For the past four decades, the Ford F-150 has been the best selling truck year on year. In those forty years, not a single twelve months has passed by without the Ford sitting at top of the charts. There must be a reason why the nearest rivals haven’t even come close to toppling the F-150 from its throne. It’s reliable, unfussy, looks pleasing to the eye and has a safety record that is unparalleled by any other vehicle in its class. Let’s delve a little deeper into the realm of this champion pickup.
The Drive
The Ford has placed a mammoth amount of importance on the comfort of the drive. While the F-150 is a trade truck and can perform the most rugged of tasks in the most treacherous of conditions, Ford has made a play for the luxury market. The combination of comfort, style, and function is unique amongst its class.
With an automatic gearbox, plush interior and awesome visibility, this truck is anything but a chore to drive; it is a pleasure. If you opt for one of the King Ranch or Platinum models, you will find yourself sitting in a plush leather seat surrounded by a tree’s worth of luxurious real wood trim. The legroom is ridiculously spacious, and the rear of the cab is tardis like. Not bad for a work truck.
The dashboard is like something out of Star Trek with its functions, electronics, and capabilities. Once you have mastered the controls, the vehicle powers up to speed quickly and handles beautifully. When put to work, the F-150 can tow up to 12,000lbs of weight, meaning it can perform even the toughest jobs. Performance wise, it can reach 60mph in less than six seconds and reach a top speed of 108mph.
If it wasn’t for the height of your driving position, the fact that the drivers of regular cars look like ants and that each of your side mirrors are the size of a small television, you’d be forgiven for thinking you were driving an executive saloon such is the quality of the drive.
Safety
The Ford F-150 is the least accident prone vehicle in the USA. Now, this could be because the drivers of this particular pickup are head and shoulders above other drivers in terms of road awareness and safety but this seems unlikely.
The fact that the Ford F-150 is the only pickup to be awarded a Top Safety Pick rating means that the question of when to hire an auto accident lawyer is not one that would venture into your headspace very often. If you were to get yourself one of these pickups with its exceptional safety features and enviable crash test record, you’d be driving a vehicle at the forefront of technological advances in crash warnings. Improvements in the design of the front of the vehicle have aided in producing an exceptional safety rating. If you opt for a more expensive model in the range, your vehicle will come complete with a camera system for safer maneuvering and nifty little blind spot monitors.
Customer Base
For all its luxury additions, the Ford is most definitely a truck. It’s bold, big and chunky and capable of completing the most time consuming and daunting tasks with ease. It’s not a commuter car, it won’t be able to squeeze into the tightest of spots in a parking lot, and it’s not ideal for the kids school run. It’s a working vehicle.
Unlike other work trucks, the Ford is quiet and delivers a surprisingly smooth ride. While Ford don’t seem to be pushing for the F-150 to become a mainstream consumer 4×4 of choice, they are certainly upping the quality for the tradespeople that will acquire it.
Pricing
At $27,000 – $65,000, the Ford F-150 can quickly become an expensive bit of kit if you decide to customize with all of the upgrades available. The King Ranch and Platinum models exude luxury and quality so afford those higher price tags. For the regular worker who is keen to have a reliable, safe vehicle to move between work sites, the more affordable models are more than sufficient.
Fuel economy is economical with most models achieving between 18 and 25 mpg. This is better than most other competitors and is great for those companies that need a fleet of economically sound vehicles.
If you’re tempted to purchase a pickup this year, you could do a lot worse than exploring the option of a Ford F-150. Get yourself booked onto a test drive and experience first hand the comfort, the drive and the performance. Then you may find yourself placing an order for a new Ford F-150 pickup truck.