Lowered Truck With Lifted Price: 2025 Ford Maverick Lobo Review

The modern pickup truck market no longer caters strictly to prototypical jobsite and rural buyers. Instead, pickups increasingly serve as luxury commuters for urban customers, too. But that trend naturally leads to trucks growing more and more expensive — not to mention larger and larger, physically. Until, that is, Ford entirely flipped the script by reviving the former pony car nameplate, Maverick, as an affordable unibody pickup truck in 2022.

That first model year, the Maverick’s MSRP started below $20,000. Pricing unheard of for almost decades matched a simple exterior and interior design that stuck to bare-bones utilitarian features. The combination of hybrid fuel economy in a unibody as easy to drive as a car, with just a tiny bed for occasional truck stuff, all bucked the trends of an industry dominated by news about the high-powered Ford F-150 Raptor and Ram TRX at the farthest, most cartoonish end of the spectrum.

Ford originally sold the Maverick as either a front-wheel-drive hybrid or with all-wheel-drive and a gasoline-only engine. Then, a highly anticipated AWD hybrid joined the lineup. And then, also for 2025, the Maverick’s Lobo package plays into the street-sport game.

But, maybe there’s a reason other manufacturers abandoned this segment after the Toyota Tacoma X-Runner and Dodge SRT-10 (maybe even the Chevy SSR).

To learn whether the Lobo adds enough lowrider style and sporty dynamics to justify a serious price hike, I drove the sporty Maverick around Los Angeles as my daily driver for a full week. I even hauled my dirt bike out to the desert, despite the city-slicker nature of this unique pickup truck.

In short: The Lobo’s street-truck style serves as a logical foundation for Ford to amp up a unibody short-bed pickup. But the pricing essentially runs counter to the Maverick’s entire ethos — which could formerly be summed up as “the cheaper the better” in the best way possible. Instead, a Lobo more than doubles the truck’s original base price, without adding performance or even including hybrid fuel economy. That Lobo badge buys a rear LSD, darked-out grille and trim pieces, and leather interior trappings. And yet, as high as the price jumps, the Lobo also doesn’t ride nearly as low as expected.

2025 Ford Maverick Lobo Review

In the spirit of full disclosure, I must reveal that my regular daily driver somewhat mimics the Maverick’s main selling points. It’s a 1991 Mitsubishi Mighty Max, a legit minitruck with just long enough of a bed to haul my motorcycles and very little in the way of luxury amenities.

The Mighty Max rides low, which makes loading motos easy, and the underpowered 4G64 engine requires lots of engagement with the five-speed manual to keep up with traffic — all of which makes this truck a ton of fun!

I’ve been a big fan of the Maverick for many of the same reasons since the truck debuted for 2022. The Maverick seemed to cater to a more realistic truck buyer than so many overpowered, oversized American pickups. No frills, just four doors and a “big enough” bed, plus CarPlay and comfortable seats.

The unibody construction works just fine if you’re not hauling serious payloads or towing. Plus, it keeps the weight low, in a happy cycle that results in less beefy driveline components required, as well as suspension that can straddle an easy line between comfort and dynamics.

All of this also saves money, or at least used to before the Maverick crept up in price. Now with a starting sticker of $28,145 for model year 2025.

Most of the pros of the Maverick in general also apply to the Lobo. Revisions include a suspension drop of half an inch up front and 1.12 inches at the rear. And it’s supposed to be sporty, so Ford only offers the internal-combustion AWD powertrain.

The Lobo also swaps in a seven-speed automatic versus the eight-speed in all other Maverick variants, though. And a dual-clutch limited-slip rear differential (theoretically) further enhances the street-sport cred.

Style Points Only Go So Far

The only option that my Maverick arrived with was a set of 19-inch black wheels. Otherwise, everything comes standard. That means Activex trimmed seats, cruise control, paddle shifters for the gearbox, black grilles, LED headlights, body-colored bumpers and door handles, and a black roof.

