Not about to let its sales streak slide, Ford has redone its F-150 only seven model years (a record low) after the last one. The 1997 F-150 saw many night-and-day changes to the engines, suspensions, and steering. This time around, most of the effort was spent making the look more purposeful, the insides more inviting, and the whole piece stiffer. It is stiffer now, but all that reinforcement came at the cost of a several hundred-pound weight gain. A new 5.4-liter V8 (300 horsepower, 365 pounds-feet of torque), helps fight that; some say it's the only way to get an F-150 with acceptable speed. The 4.6 V8 (231, 293) carried over, and the 4.2 V6 (202, 260) returns for 2005.
Like the Silverado, the F-150 continues its tradition of being a truck for every kind of buyer. As with the Silverado and Tundra, there are three cab sizes - regular, extended ("SuperCab"), and crew ("SuperCrew") - which can be had with any of the three bed lengths, which span 5.5, 6.5, and 8 feet long. These nine combinations somehow find their way onto five available wheelbases.
After choosing by size, choose by price. XL, STX, XLT, FX4, and Lariat are the trim lines. To the basic, vinyl-adorned XL, the STX adds a CD player, body-colored bumpers and grille surround, and alloy wheels with better tires. Midline XLT adds better cloth seats, power everything (including the rear window on SuperCab and SuperCrew models), cruise control, keyless entry, extra storage consoles, tachometer, temperature gauge, compass, fog lights, automatic headlights, and carpeting. The FX4 off-road model gets unique seats, black leather steering wheel, underbody skid plates, retuned springs and shocks, and Electronic Shift-On-The-Fly 4WD instead of mechanical; the larger 5.4 V8 comes standard. The luxurious Lariat deletes all but the last two items before adding automatic climate control, leather seats, leather steering wheel with audio controls, power driver's seat (on SuperCab and SuperCrew), power adjustable pedals, rear defroster, self-dimming rearview mirror, side mirror turn-signal indicators, cassette/CD stereo, message center with trip computer, HomeLink (for opening your garage), and 18-inch wheels. Each of the five trim levels has a certain combination of styling touches, i.e. the XLT's grille is black honeycomb while the Lariat's is chrome and the others have another pattern altogether.
With varying options come varying abilities. The weakest payload of 1,340 pounds goes to the heaviest possible F-150 (4WD SuperCrew) equipped with the weakest engine (the smaller V8). The nice, round upper limit of 3,000 goes to the 2WD, regular cab with the 5.4. For towing, the modest 5,900-pound limit goes to the same loser (4WD SuperCrew), while the 2WD SuperCrew 5.4 takes the crown, making easy work of 9,500 pounds.
Like the other Americans, the "150" in its name designates light-duty work; the F-series is a lengthy series. F-250 and F-350 models, after downgrading the suspension to more trucklike pieces, open the door to a 6.8 V10 and 6.0 Diesel V8. An F-350 with the Diesel engine and a fifth wheel sending power to the ground can tug around 16,700 pounds, handily setting the record.
Right now, there are only two obvious limitations of the F-150. First is the omission of side airbags, which become increasingly more important as the F-150 is adopted for family use. The F-150 will probably end up the winner in most real-world collisions, but getting hit by another F-150 from the side can still spell a broken arm. The other lagging point is the four-speed automatic transmission; five speeds can be had on the others. A six-speed unit is said to be on the way, but even as it is, the F-150 seems capable enough.
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