Ford Maverick truck

 

Below is from Dan Neil's Rumble Seat review of the new Ford Maverick pickup, in WSJ Weekend. Sounds as if Ford is finally trying to restore a wheelbarrow truck to an honored place in the US truck line-up. Buyers are clamoring for the Maverick. Given that this is FoMoCo, a brutally mismanaged company lately, it's hardly a surprise that the big problem with the Maverick is that they don't have any to sell at the moment. Oops. 

AL only wishes that Ford was willing to produce the little-ish truck in a true wheelbarrow edition, losing the yippee-yi-yo nomenclature (Lariat, Maverick--hell, call it the Wheelbarrow) and the club cab, and maybe stitching on a longbed. 

Here's Dan: 

"The few days  I spent in the company of Ford's new Maverick Lariat Tremor compact pickup ($37,465, as tested) left me with questions. Are those “Tremor” graphics on the bedsides an optional delete, I wondered? If not, can they be gently removed? Because I’m not 12 years old.

"Second, with respect, why the hell aren’t more of your pickups like the Maverick—affordable, approachable, applicable, and that’s just the As? The Maverick with the Tremor package is a little knucklehead, a daily delight, as perky and over-performing as a Jack Russell Terrier that got into the freeze-dried coffee. Powered by a not-overly refined turbocharged 2.0-liter four (250 hp) and eight-speed automatic transmission, the Tremor Off-Road Package ($2,995) adds a sophisticated all-wheel drive system with a torque-vectoring rear differential, running modified code from the retired Focus RS.
"Pictures fail to convey the weeness. With four front-hinge doors and seating for five, the Maverick measures 31 inches shorter and 9.8 inches lower than the F-150 Tremor SuperCrew with 5.5-foot cargo box. It’s not even a midsize, to be cross-shopped against the Toyota Tacoma, Chevy Colorado, Honda Ridgeline or Ford’s own Ranger. The Maverick is a true compact, 10 inches shorter between the bumpers than a Ranger SuperCrew with 5-foot bed..."