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  The humble,  unibody pickup is often overlooked in favor of its brawnier, pricier siblings. But thanks to this week’s reveal of the Ford Maverick, the segment is finally receiving some much deserved attention. Today, we’re taking stock of how Ford’s latest truck compares to its two closest rivals — the Honda Ridgeline and Hyundai Santa Cruz — as well as a few slightly larger midsize pickups that one might cross-shop against it. Like the Maverick itself, the category of “compact” pickup is pretty small these days, though if this truck’s sales are as hot as the interest is for it right now, don’t be surprised to see other brands get in the game. First, let’s begin with a recap of the Maverick’s most pertinent specs. The Honda Ridgeline is a unibody truck with a crew cab, and, well, that’s about all it shares in common with the Maverick. The Ridgeline has a bed that’s 10 inches longer, comes with all-wheel drive standard and its only engine, a V6, offers 30 more horsepow...

Text The 2022 Ford Maverick has everybody with a lick of interest in the pickup truck market sizing it up—literally. Its relatively diminutive size is as noteworthy as its low price and standard 40-mpg-city hybrid powertrain. But how much different in size it is to offerings from other brands is a key to understanding what, exactly the Maverick is. Too close to the current Ranger in major dimensions and it'd have some trouble standing apart. Luckily, there's enough white space in between the two that the Maverick has its own unique niche to fill, as you'll see in a second. But what about the old Ranger? The last holdout among truly small body-on-frame pickups—Tacoma went midsize for 2005, the S-10 bowed out in favor of the larger Colorado for 2004, and the second-generation Frontier also grew for 2004—the compact Ranger held on until 2011. Unlike, say, Nissan, Ford declined to tap its global, midsize Ranger as a replacement, instead gently pushing buyers into low-...

Text Considering the compact 2022 Ford Maverick and midsize 2021 Honda Ridgeline pickup trucks are in two different classes, this breakdown of the specifications is not exactly an apples-to-apples comparison. What these Ford and Honda trucks share in common, however, are construction methods. Rather than traditional body-on-frame construction, the Maverick and Ridgeline both rest on car-like unibody bones. We already compared the Maverick to Hyundai's Santa Cruz, and now it's the Ridgeline's turn to step into the ring. Let's start with some basic figures. The Ford Maverick is 199.7 inches long and has a 121.1-inch wheelbase; its estimated curb weight is between 3,550 to 3,750 pounds. The Maverick's versatile FlexBed is 4.5 feet long, although it expands to 6.0 feet with the tailgate down. In contrast, the Honda Ridgeline has an overall length of 210.2 inches and rests on a 125.2-inch wheelbase. We weighed a Ridgeline Sport with the available HPD kit at 4,4...