ShareThisTalk about a love-hate relationship.
Hate: In 2008, sales of the Ford F-series pickup truck, the nation's most popular vehicle, plunged by more than 175,000 units in the worst year for vehicle sales in 16 years.
Love: Even at that, sales totaled 515,513, maintaining it as the nation's most popular vehicle and something any manufacturer would envy. It's an old story. The F-series, led by the F-150, has been the top seller for 27 straight years. Now there's an all-new F-150, which aims to continue the record march.
The sales decline came about because of the economic recession and customers' stampede away from big gas-guzzlers when gasoline prices went to more than $4 a gallon.
But that doesn't mean full-size pickup trucks are in any danger of extinction. Despite the steep drop overall in vehicle sales from nearly 16.2 million in 2007 to slightly more than 13.2 million in 2008, big pickups built by the three U.S. and two Japanese manufacturers still held onto more than 1.5 million customers.
What's happening, in the view of professionals who track such matters, is that many casual customers who bought full-size pickups as family cars or cultural statements were scared away.
That leaves people who love pickups because they need to tow trailers and haul cargo, along with a host of ranchers, farmers, contractors, maintenance and service workers who use their trucks to earn a living. Although many likely could get along with something smaller, they have been seduced by the size, towing capability and load capacity of the big pickup.
Even in the down year of 2008, full-size pickups accounted for 11.8 percent of the vehicle market. That was down from 13.2 percent in 2007, but still constituted a vital organ in the body of the marketplace.
So regardless of whether you're classified as a truck person or a car person, you have to love the big pickups for their contributions to the economy and the earnings of the vehicle manufacturers. But you can still hate them for their ponderous profiles and profligate way with finite resources.
Onto this conflicted stage rolls the 2009 Ford F-150 pickup with a complicated mission. On the one hand, it has been designed to provide fresh appeal as a work truck. On the other, it features some of the most luxurious touches ever offered on a pickup.
Consider the range of choices: the base truck with two-wheel drive, a 248-horsepower V8 engine, four-speed automatic transmission and air conditioning has a sticker price of $22,070. But you also can order the four-door, four-wheel drive Platinum model that, with options, can top $50,000.
The test F-150 was the Lariat model with four-wheel drive and a 320-horsepower, 5.4-liter V8 engine linked to a six-speed automatic transmission. City/highway fuel consumption is rated by the government at 14/18 miles per gallon. The price started at $38,965 and, with options that included a navigation system and backup camera, topped out at $46,745. It's obviously tilted toward the luxury end of the spectrum.
With a 5.5-foot box on the back, the tester had a payload of 1,520 pounds and could tow up to 9,700 pounds, all of which placed it in the useful and practical category. However, the test truck lacked two of the new F-150's innovative options: fold-down steps to help load from the sides and a fold-down step and assist handle in the tailgate.
It's easy to see why someone who bought this truck to use as a family car could love it but might quickly abandon it. On the plus side, it has limousine-like seating for five, with big, deep and comfortable bucket seats up front, 30 interior storage cubbies, a center console that can hold two laptop computers, and enough elbow and leg-stretching space in the back seat for three NBA basketball players.
The back seats don't recline, but the seatback has a reasonably comfortable angle. If you need to haul something out of the weather, the seat bottoms flip up to expose a huge cargo area -- enough, says Ford, to accommodate a flat-screen TV set nearly 4 feet tall and more than 5 feet wide.
But it's a ponderous beast, 6 feet 4 inches tall and way more than 19 feet long with a giant turning radius. You need running boards to climb up into the cab and don't even think about squeezing into a tight shopping center parking lot. Just park it way out in right field and walk to the store. Other negatives include weak headlights and a nearly invisible indicator for the shift lever.
Once settled in, the F-150 rides and handles well considering its size, delivers more than ample power and smooth shifting, and is as quiet as a luxury sedan. With adjustable pedals and power seats, drivers of all sizes can find a comfortable driving position. Visibility is good in all directions, making backing up relatively easy. If you need to hook up a trailer, the backup camera helps out.
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service. For more columns, go to scrippsnews.com)
DriveWays with FORD F-150-SPECS
