2022 Ford Maverick Hybrid Review - The Best New Truck for Your Wallet

Hey folks and welcome to the Truck King YouTube channel. Sitting next to me is the 2022 Ford Maverick. In fact, we chose this truck as our truck of the year, but so far we've only driven the EcoBoost engine, but that's about to change. This is the hybrid and there's so much to talk about here. So we're going to go on a long drive, we will do real world fuel economy, and then we just have to discuss whether the hybrid is the right choice for the Maverick. So let's start off with the walk around. This is a two and a half liter four cylinder naturally aspirated engine, made it to that hybrid setup with a total system output of 191 horsepower. And all of that power is sent through an electronically controlled CVT. You do need to know going for the hybrid power plant is front wheel drive only. So if you want an all wheel drive Maverick, you have to go for the bigger EcoBoost. If you also want to tow 4,000 pounds with the Maverick, you also have to go for that bigger EcoBoost. So it is going to depend on what you want to do. However, now normally I would say, well, is the hybrid worth the money? That's not the case here because the hybrid is the base engine. So to bump up to the EcoBoost from the hybrid, you're going to pay $2,500 Canadian. And that's really what makes the hybrid in this Maverick a unique proposition because this is the base engine. We have to talk about the trim lineup here as well. So Maverick is available as XL, XLT, or Lariat. In the United States, you can get any powertrain with any trim. Here in Canada though, that's not true. Ford will not sell you a hybrid Lariat. So you can't get a top trim with the hybrid engine. This then the XLT hybrid is essentially the most expensive hybrid you're going to find here in Canada. So if you do bump up from XL to XLT, you get a couple of features like 17 inch wheels down there. A couple of things back here in the bed, like these tie downs come standard and you get your little storage cubby over here. Those things come with XLT. An interesting story sort of in the entire world of trucks has to do with payload and this Maverick demonstrates it perfectly. There's sort of a thought that you're going to spend more money on a bigger truck with more features and get more payload, right? You should be able to carry more. That is not the case. The top trim trucks generally have lower payload because they're so heavy and that just goes for half tons these days in general and that's one of the areas these little compact trucks are really going to make strides because this hybrid with front wheel drive only has a payload of 1,417 pounds. That is honestly more payload than we have seen out of most of the half tons that we test. So you have to really give it up to Ford. Going small and lightweight allows you to carry a lot of stuff. So right now we're going to see if Steve fits that and his monster baby seats. But first let's just take a look at this back seat back here. So the one thing I want to point out right away, it's not 60 40. This is just a bench and the whole bench either lifts up or drops down. Now if you do lift this up you get big storage cubbies plus there's access to your battery right here which is handy. Now we close that down. We bring the seat backs down and you get access to some tools but also three top tethers for your forward facing child seats and these are normal top tethers. There's no confusing loops or redirect things here. That is also nice. And now finally let me climb in. So here in the Hybrid this is 35.6 inches of rear seat leg room and this seat is pushed a little bit forward but honestly it's quite a spacious back seat and I do have to point out that the Maverick on paper has more back seat space than the current Ford Ranger does. So if you want the biggest back seat out of a small Ford pickup you don't get a Ranger you get a Maverick and that seems absolutely true. I got more than enough headroom, knee room. Yes just like in the front seats in the back this truck is a small truck with a big interior footprint and now let's see how my baby seat fits. So I mentioned three top tethers so this is just my forward facing seat. You'd have to open up the back like this thread your top tether through and then hook it up but like I said honestly compared to a lot of and then finally we have two lower latch positions one on each side which I like as well. There's not a lot to complain about here I just wish it was a 60-40 split so I didn't have to commit the entire bench being up. Besides that the back seat here is really nice. Here we are now driving in this Maverick and I think the story of this Hybrid again has to do with sort of what you're getting and then what you're giving up. Now the biggest thing you're giving up is all-wheel drive. Straight up if all-wheel drive is a necessary factor for you if you think it's something you absolutely need well then of course you rule the Hybrid out. On the flip side though now let's talk about fuel economy because if you go for the all-wheel drive Maverick you get a 25 mile per gallon combined rating. Go for the Hybrid that jumps to 37 miles per gallon combined. It's a