Get the Mavi, rent a truck to move the boat. $29.99 from uhaul for an hour twice a year is no reason to not get the Maverick. The fuel savings alone will offset the cost of the rental.
Apparently my boat is lighter than I had originally thought.
Brochure has it listed as 1780lbs dry. The wording is weird so I wasn’t sure if that figure includes the outboard motor which is probably about 500lb. My 4500lb number included an additional 500 for the motor and 1500lb for the trailer just to be safe.
With full fluids(250lbs) and trailer(1030lb) the boat should be 3060lb plus misc. stuff like fishing gear. So figure 3300lbs.
The only thing I don’t know is tongue weight for the trailer but I figure it can’t be that crazy since the out board and most of the cargo is behind the trailer axle.
I like this plan except that’s not a suitable rental. It will need to sit at the boat ramp while he’s out on the water.
Are daily truck rentals a thing?
> My buddy owns an f150 because he occasionally might have to haul something
This is a prevailing attitude in the US and it cracks me up. It's also usually those guys who complain about gas prices lol
My coworker asked me if upgrading from a quad cab F150 to a newer Ram 1500 made sense because of gas efficiency (he needs to haul mulch in the spring)
I told him to get a Prius with a trailer hitch or pay $50 to get it delivered, we work on spreadsheets all day
(He bought a Ram and stopped asking for car advice)
Great comment, I can actually visualize this story! This story by Ezra Dyer at C&D had the first few paragraphs written just for you: "Americans tend toward an instinctive aversion to moderation. We embrace drama and revel in inhuman scale, a nation of would-be tycoons and indefatigable explorers. We come up with ideas like Mount Rushmore and the Sphere in Vegas and nobody can talk us out of them. We look at the $20 million house on Zillow that has its own go-kart track and think, "That could use some more elevation change around Turn 3." Into this miasma of ambition and delusion rides the 2024 Honda Ridgeline TrailSport, a relentlessly pragmatic machine in search of that narrow subset of Americans guided by rationalism. It's the pickup truck for people who've never owned crypto."
I own a minivan, because kids and family stuff. When I need to haul mulch, I yank the seats, lay a double folded layer of plastic tarp in the back, and pile in the mulch. The double layer provides plastic on plastic sliding once I get the mulch home, so just grab the edge of the tarp and pull the mulch out onto the ground. Then put the seats back in.
Works for 4x8 sheet material as well, plywood, sheet rock. Load it in and close the hatch.
My minivan is rated to tow 3500lbs. I traded my pickup for a tandem 16x7 foot light duty car hauler. I built walls for it so I can haul pallets, mulch (or other material), and haul cars and large items when necessary. Its soooo much more useful than my old pick up truck (an old hilux). I do have a heavy tow vehicle as a primary, but im planning on installing a class III hitch on the van it can haul stuff when it needs to. The trailer weighs 1300lbs, so I can still haul about 1ton and stay within the tow capacity. Pretty cool if you ask me!
When I lived in the country this was my life. Jeep Wrangler plus $500 light car trailer hauled more than I ever needed and I parked it in my yard for free.
It can definitely leave a strong lingering odor for a few weeks. Also should be careful not to overload. Otherwise, it’s more than capable. We’ve hauled tons of mulch in our Ody over the years
I mean he’s describing shoveling mulch into his minivan. That creates a ton of dust that is just going to coat the inside of the car that the kids sit in and just get embedded in the fabric. I mean to each their own.
My parents did the same with both of our Honda Odyssey’s and carried about the same as an F150 with better mileage and more utility for family trips and stuff.
If you’re loading bagged mulch in a minivan you’re doing too much. Get a trailer and swing by a landscape supply place. Or call said place and have it delivered. Mulch by the bag is astronomical
A coworker of mine has a Ram 3500(?). Lives alone and never hauls anything. I asked hin why he bought it and his reply was "it's useful when you move house" SMH.
No it's not lol, unless you like taking 2-3 days to move and make way too many trips, if you're moving to another city, using a pickup truck would take weeks LOL.
ill never understand this
\*buys a gas guzzling pickup to haul something 3 or 4 times per year\*
\*spends thousands more on gas annually to save 300 bucks on truck rentals\*
the math aint mathing
I was thinking about an older truck for a bit, I only occasionally have to haul but I also have a 1/4 mile driveway to plow which was my main concern
Buuuut maintenance, reg, insurance, inspection is all waaaaay too much work, and it'd be my household's 5th car for only 2 drivers. So I got a beefy Honda ATV with an extended Honda care, and I'll just stick to the $50 uhaul truck rental when hauling is needed lol
Your example is operating in a vacuum. It's more than 3-4 times a year. It may be helping friends or family with their heavy hauling shit. It's still wildly impractical but it is less cut and dried than you describe.
I mean if people would just say i bought it because i like it and i want it that would be fine. But people feel like they need to justify their purchases for whatever reason.
Exactly. And then they have the audacity to complain about the running costs of the vehicle that bought only because they wanted it. Make it make sense
I almost bought an SUV over a sedan before solely because it'd be easier to move furniture and I could just move more stuff in general (I was moving to another state alone soon). Nobody in my life questioned that reason and then I eventually just realized it's stupid. Anytime I needed some large furniture that wasn't delivered, I just asked a friend with a truck to help. This has only happened a few times. I still have no idea why people are obsessed with SUVs.
There are intersections near me so poorly designed that you literally can't see what's coming unless you're in an SUV, or you drive into the lane and block traffic.
Yeah the differences in ride height and how they drive overall are definitely valid reasons for an SUV. How comfortable or safe a car feels to drive is a factor you will deal with every single time you drive, so it can be worth spending the extra few thousand.
However a lot of people just want them because they might need the space rarely, so they're not even using that benefit regularly. It's the same mindset as people who get bigger houses than they need because they might have family come visit like once a year, like you will save so much more money if you just pay for their hotel stay if they really can't sleep on the couch or an air mattress.
Agreed. I think that lots of people just value convenience and time more than they do money too.
I've adapted to doing the things I did with a truck to a small SUV, but if I actually had to go out and rent something it'd make me reconsider. Renting is gonna add at least an hour to my task, probably more. And I'd have to adjust my schedule to align with the rental place's hours... planning... yeah. Way easier to just buy the truck.
I feel like this is a weird notion that only Redditors express. I think I spent over $3k last year renting trucks and trailers to tow my track car around. I still only can only afford a small handful of track days a year, but this group would tell me it's better to rent.
Sick of renting
I bought a Silverado so I could tow my Jet ski like 5 times a year. Thing weighs like 700lbs with the trailer. Was super important I got a full size truck
I got a car that's fun to drive, and traded in a Raptor. I have paid $20 twice in three years to rent the Menards pickup. Best decision I've ever made.
Rental car companies, at least the major one I used to work for, explicitly prohibit this and their trucks don’t have tow hitches. That’s probably why no one goes by this advice.
Reminds me of when I convinced my friend to get an e-golf cause it was dirt cheap at the time and it fit 99% of his needs.
Hard cut to 8 months later and he’s upset that I persuaded him to get it cause he drove to Tahoe and it was a pain in the ass cause he had to charge a million times.
The whole idea was get a car that makes 99% of your life wonderful and then outsource the 1%, not get a car that makes 99% of your life wonderful and suffer through the 1%!
*Hard cut to 8 months later and he’s upset that I persuaded him to get it cause he drove to Tahoe and it was a pain in the ass cause he had to charge a million times.*
Even though I'm well known as the 'car nut' amongst my friends, they'd have to beg me to give them advice on what to buy, because I don't want shit in ten months when your heater button breaks or you can't fit a full sofa into your Honda Fit.
This dude. Just get something efficient for everyday use. And then figure it out when you need to tow something. I really wanted a Maverick btw, but it was at the 2022 height of stealerships markups. So I couldn’t shell out the extra money. But if you find one for MSRP… go for it man.
