2025 Ford Maverick Tremor First Drive Review
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The biggest problem with the Maverick when it was first introduced to Ford’s lineup in 2022 was that it was hard for shoppers to get their hands on one.
Indeed, buyers are still going nuts for this little truck, and sales between January and April 2025 were up 66 per cent in Canada as compared to the same period a year earlier. With a newly introduced refresh, much of the attention has rightfully been lavished on the surprisingly sporty Maverick Lobo, but there’s still a place for this little pickup on the trail.
To convince buyers of the Maverick’s off-road prowess, Ford decided to transform the Tremor package into its own trim this year. Not quite as intense as the brand’s desert-running Raptors, the Tremor treatment includes a healthy dose of off-road capability without going overboard. In the case of the 2025 Ford Maverick Tremor, that means a small lift in ride height to help get over obstacles, a new bumper to improve its approach angle, as well as underbody protection, all-terrain tires, and some high-tech toys to boot.
More Than a One-Trick Pony
The result is a truck that looks convincingly aggressive, with golden-orange highlights throughout, as well as a special grille that ties it to its bigger siblings. Next to the Maverick Lobo — whose street-focused suspension makes it around 51 mm (2.0 in) lower than the Tremor — this version certainly looks rugged and capable.
The colourful accents continue inside, where the seats have a speckled pattern that looks a bit like they’ve been splashed with mud. It’s supposed to be a callback to this Maverick’s capabilities, though it can be shocking when you first enter the truck to see what looks like a cabin carelessly sprayed with dirt.
Under the hood, it’s powered by the same 238-hp engine as all other non-hybrid versions of the Maverick, including the Lobo. It’s not hard to understand why Ford avoided the less powerful hybrid powertrain for this off-road trim, though that comes with a significant penalty at the pump: the hybrid is rated to consume just 6.2 L/100 km combined, while the Tremor is expected to burn 10.1 L/100 km, per Natural Resources Canada (NRCan). Similarly, the off-roader doesn’t get the Lobo’s seven-speed automatic transmission; instead, it gets the standard eight-speed automatic that doesn’t shift quite as quickly.
However, the Maverick Tremor has the same torque-vectoring rear differential as the Lobo. As you might expect, it’s been tuned differently for the requirements of off-roading. Ford engineers said it offers more oversteer to make tight turns and navigating soft surfaces easier. On the trail, it all felt pretty impressive.
To be sure, even with the Tremor’s upgrades, the Maverick is no Bronco. However, it’s based on the same platform as the Bronco Sport, which, despite its small size and unibody construction, has proven itself to be a surprisingly capable off-roader. The Maverick inherits much of that capability. Happy to scramble up steep inclines thanks to its all-terrain tires, to dip down and out of deep ditches thanks to its new bumpers, and to soak up bumps thanks to its extra height, the Maverick Tremor feels right at home on the trail.
The improvements go beyond the big highlights, too. The brake pedal feel has been calibrated individually for each trim. In the Tremor, that means it takes a reasonable amount of pressure to slow the truck down. That’s helpful on low-speed sections of trail where having plenty of grace on the pedal helps slow down confidently and smoothly, even with heavy boots on. In off-road mode, the new 13.2-inch infotainment screen also shows a constant feed from the forward-facing camera that makes it easy to find ruts and avoid rocks, even when all you can see from the windshield is the sky.
It's clear Ford has learned some big lessons from engineering the Bronco and the Bronco Sport, and while the Maverick Tremor likely won’t surprise hardcore off-roaders, it certainly won’t embarrass you on the trails to your campsite. It may even help convince some newbies to get into off-roading thanks to some of its more advanced off-road features, like the one-pedal drive mode that applies the brake automatically as you let off the throttle, allowing you to descend steep hills without having to worry about learning to left-foot brake.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, the Maverick Tremor also gets a low-speed cruise control that automatically applies the right amount of throttle to get you up a hill. Party tricks? Maybe. But everyone loves a party trick — even if they won’t always admit it.
Plenty of Other Tech
Not every piece of technology is designed for the trail, either. The Maverick Tremor — as well as other trims equipped with the Towing package — also gets advanced technology for the trail... er. Pro Trailer Hitch Assist and Pro Trailer Backup Assist are new to the lineup for 2025 and help Maverick owners do big truck stuff, even if they aren’t all that confident.
Pro Trailer Hitch Assist will be particularly helpful for people who find themselves needing to hitch up without a spotter. Using the backup camera and a big button on the dash, the truck reverses itself to line its ball up with the tongue perfectly, allowing drivers to simply lower their trailers into place and take off. In our test of the system, it was simple and effective, clearly communicating its needs to the driver (ensure the tongue is high enough to clear the ball, don’t let the truck back up too far, etc.), though a last-minute flurry of back-and-forth wheel movements can be unnerving — at least the first time it’s used.
Pro Trailer Backup Assist uses the scroll wheel around the trailer button on the dash to align whatever’s hooked up to the back of the truck with confidence. While this has the benefit of minimizing the risk of jackknifing by turning the trailer in the same direction as the dial — as opposed to the steering wheel that works the opposite way in reverse — it didn’t feel especially easy.
You’re still required to manage the throttle and brakes, while the inevitable complications of turning a trailer in reverse means the truck can be slow to respond to prompts. Like when a computer is slow to load and you wind up hitting the undo button 18 times, the input lag makes it hard to predict how much — and how often — to turn the dial. Worse still, the location of that controller just below the infotainment screen means relying almost exclusively on that display and the mirrors while backing up instead of looking backward.
While looking forward may not be a disadvantage in a larger truck that can tow trailers that block the rearward view in the first place, given the Maverick’s 1,814 kg (4,000 lb) of towing capacity, just turning around often provides a better view of what’s behind you than cameras could ever hope to present to you on a screen.
On a more philosophical level, while some people are intimidated by backing up a trailer, and many don’t have the support required to learn comfortably, backing up a trailer is a learnable skill. Better still, once you know how to do it, the skills you’ve learned are applicable to any other trailer you want to haul, and there’s no risk of having to start all over again if Ford decides to introduce a new reversing technology, or you end up buying a competitor product.
Final Thoughts
Unfortunately, we weren’t given the opportunity to drive the Maverick Tremor on the road, only off it. However, as the most expensive model in the lineup, it comes with a whole host of features to improve comfort. Those include a wireless phone charger, heated steering wheel, subscription-based Wi-Fi hotspot, acoustically laminated windshield, eight-speaker stereo, and adaptive cruise control, among others. With a starting price of $50,195 (including $2,295 for freight), it costs almost exactly the same amount as its closest competitor, the Hyundai Santa Cruz XRT, and offers more convincing off-road technology.
It’s not hard to see why the Maverick is a hit. Sales keep growing, and it’s clear that people yearn for small pickups. While the Lobo trim shows how good the Maverick is at being a street truck, the 2025 Ford Maverick Tremor is a reminder it can still do truck stuff — and that may be even more important than building a hot hatch beater with a bed on the back.
