Up Close With the 2022 Ford Maverick: Just Being a Compact Pickup Is Enough

I admit I’m a little smitten with the 2022 Ford Maverick. Granted, it’s a unibody truck, but that’s partly why it’s as accommodating as it is. At 6 feet tall, I fit fine in both the front and rear, and after checking it out, I got in the backseat of a larger Ranger SuperCrew and found my knees raised uncomfortably — the curse of body-on-frame construction.

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Speaking of curses, you can throw a dart on the show floor and hit a vehicle with an interior plagued by touch-sensitive panels in place of traditional buttons. Some of these vehicles are even extremely expensive. Yet the Maverick, with a starting price of $21,490 (including destination), manages to be festooned with nice, conventional buttons everywhere — plus a touchscreen and a bright instrument panel.

My only complaint about the interior is the hard surfaces everywhere, even in the show truck’s Lariat trim level, but given the model’s low starting price and the right-minded control system, I’ll look the other way.

I had no issues with the truck’s Flexbed, either. (Ford sure loves its names.) Is a two-by-four that you supply to partition the box or elevate cargo worse than some kind of factory or dealer option that could break or be stolen and require replacement? (Well, given the recent cost of post-pandemic lumber, this might not be the best point, but hopefully things will normalize.)

Compact pickup trucks have been gone from the U.S. market for too long. Hyundai has tempted us with the Santa Cruz, but the simple truckiness of the Maverick is sure to appeal to some shoppers. It did to me.

More From Cars.com:

• 2022 Ford Maverick Pricing Starts at $20,000, But What Does That Include?
• The 2022 Ford Maverick Is Poised to Challenge More Than Just Trucks
• Hyundai Santa Cruz Starts $3,685 Over Ford Maverick, But What More Do You Get?
• 2021 Chicago Auto Show, Summer Edition: What Can You Expect?

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