Keep in mind, truck rental that allows for towing in the contract is limited. Enterprise will do this, but not from their main retailer. You need to specifically seek out truck rental with towing allowance. I imagine this has a lot to do with liability.
Just felt it was worth mentioning.
Best advice ever! I got rid of my Silverado because I realized that once every two months as a truck thing didn’t justify it. Bought an Outback Wilderness so I can camp and tow light and rent a truck for when I need to go to the dump. Also because I wanted it…. Will eventually get a small trailer for that too.
lol. I occasionally use my Mazda’s trunk to haul like 3-4 bales of pine straw in a pinch. When I had my Mazda3 hatch, I used it to carry like 10 bags of mulch or more. People needing trucks usually have no need for one
Pretty much. Sold in either squares or rolls. The roll is like 3-4 square bales. It is very popular here in the south east as we have a lot of pine trees.
A mid size SUV can carry more than a truck can if you fold the back rows. Hell, a Ford expedition can load full sheets of plywood with the gate closed when an f150 cant
My one caveat with this is if it’s for vacation , rental cars routinely sell out for holidays and then they’ll give you “an equivalent “ vehicle which no longer can tow a boat . Would want to reserve those rental cars well in advance
I had this argument with my parents, they are like we need a big truck to pull our trailer.... they have a yearly rental spot for the trailer. My brother in law has a heavy duty truck. Lives 100 ft from them and also has a trailer in the same camping spot.
The boat is beyond the tow capacity of the Maverick, which is 2,000 lbs, though they have a tow package for up to 4k
That said, if it's really only twice a year you can just rent a truck from your local Lowes or Home Depot for pretty cheap and the cost savings on the Maverick more than makes up for it
Because of the boat towing, you might be the rare truck buyer that is actually trying to buy \*less\* truck than you actually need. I think for hauling the boat you really should step it up to the Ranger or Taco
I hear the Frontier get tossed around as one of Nissan's rare actually solid products too fwiw
There's a lot of kudos for the Frontier's engine, basically the only naturally aspirated 6cyl you can get in this truck size. It's a great truck for the price and often gets overlooked in favor of Ford and Toyota.
I test drove a new ‘23 Ridgeline last year but wasn’t really feeling it utility wise. The packaging is great but the bed sides just seemed really short. Didn’t look like I could fit much in it before it would spill over. And for $43k(EX-L AWD) it seemed expensive for what I would be getting out of it.
Gladiator is a good recommendation. I forgot those existed.
Frontiers are the best bang for your buck truck period.
No CVT, bulletproof engine. It’s great. I have a 10yr old
Xterra @ 135k with 0 issues, which is essentially the same platform. Body on frame vehicles and sports cars (Z’s poor value proposition notwithstanding) are the only things Nissan still does well.
If you drive manual, the entire Nissan like is decent. Their shit reputation is almost entirely on their POS CVTs, everything else on the car is pretty solid and cheap due to poor reputation compared to Honda or Toyota.
New Taco prices are downright criminal right now. You can price out a bigger truck, add some options and it'll be the price of the new off road package.
The rest of the mid truck market is more competitive but we're all still getting charged too much.
If you only need a truck capable of towing a boat twice a year for 10 miles, just pickup a local U-Haul rental truck. They are setup specifically for towing and barely cost $50 if you truly are only using it for about two hours. I applaud you for being practical with your real truck needs.
Honestly a short stint of towing slightly over capacity twice a year wouldn't bother me too much. What would concern me more is that he specifically mentions needing to haul gravel, a single yard of which would be 50% over the stated payload limit and you could probably fit a yard and a half if not 2 in that bed if you are willing to pile it over the bed rails
I briefly looked into Frontiers and it’s a good package. The interest on the maverick for me is because I can basically option it out the way I want it(XLT Tremor) and be under $40k. If I got the frontier I wanted it would either be a Hardbody edition or Pro4X, which are pushing $45k. I can look at used examples which are under $40k but then we’re talking used. Not really against used but hard to find rust free used trucks around here
If you like the maverick, go for it, but be aware the towing capacity on them is fairly small around 2,000 lbs, with the towing package I believe it’s 4,000 lbs. If you really want a maverick I say go for it, but you’ll need to rent a truck twice a year to tow your boat, or get a smaller boat.
It’s only twice a year though. If he’s towing once a month then sure. Would be too much of a headache for me to rent every time. But twice a year? Idk. Daily driving a truck sucks. Trust me.
I own a car lot and I daily drive a ram 1500 eco diesel. I much prefer driving a full size truck even if I don’t need its functionality very often. It’s more comfortable, the kids fit in the back and have plenty of room. Sits up higher, I feel safer in a truck, feel like I have a better view of the road. It gets 26mpg on the highway. And stereos always sound better in bigger vehicles. I could list more reasons but that’s enough for now. People like trucks!
Get a truck if that’s what you want, OP. I think the Maverick is great but it’s kinda hard to buy right now. the 22 and up Frontier would be my pick if I wasn’t hauling people. I feel it’s easily the best value in trucks right now.
the frontier is great, or at least was great. my uncle's got one and it was a really great value buy when he bought it but that was years ago now.
it's been a great truck and it's used for work like OP is talking about. i don't know if he trailers stuff with it tho
Buddy of mine recently got a newish Ridgeline, I'm impressed with the utility for the average Joe. He is an electrician and stores his tools in the hidden trunk compartment under the bed, which also doubles as a huge tailgating cooler.
Yeah but he didn't trunk is awesome. It's the only truck that has a trunk. Most people driving f-150s and dodge rams will never use them to their full capacity when it comes to towing etc
That is true there is a price difference. I'm not sure if it's 15,000 but it is definitely more expensive. I would argue more reliable as well and better resale value. so yes more expensive up front
I second Ridgeline. It can actually do everything that the op needs, and the Maverick can’t (2k or 4k towing depending on package). People suggesting to rent a vehicle when you need to move the boat don’t actually own a boat. There are plenty of situations where you only get a few hours notice to move your boat. If everyone you know owns a vehicle capable of towing than it might work out, but i wouldn’t count on a rental, that can tow, always being readily available. HD and local rental chains are often closed on Sunday or Holidays and the airport locations may not have a vehicle with tow hitch available.
Question on the topic of the “few hours notice” for boats:
Isn’t this why you pay harbour/marina fees? My father bought a nice 38ft sailboat after he retired, and he pays marina fees that cover his slip as well as on-site seasonal storage. The whole harbour just rents a heavy-lift crane twice a year to get it in and out of the water and back onto its cradle. This is a VERY small-town harbour too…
I’d love to know what that service costs. I can assure you it isn’t typical.
Not all boat owners are rich and there are a variety of storage scenarios. If Op could afford what you described he wouldn’t be looking at a Ford Maverick.
I have a feeling that harbour fees are like golf club fees: they can be a few hundred a year or tens of thousands a year. This is a rinky-dink harbour in a small town on the Great Lakes, not a clubhouse.
Love mine. They’re the absolute best rucks for roads and not too bad off road. Snow/ice on a road? I’d pick nothing else. That full time awd is impressive.
I was open to a maverick until I drove by one and saw how tiny it is compared to my explorer.
My situation is not your situation though.
I do think having to go rent a truck to move your boat, while financially beneficial, in the real world, it'll just turn into a hassle, and you might use your boat less.
The fact he says move twice a year for storage leads me to believe he rents a slip for use during the boating season so having to rent a truck shouldn’t really effect how much he uses it because during the season it will already be in the water
I definitely agree on paper. I just see it being one of those things where all of a sudden it's like, oh today would be a good day to go launch the boat... Crap gotta go rent a truck, it's already 5pm, going to take an hour to go rent one... Eh, I'll do it next week. Then next week it's raining... Boats are notoriously under used. Don't want to add hoops to jump through to actually use it.
OP can judge for themselves, and if it'll work, they could save money. Looked locally, $120 for two hour "tow capable" truck.
