The 2026 Ford Maverick is a compact pickup truck that fits where full-size trucks can’t, costs less than most midsize trucks, and gets fuel economy numbers that would embarrass a lot of crossovers. It’s built for people who need a truck bed but don’t want to park a boat every time they go to the grocery store. At MotoPickers, we’ve dug into every trim, every powertrain, and every trade-off so you don’t have to.
MotoPickers Rating
The Maverick’s biggest strength is its hybrid powertrain. Getting up to 42 MPG city in a truck is genuinely unusual, and the available 13.2-inch touchscreen is a real upgrade for buyers who opt for it. The 4.5-foot bed won’t replace a full-size hauler, but for most people’s actual use — a bike, some lumber, a few bags of mulch — it’s enough.
Where the Maverick falls short is refinement. The base trims feel basic in a way that’s hard to ignore once you’ve sat in a Lariat. The rear seat is fine for kids but tight for adults on longer drives. And the hybrid’s 191 hp is adequate around town but noticeably strained when you’re merging onto a busy highway with a load in the bed.
This truck is built for urban and suburban buyers who want utility without the size or fuel costs of a traditional truck. It’s not a weekend warrior’s off-road rig (unless you go Tremor), and it’s not a towing workhorse. It’s a practical, affordable daily driver with a bed.
| Category | Score (out of 10) |
|---|---|
| Performance | 6.3 |
| Comfort | 6.7 |
| Technology | 5.8 |
| Value | 8.2 |
| Practicality | 7.0 |
What’s New / Updates Over Previous Version
The 2026 Maverick carries forward the updates that defined the recent refresh rather than introducing a completely new generation. The biggest news for this model year is that Hybrid AWD is now available, which was a real gap in the lineup before. If you wanted all-wheel drive previously, you had to take the EcoBoost engine and give up the fuel economy. That trade-off is gone.
The Lobo street truck edition is new to the lineup and worth knowing about if you want a sportier look and feel without going full off-road. It’s covered in detail in the Trim Guide below. A larger central touchscreen is now available, a notable step up from the smaller screens on earlier models.
Powertrain details and what each engine actually feels like are covered under Power and Performance. Trim-by-trim pricing and what you get at each level is in the Trim Guide below.
Competitors
The Hyundai Santa Cruz shares the Maverick’s unibody pickup layout but brings more powerful engine options, available AWD, and a bed designed with lifestyle accessories in mind. The Toyota Tacoma Double Cab with a 5-foot bed is a traditional body-on-frame midsize truck with stronger off-road hardware and higher tow ratings, though it’s larger, heavier, and less fuel-efficient. The Chevrolet Colorado Crew Cab Short Box is the right choice if you need more towing and payload capacity and don’t mind stepping up in size. The Honda Ridgeline offers a car-like ride with a standard V6 and AWD, but its larger cabin and bed come with a higher price tag and lower fuel economy than the Maverick hybrid.
Exterior Spotlight
The Maverick has a clean, purposeful look that doesn’t try too hard to be a tough truck. The cab-forward proportions and short bed give it a compact, almost car-like stance that works in a parking garage just as well as it does at a job site. It’s a truck that doesn’t announce itself.
Color Options
The 2026 Maverick is available in ten exterior colors: Desert Sand, Eruption Green Metallic, Azure Gray Metallic Tri-Coat, Carbonized Gray Metallic, Iconic Silver Metallic, Oxford White, Velocity Blue Metallic, Hot Pepper Red Metallic Tinted Clearcoat, Marsh Gray, and Orange Fury Metallic Tri-Coat. Eruption Green and Orange Fury are the attention-grabbers and suit the truck’s compact proportions well. Desert Sand and Marsh Gray read more understated and hide dust better on unpaved roads. Oxford White is the easiest to keep looking clean in most climates.
Wheel Options
The XL starts on 17-inch steel wheels, which are durable and easy to replace if you curb one, but they look utilitarian. The XLT moves to 17-inch alloys, which clean up the look without changing the ride. The Lariat gets 19-inch alloys that fill the wheel wells better and give the truck a more finished appearance. The Tremor runs 17-inch off-road alloys wrapped in all-terrain tires, and the Lobo tops out at 19-inch sport alloys. The larger wheels on the Lobo and Lariat look sharper, but the Tremor’s off-road rubber absorbs rough pavement better than any of them.
