2009 Ford F-150 Review

Specifications

Ford’s F-150 is more than a truck. In many ways, it’s a legend. It’s been the best selling vehicle for the past 23 years and the best selling truck for the past 30 years. At one point in time, it was the best selling vehicle in the world! It also happens to represent a massive portion of Ford of North America’s operations. The current F-150, as you can imagine, speaks volumes about what pickup buyers want and need, but the all-new twelfth generation truck which debuted in Detroit yesterday, does something better than any previous F-Series truck; it listens to what owners and buyers have to say.

Over the past few years, trucks have been transformed from merely tools for work to items of personal expression, and Ford is offering a number of models to reflect the varied personalities of truck owners, but Ford’s chief of design for trucks, Pat Schiavone says it best: “You can’t make a truck look tough enough.”

The underlying theme of the new F-150 is toughness, a good thing. There’s a lot of Super Duty in the appearance of the F-150, particularly the shapes and lines of the bodywork which are more upright and more block-like, yet more aerodynamic. This is achieved by taking the edges off the hood and fenders, while adding features like spoilers and new mirrors to shave the drag rating. The highly structured grille forms are accompanied with heavy-duty, industrial-sized (and shaped) headlamps that have a bit of Edge and Flex, while the taillights look like they’re framed with girders. Schiavone says that most trucks have a face that can be easily recognized, but when it comes to tail ends, it can be a lot harder to tell one from the next. That’s why with the new F-150, time and design went into creating a unique tailgate that features cross strakes, and in the case of certain models, tailgate décor. Ford is also offering the F-150 with 12 different types of wheel designs, each making its own statement.

The standard range of F-150 trim levels will remain the same – XL, XLT, Lariat – but there are also models that help to define the F-150’s image within the marketplace. The FX4 is the sporty, off-road model that will sport items such as a limited slip differential, beefier suspension components, plus a black molded grille and unique alloy wheels. There’s also the wildly successful “Western” themed King Ranch with its saddle-style leather-trimmed seats and woodgrain trim. But new for ‘09, Ford is taking the F-150 to the city with the Platinum model, the ultimate Ford truck. The Platinum model takes the place of the Dearborn automaker’s most luxurious truck, the Lincoln Mk.LT which was recently discontinued, and it caters to people who view their trucks as more than just heavy duty workhorses. It’s on this model that you’ll find things like real aluminum trim, matte-finished ash wood accents and the finest leather available on a pickup truck, which is also both heated and ventilated. It’s the hues, colors and textures that define this as city slicker cool, not to mention the mesh grille, satin chrome trim, and polished 20-inch wheels that reinforce the image of luxury. It’s the nicest truck interior I’ve ever sat in.

Having set the standard of refined toughness with the Lariat and King Ranch ‘08 Super Duty interiors, Ford felt it necessary to one-up the design and quality of the new F-150. Ford has fit some truly comfortable front bucket seats with better back support and bolsters, a claim which I can back, as I tried them out in person. The dash board has been shaped in the image of the F-150 with the flat top, strong instrument bin, and the styling of multiple inserts and console. Elements of the Super Duty, such as the look of the instruments, are common, as have some of the features such as the Trailer Balance Control switch. As with the new Escape and Flex, the F-150 gains the new “Poke Through” style center stack with Ice Blue illumination, which gives the F-150 a very modern look. Ford has increased the number and size of bins and cubbies, and has stretched the armrest console by two inches, making it large enough to store not one but two laptops.

The different trim levels are designed to emulate and reflect personalities, but each new F-150 starts with the same heavy duty ladder frame chassis, with a hydroformed front end, just as with the Super Duty. This fully-boxed backbone was re-engineered to be 10-percent stronger and 100 pounds lighter than before, delivering refinement and capability thanks in part to two-thirds of it being made from high strength steel. To improve ride comfort, the front suspension switches over to a design from the Expedition, while the rear suspension maintains its outboard-mounted struts, but gains leaf springs that are 3 inches wide and 6 inches longer than before, for a more comfortable ride when unladen. Ford’s use of foam-injected QuietSteel throughout the firewall and frame keep road and engine noise out of the picture, and allow it to be quieter at a highway speed than ever before. But not all noises are bad noises, such as the throaty rumble of the exhaust and engine, which is why Ford selectively tuned the noises that the F-150 makes to be pleasant to the ear.

Though hard to believe, the F-150 has grown in all dimensions yet again, particularly the SuperCrew four-door model which features a cabin that’s six inches longer than before for ample rear comfort. Visibility, important in vehicles of this size and weight, has been improved by shifting the B-pillar back, providing better peripheral vision for the driver; on certain models mirror-mounted signals enhance visibility to other drivers, while parking is made easier by a new reverse camera and parking sensors. Ford’s new capless fuel filler is also standard on all F-150s. Safety, both active and passive, has been beefed up to include a full count of airbags (front, side, curtain), plus standard RSC stability control, and Bosch-sourced Trailer Sway Control. Ford has put a tremendous amount of effort into beefing up the strength of the cab with tubular hydroformed steel for the upper frame of the cab and boron-strengthened steel for the B-pillar. This will ensure that the new F-150 aces its crash tests, no matter what institution puts it to the test.