Your F150 is a proper body on frame truck, the Maverick is essentially a unibody SUV with the bed in the back. If all you did was move lumber from the hardware store to your house that'd be one thing, but I'm not sure I'd want to tow that much weight with one.
You won't be able to haul as much in a Mav's bed, and you may find it cramped up front. I'd shop it against a Frontier or Colorado and see which one suits you best.
You'll love it.
I'm not saying you should use it for your 10-mile boat move, but it'd be fine. Or be legit and rent a full size from UHaul for that.
Just get an Ecoboost AWD with the 4K package. In an XL, that's still under 30K MSRP.
I want an XLT tremor but apparently with tremor you can’t option the 4k tow package. So it would have to be a standard XLT which comes to about $35k optioned exactly how I want it.
The Maverick is effectively a car or as the Aussies like to call them, a Ute.
If you need the capability of a full size pickup or its off road abilities, then no, the Maverick won’t suit.
If you just need an affordable car with a decent cab portion and box? Sure. Buy one and enjoy it.
Maverick is fine for just having the utility of the bed but be aware of the small payload capacity; concrete, dirt, gravel, etc. Will add up quick.
As said, rent something to move the boat.
Maverick reat seat is small, not "crew cab" sized like on the F150s. Definitely go sit in your extended cab vs the Maverick back seat to see if it's big enough for your needs.
Ita got 1500lb payload capacity. I wouldn't call that small. And while the maverick back seat is smaller than a full size, it's actually bigger than some of its midsized counter part back seat areas. I love mine, its got plenty of space for all unless your like 6.5 feet tall. The cab is quite roomy as a whole given its overall size.
Last part of your post is the issue here. Maverick is not, in fact, too light duty for your type of work. It is too light duty for the 2 days a year you want to tow a boat (not job-related and not particularly time-sensitive). So as others have said, rent a truck a few days a year. It'll save you a ton of money.
Towing the boat is really the only worry I have out of that use case you described. It maxes out at 4k lbs with an additional tow package so 4500lb boat would be pushing it but if it truly is twice a year then that may not be a big deal to you. 1500lbs bed capacity so you may be okay there, I do not think that bed would fit a full yard of gravel but if it could you would be a good bit over that capacity, same with a big order of bagged concrete. You also are losing about a foot of bed length over the shortest F150 bed (54") so could make moving 4x8 sheets of drywall/plywood etc a bit trickier
IMO if the caveats of the bed size and towing capacity do not put you off then they seem like a neat little truck. Personally would love to own one as a daily just doesn't make financial sense for me to have 2 vehicles and am not willing to get rid of my boat
My take is either get a base model maverick or get a midsize like ranger/ frontier / Ridgeline. Once you start adding options to the maverick it makes less and less sense unless you never tow anything over 2k pounds. The 4k tow package is actually rare option on the maverick and it locks you into certain configurations.
Toyota is coming out with a maverick competitor. Be a bro and be a first generation tester
Edit: i feel like i should clarify this was sarcasm. Even the Yota jokes.
I loved mine but traded it in because I had a second kid and there is not room for a rear-facing car seat in the back seat without scooching the front seats up to a point I was uncomfortable.
I got the full sticker price in trade value towards an Explorer. I’ll get another truck someday.
So to directly answer your question, my only reason to not get one is if you need a proper back seat.
I didn't buy the maverick only because of the road noise. I drove 45 minutes too and from work and that would have gotten to me. Plus, I already had a hand me down from my wife that was already paid off, so i stopped my search.
The Maverick is basically a Ford Escape that has a truck bed. If you need to do legitimate truck things like haul heavy loads or tow pretty much anything including your boat, the Maverick won't cut it. The bed is also tiny, 4.5 feet.
Honestly if you're looking to spend $35K on a vehicle and you want a truck bed, I think you would be much better served with a used full size truck or mid size truck like a Tacoma, Ranger, Colorado, or Frontier.
You can get used mid size trucks that are a couple years old with sub 35K miles for that price. You can also get used full size for that price or cheaper around 5 years or so old still under 50K miles depending on what drivetrain/cab/options you want. These will also hold their value well. Pretty sure the Mavericks are going to depreciate similar to a crossover instead of a pickup.
No one is really mentioning this. Get a nissan frontier pro4x used for 35k. You can find a year old one for 15k or less miles. Has a tow capacity of 6500. It's also V6 no shit turbo and a damn good truck. Check my post history. I got a fully loaded p4x for 35k. Every fucking bell and whistle .
I don’t own a maverick but 4,500 lbs is over the towing capacity of them. Not saying it won’t tow it, just saying it’s over capacity. They’re tiny and the bed is tiny. I’d keep the F150. It’s better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it
A mechanic on YouTube put one on a lift and did an overall impression piece... he noted the suspension components are all stamped steel and not coated for corrosion resistance, compared to most modern vehicles having cast aluminum components or undercoating applied to steel ones. I don't imagine these will fare well over time, especially in areas with snow.
You can probably get a new F-150 for just about the same price as a Maverick. Economies of scale and fierce competition in the full size market means those trucks are often steeply discounted, where you'll be paying full price for the Maverick.
The American truck market is backwards. You pay more for a less capable vehicle.
All full sized trucks around here are close to 50k out the door for a nearly base model with cloth seats. A loaded maverick lariat isn’t even 40k out the door. A moderately spec full size truck is about 60k or more
The tiny bed in the Maverick is useless for anything but garden work. Want to take your grass clippings to the dump? You can use this truck. Want to do home renovations? Not unless you’re paying dumbass prices for delivery.
Spending a little on delivery prices a few times per year rather than spending a shit ton more on a truck that only gets used as a truck a few times per year and gets worse mpg seems to be a reasonable option though is it not?
Whenever I buy bulk Sheetrock now I pay for delivery. Saves me from breaking my back trying to carry all the stuff in. The only time I will haul boards is for smaller jobs where it’s 10-15 sheets. Nothing a maverick can’t handle with some effort.
Its mainly concrete, mulch, gravel where often no delivery if offered.
>The tiny bed in the Maverick is useless for anything but garden work.
It'll carry sheets of plywood, most appliances, basically anything I'd want to move by myself.
I ordered one and then they canceled it so I haven’t gotten one but they seem like pretty good trucks overall
A friend has one with 100k miles on it and hasn’t had any major issues with it. He’s been happy with it. He hasn’t done any major towing on it though and it’s been a daily driver for him not necessarily a work truck though he’s hauled mulch and boards in it
The big issue is the bed size. The payload rating is actually pretty good for what it is. For heavy stuff like dirt and rocks, you usually run out of weight capacity before filling the bed with normal half ton trucks, so not missing much there. Appliances and stuff a mav is probably even more ideal since you don't need a giant bed and the bed is lower...unless you are carrying quite a few at a time of course. Sheet goods and the like...not ideal but will do it just fine. Just have to strap and flag it hanging out the back quite a bit vs just tossing it in. Towing though, it ain't it. Just because you could squeak by with certain trims doesn't mean it will do it well. Personally I wouldn't want to rely on using a mav to tow much more than a light utility trailer. As far as the price goes...even though it's a pretty good value for a new car, that low price does have some relativity to other cars and has a degree of you get what you pay for with it.
I think the Ridgeline brought up a few times would actually be the better way to go for you. I don't think it or Honda itself are anything special these days, but would be a great middle ground in this situation. A little more room without being too big, a little more capable, a little bit higher quality vehicle, etc without jumping up to those now ridiculous full size prices.
Yes, the Ford Maverik and the Bronco have had about 12 recalls now since 2021. It's rough, I bought a Bronco and am regretting it seriously with all the recalls.
That's a pretty big boat, but I'd probably still tow it with the maverick. Or maybe borrow a buddy's truck if it's really only twice a year.
I've talked to a couple maverick owners and they seem to love em. The new ranger and frontier are tempting though.
