Ford Steals a Country Girl’s Heart with the 2022 Ford Maverick
Erica Mueller
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The 2022 Ford Maverick Surprised and Delighted Me
A fan of small vehicles I am not. All of my life I have been firmly in the pickup truck fangirl club. So while I thought the pictures of this new compact pickup truck were cute, I didn’t expect to actually like it. In fact, I’ve driven several mid-size trucks, declared them too small for me, and gladly traded them in for my full-size daily driver. The 2022 Ford Maverick changed my mind completely when it comes to compact trucks.
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Loaded down with garden tools and ready to work! Photo: Erica Mueller
This is Not Just a City Truck
Yes, it will fit beautifully into your single-car city garage, and it’ll be a breeze to park in tight spaces, but it’s also a workhorse of a truck. It really reminds me of a pony, bred to work between the rows of crops where the larger horses just won’t fit.
During my time with the 2022 Ford Maverick, I had a large landscaping project to help with at our church. We needed to completely tear out what had been there, amend the soil and start over. I found a local landscaping company that would sell me compost in bulk and I asked if they could load it into the back of the Maverick.
You should have seen the guy’s eyes as he tried to line up the bucket of his little bobcat loader so he could dump the loads in at an angle and make as little mess and waste as possible. Thankfully, compost is light and we were able to fill the entire bed without maxing out the payload capacity which is 1,500 pounds.
Once we got the compost back to the project area we shoveled it out and made two more trips. Yes, we probably could have gotten it all in one load in our full-sized truck, but it was really cool to see how capable the Maverick was and be able to envision how practical this compact truck could be for customers.
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Check out those pretty wheels on the XLT! Photo: Erica Mueller
The 2022 Ford Maverick: Two Engine Options, Three Trim Levels and an Almost Endless Array of Packages and Accessories
I actually got to experience two different models of the 2022 Ford Maverick. First was the hybrid, front-wheel drive truck with the base model XL package. It was Area 51 blue (or is it gray?) and was probably the most basic car I’ve driven since I learned to drive more than two decades ago. There were no power mirrors, power seats or even cruise control and the wheels all looked like spares. The truck started with a real key, not a push button. And the price tag was under $20k.
The second Maverick I drove had the all-gas engine, was all-wheel-drive, and had a mid-level trim Ford calls the XLT. The interior of this one was a little sportier with its orange accents in the dash and console and orange stitching on the seats. It also included the things I missed most from the XT: prettier wheels, cruise control and power mirrors. Push button start was another nice feature this one had, but is something that I could easily live without. This Maverick was silver on the outside and its starting price is $22,360 for the hybrid FWD model and $23,445 for the all-gas model.
There is also a higher trim level available. The Lariat is just a little fancier and tops out around $27k with the gas engine. Of course, there are multiple add-ons and accessories that can bring your total up, but it’s pretty impressive that the highest trim level starts under $30k.
Where the 2022 Ford Maverick really shines is the accessory department. This truck was designed with the DIYer and adventurer in mind. The bed has so many built-in slots, tie downs, tracks, and power options so that you can add and modify this little utility truck til your heart’s content. And if you don’t feel like doing it yourself, the Ford site offers an incredible number of accessories you can add to your order.
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Compact Does Not Equal Crowded
The designers at Ford did such a good job with the interior of this little truck. I was especially tickled to be able to fit all three of my kids in the back seat. It was a little tight, but no worse than in my car. I realized that if I owned one of these it would be a second car and we likely wouldn’t all be in it very often, meaning my oldest could sit up front.
I installed a rear-facing car seat for my toddler, hauled my guitar to lessons, let some photography clients ride along with me to different locations for an engagement shoot, got groceries and never missed my big truck. We were all comfortable and had plenty of room for our things. The cut-outs in the doors that doubled as drink holders were just so cool – why hasn’t someone thought of this before? And check out that storage space under the back seat!
Hybrid badging details. Photo: Erica Mueller
This Just Might be a Sedan Killer
I’m not even joking. People who have always wanted a truck but couldn’t fit it in their garage or justify the cost, size and fuel use of a larger truck are going to love the 2022 Ford Maverick. The 2.5 liter hybrid powertrain gets up to 42 miles per gallon. That’s better than the mid-size sedan in my driveway, and this does a whole lot more.
Thanks to a better ground clearance, open cargo space and not having to worry about getting a trunk dirty I could take this camping, pickup small pieces of furniture, or landscape to my heart’s content. And that is exactly why it’s at the top of my list to replace my old car as our second vehicle.
Disclosure: I had each of these Mavericks for a week and was able to drive them, use them, take photos and shoot video of how we’d use them in real life. A huge thanks to the folks at Ford for this experience.
Click to Enlarge and see the options on the Hybrid XL
Click to Enlarge and see the options on the gas XLT
