It’s nice to wake up on a given morning and find car internet happy. The subject of today’s enthusiasm is of course the new Ford Maverick small pickup. And while I personally think the headlights are too big by half and the Ranger is unquestionably the more handsome truck, the Ranger doesn’t have the Maverick’s slightly more compact proportions, nor its fuel mileage. After all, Ford is quoting 40 mpg in the city with the standard hybrid version.
The Ranger also doesn’t come in all of the same, good colors as the Maverick does. It shares a few — namely, Cyber Orange, Velocity Blue and Cactus Gray. But the Maverick pulls a few choice cuts from the Bronco family, like Area 51 and Alto Blue. And there’s a neat orangey-sorta red in the mix, appropriately named Hot Pepper Red.
I mention these because Ford’s color game has been absolutely on point lately, especially with the Bronco family. The Maverick is no doubt a bit under-designed in comparison to those SUVs, lacking the cool grille inserts and eye-catching glossy badging, but at least some of the fun still shines through with the shades on offer.
The full design take on the Maverick is coming soon courtesy of Torch, but what surprises me most about the truck’s looks is that, for a unibody pickup, it looks remarkably old school. We’re used to seeing unibody trucks today with pointed, car-like front halves and swoopy C pillars. The Maverick doesn’t mess with any of that, though, which is I suspect why it’ll be a hit. It’s more traditional, and let’s face it — there are some folks who are always going to find something like the Hyundai Santa Cruz too soft. They’re dead wrong, because the Santa Cruz looks sick, but to each their own.
Anyway, getting back to the color subject, I still wish Ford ventured a little more out there. OK, really, I just want a green one. Cactus Gray sort of approaches it, though actual Cactus Gray on the Bronco doesn’t look anywhere near as mint green as the shade in Ford’s 3D colorizer. Alto Blue has a sort of Prussian Blue quality to it — I’m sure Bob Ross would approve — which is a bit jade-like but, again, not really green.
The Maverick also sports pops of color in the interior, in places like the climate vents and storage below the center stack. However these shades don’t correspond to the exterior of the car. That doesn’t necessarily bother me given that the Maverick is very cheap (it starts at just $20,000) and anything complicating production would only drive up cost. That said, it would be cool if the outside carried in a little more, as it does on the Broncos.
But never mind that nitpick — as a Fiesta owner, what offends me most about the interior shot above is the fact Ford is apparently still putting Sync 3 into new cars. Yeah, I know this is a cheaper vehicle, but this infotainment system is at least four years old, slow and looks like trash. Still, it’ll get the job done, and that’s kind of the whole point of the Maverick, isn’t it? You can take a gander at a few of the other colors it comes in below.
