2025 Ford Maverick

The Ford Maverick knocked our socks off when it debuted for the 2022 model year, and why wouldn’t it? It’s something of a “white space” product, as the marketing people say — a vehicle that’s not easily classified or segmented and something that’s not like anything else on sale. Three years on, the Maverick is still largely a category of one, maybe two if you include the Hyundai Santa Cruz as its main competitor; it’s a car-based, front- or all-wheel-drive crossover-style pickup truck for a budget price that ticks a lot of people’s boxes. Ford has made some updates to its compact pickup for 2025, and I checked it out in person ahead of its debut.

Wishes Granted
The Maverick is incredibly fuel-efficient in hybrid guise and genuinely entertaining in turbo form. It fits in urban parking spots and suburban parking garages with ease, can tow 4,000 pounds or haul 1,500 in its bed, can be had in a genuinely capable off-road version, and comes with all kinds of neat surprise-and-delight features that allow owners to turn their Maverick into something personal. It’s even relatively cheap to buy, too, when compared with mid-size pickups and full-size brethren (but not as cheap as it used to be).

But if there’s one thing Ford does well, it’s listening to its customers. And customers had things to say about the Maverick, including their desire for some additional features like being able to get AWD with the hybrid powertrain and having a more modern onboard suite of technologies and connectivity options. For 2025, Ford has answered both requests by making an AWD option for the hybrid and even offering up the more robust 4K Towing Package, which allows for towing up to 4,000 pounds (although I’m not sure I’d want to haul that much weight with just 155 pounds-feet of torque).

The addition of Sync 4 through a 13.2-inch touchscreen is another win. It’s not the new Ford Digital Experience, meaning it’s not a Google-based operating system, and I’m good with that. Ford’s Sync 4 might be disappearing from the rest of the lineup as the marque goes to a new architecture, but the Maverick’s meant to be a low-cost vehicle for the company, so the older tried-and-proven systems are what the small pickup gets instead.

This is also obvious from the materials quality of the Maverick’s interior, which doesn’t get any better from the plastic-fantastic quality of the outgoing model. It’s all hard plastic inside, but just like the prior Maverick, it’s done up in stylish, interesting shapes with fun colors that are youthful and exciting. You don’t mind that it all feels like a Rubbermaid tub if it looks cool, and it definitely still does.

Loco for Lobo
I’m not sure who out there was clamoring for a return to the sport truck scene of the 1980s and ‘90s, but it turns out that one Ford designer was: a young addition to the team when the first Maverick was in the design studio back in 2019. His vision has now become the Maverick Lobo, and while I’m bummed there’s no boost to the power output of the turbocharged 2.0-liter EcoBoost four-cylinder engine (Ford engineers told me the system can’t handle any more power output without significant adjustments, so even just chipping the thing for more power was out), the rest of the mechanical changes make it sound like a load of fun. But those blacked-out “turbofan” wheels that look like they’ve come right off of the Mustang Mach-E Rally are really what stop people in their tracks — they look absolutely dynamite on a lowered truck.

It’s been too long since Ford (or anyone, really) has made an actually fun street truck, with automakers instead pushing crazy off-road 4×4 versions on the public instead. Memories of the Dodge Ram SRT-10, Chevrolet Silverado SS, old-style V-8-powered Ford F-150 Lightning and even the GMC Syclone or the Chevrolet S-10 Xtreme appearance package bring back the idea of small trucks being style statements and enjoyable street machines. Not everyone wants to look like they’re about to Mad Max it up into the wasteland with their pickup; some people want to look slick and go quickly on the pavement instead. Here’s hoping the Maverick Lobo rekindles that interest.