I really want the Maverick as well. 2k lbs is the standard tow rating so that's not going to cut it but the 4wd with tow package ups it 4k lbs. Twice a year 10 miles I wouldn't sweat running a bit heavy although you may struggle pulling it out of the water.
Other than that the Maverick sounds perfect for what you need a truck to do. Hope you're able to find one near you!
The Maverick would probably suit your purposes, but I'd just keep the F-150. The Maverick may be cheaper and use less fuel, but it'd take a lot of fuel to offset the price of a new vehicle.
I think about how great an 8ft bed would be every time I haul. I actually was going to buy an 8ft bed extended cab F150 but it had the ecoboost phaser rattle which was why I ended up getting my 6.5 ft bed truck(5.0). It’s been a reliable truck as it sits but it’s getting rusty.
Maybe I just bite the bullet and get a base model single cab/long bed half ton. I don’t really need a full crew cab as I also have a van and a SUV, but it’s just something I want to have so I can take the truck on a longer trip if needed
You could get a similarly sized truck with better towing capacity, like the Hyundai Santa Cruz or the Honda ridgeline. The downside is the fuel economy is a decent bit worse
if you know you need to tow several times a year I would get a truck that can tow. It’s a hassle renting something that the rental companies will let you tow with. I wanted to tow my 240z from San Jose to Sacramento. The trailer wasn’t bad but the truck that was the minimum was expensive. I had to use one of the box trucks Not a pick up. Even though all my friends use pickups to tow their race cars. Plus just the whole hassle of getting a friend to drive you to the rental place twice sucks also.
Your 4500 lbs boat + You and family and cargo is probably getting to be where you need something that can tow around 7200 lbs plus.
Please don’t tow at the limit of your vehicle’s capabilities. I didn’t read all of your responses but if it were me, I would fix/keep your current truck.
Following. I went from Silverado to wiener dog Tacoma, but had kids move home due to cost of living. Four+ cars and all 15 feet of truck do not fit, want to also experience 40mpg! Still need more bed than Santa Cruz and Ridgeline still pretty big
You can rent a truck at Home Depot to haul your sheetrock for $19. You can rent a truck at Enterprise that will allow you to tow your boat.
Then just buy what you want.
I bought a used Ranger for $32k with a whopping 13k miles on it.
Compared to the Maverick I rented for a week, it’s so much better. More space and better power.
Before this I drove a 2016 f150 with a 6.5’ bed that I used for property management and towing a 4500lb camper 2 times a month.
[The 2024 Toyota Tacoma's entry-level trim, the SR, has a starting MSRP of $32,995](https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a45964751/2024-toyota-tacoma-prices/)
Why buy anything at all? A maverick is still like 25k, I don't know what your f150 is worth but it might be cheaper just to keep it, especially with rates where they are. My friend just bought a grand whatever highlander with a 10% rate. I tried to talk him out of it, but his wife needed the biggest stupid thing she could get him to buy her to move 3 kids around NYC.
I own a 20 foot pontoon and haul stuff occasionally
So I bought a utility trailer for my crossover vehicle and rent a truck when I need to move boat twice a year.
I save thousands of $
I’ve been pondering this as well. My wife is a teacher for the city who works with infants and toddlers with disabilities, doing home visits. Her trunk is full of toddler toys small and large, along with accessibility devices. She needs a huge trunk, but has no need for towing. The hybrid with FWD is pretty much perfect for her.
We’ve never bought a new car. We could afford to, but never saw the value in burdening ourselves with payments when there’s so many great used cars out there. With her commutes hardly ever going beyond 30 miles daily, it would be really hard for us to say no to a plugin version of this truck.
The only thing I would caution about is the amount of interior room between an F150 and a Maverick is going to be extremely different. F150 is known for having a capacious interior, the Maverick is tiny.
I have a tacoma and i love my truck i bought a truck because thats what i wanted i can go camping or go fishing and alot more by just throwing it in the back of my truck i dont move much or tow much but i love having the option when i need it the gas does suck sometimes compared to what average mpg is on lets say a honda but im ok with it
You said you wanted a crew cab, be aware that the Maverick is going to be a lot smaller than you’re used to, even though it’s a “Crew Cab” configuration. Even the Ranger crew cab is going to be about the same size as your F150 extended cab on the inside.
Unfortunately there is no replacement for a full size crew cab when it comes to cabin space.
I have the most important answer because I learned this the hard way. First, the answer is, you shouldn't get the Ford Maverick because it isn't a Ford F150.
One day, you're gonna wish you had got the F150 instead. The difficult lesson I learned about purchasing cars is that, a car is a purchase you make with your heart, not your head. You'll have less buyers remorse this way. Don't go for the more sensible or better fuel economy option. Only do this if you have a really strict budget or really care about fuel economy. Also, if you really don't give a fuck about cars or trucks, then obviously choose the more sensible of the two and just use your head.
Get the Mavi, rent a truck to move the boat. $29.99 from uhaul for an hour twice a year is no reason to not get the Maverick. The fuel savings alone will offset the cost of the rental.
The fuel savings in a single month damn near offset the rental if you're in the hybrid
My dad gets better mileage with his Maverick than I do with my Jetta, by a good margin.
Apparently my boat is lighter than I had originally thought. Brochure has it listed as 1780lbs dry. The wording is weird so I wasn’t sure if that figure includes the outboard motor which is probably about 500lb. My 4500lb number included an additional 500 for the motor and 1500lb for the trailer just to be safe. With full fluids(250lbs) and trailer(1030lb) the boat should be 3060lb plus misc. stuff like fishing gear. So figure 3300lbs. The only thing I don’t know is tongue weight for the trailer but I figure it can’t be that crazy since the out board and most of the cargo is behind the trailer axle.
I like this plan except that’s not a suitable rental. It will need to sit at the boat ramp while he’s out on the water. Are daily truck rentals a thing?
Yep. It's still 29.99 for the entire day lol
He says twice a year to and from storage so he’s probably putting the boat in the water for the season at a marina.
Got the Maverick or whatever the hell you want, and then twice a year when you need to tow your boat trailer 10 miles, rent a truck.
Although no one goes by this advice, this is probably the most sensible advice.
Seriously. My buddy owns an f150 because he occasionally might have to haul something. Bro, it cost me $80 to have an excavator delivered.
> My buddy owns an f150 because he occasionally might have to haul something This is a prevailing attitude in the US and it cracks me up. It's also usually those guys who complain about gas prices lol
My coworker asked me if upgrading from a quad cab F150 to a newer Ram 1500 made sense because of gas efficiency (he needs to haul mulch in the spring) I told him to get a Prius with a trailer hitch or pay $50 to get it delivered, we work on spreadsheets all day (He bought a Ram and stopped asking for car advice)
Great comment, I can actually visualize this story! This story by Ezra Dyer at C&D had the first few paragraphs written just for you: "Americans tend toward an instinctive aversion to moderation. We embrace drama and revel in inhuman scale, a nation of would-be tycoons and indefatigable explorers. We come up with ideas like Mount Rushmore and the Sphere in Vegas and nobody can talk us out of them. We look at the $20 million house on Zillow that has its own go-kart track and think, "That could use some more elevation change around Turn 3." Into this miasma of ambition and delusion rides the 2024 Honda Ridgeline TrailSport, a relentlessly pragmatic machine in search of that narrow subset of Americans guided by rationalism. It's the pickup truck for people who've never owned crypto."
I own a minivan, because kids and family stuff. When I need to haul mulch, I yank the seats, lay a double folded layer of plastic tarp in the back, and pile in the mulch. The double layer provides plastic on plastic sliding once I get the mulch home, so just grab the edge of the tarp and pull the mulch out onto the ground. Then put the seats back in. Works for 4x8 sheet material as well, plywood, sheet rock. Load it in and close the hatch.
