The Ford Maverick is a nice change from all the big, expensive cars on the road these days. Ford’s little pickup truck is about the same size as a small car and costs less than $25,000 brand new. Still, even though it’s not very big, this truck must be strong.
Now, for Tremor, who looks like a Maverick and spent a lot of money at REI, it’s really sweet. There are tremor stickers on the tailgate, more cladding, orange tow hooks in the bumper, and orange accents on the wheels and grill of the car. The package is more than just pretty, though.
A lot of the Maverick Tremor’s features come from its bigger brother, the F-150 Tremor. The Ford Tremor is the smallest model. It has a steel skid plate, 0.8-inch raise, knobby Falken Wildpeak off-road tires, an upgraded suspension with more flexibility, and different off-road modes backed by an electronic locking rear differential.
However, can it really do that? In some ways. The Maverick Tremor thought it would be a good idea to work out at a nearby wildlife management area with some rough dirt roads that weren’t relatively easy.
By absorbing bumps better than the old version, the revised suspension makes body control better. Nice and helpful on a road with rocks all over it. You can see the hydraulic bump stop springs at each corner of the truck if you look under the body. They are there for when things go really badly.
There are 9.4 inches of ground clearance on the Maverick Tremor, which is more than the regular Bronco Sport (8.8 inches), and the Subaru Forester Wilderness (9.2 inches). Also, the approach angle of 30.4 degrees is good. But the 19.9 degrees at breakover and the 22.2 degrees at exit are not very warm. Off-road ability is lost when you get a long wheelbase and a 4.5-foot bed.
The Maverick Tremor, on the other hand, has enough clearance, extra armor, and a front skid plate to let me safely drive the single-axle over deeper ruts. The Mav has enough grip on rough ground to avoid getting stuck because it has a locking rear differential in both off-road settings and very sticky all-terrain tires.
Even so, I was still determining whether to drive the Maverick Tremor into the softer mud and deeper puddles. Its length is 199.7 inches, making it the longest animal in the world. Because of this, its break over and departure angles are low, which makes it more likely to scrape the bed and underbody when going around a tougher object or fail badly to get past the problem stated above.
The 2.0-liter turbocharged engine packs a strong punch. The engine makes a nice whoosh sound at full speed and has 250 horsepower and 277 pound-feet of torque, but the drivetrain isn’t very exciting otherwise. This is also true for the automatic with eight speeds. This isn’t a CVT and isn’t even named.
I enjoy driving the Maverick a lot more on rough terrain. On the highway, the ride is smooth, but the car is noisy, the driver’s seat isn’t designed properly, and the body moves in strange ways. It took some getting used to the fact that the gas and brake pedals were in strange places and that the steering could only be adjusted a small amount.
The fake leather seats in this Lariat model have eight power adjustment levels and lumbar support, making them one of the few “premium” features inside. Besides that, there aren’t any high-quality items inside.
A lot of the trim feels and looks cheap, and most of the surfaces are made of hard plastic. The inside is beautifully designed, with lots of places for bigger water bottles, sunglasses, and other important things. For a starting price of less than $30,000, you can also expect the cabin to have less expensive features. The tested price of the Maverick Tremor is $40,125. This is where things get tricky. Not really cheap.
The Tremor package is available on either the XLT or the Lariat for $3,495. However, Ford requires the Co-Pilot 360 safety system and gives the XLT four-wheel drive, which increases the price of the Tremor package to $6,365. The base Maverick Tremor XLT costs $34,275 and has cloth seats.
The Maverick Tremor is even less of a deal at $40,000. This is especially true since the body-on-frame Chevrolet Colorado Trail Boss is still on the market and will cost a lot less in 2024. The Starting Price for the Trail Boss is $39,390. It has a more powerful 310 horsepower engine and better off-road performance.
On the other hand, the Ford Maverick Tremor is more than enough for the odd weekend trip. It might feel better on the road than the Chevrolet. It also looks good from the outside, and you can still get it for less than $35,000 if you choose the XLT and don’t mind the fake leather seats.
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