Interior Analysis
The Maverick’s cabin is honest about what it is. It’s not trying to be a luxury truck, but the upper trims close that gap more than you’d expect from something that starts under $30,000. The layout is straightforward, the controls are easy to find, and the overall feel is functional without being spartan.
Features
The 13.2-inch touchscreen is the centerpiece of the cabin and it’s large enough that you’re not squinting at map text while navigating. Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto work without plugging in, which matters when you’re jumping in and out of the truck multiple times a day. The connection is stable and re-pairs quickly when you start the truck.
Up front, there are two USB-C ports and a wireless charging pad on Lariat and above. Rear passengers get two more USB-C ports, which means a family road trip doesn’t turn into a cable negotiation. There’s also a 120V household outlet, so you can plug in a laptop or a small tool charger in the bed or cab.
The B&O 8-speaker audio system on upper trims sounds noticeably better than the base 6-speaker setup. On the highway with windows up, it handles road noise well enough that you’re not fighting the volume dial. The base trims’ 6-speaker system is fine for podcasts and calls but lacks the low-end presence for music at highway speeds.
The 13.2-inch screen responds quickly to touch inputs and the menu structure is logical. Ford’s SYNC 4 interface doesn’t require a tutorial to figure out, and the physical climate controls below the screen mean you’re not diving into a sub-menu to adjust the fan speed.
Comfort
The front seats in the Lariat and Lobo trims are supportive enough for a two-hour commute without the lower back fatigue you’d feel in the base cloth seats. The 42.8 inches of front legroom is generous, and taller drivers won’t feel cramped, and there’s enough space between the seat and the pedals that a long drive doesn’t feel like a workout.
The rear seat is a different story. At 35.9 inches of legroom, it works well for kids and shorter adults, but two average-sized adults on a road trip will start shifting around after about an hour. The 39.4 inches of rear headroom is adequate, and the seat cushion is reasonably padded, but the angle of the seatback is more upright than you’d want for a long haul.
Climate control is single-zone on most trims, which means the driver controls the temperature for everyone. The heated front seats on Lariat and above warm up quickly in cold weather, and the heated steering wheel is a small thing that makes a real difference on winter mornings. There are no ventilated seats until the Lobo High trim.
Ride quality is covered in more detail under Suspension, Braking, and Handling, but from a passenger comfort standpoint, the Maverick absorbs most road imperfections without transmitting them harshly into the cabin. Highway cruising is quiet enough for conversation at normal volume.
Cargo
The Maverick’s bed measures 4.5 feet long and holds 33.3 cubic feet of cargo. That’s enough for a full sheet of 4x8 plywood laid flat, a standard-size mountain bike without removing the front wheel, or a weekend’s worth of camping gear for two people. It won’t fit a full-size dog crate for a large breed, but a medium crate fits with room to spare.
The Flexbed system is the bed’s most practical feature. It includes multiple tie-down points and a built-in storage system that lets you configure the space for different loads. There are no built-in bed dividers, but the anchor points make it easy to strap down awkward items without them sliding around.
Behind the rear seat, there’s 52.0 cubic feet of total cargo space when you fold the rear seats down. That’s enough for a full set of luggage for a family of four, or two large duffel bags plus a cooler and a folding table. The floor isn’t completely flat when the seats fold, so irregularly shaped items can shift.
There’s no hands-free liftgate and no under-floor storage in the bed. The tailgate is manual and straightforward. If you’re loading groceries with both hands full, you’ll need to set something down to drop the gate, a small but real inconvenience compared to trucks with power tailgates.
Power and Performance
The Maverick gives you a real choice between two very different powertrains, and that choice shapes the entire ownership experience. The hybrid is about efficiency. The EcoBoost is about capability. Neither one is wrong, as they’re just built for different priorities.
Engine Specs
The base powertrain is a 2.5L hybrid four-cylinder producing approximately 191 hp, per Ford’s spec sheets, paired with an eCVT transmission that combines a gasoline engine with an electric motor to deliver up to 42 MPG in city driving, according to Ford. Around town, the hybrid feels smooth and responsive because the electric motor fills in torque immediately from a stop, so you don’t feel the engine hunting for power in slow traffic the way you do in a traditional automatic.
The 2.0L EcoBoost turbocharged four-cylinder, by contrast, produces approximately 250 hp and pairs with an 8-speed automatic, per Ford’s specs. Those extra 59 hp over the hybrid are noticeable when you’re merging onto a highway with a bed full of gear or passing a slow-moving vehicle on a two-lane road, and the EcoBoost pulls with more authority at highway speeds without feeling like it’s working as hard when loaded.