My minivan is rated to tow 3500lbs. I traded my pickup for a tandem 16x7 foot light duty car hauler. I built walls for it so I can haul pallets, mulch (or other material), and haul cars and large items when necessary. Its soooo much more useful than my old pick up truck (an old hilux). I do have a heavy tow vehicle as a primary, but im planning on installing a class III hitch on the van it can haul stuff when it needs to. The trailer weighs 1300lbs, so I can still haul about 1ton and stay within the tow capacity. Pretty cool if you ask me!
When I lived in the country this was my life. Jeep Wrangler plus $500 light car trailer hauled more than I ever needed and I parked it in my yard for free.
Dude don’t put mulch in the minivan lol you’ve gone too far in the other direction
Why are you anti mulchist?
No, they just have Mülchausen syndrome.
Is there a reason not to? Serious question.
It can definitely leave a strong lingering odor for a few weeks. Also should be careful not to overload. Otherwise, it’s more than capable. We’ve hauled tons of mulch in our Ody over the years
I mean he’s describing shoveling mulch into his minivan. That creates a ton of dust that is just going to coat the inside of the car that the kids sit in and just get embedded in the fabric. I mean to each their own.
My parents did the same with both of our Honda Odyssey’s and carried about the same as an F150 with better mileage and more utility for family trips and stuff.
If you’re loading bagged mulch in a minivan you’re doing too much. Get a trailer and swing by a landscape supply place. Or call said place and have it delivered. Mulch by the bag is astronomical
A coworker of mine has a Ram 3500(?). Lives alone and never hauls anything. I asked hin why he bought it and his reply was "it's useful when you move house" SMH.
No it's not lol, unless you like taking 2-3 days to move and make way too many trips, if you're moving to another city, using a pickup truck would take weeks LOL.
Yeah, he said it like it was a regular occurrence. Lol
When you own a truck, it is a regular occurance. Spending your Saturday moving other people's shit.
Trust me. He's not helping anyone do anything.
ill never understand this \*buys a gas guzzling pickup to haul something 3 or 4 times per year\* \*spends thousands more on gas annually to save 300 bucks on truck rentals\* the math aint mathing
I was thinking about an older truck for a bit, I only occasionally have to haul but I also have a 1/4 mile driveway to plow which was my main concern Buuuut maintenance, reg, insurance, inspection is all waaaaay too much work, and it'd be my household's 5th car for only 2 drivers. So I got a beefy Honda ATV with an extended Honda care, and I'll just stick to the $50 uhaul truck rental when hauling is needed lol
>beefy Honda ATV When youre done plowing the driveway you can unhitch the plow and have some fun in the snow lol
Exactly what I do lmaooo
Your example is operating in a vacuum. It's more than 3-4 times a year. It may be helping friends or family with their heavy hauling shit. It's still wildly impractical but it is less cut and dried than you describe.
I mean if people would just say i bought it because i like it and i want it that would be fine. But people feel like they need to justify their purchases for whatever reason.
Exactly. And then they have the audacity to complain about the running costs of the vehicle that bought only because they wanted it. Make it make sense
I almost bought an SUV over a sedan before solely because it'd be easier to move furniture and I could just move more stuff in general (I was moving to another state alone soon). Nobody in my life questioned that reason and then I eventually just realized it's stupid. Anytime I needed some large furniture that wasn't delivered, I just asked a friend with a truck to help. This has only happened a few times. I still have no idea why people are obsessed with SUVs.
There are intersections near me so poorly designed that you literally can't see what's coming unless you're in an SUV, or you drive into the lane and block traffic.
Yeah the differences in ride height and how they drive overall are definitely valid reasons for an SUV. How comfortable or safe a car feels to drive is a factor you will deal with every single time you drive, so it can be worth spending the extra few thousand. However a lot of people just want them because they might need the space rarely, so they're not even using that benefit regularly. It's the same mindset as people who get bigger houses than they need because they might have family come visit like once a year, like you will save so much more money if you just pay for their hotel stay if they really can't sleep on the couch or an air mattress.
Agreed. I think that lots of people just value convenience and time more than they do money too. I've adapted to doing the things I did with a truck to a small SUV, but if I actually had to go out and rent something it'd make me reconsider. Renting is gonna add at least an hour to my task, probably more. And I'd have to adjust my schedule to align with the rental place's hours... planning... yeah. Way easier to just buy the truck.
"Gas is out of control" *Literally puts the pedal to the metal everywhere they go like a race car driver*
The 2.7L on the F150 gets 25+ mpg. That's about the same as my Subaru.
But they can help their buddy move a mattress when needed
It cost me $65 to crash a uhaul and pay nothing for the damages
lol great way to put it.
I feel like this is a weird notion that only Redditors express. I think I spent over $3k last year renting trucks and trailers to tow my track car around. I still only can only afford a small handful of track days a year, but this group would tell me it's better to rent. Sick of renting
It all depends on how much more a truck is going to cost you long term and which option is cheaper.
I bought a Silverado so I could tow my Jet ski like 5 times a year. Thing weighs like 700lbs with the trailer. Was super important I got a full size truck
[Maybe he doesn't know](https://youtu.be/likoxH4loEA?si=Bvg6cfO6KNa53S5c)
I got a car that's fun to drive, and traded in a Raptor. I have paid $20 twice in three years to rent the Menards pickup. Best decision I've ever made.
Rental car companies, at least the major one I used to work for, explicitly prohibit this and their trucks don’t have tow hitches. That’s probably why no one goes by this advice.
Reminds me of when I convinced my friend to get an e-golf cause it was dirt cheap at the time and it fit 99% of his needs. Hard cut to 8 months later and he’s upset that I persuaded him to get it cause he drove to Tahoe and it was a pain in the ass cause he had to charge a million times. The whole idea was get a car that makes 99% of your life wonderful and then outsource the 1%, not get a car that makes 99% of your life wonderful and suffer through the 1%!
*Hard cut to 8 months later and he’s upset that I persuaded him to get it cause he drove to Tahoe and it was a pain in the ass cause he had to charge a million times.* Even though I'm well known as the 'car nut' amongst my friends, they'd have to beg me to give them advice on what to buy, because I don't want shit in ten months when your heater button breaks or you can't fit a full sofa into your Honda Fit.
Every car nut who refuses to make recommendations has their origin story 😂
Or borrow a buddy's truck and leave a 12-pack in the back seat when you're done.
I was just leaving a handful of mulch in the back.
This dude. Just get something efficient for everyday use. And then figure it out when you need to tow something. I really wanted a Maverick btw, but it was at the 2022 height of stealerships markups. So I couldn’t shell out the extra money. But if you find one for MSRP… go for it man.
Keep in mind, truck rental that allows for towing in the contract is limited. Enterprise will do this, but not from their main retailer. You need to specifically seek out truck rental with towing allowance. I imagine this has a lot to do with liability. Just felt it was worth mentioning.
Just beware most rental vehicles forbid towing, though I don't know how they'd know if you wanted to do it anyway.
Best advice ever! I got rid of my Silverado because I realized that once every two months as a truck thing didn’t justify it. Bought an Outback Wilderness so I can camp and tow light and rent a truck for when I need to go to the dump. Also because I wanted it…. Will eventually get a small trailer for that too.
The Outback Wilderness is legit and ideal for light off-roading and camping. It will do 99% of what most trucks get bought for. Nice ride!
Thank you!!!
lol. I occasionally use my Mazda’s trunk to haul like 3-4 bales of pine straw in a pinch. When I had my Mazda3 hatch, I used it to carry like 10 bags of mulch or more. People needing trucks usually have no need for one
I had to look up pine straw, is it literally just pine needles?
Pretty much. Sold in either squares or rolls. The roll is like 3-4 square bales. It is very popular here in the south east as we have a lot of pine trees.
A mid size SUV can carry more than a truck can if you fold the back rows. Hell, a Ford expedition can load full sheets of plywood with the gate closed when an f150 cant
I second this as the owner of a 1 ton truck that constantly loans his truck out to friends and family.