massive fuel economy difference and let me remind you once again that going for the Hybrid is less expensive so you're going to save at the dealership and then you're going to save at the pump. That is a compelling option and then finally I think that what makes it even more compelling to me is that here in an XLT this is a mid-trim I don't feel as though we're giving up much compared to the Lariat. The Lariat has some nicer materials inside but the actual kind of the bones of it in terms of the touchscreen that we're getting up here and the features that we're getting are nearly the same. So with this vehicle I actually think going for a lower trim Hybrid is the sweet spot. It's where it makes the most sense and all that comes down to also how it drives and you're driving it so why don't you share your thoughts now on how this little thing drives. I've said it before whether it's the Hybrid or the EcoBoost I mean if this is it drives like a truck however it's not beating you up. It's quiet in here all the buttons switches dials everything in here is familiar it's well laid out the cabin is very squared up so you can see even with our our monster jackets here you know we've got lots of room. There's really nothing in this truck that I could say is wow I really just like this. I like everything really about it and if you're into this and fuel economy is important which quite frankly a buck and a half a liter in Canada today and not looking like it's going down anytime soon. In Ontario. Yeah and out west it's way worse so you know what fuel economy is going to be the issue of the year coming up so yeah good on Ford and maybe sometimes you know timing you just get lucky with the timing. Sure and we might as well now do some real world fuel economy because I gave you the government numbers so let's cut to my little road trip and we'll see what this thing can do. And here's the result we manage seven and a half liters per 100 kilometers over a 100 kilometer road trip on secondary highways averaging about 90 kilometers per hour. Okay dad now we got to feel the power so this is 191 horsepower sent through a CVT okay and it's not bad I mean typical CVT it kind of goes way and then you feel the vehicle catch up to the sound you're hearing but I don't know it didn't feel unacceptable I guess is the best way to put it that felt fine. No that's the thing with the hybrid I mean first of all you the engine itself is naturally aspirated um the hybrid is going to help at the lower end so it was like it was like a straight line acceleration there was there was no lag there was no dip there was no peak it just nice just like that. But again if you're gonna go well I'm gonna go for the hybrid but uh it's gonna be so slow or underpowered I wouldn't say that at all right? No no and you know what if you need more than this well then don't look at this but for I'm gonna say for 97 percent of people they will be just fine with what's in here. When you first get in this if you go down to the dealer and you want to test drive it and you step on the brakes as you would in your own car you'll be shocked to see just how much they grab. So the idea here is that that braking force wants to make as much electricity as possible so it's aggressive however as I discovered after the first couple of applications I went okay I get it I got to be a lot more gentle and you know what within 30 minutes I didn't have any more issues but I pointed out because the very first time you do it you'll be like holy crap what's up with this but uh you'll you know what you get used to it very quickly and then you understand that what you're doing is actually capturing energy which is really kind of a cool concept because in every car out there we're losing energy every single time you apply brakes whereas in a hybrid you're actually doing something with it you're making electricity and reusing it. And like a lot of companies do with their hybrids Ford has a fun little EV coach which will try to maximize your regenerative braking and then it will also try to maximize just your efficiency to make sure you're just using power as often as you can you can see how it works here but it's always fun it's like a little game you can play while you're driving makes you driving very smooth but never mind you you know what if you got a kid and they're learning how to drive you put that EV coach on and you say listen you stay in the little boxes you never go outside the electric box you don't go into the high hybrid range and when you're regenerating you try to stay in the green box so it'll teach them to be really smooth well folks we have arrived at the end of this one so what is the verdict well if you want a pickup truck with really good fuel economy here is your answer right here Ford saw a problem which is that trucks are getting too big and too thirsty and the answer is the Maverick and I do think this is the correct answer this is a nice little truck now like always I want you to go below let me know what you think down there in the comments while you're down there don't forget to hit like hit subscribe hit join to become a member and then come right back here to Truck King to see what we're testing next see ya