TRUCKIN' LIFE

CAN FORD AUSTRALIA'S NEW F-150 BE AN ACCOMPLISHED OFF-ROAD TOURING 4X4?

- MATT RAUDONIKIS

FORD Australia's relaunch of the iconic F-150 pickup in this country has come with a few hiccups, with several recalls so far in 2024 including a 'stop ship and sell' notice, and alerting owners to stop driving them immediately, interrupting sales and owners' usage.

Some of the recalls have related directly to the left- to right-hand drive re-engineering that was done locally by Ford's chosen partner RMA Automotive. The most recent recall was for side indicator lights on LWB F-150s that were not ADR compliant.

Notwithstanding the hiccups, we were keen to get back behind the wheel of the F-Truck following our initial launch drive last year. More specifically, we were keen to test its off-road capabilities as there was no off-road component to the initial launch drive.

While the Ford F-150 and its full-size 'half-ton' competitors, the Ram 1500 and Silverado 1500, are not great offroad vehicles due to their size and weight, many buyers will still purchase them and modify them to improve that situation, delving in to the extensive range of aftermarket equipment available for them.

The SWB F-150 XLT is the lowest priced full-size American pickup offered by the manufacturers in Australia at $106,950 plus ORC. For this drive we had the slightly more expensive entry-level LWB F-150 XLT, which starts at $107,945 plus ORC. Long-wheelbase Effies are 304mm longer between the axles and offer a larger cargo bed than their shortwheelbase counterparts.

All F-150s sold by Ford Australia are powered by a 3.5-litre petrol-fuelled twinturbo V6 engine backed by a 10-speed automatic transmission. There is no V8 or diesel engine offered by Ford AU, nor any hybrid nor EV option yet!