Driven! The 2025 Ford Maverick Is the Wolf of All Streets

Driven! The 2025 Ford Maverick Is the Wolf of All Streets

It’s no secret we love the Ford Maverick. It was a Truck of the Year finalist its debut year, and truth be told, it nearly won the whole thing. Judges’ notes from that year overflow with effusive praise and few complaints. Now the refreshed 2025 Ford Maverickmeans there’s even more to love and even less to nitpick. (Plus, there’s the new Lobo!)

Back in late ’21, we were all fighting for seat time in a Maverick. Given the choice, though, most of us preferred the standard front-wheel-drive hybrid to the all-gas and all-wheel-drive 2.0-liter EcoBoost. We just wished Ford had offered the hybrid with all-wheel drive, too. It would’ve been so great, we lamented to each other.

It wasn’t just us saying it, either. Customers have been saying the same thing for the last three-and-a-half years, and Ford’s been listening. For ’25, you can get the Maverick hybrid with all-wheel drive and, oh boy, it’s everything we wanted it to be. Quicker off the line, more traction on loose surfaces, more towing and hauling capability rather than less, almost the same fuel economy. What’s not to like, aside from the $2,220 upcharge?

That’s about it. Losing 2 mpg city and 1 each highway and combined isn’t much to get upset about, not when it’s still EPA-rated at 40/34/37 mpg city/highway/combined. We drove the truck on a very rainy day and climbed steep, winding gravel driveways with an empty bed and barely felt the slip of a tire. Not only do you get an all-weather and all-surface confidence boost, but adding all-wheel drive ups the hybrid’s payload capacity from 1,400 to 1,500 pounds and unlocks the optional 4K Tow package, which increases its max towing capacity from 2,000 to 4,000 pounds.

With only about 170 pounds added to the curb weight, the all-wheel-drive system doesn’t seem to slow the truck down in any way the driver can tell. If anything, sending power rearward at takeoff makes it feel quicker off the line. Nor does the weight do anything to negatively affect the Maverick’s brilliant, carlike handling. $2,220 is a decent chunk of change, especially on a sub-$30,000 vehicle, but it’s hard to argue you’re not getting a lot for your money.

As soon as we saw how small the Maverick was back in ’21, we all had the same thoughts: The minitruck is back. The street truck is back. This thing would be sweet slammed with big wheels. We just never thought Ford would build one. But again, customers spoke up, and Ford listened. They call it “Lobo.”

Based on the nonhybrid 2.0-liter EcoBoost all-wheel-drive model, the Maverick Lobo goes harder than we could’ve expected. Yes, it’s lowered—by 0.5 inch up front and 1.2 inches in back—and rides on bitchin’ 19-inch “turbofan” wheels (developed entirely independently of the Mustang Mach-E Rally, funnily enough), but Ford didn’t stop there.

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