How Much Truck Do You Need? | Ford Maverick vs. Ford Ranger vs. Ford F-150 vs. Ford F-250

I don't know. Maybe I do need an F-250. Americans love a big truck, but you all know that that's not the only option, right? The Ford dealership will sell you a truck that can tow, say, a teardrop trailer all the way up to a 23,000 pound tractor. But towing capacity is not all there is to consider. Here's the secret. You probably don't need as much truck as you think. And frankly, we think that the midsize Ranger is perfect for most folks. Let me show you what we mean. We're Edmunds, and we test hundreds of cars each year on the road and at our private track, so you get the most trusted reviews. If you want to know which car, truck, or SUV is the best, then stick with us. Check it out, you guys. It's shorter than me. Now, the Maverick is the smallest and most affordable truck that you can buy in the United States, but don't underestimate this thing. For right around $30,000 or $37,000 when it's well-equipped with all-wheel drive and the hybrid powertrain, you get a whole lot of truck. In fact, we bought this one for the Edmunds' year-long road test fleet. But first, let's get the cons out of the way. Now, the Maverick is based off of the Escape crossover platform, so you're not going to get that same, like, trucky driving experience that you might be expecting, and some folks really like that. Plus, the backseat can be a little bit small. You're not going to find any more room than what you would find in, like, a RAV4, say. Plus, some drivers really like that high seating position of a bigger truck, and even if you get the lifted, off-road-specific Maverick Tremor, you're just not going to get that here. So, for a lot less money, you can get quite a lot of truck capability out of this thing. I mean, you can seat five if you need to. It can go up the fire road to the campsite, no problem. It's got plenty of power. It's got all-wheel drive. There's even Apple CarPlay on that big old screen. I have no complaints. Plus, if you get the tow package, you're going to have no problems tugging, like, a couple of jet skis, an aluminum boat, maybe even a teardrop trailer. Easy peasy. But the real advantage here is the Maverick's fuel economy. Now, yes, we've got another hybrid that we're looking at today, and we'll get to that a little bit later, but the truth is, no truck can touch the Maverick's fuel efficiency. But if you want to buy a used Maverick, remember that Ford did not introduce an all-wheel drive hybrid combination until 2025. And this thing's size means that it's easier to drive and live with every day than any of those bigger trucks. And if you're looking for easy, check out the link in the description. We've got all kinds of tools over at edmunds.com to help you find the right vehicle at the best price. Now, the Maverick might be really small, but that doesn't mean that it is not very mighty. So that bag of topsoil right there, you can fit 35 of those in here, or 20 boxes of that heavy ceramic tile. I mean, yeah, you might have to, like, stack everything and ratchet that stuff down, but the point is, it will do it. Now, the bed here is about six inches shorter than the rest of the lineup. So that means that you're probably going to run out of actual space in the bed before you're going to run out of weight capacity. Now, here's what I wanted to show you. So you've got your F-250. You're going out to the beach or something. So you got your big old giant cooler. I'm going to live with my legs, and now I got to get it up here. Oh, my God. Okay. All right. That was heavy. Now, I do have a step back here, and that helps loading things in and out of the bed. But this higher ride height means that it's really difficult to get heavier things back there. Now, the F-150 is a little bit lower, but I still got to use my legs just a bit to get that in here. Now, I do have a step to make at least getting into the bed from here a little bit easier. But also keep in mind that if you get the off-road spec of this vehicle, like the Ford Raptor or the Chevy ZR2, that's going to put your ride height a little bit higher, almost as high as what we've got on that Super Duty over there. Now, our Ranger's got the FX4 off-road package. So in the end, that means that the tailgate is about the same height as what we have in the F-150. But I don't have any kind of a step here to make getting into the bed easier. Now, in the Maverick, the lift gate is about the same height as what you'd find in a small SUV. And like, I don't even have to fling this thing back here. For the amount of weight that you can haul and the ease of use, Maverick takes the cake. Now, the Maverick might have the shortest bed, but I've got this cool little tailgate hack. Just put this little guy up there and then the tailgate is like angled so I can get a full 4x8 sheet of plywood and it's flat. It takes up the entire bed space, but it's flat. No tailgate tricks for the Ranger, but the plywood does fit right in between