Ford Maverick Hybrid XLT – New Car Detail

Reece @ DI

2 years ago

Ford Maverick Featured Image

About a year and a half ago my current vehicle at the time started having issues with its timing belt. To fix it, the entire engine needed to be dropped out of the vehicle and the repair would have cost around $5,000. I decided to sell the vehicle to CarMax and I happened to score a pretty nice chunk of change, even with the engine issues. Around this time Ford had just released more information about the new Mavericks and some features really drew me in.

I always wanted a small truck and trucks like the Ranger or F150 were too large for me and how I would be using the vehicle. I personally do not tow anything, but I find myself wanting the versatility of a truck bed. I used to toss mulch, rocks, plants, wood, etc. in the back of my Taurus, and even with a blanket, I always found a way to make a mess. The truck bed really fixes this issue for me and will help keep the cab of the vehicle clean.

At the time when I was starting to look into a new vehicle, the car market was going crazy (and still is). Used cars were sky high and new cars are still near impossible to purchase without a “market adjustment” or an incredibly long wait time. The low price point (at the time $19,995) of the Maverick was a huge draw. Why would I spend $25,000 – $35,000 on a used vehicle with around 50K miles when I can buy something new that meets my needs for the same price.

Lastly, it had to be a Ford. Why? I am a bit of a homer here, but my father worked for Ford for 30 years and I grew up with them in the driveway. I always had a Ford and overall they have always treated me well. I love the new Bronco and down the road, I am looking to pick one up, but right now the price point, gas mileage, and features of the Maverick bumped it to the top of my list.

With all of that said, I knew I was in for a long wait when ordering and understood this before stepping into the dealership. It also did not help that I opted not only for the hybrid motor for the improved gas mileage, but I bumped up the trim to the XLT and threw in the LUX Package and Ford360. I knew all of these were constraints and would increase my overall delivery time. Just take a look at the timeline below for what I am talking about.

Ordered: 7/2/21
In Production: 5/26/22
Built: 5/27/22
Shipped: 5/28/22
Delivered: 6/22/22 at local railyard. 7/7/22 at the local dealership.
Pickup: 7/9/22

372 days.

Let me say that again, three hundred and seventy two days from the date of ordering for this vehicle to reach my local dealership. No emails from Ford during this time either, even though I called them to make sure my email address was listed correctly (which it was). Most of my general updates were coming from the folks over at Maverick Truck Club. If you have any interest in the Maverick I highly recommend heading over there. I was a lurker during this entire process and found information about building constraints, overall shipping speeds, how to track via railcar, and more. I was also lucky enough to have an old beater to use during this extended waiting time, but let me tell you the wait sucked. I found myself looking at used cars from other brands, many Bronco Sports, full size Broncos, even some older used Broncos. I am talking 90s Broncos that have been rebuilt… Essentially everything was on the table but at the end of the day, I found myself coming back to the Maverick.

I also wanted to give a shout out to my salesman Glenn Cummings and Depaula Ford in Albany New York. In a world of huge market adjustments from dealerships, selling vehicles out from under customers, to unnecessary and overpriced add ons, they took care of me. They sold the vehicle at MSRP, no adjustment, no added fees, no nitrogen or vin etching. They made this process as stress free as a year-long wait could be and I really cannot thank them enough.

Now onto the fun stuff, the detailing!

To start, the vehicle was incredibly clean overall. Depaula hand washes their vehicles and before the vehicle was delivered I did ask them to do the bare minimum when prepping the vehicle for pickup. Meaning, no protection. Just a hand wash and interior vacuum. They did listen, but the only area I had a problem with was the tires. They applied a nice thick layer of silicone dressing, but that is not something we can’t fix during our detailing process. Below are some photos of the vehicle after I pulled it into the back of the warehouse after purchase.

While the vehicle just had a wash and we do not have a hose hookup at the warehouse, I opted to utilize a rinseless wash option with the Optimum No Rinse, a two bucket cleaning method with our Detailed Image 3.5 Gallon Buckets and a few Grit Guard Inserts. Using the Gtechniq WM2 Microfibre Wash Mitt for painted areas and the Tuf Shine Tire Brush and a different WM2 Wash Mitt for the wheels and tires, the vehicle was washed down once again. To dry, a nice and large 20″ x 30″ Rag Company The Gauntlet Microfiber Drying Towel was used.

After a quick decon with the clay bar alternative Nanoskin AutoScrub Sponge – Fine, I broke out my Scangrip Sunmatch 3 and inspected the paint. Below are a few photos showing different areas around the vehicle with some scratches from the shipping process.

Overall the paint was in really nice shape. Honestly, in much better shape than I expected so I only had to perform a one step polishing process. I have always heard great things about the Last Detail and how Jace Price came up with an awesome overall polish, so this made the perfect opportunity for me to test it out. Using the Griot’s Garage G9, I paired The Last Detail The Final Polish with a Lake Country SDO Orange Pad. Since I was only performing a one step polishing process the overall time and effort used was minimal. The Last Detail The Final Polish was extremely easy to work with, had a long work time and wiped off incredibly easy. Below are a few follow up shots of the swirled areas corrected.

Plus, during the polishing process it gave me a chance to use the Flexbed for some tunes!

After completing the polishing steps, I went right into protection. Check out the complete list of items used below:

Interior:

Exterior:

It was a humid 95 degrees out and while the warehouse is cooler, I was a little nervous about how the Gtechniq Crystal Serum Light would react, but honestly it was super easy to apply. I applied it panel by panel using a cross hatching pattern and waited about 5 minutes before removal. With a few swipes of the Rag Company Pearl Microfiber Towel, residue was removed without issue. Just be sure to fold your towels and swap to a new side as needed. If you are like me and forget what side of the towel you used, the Autofiber Quadrant Wipe comes with pre-printed numbers on the corners. This helps you keep track of clean vs used sides of the towel. In hindsight I should have reached for these as I forgot what side I was on a few times, but I love the Rag Company Pearl Towels for coating removals so it is hard to give those up.

To continue the Gtechniq trend in this detail, the C2V3 was used to top the CSL, C4 on all of the black trim pieces, and the G1 to coat the glass surfaces. Just like the CSL, all of these protection products went on easy and residue was removed in only a few swipes of the towel. I cannot stress enough how great Gtechniq items are to use and how well they look and protect the surfaces they are designed for. I highly recommend testing these out if you have yet to!

For the interior surfaces, since they were really clean already I simply opted to lay down some protection using the Smart Fabric and Matte Dash. Each product is the AB version, meaning that it will not only protect the surface, but also features antimicrobial technology to eliminate bacteria. These should last around 6 months, so a quick clean and reapplication will be needed down the line.

Check out a few of the interior photos below, along with some nice shots of when the Maverick was backed out of the warehouse and into the sun!