RETURN OF THE KING
FIRST DRIVE: 2015 FORD F-150
The wait is over. Finally, after a year of hearing about its weight loss, after months of parsimonious details that began to slowly shape its spec sheet, the Lion King of trucks has stepped forth, wearing a prominent new mane, powered by a new sense of vigour and a remarkable new turbo engine.
Behold the 2015 Ford F-150, a truck as important to Ford as it is to the countless people who look to this pickup for their daily bread — their means of getting the job done or moving the family about. Make no mistake, this is the benchmark for the half-ton class, the one in which the bar has risen substantially higher since the last redesign of the F-150 in 2009. Setting aside pickup marketing hype, this is the truck that matters most, the No. 1 selling vehicle in this country, the one on which every change is measured and scrutinized — the truck that will shape the automotive landscape for decades to come.
The new F-150 has emerged, of course, with all new armour, a full deployment of aluminum used to construct the cab, box, fenders, hood and doors — exorcising more than 300 kilograms of fat from its former self.
Overnight, it’s gone from a veritable John Goodman to a middleweight Atlas. The military-grade aluminum, requiring some 2,500 rivets to assemble as though it were a P-51 Mustang, will mean less dings and dents showing up on the sheet metal from careless shoppers at the mall, Ford says, and will never rust (though it can corrode), making for a lot of F-150 carcasses dotting farm fields 50 years from now.
Certainly, using lightweight aluminum over steel in the F-150 — the equivalent of removing three Dallas Cowboys from the cab — can be felt immediately. The truck stays squat in the corners, steers easier, dives less during braking and gets up to speed quicker. It’s a little like jumping into Nike trainers after years of steel-toed boots. Ford says all models will see a 20% fuel economy improvement simply from the weight loss, which now makes for a range of 4,050 to 5,142 pounds, depending on how the truck is configured.
As quiet, if not quieter than before, the new F-150 feels structurally tight, too, with more solidity to the cab. Indeed, shutting the door on the outgoing F-150 was like smacking a tray of Jell- O. Slamming the 2015 door is like closing the door to a safe.
It’s also vastly easier to see out of. While wider overall by 40 mm, opening up the interior even more, the hood has lost some power dome bravado but gained better visibility out front. Better, the driver and passenger side windows swoop down more deeply for
As quiet, if not quieter than before, the new F-150 feels structurally tight
an excellent view to the left and right, as well as around the large A-pillars. A new leather steering wheel feels excellent in the hands, and redesigned side mirrors are less like TV-dinner trays yet still large enough to be effective.
And while the aluminum body on a revamped, fully-boxed ladder frame, which is now comprised of 78% highstrength steel (improving rigidity by about five to 10%) will steal most of the headlines, the other story here is the new 2.7-litre twin-turbo V6.
This is, quite simply, a sweetheart engine. Absent of coarseness, it feels very much like the 3.5-litre EcoBoost in terms of power; but the 2.7 EcoBoost somehow comes across as smoother and more playful, as though it’s out to teach the old 3.5 some new tricks. Designed specifically for a turbo application, the direct injection 2.7-litre gets a pair of BorgWarner turbos tied to a compacted graphite iron block, much like that used on the Super Duty 6.7-litre turbo diesel. Fuel economy numbers are not yet revealed, but we averaged between 18 and 20 U.S. mpg on some highspeed driving that was more intent on learning the torque curve. The little engine, mated to a six-speed transmission, is even brash enough to give off a sweet little snarl under full throttle, and it almost too easily rotates the rear tires on take off.
With a torque rating of 375 pound-feet, which seems ample, the 2.7 will tow 8,500 pounds and piggyback up to 2,250 pounds. Equipped with standard start-stop, the engine will, like a Mercedes AMG, shut down to save fuel instead of idling it away, though the device becomes inactive when towing or in four-wheel drive. EcoBoost engines also get standard grille shutters that stay open when extra engine cooling is needed. At cruising speed, they automatically close to reduce aerodynamic drag.
Now compliant with the Society of Automotive Engineer’s towing standards, the 2015 F-150 takes towing up a notch with other models, too. On models equipped with the EcoBoost V6, the maximum tow rating is now 12,200 lbs. The twin-turbo engine, breathing with 365 horsepower and 420 lb.-ft. of torque (unchanged from last year) also returns a maximum payload of 3,180 lbs.
Opting for the 5.0-litre V8, with 385 hp and 387 lb.-ft. of torque, brings a higher payload of 3,300 lbs. but slightly less trailer-towing grunt, though 11,100 lbs. of capability should hardly be considered “less”. Lastly, the F-150’s base V6 is no longer a 3.7 but a 3.5-litre, most likely to serve its legion of fleet buyers. It produces 283 hp and 255 lb.-ft. of torque, and will carry 1,910 lbs. and tow 7,600.
Numbers aside, the 2015 F-150 has added some very cool features, though some are only available on certain trim levels, which range from XL, XLT, Lariat, Platinum and King Ranch. Chrome packages are available on XL, XLT, Lariat and King Ranch. Monochromatic packages are available on the XL, XLT and Lariat. Pricing starts at $21,399 for the base 4x2 model and climbs to $66,999 for the top line Platinum Super Crew 4x4. The FX4 off-road package can be added to most four-wheeldrive models, improving offroad capability with an electronic locking rear axle, skid plates and off-road-tuned shocks.
Quad-beam LED headlamps, LED brakelamps and turn signals come standard with Lariat models and up. More ingenious are LED spotlights in the side mirrors, a nifty spot light in the tailgate, and forward-facing LED lamps in the bed controlled by a switch near the tailgate. And the tailgate, stealing a page from Toyota, drops with a gentle, damped landing — but it’s also able to fall open, or lock, with the key fob. Well done.
The reinforced aluminum bed is joined by Ford’s new BoxLink system, which seems more useful than many others on the market, and optional, stowable loading ramps hook to the tailgate so they can’t fall off during use. The tailgate can also be equipped with an improved “old man step” for us grey beards who prefer some dignity climbing into the back.
Inside is yet another round of key changes. Gone is the biggest slab of plastic this side of a water park that once stood in for a dash. Materials are now varied and sculpted with softer touches all around, and real aluminum on Platinum models. The leather in the Lariat interior seems especially good, and the instrumentation, now with an eight-inch screen that can display just about anything asked of it this side of YouTube videos, even includes tire pressures for each tire. Keyless entry and ignition are available; there are a couple of USB ports, and a 110V/400-watt power outlet capable of powering episodes of Longmire on a 42-inch TV. A new 360-degree bird’s eye-view camera makes positioning the truck a snap, especially to a trailer. This is a cab that can now compete with, maybe even outshine, the excellent interior of the Ram.
A bevy of safety enhancements include second-row inflatable safety belts, curve control (which automatically provides more aggressive fourwheel braking when the truck is going into a corner too fast), adaptive cruise control, lanekeeping assist, cross-traffic alert and blind spot monitoring.
Arriving in late November, the new F-150 had to be truly excellent. Merely great would not do, for its fierce competitors, GM and Ram, would, if this new half-ton showed weakness, rip it apart the moment it entered the field. The 2015 F-150, after four-anda-half years in development and some 10 million miles of testing, some of it under killer heat and cold, must now go out into the world and prove it is as strong and as tough and as capable as its engineers have long said it would be. Judging by our first few hours with it, victory is already in hand.