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10 Things You Need To Know About The 2015 Ford F-150

Benjamin Hunting
by Benjamin Hunting
October 8, 2014
5 min. Reading Time
2015 ford f150

2015 ford f150

Much ado has been made about the 2015 Ford F-150, the latest version of the full-size pickup truck that has dominated North American sales charts for two decades as the most popular vehicle on the market.  Every time the Ford F-150 gets a new look and feel it's a major occasion, but 2015 brings with it the added wrinkle of Ford moving to an all-aluminum body.  This is the first aluminum truck to be offered to American buyers, and it's a decision that the Blue Oval made to maximize fuel efficiency without sacrificing capability.

Of course, there's more to the Ford F-150 story than what type of metal it's wrapped in.  Let's take a look at 10 things you need to know about the 2015 Ford F-150.

01. The 2015 Ford F-150 Is Made Out Of Aluminum

Like we covered in the intro, the 2015 Ford F-150 offers an aluminum body structure.  Why is this so important?  Two words: weight savings.  By replacing its steel body with an aluminum one the Ford F-150 is able to shed between 500 and 700 lbs (depending on the model) compared to last year's vehicle.  Extensive stress testing was performed by Ford in order to ensure that the new body structure was just as strong as the one it was replacing, and dealerships across the country saw a significant investment in training and equipment to prepare their body shops to work with the metal.  Underneath the skin the 2015 Ford F-150 is still riding on a steel chassis (hence the asterisk), albeit one that has been upgraded to make use of more high strength steel than ever before.

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02. The 2015 Ford F-150 Introduces A New EcoBoost Engine

The 2015 Ford F-150 offers the very first V-6 engine to have been designed from the ground-up to be an EcoBoost unit.  That means that the 2.7-liter V-6 that is now an option with the Ford F-150 can run much higher turbo boost than its larger, and ubiquitous 3.5-liter six-cylinder cousin, cresting at around the 30 psi mark.  That makes for a total output of 325 horsepower and 375 lb-ft for the little EcoBoost motor, which is being offered as an sub-$500 upgrade over the base V-6 for a limited time during the truck's introduction.

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03. The 2015 Ford F-150 Downsizes Its Entry-Level V-6

Speaking of the 2015 Ford F-150's base V-6, you'll notice that it's been downsized for the current model year.  The 3.5-liter, six-cylinder mill loses 0.2 liters of displacement along with 19 horsepower and 23 lb-ft of torque, giving it a new total of 283 ponies and 278 lb-ft of twist.  That's no cause for alarm, however: Ford insists that the lighter F-150 will be able to maintain last year's performance for the entry-level edition of the truck despite the weaker motor.  It also should help improve fuel mileage for the most affordable F-150 model.

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04. The 2015 Ford F-150 Maintains 3.5-liter EcoBoost and 5.0 V-8

The 2015 Ford F-150 has kept its two mainstay engines unchanged, allowing pickup buyers to select from a pair of familiar faces should they not want to take a risk on new technologies or smaller designs.  The 3.5-liter EcoBoost V-6 stays on as the F-150's top-tier motor, offering 365 horsepower and 420 lb-ft of torque.  A 5.0-liter V-8 also continues to be available, and its traditional eight-cylinder grunt translates into 385 horses and 387 lb-ft of torque.  Like all F-150 engines, these two are shifted via a six-speed automatic transmission which gains a 'sport' setting for 2015.

You will no doubt have noticed by now that there has been no mention of the 6.2-liter V-8 that was available with the 2014 Ford F-150 SVT Raptor.  That would be because the Raptor has not been renewed for the all-new pickup, and while it might return at a later date, for 2015 the 6.2-liter V-8 is also absent from the options sheet.

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05. The 2015 Ford F-150 Should Be More Fuel Efficient

The 2015 Ford F-150 is counting on its massive aluminum-related weight savings to help improve fuel mileage for the pickup.  With so much emphasis on efficiency in the full-size truck segment (witness the RAM 1500 EcoDiesel's near-30-mpg performance on the highway), the Ford F-150's ace in the hole is its reduced mass.  Unfortunately, final EPA certification has yet to be achieved by the truck, which means we'll have to wait for the official numbers.  In addition to its less-portly platform, Ford has also given 2.7-liter EcoBoost editions of the pickup an automatic engine start/stop feature to reduce the amount of fuel wasted while idling.

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06. The 2015 Ford F-150 Boosts Towing And Hauling Across The Board

Although we might not yet have fuel efficiency figures for the 2015 Ford F-150, the automaker has been able to quantify improvements in both towing and hauling capacity nearly across the board.  By reducing the weight of the truck itself, Ford has been able to dedicate more of the F-150's gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) to actually carrying around something other than the pickup's own mass.  When combined with better braking performance for 2015, the results are impressive: at the high end, a truck equipped with a 3.5-liter EcoBoost V-6 is now capable of towing 12,200 lbs, while hauling as much as 3,300 lbs of gear in its cargo bed.  These numbers represent jumps of 1,100 lbs and 530 lbs, respectively.

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07. The 2015 Ford F-150 Shakes Up Its Model Line-Up

The 2015 Ford F-150 is still available in XL, XLT, Lariat, King Ranch, and Platinum trim levels.  What has changed for the Ford F-150 has been the removal of the FX4 trim and the substitution of an FX4 package.  The FX4 package can now be ordered on almost any edition of the pickup, and it brings off-road oriented features such as skid plates and tow hooks along to complement the vehicle's rugged low-range four-wheel drive system.  Ford has also introduced a Sport package for the 2015 F-150 that swaps chrome for body-color bumpers as well as a special black grille.

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08. The 2015 Ford F-150 Offers New In-Bed Features

The 2015 Ford F-150 offers a number of cargo management and access features that are intended to make it simpler to get the job done with the pickup.  The cargo bed out back now offers a ramp system that can be stowed along the inside of the box when not in use - and when attached to the tailgate, it can handle 800 lbs of motorcycle, ATV, or whatever you want to roll up into the truck.  The tailgate itself has seen its integrated step and handle redesigned for simpler use, and there's also a movable tie-down system that can be ordered with the F-150.

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09. The 2015 Ford F-150 Introduces Fresh Safety Technology

There aren't many pickups out there with an adaptive cruise control system - in fact, the 2015 Ford F-150 is the only one, and it brings with it a forward collision warning system that sounds if a potential impact is detected.  Other safety features making their debut with the Ford F-150 include a lane departure warning system as well as a set of inflatable seatbelts for those riding in the back of SuperCrew or SuperCab models.  You can also get a blind spot monitoring system with the new truck, and a trailer hitch camera that facilitates hooking up your boat or camper.

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10. The 2015 Ford F-150 Is Pricier Than Before

There's a price associated with innovation, and the 2015 Ford F-150 asks you to pay it.  With a base MSRP of $26,615, the entry-level Ford F-150 XL raises its new ask by a modest $395, with an identical increase attached to the volume-selling F-150 XLT (MSRP $31,890).  If you are looking for a more luxury oriented truck, then you'll have to ante up $39,880 for the Ford F-150 Lariat (an increase of $895), but the biggest jump comes with the King Ranch (MSRP $49,460) and Platinum (MSRP $52,155) trim levels.  The Platinum sees its sticker increase by $3,055, while the King Ranch moves up by $3,615.  Ford attributes the higher prices not  to the costs associated with the F-150's new aluminum body, but rather links them to the increased feature content of each model.

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