Among the must-read articles in The Wall Street Journal recently was Sharon Terlep's piece about lo-fi car buyers who are pursuing older vehicles, built before drivers-assist systems (and monitoring), touchscreen-operated cabin functions and stop-start engine cycling became ubiquitous. They're positively Amish about it.
Our guest this week -- a Ford Maverick XL compact pickup, with a 2.0-liter, gas-only engine -- turns back the clock in a number of ways. Practically the first thing you notice when you climb aboard is the key-lock ignition, to the right of the steering column, a vintage-y part dating back to the Jazz Age. Also hot from the Wayback Machine, the keyfob: A rounded, black, domino-shaped device with the switchblade release.
The basest of base models, the Maverick XL ($27,145, MSRP, with FWD) has been programmatically scourged of many modern conveniences. No navigation, no inductive charging pad, no remotely operated rear window, no heated driver's seat, no high-end audio, no powered side-view mirror adjustment. The seats themselves are crappy and hard; the upholstery might as well be outdoor carpeting. It's the Savonarola chair of compact pickups.
Nor does the Maverick XL keep its parsimony to itself. It rolls on meager-looking 17-inch steel wheels that appear to have been rattle-canned with silver paint. No fog lights grace the front lower corners; the molded blanks in the lower grille look like waffle irons.
By far the biggest blast from the past comes when you turn said keyfob and ignite the turbocharged EcoBoost four-cylinder engine. This relic of combustion awakens in the morning with the refinement of a coffee grinder, winding at around 3,000 rpm until the catalytic converter heats up and the revs fall back to idle. Godamighty. Is everybody all right?
Here's where it gets quixotic. The rough and raspy EcoBoost -- paired with an eight-speed automatic transmission that used to date your mother -- is the Maverick's powertrain upgrade, which is effectively a downgrade that knocks $1,000 off the price. Otherwise, all Mavericks (FWD or AWD) are issued with a 2.5-liter hybrid inline-four, mated to a power-split electric CVT (continuously variable transmission).
It's come to this: Some truck buyers are so turned off by hybrid engines and CVT transmissions that they would rather jump off the cliff with the buzzy EcoBoost 2.0-liter. Happy landings.
As a connoisseur of comparative risk, I get why car buyers would choose older, more tested engine technology over the complexities of hybrid power and batteries. I know a lot of buyers claim to have CVT-induced PTSD.
And I also appreciate users' impatience with glass-cockpit style environments and the numb tapping required for the most routine adjustment. It appears the world agrees. Recently, regulators in China and Europe moved toward requiring physical switches for certain primary functions, including turn signals. If auto-start engine cycling makes you crazy, the Maverick provides a large and handy button to turn it off.
But I don't recommend it. The AWD 2.0-liter EcoBoost package delivers underwhelming fuel economy as it is. The fuel economy is listed as 25 mpg, combined. My mileage was coming in consistently below that mark in mixed but unexceptional driving.
Don't get me wrong. I want what the Maverick XL is selling: a fuss-free, durable compact pickup, with light-duty AWD, lots of flexible storage and attention paid to the towing/hauling details, such as the cargo lamp above the truck bed and the six bed tie-down points. I think the 17-inch steelies look all kinds of boss, actually. As an American, I naturally vibe to the idea of a no frills, indestructible work truck/life-mate, a mighty lever of self-reliance. Cheap, too.
But the EcoBoost doesn't feel simplified or bona fide so much as it feels ancient. Compared to the library whisperings of the 2.5-liter hybrid, the 2.0-liter EcoBoost raises a ruckus at high loads and rpm. Like all such powertrains, the turbocharged 2.0-liter throttle tip-in is kind of soft and acceleration overly elastic. The eight-speed transmission shuffles up to overdrive as soon as the throttle pressure slackens.
Switching to the Sport drive mode eliminates the tip-in latency and allows the engine to sustain high revs longer before the transmission upshifts. Some testers have claimed a 0-60 mph acceleration of under seven seconds. I wasn't finding that kind of traction under the all-season tires. In any event, the Maverick's Normal mode drivability suffers from the overly elastic throttle at low speed. Getting around slower traffic on the highway typically involves a foot-to-the-floor maneuver, which is answered with a portentous auto-downshift followed by a lot of yammering. The EcoBoost's peak power comes on only at a pitched fury of 5,500 rpm.
The 2.5-liter hybrid with the CVT is roundly better. That Maverick is more alert, more tractable, more responsive and way more efficient, posting up to 38 mpg, combined, depending on trim and choice of tires. There's a path to payback with the hybrid. Opting for the EcoBoost amounts to a tantrum.
Technophobes will find no real comfort, anyway. Like all mass-produced road vehicles, the Maverick depends on a digital interface, by way of two modest screens, including the center touch screen. It lacks a resident navigation system but you can download apps -- someone before me had downloaded YouTube, for instance. What struck me was the legibility of the graphics. This display is the touch screen equivalent of the Big Type books that you give your grandparents.
Among the nannying items the XL couldn't do without: parking sensors (the little ultrasonic dots in the bumper fascia), lane-keeping assist, pre-collision assist (emergency braking) and post-collision braking.
The prevailing weirdness over physical controls is no doubt responsible for the dinky switch console in the center stack, with audio, climate controls and emergency flasher crowded together. That's pretty compromised. You typically want to see those functions separated.
In this landscape of omissions, the biggest thing the XL package includes is wireless connectivity with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto. Retro can only take you so far.
My advice: Don't romanticize the past, and especially some hoary old EcoBoost with a drinking problem. The hybrid is just $1,000 more; but it is more capable, more that money is like a time machine, bringing the Maverick into.
It may not be perfect. Nothing ever is.
2026 Ford Maverick XL AWD
Base price $27,145
Price, as tested $34,990
Powertrain turbocharged and intercooled 2.0-liter DOHC inline-four gas engine; eight-speed automatic transmission; AWD
Power/torque 250 hp at 5,500 rpm; 280 pound-feet at 3,000 rpm
Length/wheelbase/width/height 199.8/121.1/83.5/68.5 inches
Curb weight 3,652 pounds
0-60 mph 7 seconds (estimated)
EPA fuel economy 22/30/25 mpg, city/highway/combined
Towing capacity up to 4,000 pounds