Old post for testing (delete)

So, I was running around with one of my buddies (also my boss) today and we were supposed to be doing some work to get ready for a business meeting tomorrow but, my buddy just sold his truck today (rather sooner than he expected). We started talking about trucks and one thing lead to another, and we got distracted and decided to go truck shopping instead of working. Anyways, he test drove this particular example and, because he wanted to get the wife’s input on the truck, the salesman let my friend take it home and keep it overnight. Obviously I jumped at the opportunity to drive it a bit to give some feedback, (secretly so I would have something to write for Oppo). Mini-Review ahead. Also Turrrbooooooo!!!!

Exterior Styling: To be honest I’m not much of a truck guy, so looks do nothing for me, but that goes for all trucks newer than 1990 for me. I’m not a particular fan of this color and neither is my friend. The ideal color for him is Ruby Red but this exact truck in the right color sold two hours before we got there and was actually being prepped for the customer when we were looking around. It is nice that the wheels and tires actually seem like the right size for the vehicle something I can’t necessarily say for the Chevy’s but that’s personal preference.

Forgive the lack of good interior photos, I didn’t have time.

Interior: First of all, very spacious, huge amounts of head room and foot room in the front and back. The rear seats fold up flat against the rear bulkhead creating a very spacious stowage area (the rear door also opens wide enough you could potentially use all that space putting something large in there). 

Up front the center console can be folded rearward revealing a quite spacious center seat. I feel confident in saying that six adults could be accommodated with out unreasonable discomfort for relatively short distances. 

The interior appointments were quite lackluster considering the trim level and and what the original price point was. Vast expanses of hard gray plastic, while utilitarian, do not appeal to me. The cloth seats were ok, but not great. I didn’t NOT like he headrests, especially for the center front seat, as it was raked forward at a ridiculously uncomfortable angle. There were heated seats but we didn’t test them as it was already very hot out. 

Tech: The touch screen was adequate but, other than a way to provide phone connectivity it had nothing over a good old button and knob radio set in any other car. The exception to that would be a backup camera which was quite handy, as it provided a good clear view of the rear and had lines showing projected trajectory (hmmm, is trajectory right? Who cares). Not sure if this is standard on touchscreen cars, but the screen brightness did not adjust based on ambient light level, this was annoying when we went to dinner and came back after dark. 

Performance and Handling: He he he, *rubs hands in glee*. I saved the best for last. First let me preface this by saying, I have never rode in, or driven, a turbo charged vehicle so I may be somewhat biased here as his was an entirely new experience. This one was equipped with the 3.5 liter ecoboost. My buddy drives like he’s 80 and he would only half heartedly get on the gas when the salesman urged him to see what it had. When I drove it I had no such qualms. We took it a short ways out a country road and when we reached the straight I put the go pedal to the floor. My first reaction was “where is my instant throttle response” my second reaction (when the 6 speed auto downshifted and the turbo kicked in) was pure shock, “no truck has any right to be this quick!” I thought, but I was also grinning ear to ear and had to immediately do it again. The delay seems to be around 1-1.5 seconds from pedal down to go time, which seems like an eternity compared to an NA car. But it’s not bad considering it’s an automatic which takes it’s good old time deciding what it would like to do. The transmission did feel like a weak point in that it took to long to downshift, even on hills at slow speeds, and it held the gear far to long on throttle let up. Full throttle to zero throttle the current gear just hung there engine racing with a tad of engine braking for almost a full second. This was disco setting to me but, like I said, maybe its because it’s a turbo? I’d be interested if you all could educate me on that. 

Braking was good and very easy to control, not like many newer vehicles which seem to have touchy brakes.

Cornering was…….. not confidence inspiring. After the first corner I decided that handling was not its forte. While the rear is very planted (surpringly so for a pickup truck) the front end was floaty and seemed to want to push or of corners. While I didn’t go anywhere near the limit I had the distinct feeling that in low traction situations the Ford would understeer like a pig. Also there was ZERO road feel from the front.

I can’t make up my mind on star ratings as have mixed feelings about many aspects of the vehicle, however I could definitely say that if toyota didn’t exist, and I was in the market for a pickup truck I would buy a Ford. Also booooooost ?

Thanks for reading you’re the best ?