2026 Ford Maverick Lariat: Lakeland Buyers Guide
Quick Answer: The 2026 Maverick Lariat at Lakeland Automall
Lariat is the comfort-focused top trim below Tremor, starting at $38,090 MSRP before the $1,695 destination charge, and it's the only Maverick trim built exclusively with all-wheel drive, there's no lower-cost front-wheel-drive Lariat available. Standard equipment includes a 360-degree camera, Adaptive Cruise Control with Stop-and-Go and Lane Centering, a Tough Bed spray-in bedliner, heated ActiveX seats, and a B&O sound system. The 2.5-liter hybrid is standard, rated 39 mpg city in this trim's AWD configuration.
The trim that stops feeling like a "small truck"
A lot changes at Lariat that's easy to miss on a spec sheet skim. The 360-degree camera, standard on no lower trim, makes a genuine difference backing the FLEXBED up to a trailer hitch or a tight garage. Adaptive Cruise Control with Stop-and-Go and Lane Centering, also standard here and nowhere below it, turns the I-4 commute into something closer to a modern SUV's experience than a base work truck's. The Tough Bed spray-in bedliner comes sprayed in at the factory rather than a dealer add-on, and heated seats, a heated steering wheel, and heated mirrors are all standard, worth noting for the handful of genuinely cold mornings Central Florida still gets each winter. B&O audio, eight speakers plus a subwoofer, and an acoustic windshield round out a cabin that's noticeably quieter than XL or XLT at highway speed.
The tradeoff for all of that: Lariat is the one trim built exclusively with all-wheel drive, standard 2.5-liter hybrid rated 39 mpg city and 32 highway in that configuration, slightly below the XL/XLT hybrid AWD numbers because of the extra standard equipment's added weight. There's no way to order a front-wheel-drive Lariat to chase a better mpg number; the equipment list and the drivetrain come bundled together at this trim.
What premium-trim buyers say about the experience
"My husband David Kelley would like to thank Fernando Ortiz for his great customer service... not being pushy like other places you go and the salesman is hovering you, we will definitely come back to see you Fernando thank you again," wrote d kelley. Fernando Ortiz is a current Hyundai Sales Consultant at Lakeland Automall; the same low-pressure approach the reviewer describes runs across the auto mall's departments, and it tends to matter most on a higher-trim deal like Lariat, where there's a genuinely longer options conversation, hybrid AWD math, the 360-camera and ACC standard features, packages carried over from XLT, than there is on a base XL.
Frequently asked questions
Why is Lariat AWD-only?
Ford built Lariat around a comfort and technology package, heated everything, the 360-degree camera, adaptive cruise, that the engineering team paired specifically with all-wheel drive rather than offering as a front-wheel-drive option. It's a deliberate trim-level decision, not a supply limitation.
Does Lariat get better fuel economy than XLT?
Slightly lower, actually. Lariat's hybrid AWD is rated 39 mpg city / 32 highway, a notch below XL/XLT's hybrid AWD figure of 40/34, because of Lariat's heavier standard equipment list. It's still far ahead of any EcoBoost configuration in the lineup.
Is Lariat worth the jump from XLT?
For buyers who want the 360-degree camera, standard adaptive cruise, and the B&O sound system without cross-shopping individual XLT packages, yes, it bundles those features in one trim rather than piecing them together. Buyers who don't need that specific feature set can often get close with an optioned XLT for less.
See current Lariat availability
Configurations move quickly on this trim. Browse current Lariat inventory, or compare it against the rest of the 2026 lineup on the full Maverick overview.
MSRP figures exclude the $1,695 destination charge, taxes, title, registration, and options; the dealer sets the actual selling price. Fuel-economy figures are EPA estimates; real-world mileage varies. Equipment and package availability can change with configuration; confirm current specs with Lakeland Automall. Customer quotes are excerpts from public Google reviews of Lakeland Automall, lightly trimmed for length; reviewer names shown as first name and last initial.