Horse 3531 - Wind Down The Window And Look Outside

 

https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/9308685/new-utes-australia-would-go-nuts-for/

Mini utes are the next big car trend, but could these smallSUV-based utilities be a hit in Australia or prove a very big miss?

Just like fashion trends our taste in cars goes in cycles, with often the same style coming back just with a bit of a twist. We've been through the people-mover phase a few times, the station wagon a couple of times and now it's utes. Again.

If the United States is anything to go by, these little utes could be a big hit here.

In the US the Ford Escape-based Maverick baby ute launched in 2021 and has sold out every year since.

- The Canberra Times, 28th Jul 2026

This kind of article from what used to be a credible news organisation, really show just how mind numbingly stupid professional journalism has become. Once upon a time when newspapers in the old Fairfax Group, such as the Sydney Morning Herald, or The Canberra Times, or The Age, would write an article, they employed actual journalists to write the pieces. Now, this kind of article, is probably  "written" (and I do mean that in scare quotes) by an intern who is looking to get a more profitable job in a marketing firm at some point. I don't personally know who Laura Berry is, but I instantly know that she never bothered to fact check the copy which was handed to her by a Public Relations firm.

The thing about what used to be known as journalism is that the journalist's job, was not simply to regurgitate whatever slop that was force fed to them by a marketing company. If you have two sources and one says that it's raining outside, and another person says it's sunny, then it is not the job of the journalist to quote them both. The journalist's job is to open the window and then look outside to find out which is true.

I work as an accountant. That means that my job is essentially to constantly open the window and look outside. Or in the case of looking for provable facts, to open journals and see what they say.

I also happen to be something or a motor enthusiast. Admittedly that is because I like motor racing but in this case, it gave me the starting point to say that  statements like:

- small SUV-based utilities

- these little utes

- the Ford Escape-based Maverick baby ute

...are in fac materially, complete and utter garbage.

"Oh ho ho" I don't hear you say because this is a text based medium. How do I know that the above article is blowing more smoke than a 2015 Toyota HiLux Work Mate with 357,896km on the clock, busted piston rings, and being driven by a 19 year old who is functionally illiterate? Because I bothered to wind down the window and look outside. That's why.

The 2026 P758 Ford Maverick is exclusively offered in a 4-door crew cab configuration with a short bed. 

https://www.ford.com/trucks/maverick/?gnav=header-trucks-vhp

The important numbers are:

Wheelbase: 3,076 mm (121.1 in) 

Width: 1,844 mm (72.6 in) 

Curb weight: 1,666 kg (3,674 lb)

In comparison, the 2016 FGX Ford Falcon ute was:

Wheelbase: 2,838 mm (111.7 in)

Width: 1,864 mm (73.4 in)

Curb weight: 1,505 kg (3,318 lb)

We can forgive the one dimension where the Falcon was 20mm wider than the Maverick. 20mm is about as wide as my thumb. In the grand scheme of things, 20mm is functionally irrelevant.

The Maverick though, is 238mm longer in the wheelbase. That's a full 8% longer. 

The Maverick, is also 161kg heavier. That's 10% heavier.

That's more than the equivalent of carrying around two fat blokes forever. And for what? The tray bed is only four and half feet long. In comparison, the Falcon FGX ute, was almost six feet long in the tray.

In no way is a long and fat thing, which is bigger than the Falcon which was a "full-size car" anything even remotely resembling "small SUV-based utilities" or "these little utes" or "the Ford Escape-based Maverick baby ute". Baby ute? Seriously? If I was to suddenly gain 14 pounds, you'd think that I have an overactive pie arm. 

Then again, guess what, the joke's on me. I bothered to fact check the article and find out that it isn't reliable, before I bothered to fact check the article and find out why it isn't reliable. This is an "article" which was actually by CarsGuide. CarsGuide isn't actually a motoring journalism website but an online marketplace and content platform. Its parent company also owns Gumtree.com.au, and Autotrader.com. This means that this article was never designed to be an actual piece of journalism, but a puff piece to drive traffic to make people buy cars.

I am not a journalist. It is not my job to open the window and look outside. However, when I did open the window and look outside, all I saw was a giant billboard.