The Compact Truck That Beat Them All. MotorTrend's 2026 Truck of the Year: The Ford Maverick

MotorTrend

The keyboard warriors said it wasn’t a “real truck” and they were wrong. Meet the 2026 MotorTrend Truck of the Year: the Ford Maverick

Transcript

00:00hear that that's the sound of angry keyboard warriors banging out that's not a real truck

00:15and as usual those keyboard warriors are wrong

00:20the ford maverick is a real truck and a great one at that so great that it's the 2026 motor trend

00:27truck of the year

00:39we came to that conclusion after two weeks of intense testing we drove our contenders on highways city

00:46streets back roads we went off-roading we towed trailers we hauled payload we dove into the

00:52infotainment and driver assistance systems and we crawled all over the beds in the end the maverick

00:58came out on top above larger more powerful quicker competition we judge our contenders on six criteria

01:08advancement in design engineering excellence performance of intended function safety value

01:13and efficiency and if you're still skeptical let's go for a drive and i'm going to show you exactly

01:18how this ford maverick earned 2026 motor trend truck of the year

01:27the maverick rocked the truck world when it debuted in 2021. smaller than the mid and full-size pickups

01:34that americans were accustomed to it grabbed attention with two big numbers actually one of them small

01:40the price less than 22 000 and fuel economy of up to 37 miles per gallon epa combined ford didn't even

01:50understand what it had created until it saw the public reaction and order started pouring in the maverick

01:57gets even better thanks to a 2025 mid-cycle refresh that brings two big upgrades the first you can now get

02:04all-wheel drive with the hybrid powertrain that's something buyers have been clamoring for ever since

02:10this vehicle launched and in my opinion it's the one to get it is a smooth and peppy powertrain

02:16it will do zero to 60 in seven seconds flat and it's good for that 37 miles per gallon combined

02:24if you want to quicker and torque your maverick you go for the two liter turbocharged four-cylinder

02:29that's good for 250 horsepower and 277 pound-feet of torque new for 2025 ford took that powertrain

02:38and launched the maverick lobo

02:44in a world where everybody's doing off-road trims this is a revival of the street performance truck

02:52the lobo is lowered half an inch up front and 1.2 inches in the rear and it's got upgraded suspension

02:58and brake components from european fords along with a seven-speed transmission with more aggressive

03:04gearing that replaces the eight-speed automatic don't think of the maverick global as a sports

03:09car with a bed it rides on humble all-season tires but it is a hell of a lot of fun think of it more

03:15as a civic si with a bed it's good for zero to 60 in 6.1 seconds and thanks to a rear axle that can

03:22jockey torque between the left and right tires it rotates into a corner really playfully and another

03:29great thing opting for the two liter turbo doesn't mean abandoning economy all-wheel drive versions

03:35including the lobo are good for 30 miles per gallon on the highway all mavericks have a little bit of

03:41lobo into them thanks to the way this truck is built and it's relatively low weight it's tossable

03:47it's fun it's playful and because it uses unibody construction it doesn't have that jittery shake

03:54that most body on frame trucks do

04:00the maverick earned solid safety ratings with five star front and side crash stars and an overall four

04:06star rating due to its four star rollover resistance arguably the most compelling reason to buy a maverick

04:13though is the value it is the most affordable truck in america and the only one that starts under

04:19thirty thousand dollars the base price just under twenty nine thousand dollars is seventy five hundred

04:26dollars more than ford was originally asking back in 2021 but remember in 2021 anybody who wanted a

04:33maverick ended up paying huge dealer markups ultimately the law of supply and demand was going to

04:38raise the price either way realistically you're going to spend thirty five thousand or thirty six

04:46thousand dollars on a well-equipped maverick and that includes options whether that's a hybrid all-wheel

04:51drive or even the lobo and it's about five thousand to ten thousand dollars less than a similarly equipped

04:58mid-sized truck this thing is still a great value

05:01let's talk about how it works as a truck because the maverick is probably more capable than you think

05:13and that starts with acknowledging that its small size is actually an advantage in many cases for

05:18example with a full-size truck today you can't just reach over the bedside and grab something sitting on

05:23the bottom of the floor you can actually stand at the tailgate and unload a bed full of mulch without

05:29having to step up there and if you do need to step into the bed you can do so without unfolding a

05:36staircase from the tailgate when it comes to numbers they're much bigger than you might expect too

05:43payload capacity up to 1500 pounds compares quite favorably with f-150 payloads and the bed holds 90

05:52of the capacity of a toyota tacoma's bed all mavericks can tow at least 2 000 pounds and the 4k tow

05:59package will allow you to tow larger toys like teardrop campers the towing experience got even

06:04better for 2025 with new options like pro trailer hitch assist which will automatically back the

06:11vehicle up and place the ball directly under the trailer hitch our truck of the year evaluations

06:17included a day at holly oaks off-road park where the maverick conquered several obstacles that the chevy

06:23silverado ev trail boss couldn't and that was with a hybrid all-wheel drive there's also a maverick

06:30tremor in the lineup with all-terrain tires a suspension lift and skid plates for people who

06:35are going to spend tons of time off-road while we're talking about truck stuff let's talk about how the

06:40maverick looks because i think this is one of the key reasons the maverick has succeeded where other

06:46let's say unconventional trucks have failed ford designers clearly understood that no matter the

06:53horsepower or the size or the towing capacity a truck should look like a truck forget clay models

07:00they could have designed the prototypes with cardboard boxes with that upright grille the flat hood

07:06this vertical rear window and this 90 degree angle with the bedside vehicles like the tesla cyber truck

07:13the hyundai santa cruz and the honda ridgeline have learned the hard way that americans want their

07:19pickups to look like pickups the real advancement in design happens inside the maverick where designers

07:25have played with color and texture to make the cabin feel cheerful rather than cheap it makes you wonder

07:32how any vehicle on the market today at any price point has a drab black or gray interior why can't every

07:39car be this cool this 13.2 inch touchscreen that's new for 2025 much larger than the original eight

07:48inch screen and far crisper and clearer it makes the cabin feel more modern and upscale and let's give

07:55credit to ford's engineers for making the most of a small space the rear seat has more headroom and

08:00legroom than a toyota tacoma fundamentally all pickup trucks are designed around utility and this one which

08:08is designed to a low price point somehow manages to also feel stylish and super cool when you spend

08:18time with the ford maverick you realize that anything a truck purist would scoff at is the reason this is

08:24such a uniquely great truck it doesn't have a v8 so it can get 37 miles per gallon it's built with unibody

08:32construction so it rides and handles like a car it's compact so you can live with it and love it every

08:39single day no matter what you're doing for so many drivers this is the right tool for the job and that's

08:46why it's our 2026 motor trend truck of the year for more on the ford maverick and our truck of the year

08:52competition visit motor trend dot com

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