(Photos by Dave Nutting) – I was pretty excited to get my mitts on a 2015 Ford F150 for obvious reasons. The thing is one of the world’s best selling vehicles and a keystone part of the Ford business plan. With all of the work that went into the 2015 model I was primed to get an impression of what Ford thought was important and how well they did with the best selling truck in America. The short story? They did a heck of a job within the box they had to work with. This is the best driving half ton truck I have ever piloted. It is on par in quietness with the GMs that I have tested and I’d argue that the ride quality (unloaded) is superior. The 2.7L twin turbo Ecoboost six engine acts like it is far larger but it fell short in my expectations of fuel economy, and the interior on our tested (XLT trim) was nice and serviceable but did not make the impact that the GM trucks we have tested of late made. I’ll go into more detail below but the verdict is that for the money, this is a fine truck that over the span of about 500 miles in a week treated me and my family quite well.
It has to be an interesting exercise whenever the F150 comes up for a refresh. On the one hand there is only so much you can do to a pickup truck to make it “better” while keeping it functional for the things people use trucks for like towing and hauling mulch, dirt, go karts, etc. I feel that the team on the F150 did a really good job with refining the interior space and feel, improving the ride quality, and generally making the thing nice to drive while keeping the tow rating and hauling capacity up. Obviously one of the big stories about this truck is the aluminum body and the weight savings that it brought to the party. I took a load of scrap steel to a recycling yard in this truck and it gave me the opportunity to weight it on their scale. Without me in the truck the thing weighed a shade over 4,800lbs. That’s incredible in my book.
The weight savings don’t translate into incredible gas mileage although there are significant benefits in other areas like in the handling feel of the rig. This is a 4×4 truck so it was by no means a slalom master but it was able to take highway off ramps (comfortably) at speeds I wouldn’t have tried in other trucks. The turn in feels better and overall it handles in a much more car-like fashion than any other half ton I have driven in a long time. Especially a 4×4 one. The cab is vault-like in the quietness department and that is on par with GM. Multiple sealing surfaces on the doors keep the thing as quiet and sealed as you could possibly want. The annoying downside to this is trying to close the doors. You need to really give the door some mustard to get it to close tight but the payoff is a ride that you’ve not had unless you have been in a current generation Ford or GM truck.
The decreased weight helps in other areas as well. Around town the 2.7L EcoBoost engine delivers amazing mileage but on the highway (where we 
put some 400 miles on the truck) it delivers right in the same mileage areas as its V8 counterparts. In “normal” highway driving, meaning cruise control set at 70-72 mph we got 21.2 mpg as the truck measured. This is not all that much better than what you would see out of a V8 GM truck these days. I am not comparing the Toyota here because I really don’t feel the thing is in the same league with the F150 and the Silverado. If the mileage had been recorded primarily around town my report may be more revealing because I feel as though the turbo six would trounce the V8 in this respect, but alas, this is the real world that that’s what I saw. Now, to be fair even Ford engineers cannot defeat physics. At some point it takes a certain amount of power to shove a big, blunt, high riding vehicle through the air no matter how you are making that power, it is kind of a fixed number.
On the interior front, the thing is nice, the fabrics will likely wear like iron but it did not have the refined feel of the GM trucks. It is a natural evolution from the previous design but the plastics and the way things are angled and finished just felt kind of cheap for a $43,000 truck. At this point customers are seemingly making decisions on comfort, refinement, and capability. The way a truck mixes those three things defines it. The F150 does a fine job of making that blend but others may be doing it a little better. Could you happily drive this truck daily and in comfort? Sure. Would a guy with a wandering eye get swayed by another manufacturer if he had no loyalties and shopped them? Maybe.
Let’s tell the rest of the story through Dave Nutting’s great photos and my mediocre captions –
So here’s the side view of our 2014 Super Cab 4×4 F150. The engine is a 2.7L twin turbo Ecoboost V6 that makes 325hp and 375 ft/lbs of torque. Peak HP is up around 4,700 RPM whereas peak torque happens around 3,000 RPM which makes this a really fun driver around town. It scored points in the look department as well with the optional 18″ wheels and Ingot Silver Metallic paint. No price was given on the sticker with this truck but figured about $43,000 for the equivalent on your dealer lot.
The “big face” trend that started with the 1994 Dodge Ram lives today. The gaping grill has optional chrome around it. I liked the new headlights which are similar to what the previous generation Raptor wore. This truck has a more “girthy” feel to it despite the featherlight 4,800 (and change) featherweight we observed on a truck scale. We mean that in a good way. It has a big truck feel in a more manageable package.
