Written by Chris Van Hoven
There’s no doubt that the Ford F-150 is an imposing vehicle. In fact, it’s probably one of the most imposing vehicles on the road if you don’t count its sibling, the Expedition. It’s easy to make the usual assumptions with a car this large. “It’s too wide”, “it’s too long”, “it’s too difficult to drive”, and “it’s a gas guzzler”, are some of the initial conclusions you’ll probably jump to. The truth is, the Ford F-150 isn’t as intimidating as it appears to be once you get used to it, and after some time behind the wheel, you’ll realize that Ford’s decision of bringing in the F-150 holds a lot of merit. Here’s why.
A lot of usable space
Pull up alongside a Ford Ranger Raptor and you’ll see its driver solemnly bow their head in acknowledgment that they’re no longer the biggest pick-up on the road. But all that size means you’ll also get to enjoy some impressive space. The bed itself is massive, capable of carrying large cargo that simply wouldn’t fit on smaller pick-ups such as large work desks, bed frames, and other furniture. There’s also a huge amount of leg room for rear passengers to enjoy, together with an abundance of shoulder to shoulder room for both front and rear passengers.
Power, lots of it
The Ford F-150 is powered by a 3.5-liter EcoBoost V6 engine that produces 380-hp and 637-Nm of torque mated to a smooth 10-speed automatic transmission. It’s responsive throughout the rev range with no hint of turbo lag, and is eager to perform when prodded, despite the massive weight it has to push. Does that make it the most powerful pickup in the country? Not quite. That recognition belongs to the RAM 1500 Laramie pushing out 395 hp from a V8 HEMI engine. But the F-150 isn’t that far behind, and gets the job done with less fuel consumption as well. We recorded as high as 11 km/L on the highway, though plodding around the city will get you something closer to 5 km/L.
Extremely comfortable
Comfortable and pick-up truck are two words that don’t normally go hand in hand, but the engineers at Ford have managed to achieve an extremely comfortable ride with the F-150. While it’s not exactly riding on clouds when compared to Ford’s large SUVs, the Ford F-150 does a great job of absorbing bumps and road irregularities while maintaining its cargo-carrying capacities with very little in the way of compromises. For those of you looking for a best-of-both-worlds scenario, this is as good as it gets.
Feature-packed
Besides 4x4 capabilities and the tailgate step with lift assist and front skid plates found in the higher Platinum variant, there’s very little separating the two variants in terms of features. With a price of PhP 2,698,000 for the 4x2 Lariat variant, Ford has crammed an extremely complete feature list into even the Lariat variant, including driver technologies such as a 360-degree camera, Active Park Assist, Hill Start Assist, Trailer Sway Control, Rain-Sensing Wipers and a Reverse Sensing System. In terms of safety, the Lariat variant also includes Roll Stability Control, tire pressure monitoring, ABS and EBD, and front, side and side-curtain airbags. As for the nice-to-haves, the Lariat is also equipped with quad-beam LED headlights, LED foglamps, 10-way power adjustable seats for both driver and front passenger, and an eight-inch touchscreen with Ford’s SYNC3. This includes Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity coming out of a 10-speaker Bang & Olufsen sound system.
For those who want it all
The Ford F-150 isn’t cheap, but it was never meant to appeal to those looking for a practical utilitarian truck to do dirty work. More than a do-it-all machine, the Ford F-150 serves as a symbol of Ford’s rich trucking culture as a no-compromise pickup truck that can do both hard labor and long drives out of town in comfort. And there simply aren’t a lot of other pickup trucks out there that do that as well as the F-150 can.