you need is very easy. Getting in and out requires some ducking of heads for most, but once you're inside there's a decent amount of headroom all around. The driving position is relatively upright, and the driver's seat and steering wheel don't offer much adjustability. Legroom is limited in the rear seat, as is the space under the front seats for feet.
The Maverick's boxy cab, however, provides excellent visibility. Big, squarish windows mean that you can see well in every direction, and while they're a bit on the small side, we like Ford's useful integrated blind-spot mirrors.
How’s the tech? Without the optional Luxury package, there isn't much tech to explore inside the Maverick. You do get an 8-inch touchscreen with standard Apple CarPlay and Android Auto smartphone integration, and it's quick and easy to connect, but that's about where it ends. The standard stereo is pretty underwhelming when it comes to output volume.
Spring for the Luxury package and you'll receive adaptive cruise control, enhanced voice controls, an upgraded 8-inch screen, a wireless charging pad and lane keeping assist. A lot of these driver aids and options missing from our top-trim test vehicle come standard on the base Hyundai Santa Cruz.
How are the towing and storage? The Maverick's party piece is the massive number of cubbies and interior storage areas. The doors can accommodate huge water bottles, the rear underseat storage is relatively large, and there are all sorts of useful dividers in the large center console. The Maverick has mastered small-item storage.
Loading in a large car seat will be a bit difficult because the top tethers are located behind the folding rear seats. Plus, the underseat storage is accessed by lifting up the entire rear seat bottom, so you'll have to remove any child seats to get underneath. What a pain.
The Maverick's maximum towing and payload capacities are impressive for such a small vehicle: 4,000 and 1,500 pounds, respectively. The Maverick also offers a four-pin and seven-pin connector and an integrated trailer brake controller, the latter of which is missing in the rival Hyundai Santa Cruz. So while the Santa Cruz ultimately has a higher overall towing capacity, the Maverick is better equipped to tow straight from the factory.
How’s the fuel economy? With the turbocharged 2.0-liter engine and all-wheel drive, the Maverick gets an EPA rating of 25 mpg combined. That's a respectable number that we were able to easily achieve in the real world. On our evaluation route, our test Maverick returned 27 mpg in mixed highway and city driving. On the same route, a Santa Cruz actually topped that by 2 mpg, but if fuel efficiency is a top concern, the real trump card here is the Maverick's hybrid powertrain. The hybrid Maverick gets a segment-topping EPA estimate of 37 mpg combined. That beats most non-hybrid compact sedans. In the real world, we regularly saw over 40 mpg combined during testing, which is promising.
Is the Maverick a good value? At its entry price, there's no denying the Maverick's appeal. Even a decently equipped Maverick will undercut the price of a midsize truck. The cabin's materials are nothing special, however, and you have to opt for the top trim level to get all of the truck's advanced driver aids, such as adaptive cruise control, as standard. A three-year/36,000-mile basic warranty and a five-year/60,000-mile powertrain warranty are pretty typical among trucks, and that's what the Maverick gets. But the Santa Cruz blows it out of the water with a five-year/60,000-mile basic warranty and a 10-year/100,000-mile powertrain warranty.
The Maverick is relatively nondescript. It accomplishes its mission of looking like a truck, and therefore it goes mostly unnoticed. The optional engine is peppy and it can be relatively fun to drive, but there is a more entertaining vehicle in the class.
We give it some credit for its efficient hybrid engine, along with its no-frills interior and low starting price. Pair that with a functional and easy-to-use bed, and you've got a unique offering, but not one with a ton of personality.
Much of the Maverick's appeal comes from its low price. As such, get the midlevel XLT. It doesn't have many additional standard features over the base XL, but it does give you more choice should you want additional options. The best value for the Maverick also comes from sticking with the base hybrid powertrain.
The 2022 Ford Maverick is a compact crew-cab pickup that's available in three main trim levels: XL, XLT and Lariat. Each trim comes standard with a 2.5-liter four-cylinder engine paired with a hybrid system to produce a combined 191 horsepower and 155 lb-ft of torque. This combo sends its power to the front wheels through a continuously variable automatic transmission (CVT).