Several trims take the EcoBoost in specific directions. The Lobo pairs it with a 7-speed automatic tuned for a sportier feel, while the Tremor runs the same engine alongside an advanced 4WD system and off-road suspension calibration. For towing, the EcoBoost with the 4K Tow Package is the only path to the full 4,000-lb tow rating, according to Ford, whereas the hybrid’s lower tow capacity makes it better suited to light loads like a small utility trailer or a canoe.
Performance Data (0-60)
The hybrid’s 191 hp gets the Maverick to 60 mph in around 7.7 seconds, not slow for a compact truck, but you’ll feel the eCVT’s characteristic rubber-band sensation when you push hard. The engine revs up before the truck accelerates, which takes some getting used to, and while that’s not an issue in everyday driving, on a freeway on-ramp with a short merge lane you’ll want to plan ahead.
The EcoBoost cuts that time to approximately 5.9 seconds, a substantial difference you feel immediately, and the improvement carries over to real-world situations where the hybrid asks you to think ahead. Passing on a two-lane highway becomes confident rather than calculated, and the 8-speed automatic shifts smoothly without hunting between gears on rolling terrain the way some smaller turbocharged engines do. The Lobo’s 7-speed automatic is tuned to hold gears longer and downshift more eagerly than the standard 8-speed, giving it a more engaged feel when you’re driving with intent, not a sports car, but one that responds to throttle inputs more directly than either the hybrid or the standard EcoBoost.
For most buyers doing daily commuting and occasional hauling, the hybrid’s performance is more than adequate, while the EcoBoost makes sense if you’re regularly towing, frequently loaded, or simply want more confidence on highway merges.
Fuel Economy
The hybrid returns up to approximately 42 MPG city and 35 MPG highway, per Ford’s official figures, and with a 13.8-gallon tank that works out to roughly 580 miles between fill-ups on a mixed driving cycle, about the distance from Chicago to St. Louis and back. Real-world numbers will vary with load, climate, and driving habits, but most hybrid Maverick owners report staying in the 36–40 MPG range in everyday use.
The EcoBoost gets around 21–22 MPG city and 30 MPG highway, according to EPA estimates, and its larger 16.5-gallon tank delivers roughly 495 miles per tank on the highway. The Tremor’s all-terrain tires and off-road tuning drop that to approximately 23 MPG combined, so budget accordingly if you’re covering a lot of highway miles.
Tech Overview
The 2026 Maverick’s tech story is mostly about the available 13.2-inch touchscreen on most trims, a real step up from the 8-inch screen the truck launched with that brings the Maverick’s cabin in line with what buyers expect at this price point.
Infotainment and Connectivity
The 13.2-inch touchscreen runs Ford’s SYNC 4 system, which is responsive and logically organized. Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connect automatically when your phone is nearby, and the connection holds reliably even on longer drives. The gauge cluster starts as an 8.0-inch digital/analog hybrid on lower trims and steps up to a 12.3-inch full digital display on upper trims. The full digital cluster lets you customize what information you see: navigation, fuel economy, towing data, without taking your eyes off the road for long.
Bluetooth 5.0 handles hands-free calling clearly, and the system supports satellite radio for areas where streaming drops out. The wireless charging pad on Lariat and above keeps your phone topped off without a cable cluttering the center console.
Features / Drive Modes
The Maverick offers six drive modes: Normal, Sport, Eco, Slippery, Tow/Haul, and Mud/Ruts. Normal is where most people will live. Sport sharpens throttle response and holds gears longer, which makes the EcoBoost feel noticeably more eager in traffic. Eco softens throttle inputs and optimizes the hybrid system for maximum fuel economy on long highway stretches.
Slippery mode reduces wheelspin on wet or icy roads by managing throttle and brake inputs more conservatively. Tow/Haul adjusts shift points to keep the engine in a stronger power range when you’re pulling a trailer, which reduces the hunting and surging you’d otherwise feel on hills. Modes like Mud/Ruts are included with certain off-road packages and lock the system into a low-range crawl mode for loose or uneven terrain.
Adaptive cruise control is available and holds a set following distance smoothly in highway traffic. It handles gradual speed changes well but can brake more firmly than expected when a vehicle cuts in close.
Safety Capabilities
The 2026 Maverick earned both an IIHS Top Safety Pick+ rating and a 5-star NHTSA overall rating. For a truck at this price point, that’s a strong result and worth factoring into the buying decision alongside the sticker price.
