Ford F-150

Exciting Powertrains Enliven An Aging Platform

Ford rocked the pickup world when it introduced the current-generation F-150 for 2015. This truck featured a body constructed entirely of military-grade aluminum, packed potent second-generation EcoBoost power under the hood, and shattered what we all thought we knew about ½-ton towing capability. The redesign was so bold that the ’15 F-150 won the title of 2015 Pickup Truck of the Year. But that was four years ago, and the competition has been hard at work catching up to the Blue Oval.

A tepid midcycle refresh occurred for F-150 for ’18, which largely consisted of new cosmetics on the nose and tail. It also brought with it the addition of Ford’s new 10-speed automatic transmission. For ’19 the F-150 returns to PTOTY eligibility with a pair of exciting new powertrain options: a 3.0L Power Stroke V-6 diesel and high-output 3.5L EcoBoost V-6. Ford’s new oil-burner debuted late in the ’18 model year, missing our previous year’s test window, thus retaining eligibility for this year. Due to ’19 models not being in production at test time and the lack of change between model years, we allowed an ’18 to participate in Lariat FX4 trim. Along with the Power Stroke, Ford also sent a ’19 Limited, which is now equipped with the high-output version of the 3.5L EcoBoost V-6, formerly relegated to Raptor and Lincoln Navigator only. The Limited model tested wasan early preproduction build that Ford was able to procure in time for our test. (Thank you for making us feel special, Ford!)