the wheel wells. As expected, no problems in the F-150. But if you wanted to actually close this tailgate, you would need the 8-foot bed and that's only available in the regular cab on the base model. And in the F-250, you can make that plywood fit with room to spare and you can get the 8-foot bed on any trim. Now, the moral of the story here is that the Maverick is an affordable and efficient truck that can do like all of your amateur truck stuff. Unless you're loading 4x8s on the daily or you need more cargo room and a little bit more interior space, the Maverick makes a lot of sense. I feel like Goldilocks. It's the perfect size. Now, in the compact truck world, you only have your choice between the Ford and the Hyundai, but here in midsize town, you have a lot more options. You can get a Toyota Tacoma, a Chevy Colorado, the GMC Canyon, the Nissan Frontier, and of course, this Ford Ranger here that we've had for about a year. And if you want to know how we liked all of these vehicles, we've got full ratings and reviews over on Edmunds.com, so click on those links below. Now, for $35,000, you can get a stripped out base model, but we recommend the XLT. That's going to give you a lot of good options and four-wheel drive. Now, keep in mind, in the Ranger, you can only get this size cab and bed, but in the Tacoma and the Frontier, you can get a larger bed. However, all the other trucks, you're going to have to go up a truck size if you want to get more room in the back. As for the cons, well, it's really all about the interior. Even though this midsize truck, it's bigger than the Maverick, but you really don't get a lot more space inside. I mean, the rear seats across the board in Colorado and the Tacoma, they're just really, really tiny. But the advantage here is that this is the smallest body-on-frame truck that you can buy. So where something like the Maverick is going to feel more like a RAV4, this Ranger is going to feel like an actual truck. It's going to give you that truckie driving experience that a lot of people really like. Plus, the midsize level is where we start getting into those off-road variants, right? I'm talking about the Chevy Colorado ZR2, Toyota Tacoma TRD Pro, and of course, the Ranger Raptor. These vehicles are super capable, even on the most gnarly of trails, like Jeep and Bronco capabilities. And sorry, not sorry, they look super cool too. Plus, you get a ton of capability without too many of the downsides that you would get from driving a huge truck, right? The rear suspension back here can handle a full face cord of dense firewood or 45 sheets of plywood. Plus, these midsize offerings can tow almost double as what you can in the Maverick. I'm talking about a larger fiberglass fishing boat, maybe a midsize RV or a fully loaded utility trailer. So if you're going to buy a truck like this and drive it every day, you're going to have to be able to see out of it. And trust me, anything bigger than the Ranger, it's going to be difficult. All right, so we've got our little test dog, Sandy, up there. She's our test dog dummy. And I'm just going to drive until I can't see Sandy anymore and see how close or far away we get. There, the top of her head just disappeared. Now, in the Maverick, I should be able to see Sandy for longer, which is better for visibility, right? So let's see. One, two, three. There, her head disappears. Now, on the F-150, I expect Sandy to disappear pretty darn quick because I'm real high and this hood is real long. And there's her head. Now, you would think being high up would give you the best visibility, but it's all about the length of the hood. So Sandy is going away right now. I feel like I'm very far back from Sandy. There could be 16 Sandys in front of this truck and I would never know it. The moral of the story here is pretty clear. The larger the truck, the worse your forward visibility is. A long hood can be a big road blocker, even if you're up high. So y'all better get used to using those forward cameras. Now we're talking! Full-size trucks. This is where you're going to see the most competition. You can get one of these from Ram, Chevrolet, GMC, Toyota. Plus, you've got the electric alternatives like the Rivian and the Sierra and Silverado EVs. And this one here is the icon. It's the F-150. Now, here you can get three cab and bed sizes. So if you want a single row of seats with a big old long bed for all work and no play, you can get it. Or maybe you just want to spend, I don't know, $100,000 and get a limo with a bed? Ford will sell that to you as well. Now, a stripped out version of this vehicle is going to be right around $40,000. But the mid-trim XLT, you're looking at closer to $55,000. But this one is the Lariat with the hybrid powertrain and y'all, it is $83,000. And that's really the problem with vehicles of this size. Even a modest build can get so prohibitively expensive for normal everyday people. Plus, their size. It can be really problematic trying to drive this thing in the city