To each their own

[DakotaGuy]

One of my gripes with Ford and Maverick is sticking FX4 and Tremor on them. Even on Ranger and F series, FX4, Tremor are mostly mall crawler packages, more so than purpose built off-road vehicles. They are capable for light duty, forest roads and some trails, but hardly a wheeler without reaplcing a tonne of components. Having a Maverick with 3 inches of clearance under the body skirts, is hardly an off-road vehicle. Would Fusion AWD Tremor be next if they had they not dropped it? Or Mustang Mach FX4?

Ford is limited on what they can do with factory purpose built off-road vehicles besides a few very niche expensive models like the Raptor because of CAFE requirements and safety standards. Lift a vehicle too much and it lowers fuel economy and raises the center of gravity. Either they offer mass market designed FX4 and Tremor for volume sales or they don't and just offer a very expensive purpose built package. The FX4 Maverick isn't designed for any serious off-roading, but the skid-plates, terrain management settings and front tow hooks are nice. The main reason my Dad wanted the FX4 is because it has front tow hooks. He said if you have to pull it out of a snow bank there is no where to hook with plastic bumpers on that thing.

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[JACKSMYDOG]

Ford is limited on what they can do with factory purpose built off-road vehicles besides a few very niche like the Raptor models because of CAFE requirements and safety standards. Lift a vehicle too much and it lowers fuel economy and raises the center of gravity. Either they offer mass market designed FX4 and Tremor for volume sales or they don't and just offer a very expensive purpose built package. The FX4 Maverick isn't designed for any serious off-roading, but the skid-plates, terrain management settings and front tow hooks are nice. The main reason my Dad wanted the FX4 is because it has front tow hooks. He said if you have to pull it out of a snow bank there is no where to hook with plastic bumpers on that thing.

I wasn't directing that at you, and have no problem with making any vehicle more capable. My gripe is using the same labels across all lines. Why not call the Maverick FM4, or any other series of mostly meaningless letter combinations.

That goes for the Raptor too. The first ones were a substantial upgrade in power and performance. The later versions, and Ranger version are not so impressive. Stock ranger comes with 2.3, Ranger Raptor reportedly coming with 2.7L. Why not a 3.5L or Coyote with a real power upgrade? They are continually under-mining their own upgrade packages by homogenizing them and sticking the same label on every line. A Maverick Raptor is next. Why not a Maverick Top-gun, or Maverick Goose and get away from Raptor?

 

[Langwilliams]

The new cars I see from Hyundai are ugly IMO. I've never owned one an probably never will. Seems like their Kia brand is making the better looking cars of the company.

 

[Grumpaw]

I wasn't directing that at you, and have no problem with making any vehicle more capable. My gripe is using the same labels across all lines. Why not call the Maverick FM4, or any other series of mostly meaningless letter combinations.

That goes for the Raptor too. The first ones were a substantial upgrade in power and performance. The later versions, and Ranger version are not so impressive. Stock ranger comes with 2.3, Ranger Raptor reportedly coming with 2.7L. Why not a 3.5L or Coyote with a real power upgrade? They are continually under-mining their own upgrade packages by homogenizing them and sticking the same label on every line. A Maverick Raptor is next. Why not a Maverick Top-gun, or Maverick Goose and get away from Raptor?

I vote for a Maverick Violent Chicken or maybe a Violent Parrot version...

 

[OFC Ranger]

I was on Block Island for a few days and saw the Maverick up close and driving by. Looks like a rolling brick. Very squared off and black trim on white truck made it look worse. Saw a Hyundai Santa Cruz pick up, which I think is direct competition, and the looks blew it away. I have a 2014 Hyundai and lov e its performance and reliability, as well as dealer/manufacturer support. Even with the engine issue at 109000 miles, they gave us a COMPLETE motor under warantee.

Still not a fan of the Bronco, think Ford missed the boat. The ones I saw, not impressed. The only one I liked was a white, plain jane, 4 door normal thinner tires that Dirt Church Brewing in VT uses. And I only like that because it is set up and looks like what it should for what they are using it for, an SUV. Doesn't look like they will use for anything more than traveling dirt roads with their bikes and commuting to places. I've only seen pictures of more off road capable Broncos, but vehichles always look different in person.

I am the King of Bricks when it comes to vehicles. Your taste sickitates me.