![](data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,%3Csvg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="1200" height="588" fill="none" preserveAspectRatio="none"%3E%3Cmask id="b" width="1200" height="588" x="0" y="0" maskUnits="userSpaceOnUse" style="mask-type:alpha"%3E%3Cpath fill="url(%23a)" d="M896 513c116 45.015 222 64 304 75V0H0v501c40 36.024 154 76 340 76s344-146.269 556-64Z"/%3E%3C/mask%3E%3Cg mask="url(%23b)"%3E%3Cpath fill="url(%23c)" d="M896 513c116 45.015 222 64 304 75V0H0v501c40 36.024 154 76 340 76s344-146.269 556-64Z"/%3E%3Cpath fill="url(%23d)" fill-opacity=".15" d="M581.718 62.893c42.993 1.53 86.281 5.888 129.704 13.204 311.828 52.485 552.538 242.016 657.698 483.656-149.97-147.971-450.891-226.33-789.375-232.079-338.534.839-640.434 74.572-792.746 220.292 108.75-240.047 352.255-425.97 664.832-473.803a1041.548 1041.548 0 0 1 129.887-11.27Z"/%3E%3Cpath fill="url(%23e)" fill-opacity=".5" d="M611.247 209.93a1458.84 1458.84 0 0 1 139.573 27.692c333.61 83.239 577.16 267.208 668.67 475.188-148.93-138.63-468.279-241.218-835.209-290.421-367.6-43.915-702.265-24.445-881.281 72.561 140.567-178.524 422.355-295.817 766.181-293.074 47.867.484 95.274 3.212 142.066 8.054Z"/%3E%3Cpath fill="url(%23f)" d="M735.039 879.394c48.524-6.62 97.023-16.967 145.3-31.2C1227.03 746.059 1475.76 472.327 1564.28 145c-151.17 209.633-482.23 344.436-865.05 388.31C315.515 568.571-35.93 504.564-227 330.342-73.333 632.61 226.169 849.617 586.429 878.604c50.15 3.871 99.74 4.07 148.61.79Z" opacity=".3"/%3E%3Cpath fill="url(%23g)" d="M694.222 783.712c50.956 12 103.317 20.27 156.946 24.578 385.102 31.013 738.232-146.76 952.062-439.434-231.22 151.216-613.24 158.795-1012.047 55.796C394.784 312.716 68.643 114.101-55.211-133c37.44 360.528 253.087 691.895 601.449 858.946 48.557 23.091 97.963 42.302 147.984 57.766Z" opacity=".9"/%3E%3Cpath fill="url(%23h)" fill-opacity=".5" d="M896 513c116 45.015 222 64 304 75V0H0v501c40 36.024 154 76 340 76s344-146.269 556-64Z"/%3E%3C/g%3E%3Cdefs%3E%3ClinearGradient id="a" x1="1005" x2="989.087" y1="23" y2="552.522" gradientUnits="userSpaceOnUse"%3E%3Cstop stop-color="%23007EE5"/%3E%3Cstop offset=".333" stop-color="%231561D4"/%3E%3Cstop offset="1" stop-color="%230A4AAB"/%3E%3C/linearGradient%3E%3ClinearGradient id="c" x1="1005" x2="989.087" y1="23" y2="552.522" gradientUnits="userSpaceOnUse"%3E%3Cstop stop-color="%23007EE5"/%3E%3Cstop offset=".334" stop-color="%231561D4"/%3E%3C/linearGradient%3E%3ClinearGradient id="d" x1="675.999" x2="879.999" y1="648.999" y2="120.999" gradientUnits="userSpaceOnUse"%3E%3Cstop stop-color="%23fff"/%3E%3Cstop offset="1" stop-color="%23fff" stop-opacity="0"/%3E%3C/linearGradient%3E%3ClinearGradient id="e" x1="656.5" x2="637.602" y1="213" y2="622.259" gradientUnits="userSpaceOnUse"%3E%3Cstop offset=".115" stop-color="%23fff" stop-opacity="0"/%3E%3Cstop offset=".944" stop-color="%23017D8D"/%3E%3C/linearGradient%3E%3ClinearGradient id="f" x1="398" x2="737" y1="599" y2="387" gradientUnits="userSpaceOnUse"%3E%3Cstop stop-color="%2300ABB5"/%3E%3Cstop offset="1" stop-color="%2300A0B5" stop-opacity="0"/%3E%3C/linearGradient%3E%3ClinearGradient id="g" x1="1051.5" x2="271" y1="567" y2="575" gradientUnits="userSpaceOnUse"%3E%3Cstop stop-color="%230098C2"/%3E%3Cstop offset="1" stop-color="%23033E96" stop-opacity="0"/%3E%3C/linearGradient%3E%3ClinearGradient id="h" x1="1005" x2="986.038" y1="23" y2="587.43" gradientUnits="userSpaceOnUse"%3E%3Cstop offset=".813" stop-opacity="0"/%3E%3Cstop offset=".972"/%3E%3C/linearGradient%3E%3C/defs%3E%3C/svg%3E)