or just living with it day to day. Man, I do like this. I mean, I got these lazy boy seats. I got a giant center console here for all my truck stop snacks. And you've got to get the full-size truck props for all the space you have in this rear seat. This truck is a road trip hero. And the F-150 is way more comfortable over bumps than the Ranger or the Maverick. And you can get a lot of engine options. You can get a V8. So if you're willing to pay for it, you can get proper performance. And you get the feeling that you can do anything in this truck. So you want to haul a long trailer with two horses in it? Yeah, you can do that. It can tow almost any RV. You can put a pallet of bricks in the bed. Or you can put like 60 bags of that mulch-y topsoil back there. No problem. All right, so you want to talk about everyday livability? I'm in the F-250 and I'm about to pull into a parking garage. And I'm taking a real wide turn. And I'm hoping I do not hit any of these ticket machines. It's so big. I actually have to take off my seat belt so that I can get this stupid ticket. Okay, this truck's eight inches tall. Let's see if it'll fit. In something one size up, yeah, the higher roof means that there's going to be some drive-thrus in garages that you just can't use. And the height of this window means grabbing a ticket or your lunch. It can be a real pain. The F-250's wheelbase is 15 inches longer than the F-150. And that's if you get the shorter bed on the heavy duty. So that means you're going to have to make three-point turns more often. And parking is going to be even more of a pain. Yeah, this was just way easier in the smaller trucks. The Maverick's turning circle is 7.8 feet shorter than the F-150. And the roof is almost a foot shorter than the F-250. But the Ranger still feels bigger and harder to park than the Maverick. But it's manageable. This can be a lot of truck to deal with for day-to-day driving. And since your day-to-day routine involves watching Edmund's videos, why don't you hit us up in the comments? Let us know if we missed anything, if you've got any questions, or maybe if there's a video that you want us to shoot. And if you found this video helpful, why don't you help us back and give us that old like and subscribe? All right, this is it. This is the big kahuna. This is the F-250, an actual heavy-duty pickup truck that goes against the likes of the Ram Sierra and Silverado 2500. Now, if you need to have the utmost in capability and you can live with the shortcomings and the price, this is the one to get. And the price is as big as the truck. Sure, you can get a stripped-out single cab for about $50,000. But the XLT, that's going to be right around $60,000. And if you want to add the diesel, you're looking at $70,000 or $75,000. But this one right here is a platinum with the diesel and the off-road tremor package, and it's $808,000. I know. But the good news is that you can get that diesel here in the heavy-duty, right? The problem is it's really expensive. The Duramax, the Powerstroke, the Cummins, all of those are going to add a lot of money to the bottom line, but you will get a massive amount of torque and not awful fuel economy, but you can get over 1,000 pounds of torque if that's what you want. But man, you can do anything in this vehicle. A slide-in camper, yeah, that's cool. Pallet of concrete, you can do that too. You can even tow a massive fifth-wheel residential RV and it's not going to be a problem. Basically, if it can be tow or hauled, this thing can tow it or haul it. We've already been over some of the usability cons, but there is one more consideration if you're going to be in a vehicle like this, and that's that the ride is a lot stiffer than the other trucks. That, my friends, is a consequence of the suspension being able to carry all of that weight. So what have we learned here? Well, you really need to be honest with yourself about what you're going to use your truck for and the amount of convenience you're willing to sacrifice for that utility. I mean, yes, it is nice to have a little bit of wiggle room when it comes to towing and hauling, but in general, it's wise to not buy more than you need. Now, for most people, the Maverick just gets the job done, plus it's cheap and easy. The Ranger will give you a little bit more capability, plus it's still easy to park and load. The F-150, you guys, that is a favorite for a reason. It does 95% of all truck stuff and it butts up just against what's feasible for most folks. As for the F-250, I mean, what can I say? If you need that kind of towing and hauling, you need that kind of towing and hauling. Now, for me and what I need to do with the truck, well, my trailer and race car weigh about 5,000 pounds. I've got to haul a couple of tires, some gas cans, tools, spare parts. So really, the Ranger is the perfect truck for me, but make mine the Ranger Raptor. Thanks so much for joining us today. If you want any more information on these trucks, you can do it over on edmunds.com.