Will the new 2022 Ford Maverick Hybrid hold up when we load it to its maximum capacity with fallen logs and drive it up and down a mountain off-road? This truly is a TFLtruck torture test. Let’s find out what happens!
We also bring a 2022 Ram 1500 4×4 Backcountry as a support truck. Coincidentally, the Maverick Hybrid and the Ram 1500 4×4 have approximately the same payload. The Maverick has a much smaller bed. It’s about 4.5-feet long and it is not as wide and deep as a full-size truck’s bed.
The first test includes the 4×8 sheet of plywood. How does it fit? The full-size Ram truck and its 5’7” bed swallow the 4′ by 8′ piece of material with ease. It fits flat on the bed floor between the wheel wells. The plywood barely sticks out past the open tailgate.
The same piece of plywood also fits inside the Maverick’s bed, but we need to be more creative. The material lays down on top of the wheel well. We put the tailgate into its raised position and the plywood just fits in the opening. It does overhang the tailgate by nearly two feet.
Next up is the payload torture test. Our friend David has a job for us. We need to drive up a mountain on his property to collect some of the fallen timber for firewood. He quickly constructs a way to stack the logs higher than the bed for the desired payload. Will this front-wheel-drive compact pickup be able to climb the dirt trail and bring 1,300 lbs of wood safely down?
Join the video to find out!
