I really like the Ford Maverick. After spending a week and nearly 600 miles behind the wheel of the smallest truck money can buy, I came away thinking about how every truck owner should really just have one of these. That being said, no car is perfect, and the Maverick is no exception. You see, the little truck’s very well-thought-out interior has one bone-headed element: the shifter. It fucking sucks.
For those who don’t know, the Maverick – like many other Fords with automatic transmissions – has a rotary dial shifter. It is completely ass. I am not usually one to complain about shifters or how they’re laid out. I usually don’t care if their buttons, a regular PRNDL setup, a column shifter or whatever. Hell, I don’t even mind rotary dial shifters on their own. Ford’s implementation, however, is awful.
Unlike other rotary-shifting cars like the Kia EV6 where park is a button in the center of the dial, the Maverick’s “P” is at the left end of the dial. Because of that, I shifted into park no less than 4,000 times while attempting to go into reverse since the weak detents in the dial didn’t provide enough feedback to let me know I was in the right gear. It was so goddamn annoying that I nearly screamed while attempting to do a standard three-point turn. Surly, Ford didn’t have to do this.
But it did, and now we must live with those consequences. I’ll be fair. This isn’t that big a deal, but I live to nitpick, and this shifter is one hell of a nit. I think the problem is really exacerbated for two main reasons: 1) the rest of the Maverick’s interior is extremely functional and well thought out, so this less-than-ideal shifter sticks out like a sore thumb. 2) You use it every single time you get in the truck. Anytime you want to drive you’ve got to interact with this jankly little piece of rubber and plastic.
It’s not even like it’s that nice to use. It feels cheap, which I suppose makes sense. It’s not exactly any more cheap-feeling than the door cards or dashboard, per se, but it’s still not great.
If Ford really wanted to keep using this shifter, it should replace the “L” button in the middle (which almost no one will ever use) with a Park button. Problem solved – for the most part.
I guess my biggest problem with this rotary shifter is the fact it exists at all. It didn’t need to. Ford could have stuck a regular gear shifter in the Maverick and it would have been fine. Too bad.