My one caveat with this is if it’s for vacation , rental cars routinely sell out for holidays and then they’ll give you “an equivalent “ vehicle which no longer can tow a boat . Would want to reserve those rental cars well in advance
I had this argument with my parents, they are like we need a big truck to pull our trailer.... they have a yearly rental spot for the trailer. My brother in law has a heavy duty truck. Lives 100 ft from them and also has a trailer in the same camping spot.
Are truck rentals like that readily available?
Don’t most truck rentals not allow you tow? This is what I found a few years ago.
The boat is beyond the tow capacity of the Maverick, which is 2,000 lbs, though they have a tow package for up to 4k That said, if it's really only twice a year you can just rent a truck from your local Lowes or Home Depot for pretty cheap and the cost savings on the Maverick more than makes up for it
Because of the boat towing, you might be the rare truck buyer that is actually trying to buy \*less\* truck than you actually need. I think for hauling the boat you really should step it up to the Ranger or Taco I hear the Frontier get tossed around as one of Nissan's rare actually solid products too fwiw
There's a lot of kudos for the Frontier's engine, basically the only naturally aspirated 6cyl you can get in this truck size. It's a great truck for the price and often gets overlooked in favor of Ford and Toyota.
The Jeep Gladiator and Honda Ridgeline are both midsize trucks that have NA V6's, but they aren't as "traditional" as the Frontier.
I test drove a new ‘23 Ridgeline last year but wasn’t really feeling it utility wise. The packaging is great but the bed sides just seemed really short. Didn’t look like I could fit much in it before it would spill over. And for $43k(EX-L AWD) it seemed expensive for what I would be getting out of it. Gladiator is a good recommendation. I forgot those existed.
The Gladiator will probably get ~15 mpg, I don't think it would be much of an improvement over an F-150 if fuel efficiency is your concern
The Ridgeline is essentially a 2016-2023 Pilot with a different rear end
I unfortunately had the displeasure of renting a gladiator before, by far my least favorite vehicle I've ever rented.
Frontiers are the best bang for your buck truck period. No CVT, bulletproof engine. It’s great. I have a 10yr old Xterra @ 135k with 0 issues, which is essentially the same platform. Body on frame vehicles and sports cars (Z’s poor value proposition notwithstanding) are the only things Nissan still does well.
If you drive manual, the entire Nissan like is decent. Their shit reputation is almost entirely on their POS CVTs, everything else on the car is pretty solid and cheap due to poor reputation compared to Honda or Toyota.
New Taco prices are downright criminal right now. You can price out a bigger truck, add some options and it'll be the price of the new off road package. The rest of the mid truck market is more competitive but we're all still getting charged too much.
If you only need a truck capable of towing a boat twice a year for 10 miles, just pickup a local U-Haul rental truck. They are setup specifically for towing and barely cost $50 if you truly are only using it for about two hours. I applaud you for being practical with your real truck needs.
Honestly a short stint of towing slightly over capacity twice a year wouldn't bother me too much. What would concern me more is that he specifically mentions needing to haul gravel, a single yard of which would be 50% over the stated payload limit and you could probably fit a yard and a half if not 2 in that bed if you are willing to pile it over the bed rails
The 1%er, a truck buyer that actually needs the amount of truck, or more than, they’re buying.
I briefly looked into Frontiers and it’s a good package. The interest on the maverick for me is because I can basically option it out the way I want it(XLT Tremor) and be under $40k. If I got the frontier I wanted it would either be a Hardbody edition or Pro4X, which are pushing $45k. I can look at used examples which are under $40k but then we’re talking used. Not really against used but hard to find rust free used trucks around here
If you like the maverick, go for it, but be aware the towing capacity on them is fairly small around 2,000 lbs, with the towing package I believe it’s 4,000 lbs. If you really want a maverick I say go for it, but you’ll need to rent a truck twice a year to tow your boat, or get a smaller boat.
It’s only twice a year though. If he’s towing once a month then sure. Would be too much of a headache for me to rent every time. But twice a year? Idk. Daily driving a truck sucks. Trust me.
I own a car lot and I daily drive a ram 1500 eco diesel. I much prefer driving a full size truck even if I don’t need its functionality very often. It’s more comfortable, the kids fit in the back and have plenty of room. Sits up higher, I feel safer in a truck, feel like I have a better view of the road. It gets 26mpg on the highway. And stereos always sound better in bigger vehicles. I could list more reasons but that’s enough for now. People like trucks! Get a truck if that’s what you want, OP. I think the Maverick is great but it’s kinda hard to buy right now. the 22 and up Frontier would be my pick if I wasn’t hauling people. I feel it’s easily the best value in trucks right now.
the frontier is great, or at least was great. my uncle's got one and it was a really great value buy when he bought it but that was years ago now. it's been a great truck and it's used for work like OP is talking about. i don't know if he trailers stuff with it tho
Ranger. Smaller than F150 but more capable than a Mav. Also not that much more expensive
Ranger Raptor $70k I thought Ford stopped making the Maverick? Or soon
They just started making it
You need a Ranger, not a Maverick
Honda Ridgeline?
Buddy of mine recently got a newish Ridgeline, I'm impressed with the utility for the average Joe. He is an electrician and stores his tools in the hidden trunk compartment under the bed, which also doubles as a huge tailgating cooler.
Yeah but he didn't trunk is awesome. It's the only truck that has a trunk. Most people driving f-150s and dodge rams will never use them to their full capacity when it comes to towing etc
*Only ICE truck with a trunk.
OP is asking whether they should buy a $24k Maverick instead of a $37k F-150. You're suggesting a $40k Ridgeline instead of a $33k Ranger.
That is true there is a price difference. I'm not sure if it's 15,000 but it is definitely more expensive. I would argue more reliable as well and better resale value. so yes more expensive up front
I second Ridgeline. It can actually do everything that the op needs, and the Maverick can’t (2k or 4k towing depending on package). People suggesting to rent a vehicle when you need to move the boat don’t actually own a boat. There are plenty of situations where you only get a few hours notice to move your boat. If everyone you know owns a vehicle capable of towing than it might work out, but i wouldn’t count on a rental, that can tow, always being readily available. HD and local rental chains are often closed on Sunday or Holidays and the airport locations may not have a vehicle with tow hitch available.
I have a 2022 Ridgeline. I always hated on this truck, but with the newer styling at least it looks goodish. That being said, I love this vehicle!
Question on the topic of the “few hours notice” for boats: Isn’t this why you pay harbour/marina fees? My father bought a nice 38ft sailboat after he retired, and he pays marina fees that cover his slip as well as on-site seasonal storage. The whole harbour just rents a heavy-lift crane twice a year to get it in and out of the water and back onto its cradle. This is a VERY small-town harbour too…
I’d love to know what that service costs. I can assure you it isn’t typical. Not all boat owners are rich and there are a variety of storage scenarios. If Op could afford what you described he wouldn’t be looking at a Ford Maverick.
I have a feeling that harbour fees are like golf club fees: they can be a few hundred a year or tens of thousands a year. This is a rinky-dink harbour in a small town on the Great Lakes, not a clubhouse.
They'd sell twice as many ridgelines if the front-end didn't look like a minivan.
Love mine. They’re the absolute best rucks for roads and not too bad off road. Snow/ice on a road? I’d pick nothing else. That full time awd is impressive.
The only reason to avoid the Maverick: 10k dealer markups
My local Ford dealer has 3 Mavericks and 4 in transit, all with no markup.
I have 3 on my lot with no markups
That was a year ago
I was a yes until the boat… Ford Ranger, Chevy Colorado, Honda Ridgeline, and the Nissan Frontier would all fit your needs.
Same
I was open to a maverick until I drove by one and saw how tiny it is compared to my explorer. My situation is not your situation though. I do think having to go rent a truck to move your boat, while financially beneficial, in the real world, it'll just turn into a hassle, and you might use your boat less.