XLT trim translates to “nice but not extravagant”. This is not a luxo truck but rather one that is designed to be a comfy worker.
With a 3.55 gear the truck does not have the steepest ratio available (3.73 with Ecoboost) and we did not have a limited slip rear differential. The only real test of the 4wd was a mucky recycling yard we hauled some scrap steel to. It performed well and the Goodyear rubber was surefooted in all conditions.
Call us lame if you want but the revised bed step is awesome. Rather than having the handle that folds out of the bed and stands up the entire thing is now integrated into the tailgate. This is a great feature and one that really works like a champ.
Another perfect convenience feature is the addition of bed LED lighting with a button to activate it in the rear of the bed. MUCH more convenient than other options out there. This is cool stuff and speaks to the engineers attempt to take a good thing and refine it to make the package better.
This truck had optional factory applied spray in bedliner. It was great quality and thick. We would not buy a truck without this stuff today.
It is always neat when a manufacturer adds a badge or call out for an option and that’s true of the “toughbed” logo here. This is a pretty reasonable option and we’re not sure why anyone would skip out on it.
The driver’s area will be familiar to anyone who has been in an F150 over the last generation or so. Nothing major happening with regard to changes. All the controls are easy, adjustable pedals are good, and it is very comfy.
This is the angry little engine under the hood. Pretty quiet and very powerful the 2.7L engine is a bunch of fun in this truck. We bet the top of the line 5.0L V8 would be damned near riotous in this thing. Plenty of low end torque and lots of HP, it’ll do what 99% of truck buyers need it to do.
The turbos are loaded down in the engine bay right next to the engine on both sides. Interestingly they bolt right to the block. We bet this 2.7 could be played with by tuners to make much more gusto like other EcoBoost combos have been. Small turbos mean zero lag.
The SuperCab with the rear suicide doors was really roomy, provided plenty of room in the rear and was easy to access. The cab (where lots of engineering time and money was spent) is as good or better than anything available today. Quiet as a bank vault as well.
Here’s a closer look at the cab and the gaping entry way that presents itself with both doors open. We think that the improvements in interior noise over previous generation trucks with the rear opening doors is pretty amazing.
All the controls were good although it took us a day to get used to the HVAC setting stuff, the screen was small but clear, and there is an amazing amount of storage space in the cab. If you work in your truck all day, this would be a fine mobile office with multiple power sources as well.
The gauge layout was fine and there were plenty of settings to roll through regarding the layout of the instruments and the data. The BangShift “index of speedometer optimism” rating here is “accurate” although the speed limiter likely kicks in at 100 (we did not try it but understand that with 4WD trucks the transfer case is a concern).
This truck stands up to its toughest domestic competition and makes the decision really one driven by brand allegiance and technology driven motives. It is every bit as robust as anything else out there and it drives really, really well.
We do not have the actual measurements in front of us but the F150 seems to have better ground clearance than its GM competition. It is certainly not a Moab rock crawler in stock form but you can at least travel over grass without bending the blades with the air dam!
One button on the dash and you can do this for as long as you’d like. The 2.7L engine is the base engine these days. It was fun to drive in sport mode. The 5.0L mill with 400 or so horsepower would be an absolute hilarious thing to drive and drag race!
The truck will tow more than three tons so if you have a boat, car, etc you can drag it around without issue. Our truck had the built in brake controller so it was ready to bring a pleasure craft to the ramp.
We barely even talked about the aluminum body. Why? Because who cares? The improvements that the technology brings outweigh the chicken little fears of its use and it is imperceptible to the average buyer other than the improved handling and other performance benefits the weight reduction brings. This is a great truck and if we were asked we would not have a moment’s hesitation to tell someone to strongly consider it when shopping for a half ton pickup.
Why are 4wheel drive vehicles sold without limited slip diffs? At best they are only “3 wheel drives” and without a locking front diff, we’re back to 2 wheel drive. YES, I DO KNOW A LOCKING FRONT DIFF COULD BE DANGEROUS ON THE ROAD. When I ordered my ’03 Sierra I gave the dealer so much grief about this they always order ls diffs now. For an extra $3-4 large they should be std. I will now step off my soap box . 🙂
ps. Do I remember first gen. Broncos w/ ls front diffs optional???
I understand exactly how you feel.
My attitude is that locking or limited slip diffs are only dangerous to people who don’t take the time to learn to drive their vehicles properly; and in many cases, an LSD could actually help eliminate wheelspin on wet roads when crossing a busy intersection.
