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Marvellous Maverick!


Tom C

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Evening all

My new daily steed comes in the form of this rather curious looking piece of American shite.

3.0 V6, very comfortable seats, hilariously flimsy plastics, acres of space, key from a 1986 Ford Fiesta........it is all there.

Resources regarding the Maverick are very limited and there appears to be no owners group in the UK. Apparently, they sold eleventy million in the US as the Ford Escape so at least we got the good name over here.

The car has 106k on the clock, 6 months MOT, quite a lot of recent bills and is in nice condition.  I am sure the fuel bills might cause the odd raised pulse but that smooth American engine with those smooth American seats are winning the keepability stakes.

Does anyone have any experience with these curiously likeable cars? Parts supply seem a little scary  for a kick off.

 

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That's the identical twin to mine, except mine is on gas. Never had any issue getting parts. Only source for rust repair panels is the US though 

Check the oil frequently as both of ours use a bit. Ignore the recommendation to use 0w20 oil and use the 5w30 the engine was originally specified for.

Change the water pump belt on the right hand end of the engine, it's only 3 ribs and shred easily as they get old.

Plugs can be changed relatively easily but you need to remove the rear inlet manifold. O rings normally reseal ok.

On petrol on a run 25/26 mpg is possible using cruise control.

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According to Wikipedia there are five Ford Mavericks, all completely different and unconnected with each other;

1.The Ford Maverick (1970), a compact car sold in North America and Brazil during the 1970s

2.The rebadged Nissan Patrol Y60 sold by Ford Australia under the Button car plan from 1988 to 1994

3.The rebadged Spanish-built Nissan Terrano II, sold by Ford of Europe from 1993 to 1999

4.The European and Chinese version of the Ford Escape, sold from 2001 to 2005

5.The Ford Maverick (2022), an upcoming compact pickup truck to be sold in the Americas

I usually associate the name with no. 3 on that list. Interesting car though, how big is it? Looks a similar size to a CR-V in the photos. I do like the idea of a V6 too, what wheel drive is it?

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I see one around here now and then, same colour as yours: I'd no idea they were so rare! 'Not very common', yes, but not like that.

Considering the rebadged Terrano one did fairly well, all told, it's a bit of a surprise. Experience with those and how Nissan dealers often came to the rescue in parts emergencies, would say that asking Mazda is probably an option.

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Oh another thing I just remembered if the eml comes on power output and fuel economy suffer massively - it must go to running a default map.

ICV wants cleaning occasionally

There was a couple of recalls, most were done but the odd one hasn't been,  cruise control and idle as well as a few other bits, with checking if yours has been done. They should be done free at a dealership.

 

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