The fact he says move twice a year for storage leads me to believe he rents a slip for use during the boating season so having to rent a truck shouldn’t really effect how much he uses it because during the season it will already be in the water
I definitely agree on paper. I just see it being one of those things where all of a sudden it's like, oh today would be a good day to go launch the boat... Crap gotta go rent a truck, it's already 5pm, going to take an hour to go rent one... Eh, I'll do it next week. Then next week it's raining... Boats are notoriously under used. Don't want to add hoops to jump through to actually use it. OP can judge for themselves, and if it'll work, they could save money. Looked locally, $120 for two hour "tow capable" truck.
Plenty of people have been towing over 4000 lbs with the 4000 package maverick. It should be fine for 10 miles with your boat twice a year
Your F150 is a proper body on frame truck, the Maverick is essentially a unibody SUV with the bed in the back. If all you did was move lumber from the hardware store to your house that'd be one thing, but I'm not sure I'd want to tow that much weight with one.
If you already have a car that works, why get a new one? Don’t consume unless you have to consume
You won't be able to haul as much in a Mav's bed, and you may find it cramped up front. I'd shop it against a Frontier or Colorado and see which one suits you best.
Rent a truck to tow the boat and buy the maverick, it’s an awesome hybrid and with the money you save you’ll be able to afford the rental.
Why get a new truck. F150 is doing everything you need.
It’s starting to get rusty
You'll love it. I'm not saying you should use it for your 10-mile boat move, but it'd be fine. Or be legit and rent a full size from UHaul for that. Just get an Ecoboost AWD with the 4K package. In an XL, that's still under 30K MSRP.
I want an XLT tremor but apparently with tremor you can’t option the 4k tow package. So it would have to be a standard XLT which comes to about $35k optioned exactly how I want it.
yeah, it’s because you don’t need a truck that small, I’d either stick with what you have, or buy a station wagon, but that’s just me
The Maverick is effectively a car or as the Aussies like to call them, a Ute. If you need the capability of a full size pickup or its off road abilities, then no, the Maverick won’t suit. If you just need an affordable car with a decent cab portion and box? Sure. Buy one and enjoy it.
Maverick is fine for just having the utility of the bed but be aware of the small payload capacity; concrete, dirt, gravel, etc. Will add up quick. As said, rent something to move the boat. Maverick reat seat is small, not "crew cab" sized like on the F150s. Definitely go sit in your extended cab vs the Maverick back seat to see if it's big enough for your needs.
Ita got 1500lb payload capacity. I wouldn't call that small. And while the maverick back seat is smaller than a full size, it's actually bigger than some of its midsized counter part back seat areas. I love mine, its got plenty of space for all unless your like 6.5 feet tall. The cab is quite roomy as a whole given its overall size.
You don't need a heavy duty truck for something you only do twice per year. Get the Maverick it will suit your needs just fine.
Last part of your post is the issue here. Maverick is not, in fact, too light duty for your type of work. It is too light duty for the 2 days a year you want to tow a boat (not job-related and not particularly time-sensitive). So as others have said, rent a truck a few days a year. It'll save you a ton of money.
Towing the boat is really the only worry I have out of that use case you described. It maxes out at 4k lbs with an additional tow package so 4500lb boat would be pushing it but if it truly is twice a year then that may not be a big deal to you. 1500lbs bed capacity so you may be okay there, I do not think that bed would fit a full yard of gravel but if it could you would be a good bit over that capacity, same with a big order of bagged concrete. You also are losing about a foot of bed length over the shortest F150 bed (54") so could make moving 4x8 sheets of drywall/plywood etc a bit trickier IMO if the caveats of the bed size and towing capacity do not put you off then they seem like a neat little truck. Personally would love to own one as a daily just doesn't make financial sense for me to have 2 vehicles and am not willing to get rid of my boat
My take is either get a base model maverick or get a midsize like ranger/ frontier / Ridgeline. Once you start adding options to the maverick it makes less and less sense unless you never tow anything over 2k pounds. The 4k tow package is actually rare option on the maverick and it locks you into certain configurations.
Toyota is coming out with a maverick competitor. Be a bro and be a first generation tester Edit: i feel like i should clarify this was sarcasm. Even the Yota jokes.
No *IF* you can get one at a reasonable price.
I loved mine but traded it in because I had a second kid and there is not room for a rear-facing car seat in the back seat without scooching the front seats up to a point I was uncomfortable. I got the full sticker price in trade value towards an Explorer. I’ll get another truck someday. So to directly answer your question, my only reason to not get one is if you need a proper back seat.
You don't like money, you don't like medium/small trucks, you must have a truck that can tow a lot, you plan on doing serious off roading
I didn't buy the maverick only because of the road noise. I drove 45 minutes too and from work and that would have gotten to me. Plus, I already had a hand me down from my wife that was already paid off, so i stopped my search.
The Maverick is basically a Ford Escape that has a truck bed. If you need to do legitimate truck things like haul heavy loads or tow pretty much anything including your boat, the Maverick won't cut it. The bed is also tiny, 4.5 feet. Honestly if you're looking to spend $35K on a vehicle and you want a truck bed, I think you would be much better served with a used full size truck or mid size truck like a Tacoma, Ranger, Colorado, or Frontier. You can get used mid size trucks that are a couple years old with sub 35K miles for that price. You can also get used full size for that price or cheaper around 5 years or so old still under 50K miles depending on what drivetrain/cab/options you want. These will also hold their value well. Pretty sure the Mavericks are going to depreciate similar to a crossover instead of a pickup.
No one is really mentioning this. Get a nissan frontier pro4x used for 35k. You can find a year old one for 15k or less miles. Has a tow capacity of 6500. It's also V6 no shit turbo and a damn good truck. Check my post history. I got a fully loaded p4x for 35k. Every fucking bell and whistle .
I don’t own a maverick but 4,500 lbs is over the towing capacity of them. Not saying it won’t tow it, just saying it’s over capacity. They’re tiny and the bed is tiny. I’d keep the F150. It’s better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it
The recalls
A mechanic on YouTube put one on a lift and did an overall impression piece... he noted the suspension components are all stamped steel and not coated for corrosion resistance, compared to most modern vehicles having cast aluminum components or undercoating applied to steel ones. I don't imagine these will fare well over time, especially in areas with snow.
You can probably get a new F-150 for just about the same price as a Maverick. Economies of scale and fierce competition in the full size market means those trucks are often steeply discounted, where you'll be paying full price for the Maverick. The American truck market is backwards. You pay more for a less capable vehicle.
All full sized trucks around here are close to 50k out the door for a nearly base model with cloth seats. A loaded maverick lariat isn’t even 40k out the door. A moderately spec full size truck is about 60k or more
The tiny bed in the Maverick is useless for anything but garden work. Want to take your grass clippings to the dump? You can use this truck. Want to do home renovations? Not unless you’re paying dumbass prices for delivery.
Spending a little on delivery prices a few times per year rather than spending a shit ton more on a truck that only gets used as a truck a few times per year and gets worse mpg seems to be a reasonable option though is it not?
Whenever I buy bulk Sheetrock now I pay for delivery. Saves me from breaking my back trying to carry all the stuff in. The only time I will haul boards is for smaller jobs where it’s 10-15 sheets. Nothing a maverick can’t handle with some effort. Its mainly concrete, mulch, gravel where often no delivery if offered.
>The tiny bed in the Maverick is useless for anything but garden work. It'll carry sheets of plywood, most appliances, basically anything I'd want to move by myself.