Oh for the love of god .
Its a pickup truck . With the well lambasted across the press [ NYTimes MT C&D CR etc etc ] and proven to be pos EcoSnooze * under the hood . Not to mention those pretentious excuses for aluminum body panels who’s only real claim to fame is doubling your bodyshop bills and increasing your insurance a good 15% [ fact check me on that one … please ]
So please Brian … don’t go all corporate Arschkussen on us … please … this is about the last bastion of reasonable truth left on the net … so don’t take BS down with the rest of the crowd … please
* Heres the best part about the EcoSnooze in the F150 . … Jeeze … much as I hate GM and Chevy in particular … cough …. hack ….. errr .. damn this is hard to spit out …..Chevy’s V8 in the Silverado gives ; More HP – More torque and pulling power – and … heres the best part …. better MPG .. So much for the EcoSnooze hype.. ultimately EcoSnooze is …. B**S*** … not BangShift
And thats the real TTAC [ Truth About Cars … the real truth … not the website which has lost contact with the truth ages ago ] for today
Either no reading comprehension or didn’t read the story.
This guy is terrible.
Christ, do you ever shut up? Why do you read? Is it simply so you can run your cockholster about everything printed? Must be….has to be…
Spoken like a guy who has probably never driven or been in an ecoboost. The ecoboost will yank around a trailer and do “truck things” much better than a NA 5 litre, having test driven both, the ecoboost for sure has more usable power and torque cause it produces it from idle thru the rpm range.
Ford is hitting the nail on the head. So glad Ford and GM both continue to make superior trucks. I have several buddies with the early 3.5L Ecoboosts and although they complain of them sounding like a Taurus, they’ve been thoroughly impressed with the power, economy, and durability (as compared to both the previous generation V8s, in Fords and Chevys they had owned prior to the F150s). One guy keeps a 8000lb camper behind his at all times. Logged in about 90000 miles in the last 3 years with zero issues. This new 2.7L, although small, packs a punch. Power on par with the comparable GM V8s, and even better…peak torque is only 8hp less…but comes in at just 3000rpms! Tow pig dreams right there.
Hate to admit it….but I think the future of trucks is going to be little turbo V6s. I’ve yet to hear a single bad thing about them in the F150s. I think people are expecting more MPGS than they are getting, but hey, it’s a truck. We all expect more than we are getting. As long as the power and reliability are the same, who cares if the mpgs aren’t any better just because it’s smaller?
Turbos typically are cool until you get some high millage on the set up (with the exception of diesels for a variety of reasons). The tight tolerances and need for clean oil are typically the culprits. I think it’s a good truck for the general populace but I question the utility for a work truck. Al body, complicated turbo induction, and increased maintenance cost will hurt fleet sales in the future. Don’t get me wrong V6s are fine the 305 V6 in my first truck was a beast.
Having worked in a fleet sales dept at a dealer, most fleet sales are base, base, trucks, and will have the N/A V6. Not many fleets are going to pay more for the Ecoboost. If they need to tow or haul some, they’ll most likely opt for the 5.0. All of these engines, if maintained properly, should have the same cost of maintenance. The aluminum body, however, will probably increase overall costs for repair work…at least until the body shops catch up with new technology to make these an easier fix. With the turbos being down low in the enormous engine bay of the F150, I doubt getting clean oil to them is an issue, and heat should be dissipated more quickly there as well. Diesels, on the other hand, are brutal on turbos. Lots of engine bay heat, high EGTs, dirty oil, and exhaust soot clogging them up. Not to mention that they are forced to produced double or triple the amount of boost of a turbo on a gas motor, which doesn’t need as much psi from the turbo. However, most turbos on HD diesel trucks are over-built for that reason.
My father in law bought one of these Ecoboost a few years ago. I laughed and laughed at him…until he blew my doors of on a grade (me in my 2007 Silverado 6.0) pulling our nearly identical boats. He’s been getting about 21mpg on the highway and it’s a 4×4 4door. Not sure about town driving. I test drove one of these 2.7s last week. From a dead stop, when the boost hits, it melts the tires. Wish I could afford one.
Brian, thank you! Been kickin’ around the idea of a new truck lately (driving the kid around in either the Jeep or the ’48 is a little less than practical) and this is exactly the type of consumer report I want to hear. I really look at Bangshift as a bunch of car buddies hanging out talking cars. Basically you pulled into my driveway with your new truck and told me what you thought about it.
I priced out an XLT 4X2, regular cab, 5.0 shortbed, pretty pricy @about $36k. Still, when I get my bike paid off…