2025 Maverick almost moved me to tears

Ford's much-loved itty-bitty pickup now includes cupholder extravaganza

When it comes to cars, three things matter to me:

1. Price

2. All-wheel drive

3. Cupholders

Ford Motor Company has just revealed details of the 2025 Maverick, a hot little four-door pickup that evolved from a nerdy two-door compact car into a bestseller since its unveiling in 2021.

The Maverick is available as a gasoline-powered truck with all-wheel drive but it comes standard, for no extra cost, as a hybrid. Yep, you heard that right. The kind of stress-free experience that allows people to transition to new technology. No plugging into any outlets. The battery actually recharges while you drive.

Getting up to 42 miles per gallon sways skeptics in a nanosecond.

The 2025 Ford Maverick, shown in Eruption Green. (Photo: Ford Motor Co.)

The truck initially designed for younger and older drivers — consumers on a budget who don’t need pricier full-size pickups— is getting snapped up by all ages now in all parts of the country.

What’s the big deal?

• Price starts at $26,295 for a basic 2025 model, plus $1,595 in delivery fees.

  Insanely affordable. Among the lowest-priced vehicles on the market.

• Now there’s an all-wheel drive version of the hybrid pickup.

  Yep — for off-roading, snow, climbing curbs, life’s challenges. Consumers have been OK with the front-wheel drive hybrid until now, obviously. But many of us prefer all-wheel drive because we feel like it can handle Armageddon. The all-wheel drive hybrid is targeting 40 miles per gallon in the city, Ford said.

Remember, a hybrid combines at least one electric motor with a gasoline engine to move the car, and its system recaptures energy through regenerative braking. "Sometimes the electric motor does all the work, sometimes it's the gas engine, and sometimes they work together," Car and Driver wrote in 2019. "The result is less gasoline burned and, therefore, better fuel economy."

• The new Maverick has twelve cupholders, which nearly moved me to tears.

My husband says no one is obsessed with cupholder availability the way I am. Not true. I know mommy and daddy and grandma carpool drivers who load up the car with water bottles and sippy cups. We all fill the console cupholders as well as the door pockets.

If you’re commuting, you want water on hand. If you’re traveling on vacation, same.

While overcome with emotion after seeing Maverick had 12 cupholders, I did not actually cry. No tissues were used in the writing of this review. (Photo: Dollar Tree)

So, I counted the total number of cupholders in this truck: Two cupholder slots in each of four doors, two cupholders in the front console and two cupholders in the back console.

There I stood in Corktown at the historic Brooklyn Detroit building for the Ford briefing just speechless.

Literally, made me happier than a diamond necklace.

Each door of the 2025 Ford Maverick pickup has slots for large and small water bottles. This enormous custom-designed Yeti water bottle with the Maverick logo tucks in without stress. The slot to the left is empty. (Photo: Phoebe Wall Howard)

If you’ve ever had to hold an oversized water thermos in your lap or try to tuck it between a purse or backpack and the passenger seat, well, you know.

Each door of the 2025 Ford Maverick has slots for two water bottles. This standard 16.9 oz. water bottle looks tiny in the space set aside for large thermos-style bottles often carried by drivers. (Photo: Phoebe Wall Howard)

Beloved before cool updates

After Ford launched the 2022 Maverick pickup, the Dearborn automaker paused taking orders just to catch up. Awards started rolling in.

Demand hasn’t let up since.

While people take trucks off-road for sport, others drive through the woods to reach their cabins in northern Michigan. This is when all-wheel drive can be helpful. (Photo: Ford Motor Co.)

Bob Jordan, a retired CPA from Ubly, in Michigan's Thumb, purchased a 2024 Maverick hybrid in April after hitting a deer on a two-lane highway in his 2022 Maverick.

The former Ford F-150 owner said his little pickup is easy to handle and mileage is a dream. Jordan wanted all-wheel drive for rugged northern Michigan but he didn’t want to wait in hopes that one day the hybrid would come as all-wheel drive.

His wish can be granted now.

Cozy interior of the 2025 Ford Maverick. The two cupholders in the front console are among 12 cupholders in the car. (Photo: Phoebe Wall Howard)

Ford sold 40,420 Maverick hybrid trucks from January through June this year, more than half the 77,113 Mavericks total sold.

Fact is, the vehicle’s hybrid technology is helping consumers transition from traditional internal combustion engines to electrification, which have lower fuel and maintenance costs.

Orders open on Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. Deliveries are expected in late 2024.

2025 Ford Maverick in Oxford White.

Shhh … extra Maverick tidbits

• Maverick’s largest market is California.

• From January through June 2024, 81% of Maverick trucks were built to order. Erich Merkle, Ford U.S. sales analyst, told Shifting Gears on Wednesday, July 31. “This is a sign of strong demand.”

• The standard 2025 Maverick can tow 2,000 pounds while the all-wheel-drive hybrid version with a special tow package can handle 4,000 pounds.

• Ford sold 94,058 Mavericks in 2023 and is on track to crush that sales figure. The vehicle, assembled in Hermosillo, Mexico, is consistently in tight supply.

Finding one on a dealer lot is the secret.

The 2025 Ford Maverick in Eruption Green. (Photo: Ford Motor Co.)

Editor’s note: As a former political reporter at The Des Moines Register and a guest lecturer at the annual Okoboji Writers Retreat in Iowa, I’m grateful to be part of the Iowa Writers Collaborative. See below for a collection of smart, funny and fabulous work by good people.