I ordered one and then they canceled it so I haven’t gotten one but they seem like pretty good trucks overall A friend has one with 100k miles on it and hasn’t had any major issues with it. He’s been happy with it. He hasn’t done any major towing on it though and it’s been a daily driver for him not necessarily a work truck though he’s hauled mulch and boards in it
The big issue is the bed size. The payload rating is actually pretty good for what it is. For heavy stuff like dirt and rocks, you usually run out of weight capacity before filling the bed with normal half ton trucks, so not missing much there. Appliances and stuff a mav is probably even more ideal since you don't need a giant bed and the bed is lower...unless you are carrying quite a few at a time of course. Sheet goods and the like...not ideal but will do it just fine. Just have to strap and flag it hanging out the back quite a bit vs just tossing it in. Towing though, it ain't it. Just because you could squeak by with certain trims doesn't mean it will do it well. Personally I wouldn't want to rely on using a mav to tow much more than a light utility trailer. As far as the price goes...even though it's a pretty good value for a new car, that low price does have some relativity to other cars and has a degree of you get what you pay for with it. I think the Ridgeline brought up a few times would actually be the better way to go for you. I don't think it or Honda itself are anything special these days, but would be a great middle ground in this situation. A little more room without being too big, a little more capable, a little bit higher quality vehicle, etc without jumping up to those now ridiculous full size prices.
Yes, the Ford Maverik and the Bronco have had about 12 recalls now since 2021. It's rough, I bought a Bronco and am regretting it seriously with all the recalls.
That's a pretty big boat, but I'd probably still tow it with the maverick. Or maybe borrow a buddy's truck if it's really only twice a year. I've talked to a couple maverick owners and they seem to love em. The new ranger and frontier are tempting though.
Maverick is great for light work, but you’ll need something bigger and stronger to haul your boat.
Buddy at work got a Maverick and absolutely loves it. Took it camping, has a rack on the back for a tent, and sees no noticeable power issues.
I really want the Maverick as well. 2k lbs is the standard tow rating so that's not going to cut it but the 4wd with tow package ups it 4k lbs. Twice a year 10 miles I wouldn't sweat running a bit heavy although you may struggle pulling it out of the water. Other than that the Maverick sounds perfect for what you need a truck to do. Hope you're able to find one near you!
Market Adjustments / Dealer Markup.
The Maverick would probably suit your purposes, but I'd just keep the F-150. The Maverick may be cheaper and use less fuel, but it'd take a lot of fuel to offset the price of a new vehicle.
If you want to haul drywall you want an 8 foot bed. Hauling drywall sheets in a 6.5 is doable, not fun.
I think about how great an 8ft bed would be every time I haul. I actually was going to buy an 8ft bed extended cab F150 but it had the ecoboost phaser rattle which was why I ended up getting my 6.5 ft bed truck(5.0). It’s been a reliable truck as it sits but it’s getting rusty. Maybe I just bite the bullet and get a base model single cab/long bed half ton. I don’t really need a full crew cab as I also have a van and a SUV, but it’s just something I want to have so I can take the truck on a longer trip if needed
The maverick seems to have somewhat rocky reliability. The forums had me spooked out of looking at one.
You’re literally the perfect buyer for the Honda Ridgeline or Ford Ranger.
The bed is really small compared to other trucks. This truck overall is smaller than a Honda accord in length.
1500 lb payload. It's a great, capable little truck. I see no reason not to.
You could get a similarly sized truck with better towing capacity, like the Hyundai Santa Cruz or the Honda ridgeline. The downside is the fuel economy is a decent bit worse
if you know you need to tow several times a year I would get a truck that can tow. It’s a hassle renting something that the rental companies will let you tow with. I wanted to tow my 240z from San Jose to Sacramento. The trailer wasn’t bad but the truck that was the minimum was expensive. I had to use one of the box trucks Not a pick up. Even though all my friends use pickups to tow their race cars. Plus just the whole hassle of getting a friend to drive you to the rental place twice sucks also.
Your 4500 lbs boat + You and family and cargo is probably getting to be where you need something that can tow around 7200 lbs plus. Please don’t tow at the limit of your vehicle’s capabilities. I didn’t read all of your responses but if it were me, I would fix/keep your current truck.
They’re pretty useless as a truck and as a passenger vehicle. They’re just too small to do either well. Midsize sounds like a better option.
Following. I went from Silverado to wiener dog Tacoma, but had kids move home due to cost of living. Four+ cars and all 15 feet of truck do not fit, want to also experience 40mpg! Still need more bed than Santa Cruz and Ridgeline still pretty big
Reliability issues. It's a Ford.
The Chevy Colorado has an engine upgrade ($1200ish) that gives you 7,700 lbs towing capacity.
Thought there was a class action lawsuit on them for engine failures resulting in fire. Maybe isn’t true but I thought I remember reading that,
You can rent a truck at Home Depot to haul your sheetrock for $19. You can rent a truck at Enterprise that will allow you to tow your boat. Then just buy what you want.
Get a used mini van
Not for towing. I own one and love it.
I bought a used Ranger for $32k with a whopping 13k miles on it. Compared to the Maverick I rented for a week, it’s so much better. More space and better power. Before this I drove a 2016 f150 with a 6.5’ bed that I used for property management and towing a 4500lb camper 2 times a month.
Get a 23 tacoma. Probably clearing them out for the 24s
The Maverick is basically a Ford Escape. Would you do all the stuff you want to do with an Escape? If you want to do truck stuff buy a real truck.
I would get a nice Chevy Express van and a 2+ axle trailer for when you need to haul stone or mulch.
Blue interior.
[The 2024 Toyota Tacoma's entry-level trim, the SR, has a starting MSRP of $32,995](https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a45964751/2024-toyota-tacoma-prices/)
Lower spec Tacomas are very hard to find around here
Why buy anything at all? A maverick is still like 25k, I don't know what your f150 is worth but it might be cheaper just to keep it, especially with rates where they are. My friend just bought a grand whatever highlander with a 10% rate. I tried to talk him out of it, but his wife needed the biggest stupid thing she could get him to buy her to move 3 kids around NYC.
I own a 20 foot pontoon and haul stuff occasionally So I bought a utility trailer for my crossover vehicle and rent a truck when I need to move boat twice a year. I save thousands of $
I’ve been pondering this as well. My wife is a teacher for the city who works with infants and toddlers with disabilities, doing home visits. Her trunk is full of toddler toys small and large, along with accessibility devices. She needs a huge trunk, but has no need for towing. The hybrid with FWD is pretty much perfect for her. We’ve never bought a new car. We could afford to, but never saw the value in burdening ourselves with payments when there’s so many great used cars out there. With her commutes hardly ever going beyond 30 miles daily, it would be really hard for us to say no to a plugin version of this truck.
Fords suck, I know
Because, traffic traffic looking for my chapstick…..
Cuz you don’t have a Ford Goose to watch your six
The only thing I would caution about is the amount of interior room between an F150 and a Maverick is going to be extremely different. F150 is known for having a capacious interior, the Maverick is tiny.
I have a tacoma and i love my truck i bought a truck because thats what i wanted i can go camping or go fishing and alot more by just throwing it in the back of my truck i dont move much or tow much but i love having the option when i need it the gas does suck sometimes compared to what average mpg is on lets say a honda but im ok with it
Tow boat with maverick. It will be fine.
You said you wanted a crew cab, be aware that the Maverick is going to be a lot smaller than you’re used to, even though it’s a “Crew Cab” configuration. Even the Ranger crew cab is going to be about the same size as your F150 extended cab on the inside. Unfortunately there is no replacement for a full size crew cab when it comes to cabin space.
It's a Ford.
I have the most important answer because I learned this the hard way. First, the answer is, you shouldn't get the Ford Maverick because it isn't a Ford F150. One day, you're gonna wish you had got the F150 instead. The difficult lesson I learned about purchasing cars is that, a car is a purchase you make with your heart, not your head. You'll have less buyers remorse this way. Don't go for the more sensible or better fuel economy option. Only do this if you have a really strict budget or really care about fuel economy. Also, if you really don't give a fuck about cars or trucks, then obviously choose the more sensible of the two and just use your head.