2009 Ford F-150: Rekindling the Love Affair

Not surprisingly, at the age of 16, I had a very limited selection of automobiles available at my disposal. While my father stoically handed the keys of the family Cadillac over for my road test, the rest of my early driving days were spent behind the oversized wheel of a 1976 Ford F-250. Equipped with a four speed manual transmission and a 360 cubic inch V8 that operated on 6, 7, or 8 cylinders (a precursor to the current cylinder deactivation technology?) depending on the weather and the planetary alignment of the solar system, it was a true beast of a truck. Drum brakes, a herculean clutch, and completely unassisted steering were frightening propositions to a new driver, but with acres of heavy-gauge sheetmetal and solid steel bumpers capable of turning Corollas into crumple zones, it was a comforting conveyance. And on a sunny day, with the vent windows open and the radio on, no amount of Cadillac comfort could beat the way that truck made me feel when I drove it from city to country and back again. But sadly, with a badly rusting cab, my first taste of freedom was given to a wrecker who refused to scrap it, and it has since been repaired and continues to work as hard for him as it did for me.

So, it was with some trepidation that I approached the shiny, chrome-adorned facade of the 2009 Ford F-150. As equipped, the Lariat tester replete with chrome package was everything my old Ford wasn’t; namely user friendly and comfortable. Gone were the plain white steel wheels shod with beefy oversized tires, replaced with Pirelli Scorpions wrapped around massive chrome rims. Hurling myself into the bed would be a thing of the past thanks to the tailgate-borne staircase, and standing on a tire to reach into the bed would be equally extinct with the side-steps. However, also gone was the comfort of knowing I could huck firewood into the bed with reckless abandon for fear of damaging the lustrous paint. Of the finest quality, the Ford’s red paint was notably some of the smoothest I’ve seen on a pickup truck, and although the new body style may lack the pizzazz of the new Ram’s aggressive bodywork, the F-150 is undeniably well-put together. With panel gaps and detail work that you’d expect on a family sedan, it almost seems a shame to cover it in dirt, dust, and mud.

Likewise, the inside is resplendently un-truck-like. Saddleblanket seat covers that are de rigueur for older trucks have no place upon the leather-skinned captain’s chairs of the F-150. And although the Lariat’s wood trim looked as if it had been picked out by the same people responsible for ‘70’s basement wood panelling, the remainder of the interior is simply gorgeous. With many of the controls borrowed from Ford’s excellent lineup, the buttons and switches are finely detailed, and the simply stunning Sync interface returns with unparalleled levels of control thanks to its voice-activated everything. Also worth mentioning is the plethora of buckets, bins, and non-slip shelves on and in which Blackberrys, wallets, iPods, and other sundries can be stored very handily, with easy access. The leather-trimmed dash features attractive stitching, and the textures of the plastics and fabrics are first-rate. Sight lines are good, and although the much-touted flat floor is a true party piece that will undoubtedly come in handy occasionally, it was the astounding amount of room in the rear seat that truly amazed. Although lacking the overall girth of a MegaCab, there is near-MegaCab amounts of room in front of passenger’s knees, passengers well into the six-foot-tall range had absolutely no complaints.

But for the carlike attention to detail, there was no mistaking the F-150 for anything but a truck when I turned the key. Cranking to life with all the same noises, the old 5.4L Triton engine soldiers on, sadly outstripped power and torque by both Dodge’s Hemi and Chevy’s various V8s. If the F-150’s got a weak point, it’s definitely under the hood. Although it boasts the best fuel economy in class, and realistically, it has enough power to do just about anything you’d ask a truck to do, the engine simply seems out of truck with the rest of the truck’s incredibly modern attitude. It sounds agrarian until it’s truly wound out, and the stock six-speed overdrive transmission is often found flat-footed when called upon to downshift. Probably the result of the excellent fuel economy figures, it simply holds gears too long, and combined with relatively tall gearing, the overall effect is that the whole driveline feels lethargic. Taken off road and engaging the transfer case doesn’t improve things any, as the transmission and engine just never seem to work cohesively on moderate grades, and the traction control conspires to roughen up the ride by continuously triggering over severely degraded forestry roads. Punching the button turns it off, but it seemed to turn itself back on in various situations. Of course, being the Lariat model, most of the equipment is focussed around comfort and more standard pickup truck uses, like towing boats, so the oversized and relatively short-sidewalled Pirelli’s don’t offer much in terms of bump absorption of dirt-borne grip, which made any forestry road excursions somewhat interesting.