The style counts as subjective, but I appreciate the boxy profile with a hint of smoothness around the edges. Inside, at 6’1″ with long limbs, I fit just fine in the front seats. A low center console helps. But in reality, as with most midsize crew cabs, the backseats serve best for secure storage rather than hauling passengers.

Some of my gripes about other Mavericks also carry over, number one being that nobody likes a rotary gear selector knob. A physical lever on the center console, or maybe even a column shifter, definitely fits better in a pickup truck — if only so I could shift into gear by feel, without having to look down.

Speaking of looking down, the Maverick’s touchscreen also seems to tilt downward. But otherwise, the interior just feels right in all the right places. The door pulls, dash trim, and steering wheel all keep life unfettered with excess. The fact that the Maverick designers accepted budgetary restraints only adds to the charm.

But this creates a problem for the Lobo, which isn’t really on a budget anymore, at $42,445 as tested. Does the performance match the pricing?

Well, the 2.0L EcoBoost inline-four definitely feels peppy. And I always enjoy playing with paddle shifters. So yes, the little truck can rip around — no doubt, thanks in large part to a curb weight of just 3,890 pounds.

It even occasionally sounds good, mostly whenever I dipped into throttle at low revs and brought on some turbo whine. But at no point does the 2.0L ever approach anything like the deep rumble or wellsprings of power available from a Bronco Raptor’s twin-turbo V6 or an F-150’s V8.

City Slicker Can Handle Truck Stuff … Barely

The handling somewhat matches that Lobo spirit, toeing a fine line between going lower and tauter without becoming uncomfortable. This let me easily throw the Lobo into corners, but I can’t call the suspension refined by any means. And even if the Goodyear Wrangler Territory HT tires will slide with traction control off in Lobo mode, the engine can’t put down enough power to truly peel out.

Given the Maverick’s lack of insulation (again, no luxury here) and, in particular, the Lobo’s street-sport inspiration, I might argue that true street tires or even summers make more sense.

But I wanted to try some truck stuff, and just about maxed out the Maverick’s bed with my dirt bike. The Kawasaki KX 250 definitely did not fit diagonally — not even close. And even with the tailgate down, the tire almost hung off the back. At least the bed has sturdy tie-down points.

And it’s nice to see onboard power, plus a tow hitch, though the Lobo’s payload rating is just 1,000 pounds and the tow rating is just 2,000 pounds.

Still, hauling the bike and a ramp, with all my gear in the backseat, I never strained the Lobo. More wind noise definitely crept in, though, at highway speeds. Not so much that the Lobo’s sound system couldn’t drown out any whistling, though the speakers rely too heavily on bass rather than high fidelity throughout the cabin.

I cued up CarPlay quickly and easily every time, as befitting a daily driver. Though after an exhausting day at the motocross track, I would have also loved Blue Cruise for the drive home.

A few more features or luxury touches would go a long way toward justifying that sticker shock. In contrast, the F-150 Lobo gets a similar style treatment, but also a V8 engine rather than an EcoBoost — and even it could still ride much lower, too!

2025 Maverick Lobo Review: Conclusions

Though it’s undeniably a nice little truck, pleasant and easy to live with, the Lobo winds up as sort of a confusing proposition. Everything great about the Lobo generally applies to every other Ford Maverick. So really, how much can a quick suspension and rear differential swap, plus some different colors, actually cost?

Much of what I found the Lobo lacking can be solved by the aftermarket. This truck deserves more power, more exhaust note, and even lower suspension. Let’s chop those springs and slam this thing, Ford! And why not a Ford Performance tune to open up that EcoBoost?

But now we’re talking about spending more money. And that’s just hard to justify given the whole point of the Maverick in the first place. This handy little city runabout truck, especially with the fuel savings and utility of an AWD hybrid, makes the most sense at bargain-basement pricing.

That utility is why I loved the Maverick originally. And why my girlfriend might legitimately buy one to replace her Toyota Corolla Cross lease. But if I wanted a sporty little pickup newer than my Mighty Max, I’d start with the AWD hybrid Maverick XLT and then slam it myself — and I’d still save a solid amount of money versus the Lobo, all things considered.