I want a truck to somewhat resemble a truck, not a spaceship. While Ford's new front end design also sickitates me, it less sickitates me than the Santa Cruz which may not be a brick on wheels, but a pile of hipster vomit on wheels.

 

[JACKSMYDOG]

I vote for a Maverick Violent Chicken or maybe a Violent Parrot version...

Maverick MF4 (M effer)

 

[Dave1899]

I saw a Blue Maverick Lariat FX4 in the wild (Sam's parking lot) the other day and talked to the owner. I liked it and it was the hybrid. He gave it a rave review!

 

[Grumpaw]

I am the King of Bricks when it comes to vehicles. Your taste sickitates me.

I want a truck to somewhat resemble a truck, not a spaceship. While Ford's new front end design also sickitates me, it less sickitates me than the Santa Cruz which may not be a brick on wheels, but a pile of hipster vomit on wheels.

 

[OFC Ranger]

 

[JACKSMYDOG]

I am the King of Bricks when it comes to vehicles. Your taste sickitates me.

I want a truck to somewhat resemble a truck, not a spaceship. While Ford's new front end design also sickitates me, it less sickitates me than the Santa Cruz which may not be a brick on wheels, but a pile of hipster vomit on wheels.

I agree a truck should look like a truck, but unibody anything is not a truck IMO, it's an SUV.

 

[Tracy Bowman]

The Maverick is currently selling at a pace of about 2 to 1 versus the Santa Cruz and production is still very constrained on the Maverick. To each their own, but when designing a vehicle you have to build what appeals most to the masses if you want a very successful product. The Maverick looks like a baby F-150 and people like that look. It also has extremely good value built into it. I wouldn't trade my Ranger for one, but I wanted a tough frame based truck and not a unibody pickup. Ford absolutely hit a home run with the Maverick.

I will let you know my impressions soon since we ordered one for my elderly father last October and it finally arrived. We will pick it up Tuesday. It is an XLT EcoBoost FX4 in Shadow Black with Co-pilot 360. It also has the optional 17" wheels with the larger more aggressive tires. I would never pick black, but that is what he wanted. The salesman sent me a picture when it came off the truck.

Personally, I like them!

 

[NotBudule]

350 gas motor block used in diesl engines...

I know but damn , the heads bolted right on there , to tempting I guess , I worked at a Caddy dealer back then and they put those in Fleetwoods and such , laughable...

 

[Augie81]

I saw a Blue Maverick Lariat FX4 in the wild (Sam's parking lot) the other day and talked to the owner. I liked it and it was the hybrid. He gave it a rave review!

If I can ever find one at a dealer to test drive I'll seriously look at getting one. Love my Ranger but it's a bit more truck than I really need. But also I noticed that they are not available in Saber. Cyber Orange or Oxford White might be interesting to me though. Notably white because it wouldn't show every little chip in the paint as much.

That's one thing I do not like about my Ranger. The paint is so damn thin. The last time I washed it I accidentally lightly tapped the hose nozzle on the side and it put a small chip in it down to the white paint. I have a few other dings like that from seemingly minor impacts. So at least if it was white those blemishes would not be as prominent.

 

[Dr. Zaius]

Having owned a Subaru Baja that I absolutely loved, I was very interested in the Santa Cruz and the Maverick when they came out.

Having driven multiple examples of both, I'll take the Maverick every day of the week and twice on Sunday over the Santa Cruz.

Not that the Santa Cruz is terrible because it's not (though I do despise the fingerprint-magent piano black plastic that's all over the dash), I just find the Maverick to be a much more pleasant vehicle to drive.

I think it's primarily the visibility. The Maverick has very good visibility while the Santa Cruz seems more claustrophobic in comparison.

 

[dtech]

Wow, you actually bothered to brag about the “reliability” of a vehicle you had to put a New Motor in at 100k…

Hyundai/KIA has probably replaced well over 250,000 Theta II engines, I know they budgeted several billions towards replacing these engines as they are obligated to do so for the lifetime of the vehicles and get this - there are owners that have had these POS engines fail several times, the engines seize , but it's arguable worse when they don't seize as many consume large amounts of oil when the block deforms. They were heavily fined by the NHTSA because they denied the problem existed for several years and knowingly kept selling the cars to unsuspecting public.

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