Mountain Wheels: Ford and Toyota’s personalized pickups present lifestyle-focused choices

In the prolonged continuum of pickup vehicles, there’s now a alternative and a value level for everybody, although the latter is often a tall quantity these days. Today, an fascinating however admittedly area of interest model of the Ford Maverick compact truck, plus an off-road bundle that helps higher outfit the Toyota Tundra, at an arguably affordable value. 

In the case of the fashionable Lobo Maverick, my first intuition when looking for gratification in a lowered, blacked-out mini-truck was to level the precise wrong way from Summit County and as an alternative take a protracted drive to Fort Morgan.

Maybe there was one thing about this speedy, 250-hp all-wheel-drive machine, its non-mountain-adventure seems and its surprisingly succesful cruising energy that mentioned “farming town Saturday morning festival.”

It’s definitely not going to be the primary alternative for these of you about to cope with seven months of snowy passes and barely-plowed facet streets, because the Lobo version’s trip has been dropped a half inch up entrance and over an inch within the again, giving it a satisfactory however extra performance-oriented 7.4 inches.

A day into it, and the invention of a “Lobo” efficiency mode that lit up the display screen, buzzed the exhaust a bit and turned off the traction management — a particular anti-mountain-truck transfer — it dawned on me that the Lobo version is what we in North America get, as an alternative of cool, high-performance vehicles just like the late Focus RS and even the perverse Fiesta ST.

That explains its curiously curated mixture of elements, from the precise European Focus ST’s entrance brakes to the Bronco Sport’s twin-clutch rear differential and suspension tuning from the home racing division, to not point out the very traditional Porsche 911-look stable 19-inch wheels. Also, the Maverick’s common eight-speed transmission loses a gear right here to permit extra stable and speedy takeoffs.

If all of that, particularly the boosted 2.0-liter/30-highway-mpg turbo, strikes you as extra a Southern California “cones in the parking lot” autocrosser/cruiser’s dream, full with a small mattress for carrying stickier drifting tires, then sure, you’d be proper.

In our world, it was as small-vehicle snug as its non-Lobo variations, and positively much less bonky total than the maybe too-well-equipped Laramie Tremor off-roader. Like that extra winter-friendly rendition, nonetheless, these are almost price-doubling propositions for what continues to be a really austere and fundamental, plastic-interiored micro-truck.

Given that the Maverick’s base value is now above $28,000 (the early days instructed that is perhaps nearer to $20,000), that’s now not precisely true, however the higher-end Lobo I drove did certainly come to $42,345. (For reference, a super-simplified Mustang with a 315-hp EcoBoost engine begins at $32,320.)

Mine included a spray-in bedliner, a B&O sound system plus the mannequin’s extra-sparkly blue-speckled seats, blue and yellow spotlight stitching, fancy logos and Thin Blue Line air vents.

Like different Mavericks or the associated Bronco Sport/Escape, it’s a little bit of a stretch to the rotating gear knob on the console, and the futuristic not-exactly-arm-rest door pulls are unusual, although they do enable for very massive bottles of no matter to be stashed there.

The 13.2-inch display screen additionally takes up a good quantity of sprint area however is nice for full CarPlay map rendering, and the instrument show is garnished with Nineteen Seventies sci-fi-inspired gauges. You won’t ever fairly adapt to the automated trailer management knob being within the spot the place the audio quantity knob oughta be; towing capability is restricted to 2,000 kilos, as properly.

Meanwhile, in full-sized pickup truck land, the very expansive Toyota Tundra line also can present choices to construct a decrease mannequin to greater requirements, in case you’d just like the ’80s-inspired seems and extra of the total off-road prowess of TRD fashions.

Second from the underside in a 10-model lineup, the extra austere SR5 Tundra trim ($51,000 as a four-wheel-drive variation) approached $62,500 with the addition of the $8,660 TRD Rally bundle. While not low cost, it’s a discount contemplating the total TRD Pro mannequin retails at $72,565 and the full-blown Capstone version creeps near $81,000.

What begins with the mid-output, 389-hp i-Force twin-turbo 3.4-liter V6 and a Crewmax cab is then conspicuously upgraded with a load of rainbow-accented stickers and real TRD elements, from 18-inch wheels and medium-duty all-terrain tires to the pink TRD starter button. 

The legit bits embody Bilstein shocks, an electronically locking rear differential and the total multi-terrain choose, crawl and downhill help features, plus skid plates. Seats are the weatherproof artificial SynTex and the cumulative impact typically brightens up what’s a considerably fundamental mannequin. 

It’s nonetheless a stable various to Ford, Ram and Chevrolet’s full-sized vehicles, with these personalized add-ons offering a extra stable mixture of functionality.

Andy Stonehouse’s column “Mountain Wheels” publishes Saturdays within the Summit Daily News. Stonehouse has labored as an editor and author in Colorado since 1998, specializing in automotive protection since 2004. He lives in Golden. Contact him at [email protected].