C/D: 2015 F-150 (the aluminum body one)

[kevm14]

http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/201 ... est-review

Mileage is meh. Is this what all the fuss was about?

It's only 95 lbs lighter than a similarly high trim level Silverado. That's awful. Ford trucks have always been heavier, and what's worse, if you recall that frame twist video, that weight doesn't seem to have any upside at all.

My initial thoughts are, this is strange. The new GMT-K2XX Tahoe lost to the old Expedition. Yet the F-150 arrives huffing and puffing with "improvements" while the Silverado is like...just as good, and simpler. Which leads me to think if the Tahoe had IRS, it would have completely toasted the Expedition.

Performance AND fuel economy was just about identical to the 6.2L Silverado last tested. That's also embarrassing. I take that back, the 6.2L Silverado is quite a bit faster, to the tune of 0.3s and 4mph in the 1/4 mile. Not that you need a low 14 second factory pickup that is not at all supposed to be sporty, but it speaks to the flaws of the ecoboost in a heavy vehicle. The only thing the ecoboost really does well is produces better low end torque than the V8s. But without better overall performance or fuel economy, I don't know why anyone would really bother with all the complexity in a TRUCK.

[kevm14]

C/D says:

Lows:
The far-simpler Silverado is nearly as good, $61K as-tested price . . . really?

Here's what they mean:

More bed access is built into the tailgate, with a hideaway stair step packed into the panel. Pull it and the accompanying folding handrail out to (very) safely climb up into the bed. It looks nifty and clever, like something Q Branch would devise, until you realize that Chevrolet accomplishes pretty much the same thing with simple cutouts for feet and hands in the corners of the rear bumper and bedsides. Do cowboys need handrails?

Clearly, Ford trades back some of its weight savings with more luxury gear, and this, basically the heaviest of all 2015 F-150s, presses the scales to the tune of 5577 pounds. While that makes the F-150 the lightest among the loaded luxury pickups we’ve recently tested, it only undercut an all-steel Silverado High Country 4x4 crew cab we tested last winter by a mere 95 pounds, or just a big dinner down at the local choke-n-puke. You’re entitled to wonder why Ford had to fuss with aluminum when using alloy merely got its curb weights down to those of its fiercest competitor.

though the hard-working V-6 returned fuel economy only just matching the latest Silverado test subject’s 6.2-liter small-block, at 16 mpg. There’s no denying that the 3.5-liter is a magic machine, making huge and sophisticated power from just 213 cubic inches. But here again, Ford seems to take a complicated route to achieve similar results as Chevy.

Goose the 365-hp twin-turbo V-6 and the sound coming from both the engine and the stereo speakers tasked with improving the engine’s voice make a stirring, staccato thrum that is the closest a pickup will ever come to sounding like a Porsche.

Lame!!!!!

[kevm14]

This guy says:

Also I just looked it up and apparently they recorded a V8 soundtrack and played it over the speakers, pretty pathetic.

So sad.