Equipped with more off-road ready tires, one could expect the F-150 to provide an excellent ride, just as the Lariat did on the pavement. With wide leaf springs in the rear and an outboard shock placement that allows for softer dampers to be used at all for corners, the F-150 rides exceptionally well, with a lot less bed bounce than I’ve come to expect from leaf-spring equipped trucks. Of course, as the only truck with fully boxed frame, the F-150’s rigidity is apparent and even bouncing down the most rutted roads I could find gave an overwhelming all-of-one-piece feel. Although certainly of the rougher side, the truck never felt as if it was shaking itself apart; instead it simply felt as if the suspension was enduring the oversized wheel package, and the stiffer frame was imparting more of that sensation to the rest of the truck. On the road, the complete lack of flex made bending the big truck into corners a relatively comfortable proposition. Mid-corner bumps and pavement irregularities did nothing to unsettle the truck’s composure, and it fared extremely well in both highway and inner city commutes.

Thankfully, with hundreds of possible outfitting options, that’s not a problem that should affect many buyers, with models ranging from the rough and rugged FX4 off road package to the new and ultra luxurious Executive package to the racing-prepared SVT Raptor. With nothing short of a billion (that may be a slight hyperbole) options and trim levels, there really is an F-150 for everyone. Indeed, it’s not quite perfect, and I’d like to see a more responsive engine and transmission installed in the coming years. Thankfully, Ford has committed to their turbocharged eco-boost engine family, and is expected to unleash a new turbocharged engine option for the F-150 that will boost both power and fuel economy. Likewise, while the new Boss engine program is currently underway specifically for the Raptor product line, it’s expected to trickle down to the lesser F-150 models as time goes by. Furthermore, some form of shielding would help keep the side step mechanisms clear of dirt and debris, and it would be nice to see their release buttons moved to a part of the step that doesn’t move, so as to facilitate easier closing and opening (kicking the button haphazardly shoots the step right out into your shin, and closing it requires pushing the step inward without hitting the button). However, all that being said, even equipped with any of the available engines, the F-150 still offers the best mix of luxury and capability in the truck market. While the GM products may come very close to the F-150’s level of comfort and luxury, there’s simply no getting around the perfect details and assembly of the Ford’s well-thought interior. And while the Ram easily pulls ahead as the best looking of the truck products available, its interior is simply no match for the cocoon of quiet luxury that is the F-150 cab; a problem that besets both Toyota and Nissan as well. Although each truck boasts their own party pieces ranging from massively powerful V8s to bed-top storage boxes, none of those other truck’s gizmos and gadgets have proven as useful during my own tests periods as those fitted to the F-150. Sync still reigns supreme as the best way to integrate and control everything without ever taking your eyes or hands away from the act of driving, and the so-called man-steps that festoon the truck made loading and unloading pallets, camping gear, and firewood vastly easier operations. And cruising down the highway on an unseasonably balmy day, with the window open and the elbow perched atop the perfectly-placed sill, this new F-150 brought back a lot of the same sensations as my old ’76. More complex and probably more capable, it conjured up the same relaxing air that only pickup trucks can, and undoubtedly, some 16 year old somewhere will take their first turn behind the wheel aboard a 2009 F-150 and be as hooked as I was.

Let’s just hope theirs has a little less rust.