Under the hood, the new F-150 will be powered by nothing less than a V8 engine as the previous entry-level V6 has been dropped. Things start out with a two-valve 4.6-liter V8, which is currently serving duty in the F-150, although it has been tweaked to provide better fuel economy than the previous V6. Next up, and making its first entry on the F-150, is the three-valve version of this engine, which can be found in the Ford Explorer. Finally, Ford’s 5.4-liter Triton V8 will undergo revisions to deliver more power and torque than before, while also being E85 capable. At the time of writing, Ford hasn’t released any specifications regarding the engines, but if the three-valve 4.6 is as powerful as it is in the Explorer (292 hp), then Ford will certainly be stepping up the 5.4 by a large amount. Our guess is somewhere in the 350 – 370 horsepower range, with 380 – 390 lb-ft of torque. Ford says that four- and six-speed autos are available on the F-150, the four-speeder on the two-valve V8 and the six-speed on the three-valve 4.6 and 5.4, which ought to contribute to the 1 mpg improvement across the board in fuel economy. Ford is also planning on making future F-150 models more efficient than ever by adding a V6 version of its gasoline turbocharged direct injection EcoBoost engine to the mix, and like its rivals from GM and Dodge, the F-150 will sport a light-duty common rail turbodiesel engine in the near future.

What’s a pickup truck if you can’t easily access what’s in the bed and what’s inside the truck? Ford recognizes that if it’s going to be building the best-selling truck, it’s got to make it easily accessible to people of all types and sizes. The new tailgate takes a page from the Super Duty series of trucks and gains the retractable step ladder and pole for easy ascent and descent, while a truly clever kick-activated “box-side step” pops down from the sides of the bed, allowing consumers to easily step up and reach over into the bed. Other cool features that the F-150 can be had with include power-operated running boards from the Expedition and Explorer, a midbox featuring 26.3 cubic feet of lockable weatherproof storage, plus a collapsible but sturdy molded plastic bed extender which, unlike tubular metal extenders, can easily be folded out of the way. Like many manufacturers, Ford is also offering the new F-150 with a cargo management system that consists of a pair of sturdy bed rails with aluminum cleats that can secure 600 pounds worth of cargo. Furthermore, Ford will be offering weather-tight storage bins that clip onto the cargo management system for toolboxes and other items, and adjustable metal spars to divide the bed. Ford will offer the F-150 in regular cab, SuperCab and SuperCrew versions with 5.5′, 6.5′ and 8′ long beds that are either Styleside (regular) or Flareside boxes.

Also accounted for is interior carrying capacity, as not everything was meant to be hauled out in the open. The rear seat on the SuperCrew model folds up, as with many other competitors, but it’s the only one to be mounted on struts, allowing them to be lifted and locked upright with just one finger. What makes the Ford different is the sheer volume of space it yields; thanks to a completely flat floor, owners can put objects that are 47.9 inches tall inside the cab. In total, with the back seats folded up, 57.6 cubic feet worth of goods can be brought inside, more than enough to accommodate an item such as a flat-screen TV, hi-fi equipment system or flat-packed furniture. Ford also fitted a set of hooks, which are perfect for hanging bags of groceries, preventing them from sliding around the back. This is destined to be a favorite feature of most new F-150 buyers, as it has a 50-percent take rate in the current F-150 SuperCrew.

Ford understands that pickup drivers are techies too, and is tapping into them through what might be the ultimate in-car entertainment system. The F-150 gains Sync for Bluetooth handsfree and MP3 hookups with voice-activated control, which can be linked up to a new 700-watt premium surround sound system developed by Sony. But the real star is the new second generation Mobile Media and navigation system that is touchscreen based. It’s got a hard drive that acts as a juke box and a slick new interface that can be activated by voice, but the best part is the new Sirius Travel Link service. This never before seen system encapsulates weather forecast data, traffic and road condition data (with automatic re-routing), and a bunch of very useful features such as fuel prices from up to 120,000 different gas stations, live sports scores, and even schedules for over 4,500 movie theaters – all accessible at your fingertips.

The finer details about the F-150 will arrive later this year – probably by the time of the Chicago auto show in February – after testing takes place, but rest assured, this will be one of the most capable trucks around given the standard of the current truck. One F-150 engineer in passing at the press preview mentioned that the new F-150 will have the most capable tow rating, heaviest payload and the most safety features in its class, and we don’t have any doubts about that. The new F-150 has the sort of pickup truck durability and capability that have kept buyers coming back for more year after year, decade after decade, but with never before seen luxury, technology and design. This is Ford redefining the pickup truck on its own terms.