Safety Ratings
The IIHS Top Safety Pick+ is the organization’s highest rating and requires good or acceptable scores across all crash test categories plus top marks for headlight performance. The Maverick’s 5-star NHTSA rating covers frontal, side, and rollover crash protection. These ratings reflect the truck’s unibody construction, which distributes crash energy differently than a body-on-frame truck. The structure is engineered to absorb and redirect impact forces away from the occupant compartment, which is part of why the Maverick scores well despite its compact size.
Safety Features
The Maverick comes with seven airbags covering front, side, curtain, and knee positions. The knee airbag protects the driver’s lower legs in a frontal impact, which is an addition not all trucks in this segment include. Front and rear disc brakes with ABS are standard, as is electronic stability control and traction control. There are two LATCH anchor positions for child seat installation in the rear. The anchors are accessible without excessive digging, though the rear seat’s relatively tight dimensions mean installing a rear-facing infant seat takes some patience.
Driver Assists
The full ADAS suite includes adaptive cruise control, lane keeping assist, lane departure warning, forward collision warning with automatic emergency braking, and pedestrian detection. Lane keeping assist applies gentle steering corrections when you drift toward a lane line without signaling. It nudges rather than jerks, which makes it easy to live with on long highway drives.
Automatic emergency braking activates when the system detects an imminent collision and the driver hasn’t responded. Pedestrian detection extends that coverage to people crossing in front of the truck. The driver attention monitor watches for signs of drowsiness or distraction and prompts you to take a break before it becomes a problem. Traffic sign recognition reads speed limit signs and displays them in the gauge cluster, which is useful in areas where limits change frequently.
Additional Safety Features
Blind-spot monitoring watches the lanes beside and behind the truck and lights up a warning in the corresponding mirror when a vehicle enters your blind zone. It’s particularly useful in the Maverick because the truck’s short rear overhang can make it harder to judge gaps when changing lanes on the highway. Rear cross-traffic alert adds coverage when you’re backing out of a parking space and cross traffic is approaching from either side.
Front and rear parking sensors give you audible feedback as you close in on objects, which helps in tight urban parking where the truck’s turning radius of 40 feet requires more maneuvering than a smaller car. There’s no surround-view camera system, so you’re working with the standard rearview camera plus the sensor alerts. Automatic high beams switch between high and low beams based on oncoming traffic, which is a small but genuinely useful feature on unlit rural roads.
Trim Guide
The Maverick lineup runs from a straightforward work truck at the XL level to the street-focused Lobo and off-road-ready Tremor at the top. The powertrain choice matters as much as the trim level here, so it’s worth thinking about both at the same time.
Trim and Price
The XL FWD EcoBoost starts at around $27,000 with cloth seats, an 8.0-inch screen, and a basic safety suite. It’s a capable work truck, but the cabin is sparse and the screen feels dated compared to the 13.2-inch display on upper trims. At $28,145, the XL Hybrid AWD represents strong value for buyers in cold climates, delivering all-wheel drive without sacrificing the 40–42 MPG efficiency Ford rates it at.
XLT trims run from $29,645 to $30,645 for AWD variants, adding alloy wheels and opening up options like heated seats and a moonroof. The XLT AWD Hybrid at $30,645 is our pick for most buyers: it combines all-wheel drive, around 37 MPG combined, and roughly 510 miles per tank with enough features to feel like a real truck. Add the heated seats.
Lariat trims start at $38,090 and come standard with leather, wireless charging, and heated front seats. Of the two Lariat configurations, the AWD Hybrid suits efficiency-focused buyers, while the AWD EcoBoost makes more sense if you’re regularly towing near the 4,000-lb limit.
The Lobo Standard ($35,930) and Lobo High ($41,425) are street-focused EcoBoost trims with sport tuning and driver-oriented interiors, with the Lobo High adding ventilated seats and premium leather.
The Tremor AWD at $40,645 is the only trim purpose-built for trails, equipped with all-terrain tires and off-road suspension. The trade-off is ride quality on pavement and roughly 23 MPG combined.
Warranty and Maintenance Information
The 2026 Maverick comes with a 3-year/36,000-mile basic warranty and a 5-year/60,000-mile powertrain warranty, with roadside assistance included for the same 5-year/60,000-mile term, longer coverage than many competitors offer. Ford does not include complimentary scheduled maintenance with the Maverick, so budget for oil changes and routine service from day one.