Yahoo Autos 2022 Ford Maverick Interior Review | Doing a lot with a little
Budget vehicles are in a tough spot when it comes to interiors. Things like soft-touch plastics, upholstered dash and door panels, fancy switchgear and other details that make interiors traditionally nice can't be had. Those cost money, and a budget car has to have a budget price. But the 2022 Ford Maverick proves that there are other ways to make an interior pleasant and welcoming than just with high-end materials.
For sure, the Maverick has very cheap plastics everywhere. It is a decent size vehicle that starts at barely over $20,000 with a hybrid powertrain, so it's going to use low-end materials. But Ford makes the most of those materials thanks to colors and textures. The XLT, the middle trim, is the shining example. Most of the dash is a two-tone featuring a subtly blue plastic with gray highlights. Those gray highlights have flecks of other grays and blacks, giving it an almost stone-like look and a bit of texture. Then there are bright orange accents on the vents and in some of the storage areas. The fun continues with angular folds in the door panels and chunky bolt heads in the dash and door armrests. The upholstery mirrors all this with simple cloth, but with a woven texture on the gray parts and orange contrast stitching.
On either side of the XLT are the base XL and the high-level Lariat, shown above. The XL is a bit more dreary, since it loses the bright accents and nifty textured gray panels. The seats are also basic black cloth. But it does still feature the creative moldings and bolt heads. The Lariat has a more mature feel, adding sort of bronze-brown panels which match the brown leather upholstery. The Lariat also picks up a very welcome leather-wrapped steering wheel that feels much nicer than the standard plastic wheel in the XL and XLT.
There's also a benefit to a cabin full of technically cheap plastics. It's going to wear well. And in a truck that will presumably be used for dirty and bulky things, there's less to worry about scraping, scuffing, tearing and breaking.
Another welcome aspect of the Maverick interior are the plentiful nooks and crannies for stowing things. There's a bin next to the infotainment screen. There's a bin with a variety of dividers under the center stack. There are deep bins in the doors. There are hidden ones under the rear seats. And if you want to get creative, there's a slot at the back of the center console that can accommodate a specific type of mount. Ford has provided the specs on it and you can 3D print attachments with that mount to slot in, in case you need something specific. If you can't find a place to put it in a Maverick, you actually probably have too much stuff.
