Our test truck was a standard cab two-wheel-drive F-150 with a Flareside bed, the optional 4.6-liter V-8 engine, automatic transmission, and the XLT package. The near-luxury XLT offers the buyer chrome front and rear bumpers, color-keyed door handles, a chrome grille, chrome aerodynamic power mirrors, color-keyed wheel openings, standard pickup bed tie-down hooks, a cargo box light, a removable tailgate panel, an underhood lamp and polished aluminum wheels with chrome hubs.
This is a very pretty truck, with much more attention paid to aerodynamic performance than either the Dodge or GM pickups. It is rounder, friendlier and much more like a car than the competition. That may be part of the reason it outsells all other pickup trucks by a considerable margin. The new Chevy and GMC trucks are only a year old, but they already look a bit dated next to the Ford, which was mildly restyled last year. The Dodge Ram has lost its luster, too, compared to the slick F-150.
We find the Ford F-150 interior superior in flavor to the GM and Dodge competition. The F-150 takes its interior design cues from the company's successful passenger cars, such as the Ford Taurus and Lincoln Continental. The designers adapted these cues to the pickup's large cab. The curves, surfaces, textures, instrumentation and graphics inside the Ford F-150 are more adventurous, more modern, and better executed than the competition, big and bold but not outsized for a big vehicle.
The F-150 XLT has dual air bags with a passenger-side deactivation switch. It comes with air conditioning, a back panel cover and rear storage tray, dual map lights, map pockets, an upper vinyl applique, courtesy lamps, color-keyed carpeting and headliner, complete instrumentation including a tachometer, an auxiliary 12-volt power point, power windows and locks, an electronic AM/FM stereo cassette system with four speakers, cloth split bench seats with recliners, armrests, and manual lumbar support on the driver's side, speed control, tilt steering wheel, cloth-covered visors, and speed-dependent interval windshield wipers.
Compared to full-sized cars, pickup trucks come with ample amounts of head, leg, hip and shoulder room. They offer a lot of interior space for the money. Even in this F-150 XLT standard cab, which comes without the rear seats and without the extra rear doors, there is plenty of room to stretch out. The XLT has new seats this year with cloth covering, a recline feature and a lumbar support on the driver's side for even more driving comfort.
Obviously, all standard pickups share another trait: a relatively high ride height, even on 2x4 models. That can be a blessing when you're trying to see out over the traffic ahead and a curse if you're trying to go around corners at high rates of speed. But since we do a lot more of the former and very little of the latter, we like the high ride. We especially like the Ford F-150 because, unlike the Dodge, Chevrolet or GMC, the aerodynamic hood falls away very rapidly from the base of the windshield so it's easier to see what's immediately in front of the truck; that's handy for maneuvering and parking as well as dealing with traffic ahead.
Two-wheel-drive F-150s use conventional steel leaf springs at the rear and a coil spring independent front suspension. This yields a pretty solid ride when it's unloaded, but quite a good ride when you're hauling a refrigerator over bad pavement. (The 4X4 versions use a torsion bar front suspension.)
The power steering is over-assisted to make it easier to park and maneuver in tight quarters. We find the brakes on Ford trucks to be average in stopping power and average in fade characteristics.
Although the optional 4.6-liter V8 engine is rated at 220 horsepower and 290 foot-pounds of torque, we don't think it's as good a performer in many respects as the small V8 engines from GM and Dodge. It's a good, solid engine, with millions of examples on the road, and it sounds good at full throttle, but we find it a little duff for all-around street use, and we would certainly find it wanting if we had to haul anything heavy or tow a trailer up a mountain road. For any customer contemplating those kinds of duties, the 5.4-liter V8 engine is a much better choice.
Like its worthy competitors, the Ford F-series is offered in an astonishing array of models, with a standard 4.2-liter V6 engine, an optional 4.6-liter V-8, and an optional 5.4-liter V8. F-250 models also offer a 6.8-liter V10 engine and a Power Stroke diesel V8. Aside from engines, there are 5-speed manual and 4-speed automatic transmissions, short and long cargo beds, standard and four-door SuperCab extended cabs, flat (Styleside) and fendered (Flareside) bed styles, two- and four-wheel drive models, and four trim levels: Work, XL, XLT, and Lariat. That means, with colors and options thrown in, it's easy to order a truck that only a few others will have, because the model matrix is so huge.